Caldwell Midnight Express Robusto
50x5
1) Aesthetics: Chocolatey brown, veiny, semi-dry wrapper, finished off with a pigtail cap. The gold/black band is tastefully done, it attenuates the chocolate wrapper nicely.
2) Pre-light Construction: It appears to be evenly filled, and is solid, no sponginess. The wrapper smells of sweet and cocoa, while the foot is a bit on the musty side.
3) Post-light Construction/How it smoked: I won’t say it draws effortlessly, but it is an easy draw producing a good volume of thick, blue-grey smoke. It stays firm throughout the smoke, keeping a nice even burn line, a dabbled grey/white, firm, ash.
4) Flavor and strength: This takes off like an SR-71 with full afterburners – almost overwhelming black pepper and not much else. It did get better, but not much. I was pretty much just the pepper, and very full-bodied. There was not a whole lot of complexity to this smoke, and I am not a big fan of strong, full-bodied cigars that are such, just for that reason.
5) Aftertaste/Finish: Considering how strong this was, I expected a strong, lingering finish. Well, that did not materialize. In fact, that might have been the most enjoyable part of the cigar – the finish. Here the pepper faded quickly and left a piquant sweetness.
6) Aroma: When sniffing sideslip smoke, it came near to burning the nose, as pepper again was the dominant note.
7) General Comments: I only had one of these, so do not judge this cigar by my review alone. It is a very good-looking cigar, it virtually screams, “Smoke me!” Don’t trust it! Of course, if you like a peppery power bomb, go for it! This was not in my wheelhouse at all.
8) Recommendation: Not my cup of tea, but for those who like pepper and strength in their cigars…this might be your nirvana!
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