bdc30
BoM May '11
Nice day here in the north, so WilfredSimpson (Shawn) and I decided to smoke and review the same stick. We went with the San Cristobal Supremo, a 6x50 toro made by Jose Pepin Garcia. Here's the description from the ashton website:
and went outside to smoke it. Weather was a balmy 35f at the time, but calm with almost no wind. Initial thoughts were that it was a well constructed stick, dark toothy nica wrapper leaf with a beautiful triple cap. A heavy barnyard scent came from both our sticks once unwrapped. The prelight draw was a heavy dark chocolate flavor - though we both noted a tight pack and possibly tight draw.
From the first couple of puffs we both got a large dose of pepper and spice, but noted that the stick settled down very quickly in to a mild/medium flavor profile. The burn also started to canoe a bit on both cigars in the first third. The ash was a beautiful greyish/white color and held on for longer than expected.
Through the middle third of the stick, the stick settled down considerably - almost too much so. We both commented on a cedary taste and at one point Shawn even said it almost felt like we were just smoking for the sake of smoking. It seemed to us that this would be a great cigar for the morning with a cup of coffee though just to get the day started.
The final third though completely took us by surprise. The spice returned, but not in an overpowering way. We both picked up some of the black cherry and dark chocolate flavors that the website mentioned, and it finished off as a really good cigar.
All things considered, we enjoyed this stick. We agreed that in the $4-$5 range it would be a good value but we wouldn't pay more as there are better options. We also wondered if it would be better in a smaller size, possibly a robusto with the same blend, to cut down on the kind of bland tastes we got in the middle of the stick.
We decided to pair it with some Havana Club Anejo Reserva rum:
and went outside to smoke it. Weather was a balmy 35f at the time, but calm with almost no wind. Initial thoughts were that it was a well constructed stick, dark toothy nica wrapper leaf with a beautiful triple cap. A heavy barnyard scent came from both our sticks once unwrapped. The prelight draw was a heavy dark chocolate flavor - though we both noted a tight pack and possibly tight draw.
From the first couple of puffs we both got a large dose of pepper and spice, but noted that the stick settled down very quickly in to a mild/medium flavor profile. The burn also started to canoe a bit on both cigars in the first third. The ash was a beautiful greyish/white color and held on for longer than expected.
Through the middle third of the stick, the stick settled down considerably - almost too much so. We both commented on a cedary taste and at one point Shawn even said it almost felt like we were just smoking for the sake of smoking. It seemed to us that this would be a great cigar for the morning with a cup of coffee though just to get the day started.
The final third though completely took us by surprise. The spice returned, but not in an overpowering way. We both picked up some of the black cherry and dark chocolate flavors that the website mentioned, and it finished off as a really good cigar.
All things considered, we enjoyed this stick. We agreed that in the $4-$5 range it would be a good value but we wouldn't pay more as there are better options. We also wondered if it would be better in a smaller size, possibly a robusto with the same blend, to cut down on the kind of bland tastes we got in the middle of the stick.
