La Vieja Habana - The Early Years - Silencio

[BlackDog]

Sometime last year I asked a very knowldegeable cigar smoker to put together a large sampler for me, of all types of cigars; various makes, nationalities, tobaccos; the good, bad, and ugly. I wanted to develop a broader perspective on different types of cigars. One of the cigars he included was a LVH The Early Years Silencio. Because of it's small size, and because I did the newbie thing of filling a cooler or two rather quickly, this cigar languished in my humi. Last night I had thought to smoke it, but grabbed a Hemingway instead. So tonight I smoked the Silencio.

First of all, this cigar smells great, and has a nice earthy pre-light draw. It's a small cigar, 4" x 46rg, and has a dark maduro, almost oscuro wrapper. Also, I think the band is pretty cool looking.

When I light the cigar I get pretty strong peppery spice, with an underlying sweetness. Very smooth too. Even though it's so peppery, I can snork it without blowing my eyeballs out.

The first inch remains pretty spicy, but then the cigar becomes very chocolatey. Like really good hot chocolate, Ghiradelli or something similar. This little cigar is really suprising me.

The third inch became rich and earthy, reminding me of the smell of good loam. The spice is returning too, but not all "up front" like the first inch. It's more of a strong background flavor.

The final inch was more spicy, but the cigar also became hot. I smoked it down to about 3/4 inch and then tossed it.

This cigar rocked. If it had a DPG label on it they'd sell like crazy for $5.00. But with the LVH label, they only sell for about $1.70 per stick, which is a crazy good value for a stick this good. This stick gets the BlackDog seal of approval.