Size: 5.2″ x 53 was measured (supposed to be 5.2″ x 52, Robusto)
Strength: Full
Wrapper: Nicaraguan maduro
Filler: Cuban-seed Nicaraguan long fillers
Appearance:
This is a fairly nice smaller stick. It has one major vein and if you look closely you can see where the wrapper was rolled. I personally like my maduro wrappers to be darker than this one, but other than that there isn’t much wrong with the stick. One standard 601 ring (I think these almost look a little cheap).
Construction:
The stick is pretty well constructed. I say that for a few reasons: 1) It’s spot on for the stated measurements. 2) I dropped it as I was walking into the garage, it bounced off the heater and hit the ground and there were no casualties. I was impressed. Density is consistent throughout and the box press is even.
Aroma:
The aroma on this stick is a bit light (in a non-plentiful sense) – surprising for a full bodied stick. Once you get a whiff it’s quite spicy – and that’s really all I’m getting. Not the best of aromas – just nothing special about it. And since it’s all spice, I can see that being a bit offensive to others.
Burn/Ash:
Burn is pretty good – almost razor sharp, but not quite, just a hint of waviness. But no issues with burn at all. The first ash came at somewhere between 1.5 – 1.75″. Not bad at all. Left a nice cherry too. The ash was a mostly light gray. The remaining ashes all fell around 1″.
Draw/Smoke:
Draw is on the medium-tight side, but leaning more towards medium. There is quite a bit of smoke, but it just doesn’t taste creamy. It’s almost like thin smoke, even though there’s a fair amount of it. Pretty consistent in this category all the way through. Between construction notes, burn/ash notes and these, you can tell the stick was pretty well rolled.
Flavor:
The flavors are spicy and peppery. That’s what I taste most in the aftertaste. Upon draw I get a hint of sweetness (probably from the wrapper) and a hint of earth & cocoa blend. But it’s mostly pepper and spice even on the draw. 1/3 of the way in, I’m still just getting pepper and spice, with a bit of earth and sweetness. Approaching the half way point and I’m getting more earth and a bit of leather, with much less pepper and spice. I’m starting to pick up some more sweetness too. Oohh… just picked up some cocoa/coffee flavors. That didn’t last too long on the draw, but there’s some definite cocoa and sweetness on the aftertaste now. It seems like just after the half the stick mellowed out some. There was mostly some earth and leather with a hint of spice, pepper and sweetness on the aftertaste.
Overall/Value:
I definitely wouldn’t pay retail price for this stick. Maybe it’s just not up my alley, but I don’t think it justifies the price tag. I’d only pay up to about $2.50 given the other deals on other sticks out there. If it can be had at that price it could be added to my rotation, but given it’s about $8 on CI and in the $3 – 5 range on the bid site (at least at the moment)… that doesn’t seem like it will be happening.
Retail Price: $9.00
Appearance: (3/5)
Construction: (5/5)
Aroma: (5/10)
Burn/Ash: (9/10)
Draw/Smoke: (16.5/20)
Flavor: (30.5/35)
Overall/Value: (10/15)
Final Score: (79/100)