I was digging through the singles drawer and came across this little gem, figured it had sat long enough so I took it out for a little review. This Viaje Exclusivo Robusto originally came in a glass jar ("the pickle jar"), I never got a full one but Mac got a couple, and one time visiting Newport News in June of 2010 he made sure I got one out of the jar to try. This thing looked beautiful in band and wrapper, the black embossing on the cream background looked very distinguished, and the marbleized wrapper really made it pop. I stuck it away like I did with a lot of stuff, but today was the day 9 years in the making, as I remind myself these things were made to be smoked.
Pulled up to an empty cigar bar, ordered an Alaskan Amber and put my feet up. Again I admire the look of this cigar, before cutting and taking a pre-light draw. A little tight, but also notice a little sweetness before it's even lit, a good sign of things to come. It took to the torch well, and from the first puff the flavor is very full, but not so strong that I couldn't do 100% nose exhale. The smoke was 6/10 on thickness, not full of clouds but enough to keep the flavors strong. So far it is predominately wood, with an overall earthy profile. The burn is straight, and as I'm coming to the end of the first third a little bit of black pepper starts coming through, "sprinkled in."
Going into the second third the ash is still dense and attached, doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The wood profile is there, but I get a faint musty taste, in a very good way. It is reminiscent of a very old Opus X I had one time, but where that was up front nutty/musty this was more in your face wood with a subtle background of must. There's probably a better word than "Musty" but it's what I think of, very unique.
The pepper starts to fade, the medium nuttiness remains, and at about half way through the ash falls off. I give it a slight touch up with the torch in one spot and a fresh cut to try to open the draw up a bit. It helps a little, but still pretty tight. I get a bit more smoke for the first couple puffs after cutting but not a significant change. There's a little tongue bite and a generally mild profile.
Going into the last third I give it another touch up to fix one spot that's not burning straight but overall the construction has held up well. The flavor amps up and I start getting graham crackers, it's delicious. The ash falls again. The tongue bite turns to sweetness, reminding me of the pre-light draw. Then just like that it starts coming to an end, the draw gets very tight and one last clip at about 1.5" can only save it for a puff or two. The flavors overall get muted, and while it is still technically drawing I know it's over. At 1" left I let it go, it was fun while it lasted.
Overall smoke time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes, overall experience was different than I was expecting but very positive. If anybody still has some of these kicking around (looking at you Mac) I'd highly suggest smoking it, just make sure you're somewhere quiet where you can focus, this is a complex little guy.
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