The Nicaraguan puro Benchmade is made by Don Pepin Garcia with a very consumer friendly price tag. I found boxes of these churchills for less than 70$ at some online cigar shops, which is a steal for these beauties. I got this churchill from a close friend who knew I had never smoked these and that I dig most Pepin made smokes.
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This 7x50 Churchill comes packed in cellophane and once released I can smell a mild sour barnyard aroma. The cigar looks good with a nice, dark and oily wrapper that feels silky. The cigar has a tiny pigtail on top. The cigar feels a bit soft, but it is evenly soft so I don't expect construction errors. The predraw is fine and tastes like peppery raisin.
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I taste a strong coffee flavor with black pepper. After an inch I also taste a strong wood flavor, the coffee becomes the supporting flavor, the pepper tones down a bit and I also taste some chocolate. These flavors continue to be present, although the coffee fades away until I can't taste it anymore.
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Halfway the chocolate gains some strength but that only lasts for about an inch, after that the chocolate is back to the previous weaker strength. At ⅔ the flavors change to toast with chocolate on the background. Near the finish the cigar gets spicy.
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Even though this is a 7 inch churchill, the cigar only lasted me 75 minutes, but during that time I got plenty of medium thick smoke. The draw is fine, but the burn was a bit crooked. The ash is dark colored and quite firm. If you would ask me about the strength of the cigar I would tell you that it is definitely full flavored and medium bodied.
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Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, I liked it a lot
Appearance: 7 / 10
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 6 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10
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