A few years ago the French puro Navarre was launched. The tobacco was grown in the south of France under control of Cuban growers and the cigars were rolled by Cubans too. About a year or two ago they went under and much to my surprise I saw a Navarre booth at the Intertabac trade show. The representative told me that the company was restarted and gave me a 9x52 double corona in a glass tube with a cork stop.
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The cigar has a great construction and looks awesome. The chocolate brown wrapper is silky and is so oily that it shines. I only see a few thin veins. I smell a mild horse stable smell. The predraw is a bit tights and I taste tobacco and raisin. I like the red simple band.
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I taste dry earthy flavors with leather, coffee and a honey sweetness. After three quarters of an inch I taste honeysweet earthy flavors. After two inch I get a dry and bit musty wood, hay and some honey. After a third I taste some marzipan with herbs and wood. The cigar is mild spicy too.
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Halfway I taste some spicy herbs with a marzipan sweetness. It is a bit hard to keep the cigar burning so I cut an extra ⅛ of an inch off the cigars which helps. I taste lavender. After two thirds I taste a lot of black pepper with some earthy flavors. The aftertaste is lavender freshness. With two inch to go I had enough and let the cigar die in the ashtray.
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This cigar lasted me for three hours. The draw is good but the smoke is a bit poor. The burn is oké, I have some minor issues with the crooked burn and halfway the cigar gets hard to keep lit. The dark ash isn't firm at all. This cigar is medium flavored and medium bodied.
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Would I buy this cigar again? It all depends on the price
Appearance: 9 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10
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