Construction:  This was simply one nice cigar, the wrapper had a nice oily looking sheen and only had two small veins. Rolling it between my fingers, it was firm, but not hard and had no soft spots.

Pre-light: The aroma from the wrapper and the foot had notes of nuts and mocha and the end cap had the same nice mocha flavor. It was one of the better wrappers in the flavor department that I have seen in a while. After the end was clipped the stick had the same nutty mocha flavor on the cold draw that came from the foot and the draw was close to perfect.

First third: Once the cigar was lit it produced a large volume of smoke with a pleasant nutty mocha aroma and the first flavor that hit my pallet was a full bodied slap-you-in-the-face mix of oak, charcoal, earth and pepper that sat on the back of the tongue. My inital thought on the flavor was “oh boy here we go with another pepper bomb”. But was I ever wrong. Within an inch the entire flavor profile changed to a nice creamy mocha flavor and the full bodied strength dropped down into the medium range. I was a bit surprised when the nice white ash fell at just about and inch.

Middle: At the mid point the charcoal came back into the flavor mix producing the nice scalded mocha flavor that I look for in a maduro cigar. By this time the burn was off a bit but it was nothing to be concerned with.

End: Into the final third the burn had ran off almost one half inch but was now correcting itself and the flavor was holding perfectly. When the nub was down to almost two inches another flavor jumped into the mix and replaced the mocha. It took a minute to pin this new flavor down but it was orange and the cigar now tasted like a scalded orange creamsicle. This new, but tasty flavor mix was short lived. Right at the two inch mark the cigar went out. I tried to relight it, but all it did was get hot so I ended up trashing the final two inches of a super tasty cigar.

Overall: This cigar was delicious! The flavor profile was fantastic as was the construction. Since this was the most expensive cigar I have ever smoked I was very disappointed that I had to trash the final two inches. Other than that, it as a fantastic cigar. I have one more in my humidor and I am very happy that I do.
Since this blog is really about budget cigars, the low rating on this stick is primarily due to price.

Appearance and construction: 19.5
Flavor: 19.5
Smoking characteristics: 18
Overall experience: 18
Purchased Price: 15
Total: 90