Cigar #1:
Pre-draw is super chocolatey…
1st/3rd:
Lighting it… I’m used to habanos… typically aged or mild. Therefore, I like to push a LOT of smoke out of my nose… gotta be careful during this tasting run.
The flavors here are pretty tasty, though I can’t quite discern them. Bitterness on the back of the tongue as well, but not bad. This cigar is fairly strong and, to my palate, the flavors are a bit muddled by that strength. Ash is a couple shades lighter than coal… hahaha… very dark. I’m trying to sip this and it is not making much difference.
The benefit to this blind run is that, considering I don’t smoke NCs, I have no idea of profiles or what’s out there. I couldn’t guess what any of these are if I had to.
I am getting some chocolate out of the first third. As an aside, the ash doesn’t like the cigar and continually succeeds in escaping it.
2nd/3rd :
By ‘muddled’ I mean… imagine if you took rainbow sherbet, vanilla ice cream and chocolate ice cream and mixed them all up. You know you’re eating something cold, like I know I’m smoking a cigar. Every now and then some flavor pops in. That’s this cigar.
I feel like I’m having an incredibly hard time picking out flavors. In the interest of full disclosure, this is my second cigar of the day… perhaps that has something to do with it. I also seem to be getting that acidy/bittery aftertaste on the tongue characteristic of ever time I try to enjoy an NC. It tastes like my mouth is made of yuck. Don’t misunderstand, though… the smoke itself is good. The palate-coating ‘flavor’, however, not so much. On the sides of my tongue on the back it’s that same feeling as when you eat a lemon.
I gotta say, I’m kinda enjoying this. Especially now as I’m noticing the overall bitterness slipping away after the halfway point (aside from the back/sides of the tongue thing that’s still there and noticeable… especially when I’m not actively smoking it).
I’m going into this with a fully open mind… as I said, it’s been quite a while for me and NCs… if there’s a band on it, though, I may try to tie it in with things I’ve heard in passing about them as some of my friends I get together with weekly smoke NC’s pretty much exclusively.
At this point, the cigar seems to be mellowing out a bit, but there’s still spice to it… something meaty about it… definitely stronger than what I’m used to smoking. That ‘back of the tongue bitterness’ is still present and driving me nuts when I’m not actively smoking it.
3rd/3rd:
Burn is perfect, construction is great and the draw is effortless. I do smoke by habit, though, in the sense that I keep trying to push large volumes of smoke out my nose. My nose burns.
The smoke itself, however, still tastes pretty good aside from the spice and bitter. Still, though, I’m not pinpointing anything specific… the chocolate vanished some time back. I don’t necessarily dislike it, though… it’s just hard to explain.
It’s now taking on a bit of a sawdust-y profile… reminds me of woodworking. I do love the size, though… this is comparable to what I typically go to in that regard.
In closing, I’ve definitely smoked worse cigars. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it... wouldn't really seek them out. While at times the smoke itself was good, it’s hard to get past the lingering bitterness, muddled flavors, the not-so-pleasant aftertaste and its strength. From now on, I will make these testing cigars my first cigar of the day so I might have a fresher palate.
Rating out of 100: 65