Decided to fire up an opus x power ranger while I watch my duaghter's last game of her soccer tournament. Haven't had one of these in awhile. Crap!!! I forgot my camera in the car. Oh well!!
Don't know the year of this as it was gifted to me last year.
Beautiful chocolatey Colorado brown wrapper. I love the look of the rosado wrapper. Smooth, silky, just a sight to behold. The wrapper itself emits a sweetness that I can't place right now.
The band is intricate and ornate. A sense of regal ness to the presentation. Makes the anticipation grow by the second. A little package of goodnes waiting to be smoked.
The construction is first class. A little give throughtout the cigar. Just perfect level of firmness. The foot is dense and packed.
A quick snap from my palio provides a nice draw surface. Cold draw reveals a sweet raisiny flavour, bordering on honey and pancake syrup.
Time to take this to flame.
The cigar takes to the flame easily. Man, this is a white ash. Draw is firm. Perfect level of resistance. Burnt sugar, like the top on a creme brûlée, honey, raisins and cedar come over to introduce themselves. Very nice.
There is a bit of strength here that complements the sweetness. Just a dollop. Some cedar notes in every 4th or 5th puff to keep it interesting.
Burn line gets a little wonky on me as I enter the 2nd third. Draw has gotten firmer. Might have to cut off a bit more. The strength and cedar notes have picked up. Almost equal to the raisiny sweetness flavours now. Not much smoke coming off this.
A quick touchup and another snap of my Palio rectifies everything. Better draw and smoke production now. This cigar is very mellowing...
Strength starts to pick up considerably. A blast of pepperyness starts to make its way to the front of the bus. Reminds my of Thai chili sauce with the sweetness tones.
Some coffee and earhy notes starting to become more prominent. The sweetness had dies down, in favour of the pepperiness of the cigar.
Increasing in strength, almost too much. An element of harshness and bitter chocolate. The flavours aren't working together. Each draw is dominated by an individual flavour. The flavour changes with each draw too. Wierd.
Final impressions
Not sure of the age of this stick but it needs to sleep a bit more. The first 2 thirds were very enjoyable however the final third was quite harsh. Tough to get through. The pepperiness was overwhelming.
I have to say that I am not used to this level of strength that NCs are known for. Too much power is not a good thing. Wasn't able to distinguish the flavours past the pepper in the final puffs of the cigar.
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