Lew set me up with some hand-rolled cigars from The Garden State. I got a nice assortment of Don Franciscos and chose to cut my teeth with this little beauty. It sat about 2 weeks at 65RH/72F. It was grilling time, so I though it would fit well.
Size: 4 x 50
Construction: Maduro wrapper, looks like a Short Story. The roll was good, the nipple was very tight. The cigar was slightly hard. Had an earthy smell.
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A good, clean cut. The draw was tight, guess due to the tight tip. It lit well and the draw was good. The burn was even and smooth. The first 1/4" was strong. Kind of reminded me of a JJ Maduro. There was spice, with the earthy/leather maduro flavor. The burn line continued well. The draw produced large volumes of smoke.
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The second third settled down to give a leathery and spicy profile. The spice had cooled down from the first 1/3, but the smoke was still strong. Reminded me of some Nicaragua blends. It was full body and full flavor. I tried to slow down with it. Due to it's size, I felt it could get hot and spongy, so I didn't want to risk it. Still burned well with good flavor. I like the idea it was rolled by family members in NJ. Kind of cool.
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Nightfall was setting in and the grilling was about done. Special care had to be taken not to smoke her too fast or hard. It was small and easy to heat up. I didn't want the hot, bitter flavors. It was still full and strong. The solid, whitish ash held on to the last 1" or so. Don't know where the tobacco came from. My first guess would be Nicaragua with Honduras mixed in. Could be NJ special blend??
It was an interesting smoke. It was more spicy and full than I would've guessed out of the box. It smoked well and lasted about 45 minutes. I have some other smokes from Lew (Sumatra, Custom Blends, Barber Pole mad/Conn) that I will soon try. Hopefully they stand up as good as this one.
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