lou2row B.T.T.; cigar #1

Here we go; reviews for cigar #1

SteveH
Cigar: Number 1
Vitola / Wrapper / Binder: 5 1/8” x 56. Toothy dark brown wrapper; oily and with small veins .
Drink / Food: Vino Rioja
Outside Factors: Warm
Construction: Very firm and hefty in the hand
Prelight : Mildly sweet tobacco
Cut: Straight cut using Xikar Xi
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-L.../IMG_00238.jpg
First Third: Cigar lit easily and settled quickly. The draw was quite open (which was surprising how firm and dense the cigar was), so that was annoying as getting smoke was difficult at first. Initial hits of leather and quality tobacco, with a very nice sweet and pleasing aroma. I found the first third to be a little plain, but judging by how straight and slow the burn was, I knew I was in for a long evening.
Draw: OK – too open. Surprising considering how hefty and firm the cigar was.
Burn: Excellent.
Ash/Smoke: Light grey/white ash; grey smoke. Nice thin smoke line from the cigar at rest. The cigar would hold its ash nearly all the way through each third.

Second Third: Nearly 40mins into the cigar, we finally reached the 2nd third ! The draw improved, and strong pepper came into the picture. It totally overtook me; as the cigar was quite mellow up until this point. Towards the end of the 2nd third; the pepper went away, and it was replaced by bitter chocolate and coffee. Nice !

Final third: Really picking up the pace. At this point, we’ve been in each other’s company for over an hour and 15mins, and we’re just reaching the last third ! The cigar got real strong, and a toast/almond combination came through in force. As we got into the band area the burn became hot and bitter. Considering that we’ve been at it for almost two hours it isn’t surprising, and I put it down.

Total Smoking Time: 118 mins
Strength: Strong Flavor: Medium
Overall Impression: A commitment cigar. If you settle down with it – plan on being there for a while. I wasn’t thrilled about the draw at first, it was like drinking through a straw with a hole in the middle. After it cleared up though it was a pleasant cigar. Enough to keep you interested; but enjoyable without having to focus on it too much. There was some nic kick to it towards the end.
Construction: 9 10
Prelight: 3 5
First Third: 12 15
Draw: 6 10
Burn: 9 10
Ash / Smoke: 8 10
Second Third: 7 10
Final Third: 7 10
Overall impression: 16 20
Total Score: 77 100

Emjaysmash
Cigar: No. 1
Vitola / Wrapper / Binder: N/A
Drink / Food: N/A
Outside Factors: Drizzling. No wind or discernable breeze.
Construction: Solid cigar, fairly light in the hand. No soft spots or overly hard spots.
Prelight : Sweet tobacco flavors, slight zest on the finish. Reminiscent of Brandy.
First Third: Flavor: rich tobacco, slight tanginess slight woodiness and herbal (basil) finish. Develops into prominent cedar wood flavors slight leather tones and a zest on the tip of the tongue. Sweet tobacco flavor as a base.
Draw: Free with very little resistance
Burn: Wavy and terrible. Touched up 2 time(s). And just let it go when it became bad. Cigar went out and I had to relight 2 times.
Ash/Smoke: Ash was solid, light and dark gray. Smoke was light/whispy
Second Third: Sudden transition into the second third and the flavors suddenly diminish in strength. Prominent tobacco flavor with slight cedar wood finish. Coffee and herbal notes appear every so often. Towards the end of the second third I get an interesting sort of prune-y taste I associate with Perique pipe tobacco.
Final third: much the same as the second, but coffee was the prominent flavor with wood undertones. Still not as strong as the flavors were in the first third.
Strength: Medium/Full
Overall Impression: This cigar had a lot of nice flavors in it that were well balanced after the first third. I was put off by the horrible burn and relights. This cigar was in my humidor at 65% RH for a few weeks so I’m not sure why it burned so badly.
Construction: 10 10
Prelight: 5 5
First Third: 12 15
Draw: 10 10
Burn: 2 10
Ash / Smoke: 8 10
Second Third: 7 10
Final Third: 8 10
Overall impression: 15 20
Total Score: 77 100


TJCobra
Cigar: Lou’s Cigar Taste Test IV – Cigar #1
Vitola / Wrapper / Binder: 8:30P Looks like a 6 x 52 Toro. Dark Brown wrapper. It’s dusk outside so I cant see it in great detail.
Drink / Food: 16.9 oz Bottle of Dasani purified Water. Nothing to eat since lunch about 9 hours ago. After work, I DID stop by the bar with my brother-in-law for a few beers 
Outside Factors: It’s brutal outside. When I got home 30 minutes ago at 8:00 PM, it was 102 outside. So, I’m guessing it is 101 right now. Ugh. Maybe I should move to Afghanistan for some cooler weather.
Construction: Cigar appears to have decent construction. Very heavy in hand and VERY firm. Almost hard. No triple cap on this one (that I can see) and it might be considered a little “lumpy”. Definitely not a perfect roll and not smooth all around.
Prelight : When I first grabbed this cigar out of the bag, I took a wiff and it stunk. I don’t know what it was but I grabbed some other sticks cause I didn’t think I would be smoking this too long. After it sat out a few minutes, I smelled it again and it smelled much better. Kind of a sweet tobacco thing going on. Just a faint bit of stink left on it. I hope one of the other cigars didn’t get its stink on them! LOL!
Cut it with my trusty “burlwood” Palio. Just took a puff pre-light. ACK! Not good. I tasted what I smelled earlier! I hope that the stink leaks out since I cut it!!!! Now to light with my Tatuaje Triple Flame Lotus…
First Third:
8:45P Good Lord. Now I realize why I have never reviewed a cigar before. While the stink seems to have left the cigar, I am not getting any distinct flavors with the first few puffs. Will smoke this a bit to see what develops. Not horrible. Not great. Be back in a few minutes.
8:52 About a half inch in. I think I can say with certainty that I’ve never smoked this cigar. It isn’t bad, but I don’t recognize the flavors. Kind of a toasty, tobacco-y flavor? Man I suck at this. Maybe I need to hawk a loogie and try again…. Nope. Still suck at this. Not bad flavor though…
8:59 More of the same. Leaving kind of a buttery feel/taste in my mouth. The smoke stinks like the initial pre-light but the cigar doesn’t taste bad.
9:01 Whoa. About an inch in and I just got a blast of perfume or something. Blech.
9:05 Cigar has moved from Toasty and Buttery to “Fragrant”. Not my cup of tea. Ash is still holding about 1 ¼ inches but looks like it will fall soon
7/10 I like the toasty/buttery flavor and would have probably enjoyed the cigar had it stayed that way. So, it got some points for trying to not suck.
Draw: Perfect draw. Not loose or firm. Just right.
Burn: It’s burning well and pretty straight. No touch-ups or relights needed.
Ash/Smoke: Medium gray ash with plenty of smoke.
Second Third: Ash dropped. On my laptop :/
9:17 Into the second third. All of the previous flavors have left and I’m getting something different that I cant put my finger on. Draw and burn are still good. Ash is holding again but the aftertaste/retrohale leaves a weird taste that is just kind of “meh” to me. Maybe it’s still the fragrant taste that hit me earlier and burned out my taste buds and sense of smell.
91 I’ve drank almost the whole bottle of water (or it evaporated from the heat). I’m going to move on to a light beer in a few minutes. Shouldn’t affect the taste I don’t think.
98 More of the same. Ash held to about 1.5” and I ashed it to save my keyboard. Still a floral or fragrant aftertaste.
3/10 because it wasn’t horrible but not my flavor profile
Final third: More of the same…
9:37 Although I’m not quite in the final third of the cigar, I’m in the final third of what I’m going to be smoking. Just more of the same floral/fragrant aftertaste to me. I’ll smoke it down to about two inches to see if it changes any more…
10:00 Cigar went out… died a quiet death with about 2 inches left. Not going to re-light this one. We are both better to just move on.
3/10

Strength: Medium strengthI suppose Flavor: uhm, it did have some, but not many I liked
Overall Impression: The cigar was rolled fine, burned fine, and had a good draw. I didn’t enjoy the flavors and I think I knew it was doing to be tough to smoke with the initial pre-light smell and the pull I made through the cigar before I lit it. Not my cup of tea. I have no idea what it was. I wouldn’t buy or recommend.
Construction: 7 10
Prelight: 2 5
First Third: 10 15
Draw: 10 10
Burn: 9 10
Ash / Smoke: 3 / 3 10
Second Third: 3 10
Final Third: 3 10
Overall impression: 8 20
Total Score: 58 100