AKA Respect Guard Review

Cigar: AKA Respect Guard

Size: 6 x 44 rg

Filler: 4 and 5 year aged Dominican Corojo Ligero and Honduran Corojo Ligero from the Eiroa and Kelner Families

Binder: 4 year aged Honduran Corojo Ligero from the Eiroa Family

Wrapper: 4 year aged Ecuadorian Habano Wrapper

Price: $8.75 USD

Individual Weight: 14.55g

Pre-Light: This cigar is covered in a beautiful milk chocolate brown wrapper that shows one significant vein that runs on the underside of the band. There is a nice even coat of oils that have seeped from the wrapper. There is also a fair bit of tooth to the wrapper as well. A sniff of the body provides the scent of warm caramel and cocoa. The foot offers the aroma of strong tobacco and patent leather. The cigar is very heavy in the hand and has simple but very beautiful black and silver banding.


1/3rd: The first puffs exhibit a sweet and spicy profile that has a nutmeg aftertaste. There is a wood component in the middle part of the profile that morphs into a coffee after taste after a retro-hale. The flavors blend very well together and complement one another. The cigar doesn’t seem to have much in the way of spice at the beginning but it soon starts to build. There is a honey sweetness behind all the main flavors, kind of a backdrop for the flavor profile. The burn started off a bit off, with a soft spot creating a ravine in the wrapper near the foot just after lighting but it corrected itself within an inch of being lit. The burn is now very even, with a nice ring of oils surrounding the cigars burn line. The flavor profile seems to match most closely to a Joya De Nicaragua Antano 1970. The nuttiness that comes through at the two inch mark sets the stage for the chocolate and coffee flavors that follow. Nearing the midway point of the cigar, the nutmeg flavor starts to change into a more all-spice type taste. The nuttiness starts to pick up a spice component that is starting to develop as we go on. The coffee taste is also becoming stronger and developing some complexity to it.



½ Way: The halfway point is marked by more caramel and creamy notes that are followed by a acidic bolder coffee flavor with spicy tones when taking a double puff. It finishes into wood and nuttiness that makes me a think of peanut brittle. The ash is completely white on this cigar, a hallmark of proper aging and fermentation. The cigar’s draw is still perfect and effortless, providing large volumes of smoke that billow in the air. I am enjoying the cigar with a cup of creamed Sumatra coffee from Seattle Mountain Coffee roasters. They go very well together I’m finding. Might need a second cup in fact! The cigar is burning very even at this point although the ash is falling at about the 1.5 inch mark indicating to me that the roller might have had a moment of weakness when this cigar passed through their hands. The sweetness has blended well with the creaminess and cocoa to bring in a bit of a caramel flavor to the smoke. The flavors are still developing well, and we now have the spice starting to come to the front of the stage.



Final 3rd: The spice is in full effect at the beginning of the final third. The acidic coffee flavor has developed even more into a zesty orange rind tone that dances on the edge of your tongue. It has a mineral finish to it. The cigar is very full in strength at this point and is quite spicy on the sinuses when exhaled through the nose. The flavors have stayed constant though the final third, but have become slightly bitter and acrid. The bitterness is still rounded out by a nuttiness and cream component that keeps your palette fresh by the time you take your next puff.



Final Thoughts: The AKA Respect is a truly fine offering from a smaller US brand that should be popping up on cigar smokers radar more and more as 2012 goes on. The cigar surprised me in the strength category as it was definitely stronger than the level of oomph I had imagined for it. The flavors were very pleasing to the palette and blended very well with each other. We feel that the cigar is correctly priced for the level of quality found within the stick, and would find a home in any full-flavored cigar lovers humidor with relavtive ease. All in all, this cigar is a solid B+ is our book.

For the final rating and pictures, click here.

[HollywoodQue]

Nice review, thanks for sharing