Cigar: Jameson Black Label
Wrapper: Brazilian
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Vitola: Robusto (5x50)
Price: $104/box of 20 from Jameson Cigar Company
Setting: Sun room, 4:30pm, bout 50 degrees out. Pairing with a Snapple, peach, of course.
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Pre-light: The cigar has a rough looking, toothy, chocolate brown wrapper. Veins are very visible but smooth to the touch minus one prominent one near the head. The cigar seems very firmly packed with no noticable soft spots. The cigar is not particularly oily, but not dry either. The scent off the foot is a very pleasant sweet and spicy tobacco. The cranial screw top cut the cap perfectly. The draw was slightly firm with no strong taste on the tongue but a somewhat pastry scent through the nose.
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First third: After fully lighting the foot the first draw was greeted with a bit of spice on the tongue and this earthy/woody Domincan flavor. The draw is a tad snug, restricting the amount of smoke I'm getting I think. The body is medium and the finish is short and slightly spicy. The cigar is burning a bit uneven but the ash is holding firm. Well, up till around the 3/4 inch mark when I dropped it. Despite the uneven burn I haven't had the urge to touch it up yet. The flavors are nice but not overwhelming or bold. The smoke volume is still a bit thin for my likes.
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Second third: The burn line is starting to even out as we get into the second third. The flavors are remaining pretty much the same. I thought I'd get more flavor and sweetness from the Brazilian maduro wrapper, but it hasn't seemed to materialize. The draw opened up a bit at the halfway point but the smoke was still a bit on the thin side and medium in body. Definitely not smoke ring material. There's little noticable vitamin N in the cigar as well, and I'm smoking on an empty stomach. There is still the pleasant spice on the tip of the tongue.
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Final third: Well, the spice is really kicking up a notch in the final third. There is also a dryness to the smoke that is starting to come out. The flavors are still pleasantish, and remain in that earthy/woody realm. A bit of mocha flavor is coming in but just a hint. The smoke production has increased near the end but so as the heat so you really need to make sure to smoke it slow. The end is definitely the best part of this smoke. I'm still surprised that the sweetness hasn't come through in the smoke given the wrapper and the pre-light sweetness. Burn is good and ash holds well. Smoke time is moderately quick, as I reached the final third in well less than an hour. Usually a robusto lasts me about 90 minutes.
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Final thoughts: First, I want to give a big thanks to Walt from
www.stogiereview.com for sending the smoke my way. The cigar was well made, didn't require any relights or touchups and the flavors were ok. Though to confess, I do have an anti-Dominican bias, most of them don't seem to hit my flavor profile. Overall this is an enjoyable cigar but for the price range there are so many other cigars that are much more enjoyable to me. I was a bit disappointed that the flavors of the Brazilian wrapper didn't seem to come through to me, or at least what I'm used to in other cigars that use that wrapper.
Like it: Sure
Buy again: Didn't buy this one, but probably not, too many better cigars in this price range or less.
Reccommend: Sure, it may hit someone's taste buds on all cylinders.
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