danthebugman
BoM Nov '10
Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Ecquadorian Connecticut
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Price: $?
Intro: Last summer SailorAg came to Joplin to help with some of the clean up. We were able to meet up one night over at Frank's house for some food, beer, and cigars. Was a great time and in the aftermath I ended up with a partial box of these. At the time I wasn't real keen on Connecticut wrappers. I smoked one of these and was forced to question my perceptions. After smoking a handful, I was hooked. Since then I've found more Connecticut wrapped cigars that strike my fancy. It was a gateway cigar of sorts. Today I went looking for something to smoke, wasn't in the mood for anything real heavy and came across one of these. It occured to me that I haven't written a review on it yet and it also seems this might be my last one. I'll have to dig around and make sure, but seems like I might need to be getting more of these...
Prelight: Light tan colored wrapper with an occasional sun spot and some random greenish patches. Looks a bit oily. Seams are mostly tight and blend well, though in a few spots they look a bit loose. Couple of small veins present. While the cap is neatly applied, there are some bumps in it that may indicate some stems under there. Feels a little spongey, but no soft spots. Running it under the nose there is a definite musty woody aroma coming off it with a slight earthy pepper mixed in. Cut the cap without issue and while the draw is a little tight, it'll do. Cold draw was a light woody, vegetation flavor. Toasted and lit with a couple of matches.
First Third: Initial flavor is a medium dreen vegetation. I say medium cause it wasn't a faint or light flavor, nor was it super intense. That was the main player for about half an inch when a light peanut flavor creeped in. The draw was a little tight, but managable. Smoke output was good. Burn was fairly straight and the ash a nice white color that fell in half to one inch clumps.
Second Third: The peanut flavor intensified as the cigar progressed from the first third into the second and also took on a roasted character. The vegetation flavor transitioned into more of a light wood. Draw started to open up some toward the end of the second third and I picked up a slight pepperiness on the retro. The smoke output and burn were still the same.
Last Third: In the last third the roasted peanut died away a little leaving a mainly woody profile with some earthy pepper on the finish. Needed a few touch ups here and there, but nothing major. Draw ended up being just about perfect.
Final Thoughts: As good as I remember them. Up to this point all the Connecticut cigars I'd tried gave me an ashy woody flavor that wasn't real appealing to me. They also tended to linger on the palate for a while. This cigar finishes clean and was actually a nicely flavored cigar. I'll definitely be checking out more of these (especially the barber pole wrapper that I see on their website...I'm a sucker for a barber pole). If you're interested too these are available from The Cigar Room in Austin TX.
Dan
