$7.
5 1/4 x 48 nasty hard vain on one side
Prelight: black pepper, cedar, leather and some floral/herbal notes

1st 1/3
Pepper blast right off, (crap) light leather, cedar and those floral/herbal notes, almost incense like. Pepper is dominating here though.
Interesting how it's sister "Bone Crusher" 5.2" x 55 is another breed in it's character http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=62449
Straight burn, lots of smoke, medium body

Creamy toasty coffee coming on, perfect draw
Pepper a bit less but still ruining the experience for me, for those loving pepper you'll like it but not my cup of tea.

2nd 1/3
I'm going to invent a cigar smoker that will do in the first 1/3 of every one I smoke where most cigars get better :-)
Getting smoother, pepper in the background more, sweet spices, leather, oak notes coming on.
Not much complexity here but consistent in what I'm getting.

Final 1/3
Smoking cool, leather, wood and coffee notes and pepper returns slightly on the tongue
Kind of boring really for me but for someone liking pepper, floral/herbal notes may be just for you.

For the two L'Atelier Surrogates I've had I was not impressed with the construction in the outer wrapper veins present.
Dry pepper/oak taking over and I am smoking it slow to prevent souring of the cigar
The "Bone Crusher" 5.2" x 55 is much better over this little Tramp
Smoke time: 50 min
Score 4.5 out of 10
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Hmmm...I enjoyed this one a bunch.
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Good reviews, OG. Thank you.

This one is my top Surrogate so far (Tramp, Crystal, then Bone/Skull (I prob couldn't tell difference between last two in blind taste test))
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:-) the one I had was on like whoa
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I gave the 4 tramps some rest but still couldn't come close to the Bone Crusher even with less rest time
I guess our palate's are all different and if it wasn't we'd be out of one cigar over another :-)
Thanks all!
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Same here. The pepper wasn't over-powering to my taste. I liked the floral note; it could have been cloying and too sweet but was just the right amount.

Thanks for the review, O.G.
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I agree Mac. I don't find much pepper in these at all and it's my favorite of the Surrogates. I used to really dig strong, peppery cigars but now I favor tamer cigars with more complexity and I find this one fits the bill.
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I did not enjoy the tramp stamp. I did enjoy the skull breaker!
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Maybe the same formula you gave me will work with these, suggesting to let them rest will persuade me to find them to be the best :-)
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OG, let them and all Pepin's rest in low humidity. I have been storing Pepin's stuff since '06 at 58-60% and they shine. Don Pepin himself has said his cigars perform better when kept at lower rh levels.
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