I got this cigar from an American friend in a trade or a bomb, I can't remember, and this whole brand was unknown to me as it is not for sale in The Netherlands. Ofcourse I heard of the name, but I had never seen or tried one myself. I smoked the Pinar del Rio Habano Sungrown 5x50 robusto, a cigar with a Dominican Habano Sun Grown wrapper, a Dominican Criollo '98 binder and a Nicaraguan and Dominican filler.
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The cigar is nice and dark and the wrapper is very shiny, oily and has a few veins. The cigar also has a pretty strong barnyard aroma. The construction feels good. The predraw is good and I taste raisin.
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I taste a peppery coffee which is mild sweet and I even taste some dark chocolate, I like this. After an inch the coffee disappears and I taste dark chocolate, some herbs and at a third even a hint of nuts.
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Halfway I taste chocolate, wood, herbs and still some nuts. The chocolate gets less dominant and the wood slowly takes it place, with the herbs and the chocolate still on the background. After two thirds the herbs are getting stronger while the chocolate keeps fading away.
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This cigar lasted me an hour and twenty five minutes. The draw is good but gets a bit harder along the way, so I drilled a hole in the cigar which helped a lot. The smoke is good, I get enough smoke and it is reasonably thick. The ash is dark but firm. The burn is ok, I had to correct it a few times and at one point there was even some tunneling. This cigar is full flavored and medium to full bodied.
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Would I buy this cigar again? I might, depends on the price.
Appearance: 7 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 6 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Aroma first part: 8 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10
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