DBall's Newb Blind Taste Test #5

[DBall]

ApexAZ Cigar #7
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5/14/2012

Okay, moving onto #7 in DBall's Blind Taste Test. I'll be pairing it with a double of whisky and a Pellegrino. Even though it's 8:15 P.M., it's still like 100 degrees out, so I'll probably be smoking faster than usual. It's warm. Phoenix summer is here. Ugh.



Pre-light
This cigar is about 5 3/4" long and has a ring guage around 38. The wrapper is slightly darker than the others and has one large vein throughout it's length. It also has somewhat of a roughly placed single cap (at least it appears so). The construction seems good enough, but the cigar just looks a little rough around the edges and it's very light. The cigar looks and feels old to me. The scent off the foot has a very, very slight tobacco smell. I had to really concentrate to smell it, it was so faint.

The pre-light draw seems fine, and I taste nothing but a slight grass/wood type flavor, which is also very faint.



1st Third
Like the others, the cigar is very smooth right off the bat. I don't think any have ever had that in-your-face blast of pepper like so many Nicaraguans do. This is a good thing to me. While I don't mind a bit of pepper, the first few puffs can be pretty brutal before things start to settle. On the other hand, I don't taste a lot at first on these either. After about 3/4" I'm finally starting to get some sweet flavor, but unable to pintpoint exactly what it tastes like just yet. About 1.5" in the flavor is kind of a toasty sweet cream flavor. It's very smooth and mild, but somewhat muted. The draw and burn have been perfect, and the salt and pepper ash drops on it's own after about 3/4".



2nd Third
I start getting into the 2nd third after about 25 minutes. The flavor is starting to really pick up now and it's really tasty. Notes of vanilla come in, as well as some charred wood. It's pretty dang good. It's still very mild and creamy with mild strength. The burn has continued to be perfect.



Final Third
45 minutes passed before getting into the final 3rd. The flavor continues to get sweeter. It's more of a toasty coffee, vanilla, caramel type mix. I'm digging it. What is it about these that make them so sweet? There must be something in the soil that promotes a lot of glucose or something? The burn continues to be perfect. Things are more medium now and the flavors just continue to fuller, sweeter and better with every puff. It's quite good and sadly it had to end with about 1/2" left.



Conclusion
This cigar was one of my favorites so far and I give it a 9/10. I really loved it! Thanks, Dan!

Score: 9/10

Total smoke time: 75 minutes

[DBall]

smitty81 Cigar #7
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Stick #7 is about 5-3/4 long and is about a 36 Ga. cigar. The construction of it is very soft and mushy with a single cap. There are some large veins in the wrapper and overall, this cigar looks pretty rough.

My first impression of this cigar after inspecting the construction of the cigar is that this cigar must be a cheaper value cigar.



I found the draw to be pretty tight on this cigar. The flavor on the other hand was awesome.




I'm not gonna take the time to break this cigar down into thirds as it basically retained it's flavor through out the entire cigar.

The burn was OK for the most part but I did have to touch it up a few times as the large veins in the wrapper seemed to keep it from burning real well.
There was very little to no smoke.

The flavor was AWESOME. The flavor was a very nice sweet cream-grassy flavor. I was really digging the flavor of this one.



I did retrohale with this cigar and based on the retrohale, I took an educated guess that this is a CC because my nose was not on fire afterwords. This was a really smooth cigar.




I truly enjoyed the flavor of this cigar down to about the last inch or so and then it started getting a bit harsh. I had been wondering if short filler was used in this cigar based on the construction. I did a little dissection with the nub and found short filler indeed.



After this cigar, I truly feel that I have learned something from this experience Dan has so kindly offered to me.

I feel that the conception I have gathered from my time here is that short filler is for cheaply made cigars. That may well be but 2 of the 3 cigars that I have really enjoyed flavor wise have had short filler.

To me short filler only means one thing which is the second thing I feel that I have learned. It means a tighter draw to me. Both of the short filler cigars I have enjoyed have both had a pretty tight draw which makes sense to me once I stop and think about why that would be so.

I give this cigar an 8/10 based on the draw issues. If it would have been a bit easier on the draw, I would have rated it between a 9 & 10.

Tasty!