Here is the first review in my "march insaneness" barber pole tourney.
Let's get to it...
"Put me in coach!"
This is one of my favorite smokes, but I tried to be as impartial as I could. This ciagr is a bit veiny and there is one small tear in the wrapper just under the ban. It has a very nice barnyard smell. It clipped easily and the pre light draw is loose with a nice, sweet flavor. It lit easy and has a nice leather flavor. Nice amount of creamy smoke and the ash is salt and pepper.
The obligatory 5 minute pic...
At ten minutes, I got a nice little whiff of cocoa that lasted a couple of draws. This is a new flavor for me with this stick. The main flavor is a nice leather, with a bit of spiciness coming in underneath. The aroma coming off is nice and woody. The draw and ash are holding.
As you can see though, the burn is a little crooked. This little problem will continue throughout this smoke.
At 20 minutes...
A light spice is coming through and the ash and draw are still great. Look at that nice cone! But, the burn is still a little ragged.
Ten minutes later a little cinnamon has creeped in before giving way to leather. The flavor is just what I expect, subtle, not too strong or complex.
Here is a 45 minute pic...
Nice ash!!
At the one hour mark, leather has definitley come to the forefront. The aroma is still woody, almost campfire like. the burn actually has starightened a little bit.
20 minutes later, the flavor is starting to go away. the burn has gone ragged again. The flavor has started bringing in a little harshness, which lets me know that we are near the end.
I sent it to the showers at 89 minutes...
Still smelled great, but the harshness was too much to finish.
As I said before, this is one of my go to sticks. It is not a big flavor, knock you on your butt stick, but it is a consistent, subtly flavored smoke that has rarely let me down through almost two boxes.
Here is the scoring breakdown:
Appearance and Presentation: 18
Lost a couple of points for it's veiny appearance.
Lighting and Burning Properties: 12
Lost two points for the burn issues. While ragged, it did not require a touch up or cause any problems.
Construction Properties: 30
Perfect score here.
Taste Properties: 27
Biggest deductions here, were for that subtle, mild flavor.
Overall Score: 87
That's one down...