DBall's Newb Blind Taste Test #3

[DBall]

Brutus2600 Cigar #8
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Upon initial inspection this cigar looks to be about 6 x 42. The construction is very nice, beautiful smooth wrapper, triple capped, no major veins, and as with most of Dan's other cigars, has some light plume.



Initial light 8: 25 - The prelight draw plays the taste of sweet tobacco with a hint of raisins over my tongue. It's a little tight, but as with my previous experiences, I'm not too worried because they usually open up. Having some draw problems, my first draw doesn't bring too much smoke, but the cigar is flavorful from the beginning, bringing to my attention hints of vanilla, hay, and nuts.



First Third - What smoke I can get is creamy, smooth, and flavorful. I'm getting caramel notes, along with the nutty flavors before. There is virtually no spice or pepper notes on this cigar, it's mild, smooth, and definitely has good flavor. The ash is a nice white/gray, with a very even and sharp burn line. Attempting to massage the cigar a little bit to open up the draw, I feel what appears to be a pretty significant stem that isn't visible, but you can definitely feel it. I'm worried this might be the draw problem, which means I'll have that throughout



Second Third 9:02 - I think the cigar is finally opening up, or at least is opening up enough that I don't have to draw so hard my cheeks hurt. The ash is pretty consistently dropping every 3/4"-1". I'm still getting creamy smoke, with hints of toffee thrown in there on top of the nutty flavors of before. While the good flavors in this cigar aren't screaming in my face, the whispers of toffee there, or caramel here, are really making this cigar enjoyable despite the draw issues towards the beginning. On a side note, I just purged because the cigar was getting a little bitter, and I got a HORRIBLE aroma that smelled exactly skunk. I hope that doesn't return!



Final Third 9:33 - Unfortunately I'm still getting some strong skunk overtones. Not all the time, just occasionally, which being a surprise makes it that much worse. I think it's done doing that now, but for a few minutes there it was quite unpleasant. Unfortunately, the flavor bouquet that I was enjoying so much has seem to all but have disappeared. It's not bitter, or bad flavored, but on the other hand there aren't any flavors to write home (or CA) about either. For all intents and purposes it appears this cigar has flat lined. I guess if a cigar is going to do that however, better the last part than the beginning!



Finish Time 10:05 - While the draw was an issue at the beginning, the cigar was a flavor bomb that made any draw issues immaterial. Burn was phenomenal, I didn't have to touch up or relight this cigar at all. With the draw opening up after the first third it really seemed like this cigar was going to finish strong and become a highlight of my weekend, however with the veritable spray in the face by a skunk and the subsequent disappearance of any flavor, it left me wishing I could've just smoked the first half of the cigar twice. Still, I do take into account that it WAS an enjoyable smoke at the beginning, so I can't let the final impression of the cigar sully my entire experience.

Appearance and construction: 1.2 out of 1.5 (pts off for draw issues/major stem)
Smoke and ash: 1.5 out of 1.5
Burn: 3 out of 3
Overall flavor: 2.6 out of 4 (full pts for the first 2/3rds, no pts for the final 1/3rd)

Total: 8.3 out of 10