Puros Indios ''Special-Aged''

[the MacDonald]

Puros Indios ''Special-Aged''
(6.7" x 64) Piramide

In the interest of full disclosure I smoked a pipe almost exclusively for about 7 years, and my palate has changed considerably. In the last few months I have been very happily burning my way through Oliva O series perfecto’s, and all things Kristoff. I used to smoke PI’s often, and thought they were an “all right” cigar.

Pre-light: It’s a big damn cigar. I always liked the look of these, both because the shape emphasized the size of it and makes it almost cartoonish. It looks like the cigar to be smoked when planning a coupe in a South American country. The first clue that might be a cigar you want to smoke when you may have to drop it and make an escape into the jungle is that is surprisingly light for being such a behemoth. The wrapper is rough, and almost rustic. Pre light draw yields nothing at all, other than it was extremely loose. Clue # 2

First Third: I only have a single flame torch lighter, and I ended up charring the foot in placed rather than toasting it. It produced generous clouds of white smoke, another thing I take a near childish delight in. It began an uneven burn from that point forward. The initial taste (even with the charring) was almost non-existent. The strikingly white ash blossomed like a rose, a faint watered down coffee that was whisked with fresh-cut grass developed.

2nd Third: I found myself amazed that so tobacco, and so much smoke produce so little impact on the palate. The burn wondered every direction and was corrected often. The coffee and grass echoes find an undertone of tobacco on the sweeter side, that stared to come to the forefront, but again it was so faint that I had to nearly meditate to notice it.

3rd Third: More faint tobacco taste, if I cut the stick open at any point and laid the burn line down it would have looked like a market volatility chart in a very volatile market.

Conclusion: I really liked these once upon a time and I had higher hopes. I knew it was a mild stick, and not a sought after stick these days, but at least I have the memories.

Would I buy again? Nope. I paid somewhere around $10 for 6 of these “rare” and “specially aged” sticks. The burn was awful, and it was so mild, if it weren’t for the smoke I would have wondered if it was lit. Specially aged to me would imply some level of complexity, or some sort of interesting action in a stick, not a flat, faint, and yeah I’ll say it, frankly flaccid smoke.

Box Worthy? Maybe if the box had a special prize in it like a decoder ring.