A friend recommended trying the 5 Vegas Classic Fifty Five. It's a nice, box pressed stick. The filler and binder are Nicaraguan and Dominican and the wrapper is Sumatran. The first one I tried was soft. Something was wrong. I lit up and within 1/2" the wrapper cracked and fell apart. I was disappointed.

I grabbed a second one and it was firm in the hand; not like the first one. Both were laying right next to each other in my humidor so I'm not really sure why the first one was a dud. But the second turned out to be excellent. I checked the other 3 cigars I had, and they all felt firm, so I figured that I just got one that slipped through quality control.
I smelled the cigar and I could detect cocoa. Very nice. I lit up and got a blast of red pepper. This put a smile on my puss.
I examined the cigar and the construction was very good. Hardly any veins.

As I smoked the first third, the cigar gave off a definite medium body, meaty flavor. I got some tones of cedar and sweet wood.

About 3/4" in, it started to canoe on me. I immediately used my lighter to repair it and it burned perfectly throughout the rest of the smoke. It didn't produce a lot of smoke....just wafted in the air.
At the end of the 1/3 point, I noticed that it had a very nice, even, tight ash.
The flavor was all wood and spice. And it had that meaty, medium body flavor.
Half way through, a huge wave of cream entered the picture. The spice rolled to the back of my throat and the creaminess made it a nice combination. By this time, it was shoveling out huge billows of smoke. Nice.

I noticed something that I rarely see in my cigars. The end I put in my mouth was staying well formed and uniform. This is a well made cigar. Instead of it getting all sloppy, it was firm all the way to the end. I didn't have to spit out any loose tobacco, even once.
It has a very slow burn. It lasted a good 60 minutes.
The cigar stayed consistent to the nub. Never harsh or bitter.
It wasn't a very complex smoke but the consistency made up for that.
I like this cigar.... a lot.
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