Cigar Name: 601, Green.
Cigar Size: Corona, 5"x42.
Wrapper Type: Oscuro.

Oh what a surprise. Another blistering hot 96* day. I cannot wait till this heat wave goes away and we are back in the 70*-80* range. On the good side though, there is a bit of a breeze and its slightly cooler. Feels rather nice sitting on the deck in the shade of an umbrella.

I been trying to pick up a nice Maduro cigar with a bit of a cocoa or espresso flavor profile to it. So I decided to give one of the 601 Green Coronas a try. I love the size. It's a good half inch shorter than your average Corona. Basically the length of a Robusto with the ring gauge of a Corona. I tried one of these a week or so after I got them, and they were nothing special. Hoping the 2-3 months of aging I gave them will help them settle down a bit.

Construction: 9/10

Very solid and a great looking Oscuro wrapper with ever so slight toothyness to it. Beautiful triple cap. No cracks or splits. Also as I mentioned I really like the size of this.

Flavor: 22/25

The 2-3 months rest really let this cigar develop quite a bit. It starts off with a bit of cocoa and spice then settles down to more of a toasty flavor with mild spice from time to time. Approaching the finale the toasty flavor remains and the spice kicks up a little bit and the flavors of cocoa reemerges once again. Was a very flavorful and well balanced cigar. I'd say Medium-Full flavor, medium body, light strength. Great cigar with little effects of nicotine.

Draw: 9/10

Exceptional draw. Take very little effort to produce smoke.

Burn: 8/10

From time to time the burn was a little uneven. Didn't require any touch ups at all. After the first half the burn was close to spot on even. Also I wanted to note, I put the cigar down about half way through and went over and talked to my neighbor for a little over 5 minutes. Came back and it was still lit perfectly.

Ash: 5/5

Very nice light gray with a bit of salt and pepper look to it. Holds very well.

Smoke: 5/5

Sufficient amounts of think white clouds of smoke.

Impression: 32/35

This really surprised me. As I said that 2-3 months of light rest really helped this cigar develop. These are great looking cigars. Nice oscuro wrapper with some minor veins. Solid construction, feels great in the hand, and smells wonderful pre-light. The flavor was great and had no major issues with burn or construction. I picked up a 5er of these for $22.00 of cbid. About $4.50 a stick. Well worth the price in my opinion. Had that little nice bit of Pepin spice, but it was never overwhelming and the cigar was generally smooth from start to finish. I brought this sucker down to the nub.

Overall Rating: 90

An excellent cigar. I would highly recommend the 3 months of rest before even trying these. It really helped improved the cigar all around.

If your a Maduro fan, give these a try. Also with that rest they become quite mild in strength though the flavor remains medium to full. Great for newbies who want to avoid a nicotine buzz. I have an anxiety disorder and some times I have to lay down after a cigar, even if it isn't that strong. I felt perfectly fine after this cigar, which just adds to my overall enjoymanet of it. Well worth the money spent.
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