Viaje Skull and Bones "?"

[jesseboston81]

I received this stick as a gift at a mini-herf from Jeremy/homerjay19 (or possibly Jim/KenyansAndBoa) a couple months ago. It's been resting since then, and after receiving another in the recent "wedding bomb" I decided to light this one up and give it a go.

As we all know, this was a very limited release last October, although it may possibly be a standard Halloween release. At 5"x54, it's a little fatter than the cigars that I normally tend to smoke. The wrapper is beautiful, rather dark, and has a reddish tint--I would probably label it as "colorado maduro." The wrapper finishes in a very attractive closed foot. Pre-light, this stick smells strongly of black pepper. The draw is a touch on the loose side, but that's partially my fault for hitting it with the guillotine instead of the punch (my personal practice would be to punch a cigar of this RG and only cut off more if necessary).

The stick lights easily, likely due to the closed foot. The first few draws were meaty black pepper, strong and in my face. About half an inch in, the meat and pepper faded into an intense cedar flavor.

Into the second third, and like the reviews I've read online, the best word so far is "muddled." It's difficult to pick anything specific out. There's some cedar, but less than in the first third, as well as the ever-present spice. There's still a little of the meatiness, as well as some very light coffee and cocoa notes.

Wrapping things up, the muddled character disappeared near the end of the second third. The spice mostly faded away, becoming nothing more than a whisper in the background, while the coffee and cocoa notes rose to the top. There was also a hint of cinnamon. I smoked this until it almost burned my fingers. It was a great cigar thanks Jeremy (or Jim)!