Altercall
I beat you all May '08 :)
You are going to have to bear with me guys, this is my 1st review and I'm tired. Here goes:
I finally got a chance to smoke my San Cristobal. I just finished my first night of scouting for the high school team and went out to meet the ASS guys out the regular meetup. Not a perfect night for a cigar review since it was a welcome back party for a former ASS guy that just moved back in town. I like smoking good cigars around people so it worked out for me. I'm just weird in the fact that I smoke the crap by myself, but the good stuff with company. Anyway, it was a nice night, so much so that we didn't even go into the press box during the game, we just sat in the stands. But on to the review...
Cigar smells great. You could smell the spice and maybe some manure in. Prelight draw was near perfect. The spice on the wrapper was almost overpowering. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement, but it had more spice on the wrapper than any cigar I've ever had. At first light the spice was ridiculous. It hid most of the flavor. It wasn't the normal Pepin spice that carries alot of flavor with it, it was more of an Opus spice that was just spice. Even with that much spice, the other flavors were so abundant you could pick them out, especially as you got a few drags into it. The draws all started with a sweetness for the first 1/3. That was followed by some nuttiness with a faint bit of earthiness. Within the first few draws I knew this was a different experience from any other Pepin. All the way through the first 1/3 the spice toned down, while the nuttiness stepped up.
In the middle 1/3 the nuttiness became very pronounced while the spiciness, while still there, really backed off. The earthiness started to become something that you didn't have to search as much for, but was nowhere near what most of his sticks have. The sweetness wasn't there on every draw, but as soon as I started to forget it, I got a big taste of it on the next draw.
The final 1/3 really developed well, though it also showed the youth of this cigar. On the draw there was almost no spice, though still burned heavily in the sinuses when exhaling through the nose. The nuttiness came full on, and the earthiness was more pronounced, but still under his other cigars. Now that I think about it, there was always a more light spice underneath everything else that was also brought out at the end. It was not harsh, but more of a cooking spice, though I cannot place it. The thing I liked most about the end of this cigar was that it was not hard to taste. There are so many cigars out there that are so hard to taste at the last 1 1/2- 2 inches because the profile doesn't change, or my palate just gets used to them. This, though, was almost as easy to taste at the end as it was in the middle.
I would put it in the medium bodied range (I hadn't eaten in 5 hours and had no affects), but full flavored.
I'm not going to try to put a number on it, but it was a really good cigar!!! I would say, though, to treat this almost like a CC and give it some age. This is a heck of a cigar and has plenty in it for everyone. I'm definitely getting more when they come out!!!
Mad props to Frank and Sheep for helping to glean some of that info and organize my thoughts.
I finally got a chance to smoke my San Cristobal. I just finished my first night of scouting for the high school team and went out to meet the ASS guys out the regular meetup. Not a perfect night for a cigar review since it was a welcome back party for a former ASS guy that just moved back in town. I like smoking good cigars around people so it worked out for me. I'm just weird in the fact that I smoke the crap by myself, but the good stuff with company. Anyway, it was a nice night, so much so that we didn't even go into the press box during the game, we just sat in the stands. But on to the review...
Cigar smells great. You could smell the spice and maybe some manure in. Prelight draw was near perfect. The spice on the wrapper was almost overpowering. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement, but it had more spice on the wrapper than any cigar I've ever had. At first light the spice was ridiculous. It hid most of the flavor. It wasn't the normal Pepin spice that carries alot of flavor with it, it was more of an Opus spice that was just spice. Even with that much spice, the other flavors were so abundant you could pick them out, especially as you got a few drags into it. The draws all started with a sweetness for the first 1/3. That was followed by some nuttiness with a faint bit of earthiness. Within the first few draws I knew this was a different experience from any other Pepin. All the way through the first 1/3 the spice toned down, while the nuttiness stepped up.
In the middle 1/3 the nuttiness became very pronounced while the spiciness, while still there, really backed off. The earthiness started to become something that you didn't have to search as much for, but was nowhere near what most of his sticks have. The sweetness wasn't there on every draw, but as soon as I started to forget it, I got a big taste of it on the next draw.
The final 1/3 really developed well, though it also showed the youth of this cigar. On the draw there was almost no spice, though still burned heavily in the sinuses when exhaling through the nose. The nuttiness came full on, and the earthiness was more pronounced, but still under his other cigars. Now that I think about it, there was always a more light spice underneath everything else that was also brought out at the end. It was not harsh, but more of a cooking spice, though I cannot place it. The thing I liked most about the end of this cigar was that it was not hard to taste. There are so many cigars out there that are so hard to taste at the last 1 1/2- 2 inches because the profile doesn't change, or my palate just gets used to them. This, though, was almost as easy to taste at the end as it was in the middle.
I would put it in the medium bodied range (I hadn't eaten in 5 hours and had no affects), but full flavored.
I'm not going to try to put a number on it, but it was a really good cigar!!! I would say, though, to treat this almost like a CC and give it some age. This is a heck of a cigar and has plenty in it for everyone. I'm definitely getting more when they come out!!!
Mad props to Frank and Sheep for helping to glean some of that info and organize my thoughts.
