This was a cracking deal, a friend in the USA saw these and offered to ship to the uk, 20 cigars for around £30 plus 10 free, amazing.. Not tried any yet, but good for stocking the humi, and I have read good reviews of these.
I have never had a flavour infused cigar, I have always avoided them based on the advice I have received in the last couple of years, however the idea of infused cigars that drew on types of “Coffee” was too much to resist, especially as they are by Oliva and I am a big fan of their cigars. A kind BOTL offered to source some for me and I now have some of these interesting sticks resting in the Humidor.
I have never had any Nat Sherman cigars, when I was in New York a couple of years ago I stumbled upon the Nat Sherman shop whilst walking to the Chrysler building, but did not go in.
So to kick things off I have some Epoca now in the humi, I cant wait to try one, I did not realise they got cigar of the year from Cigar Dojo.
Its been quite a while since I reviewed a cigar, but such a lot has been going on in my life, and I just did not feel I had time to do any reviews. This does mean I have a number of cigar reviews that I just need to write up, and I am hoping to do this over the next few weeks or so. Here is the first, my review of a San Lotano Toro, I have never had any of these cigars before, but I suspect it will not be my last.
Appearance 9.0/10
As you can see from the picture this is a great looking cigar, its a lovely mid brown colour, it has tight seems, great cap construction, and only a few small veins. The bands are smart, well printed, and give the cigar a very classy look. This is the Toro version so its a 6 x 54 ring, and it just looks and feels perfect in your hand.
Construction & Draw 9.0/10
The construction and draw of this cigar are as good as the appearance. As mentioned the cigar is heavy in the hand, this is not just due to the size but the amount of tobacco packed into the stick. I was worried about the draw, but it was pretty much perfect, cap construction was excellent as well, all in all the construction of this cigar was more than you should expect for a stick at this price. The burn on this cigar was pretty much perfect confirming the excellent construction.
Flavour 8.0/10
This is supposed to be a full strength cigar, normally a full strength cigar this large would hit me a little, but this cigar somehow did not hit me, indeed I would have classed it as mild to full strength, certainly not full.
Pre-light draw was earthy with a hint of sweetness. Once lit it started of mild to medium strength with a small amount of pepper, a strong tobacco flavour and a slight hint of sweetness.
As I got about an inch in I could detect some caramels and the sweetness intensified, there was also a rather nice earthiness to the profile.
By about half way through the cigar the strength had picked up to medium/full and there were hints of vanilla and coffee.
As I got into the last third the pepper I had originally tasted in the beginning came back and gave a nice little zing at the end. The final inch had an almond taste. What was nice about the cigar was that all the flavours stayed a long time on the palate allowing you to identify and enjoy them. Overall the cigar lasted around 2 hours
Value 9.0/10
This cigar retails at around 7.00 USD a stick, which I think for such a well constructed and large cigar represents excellent value for money, especially when you consider the burn time and flavour.
Summary 8.5/10
I could not decide if this was an 8.5 or 9.0 cigar, in the end despite the construction and price I decided on 8.5 but if I was to have another cigar it could go either way. I think for me even though there were flavour transitions there were only a couple and for a stick to be epic I expect a few more noticeable transitions. With this in mind I suspect the Robusto size would be perfect for this cigar, even so, I would absolutely recommend this cigar especially at the price, and this will be a contender for space in my humidor in future. As mentioned this was my first San Lotano cigar, it wont be my last.
Bit of a “job lot” here, a selection of NC singles. The great thing about a job lot of singles is you get to try cigars you have not had before, and if you like them, buy more, if you dont , well you have not wasted a fortune!
Being quite a fan of Illusione cigars, when the possibility of 5 came up I had to grab them. A cigar for those long summer evenings I think!
And here is my other small humidor with a selection of my non cuban cigars in it.
Its time to organise my humidors again, so over the next few nights I am going to start to move cigars around and group them in some kind of order. First up is my small humidor that now has all my Arturo Fuente cigars in it.
Its always an occasion when you get an entire box of cigars delivered, there is something about opening that wooden box, peeling back the paper to see the cigars nestling inside, and then the smell….. wonderful….
I was luck enough as part of a group order to get my hands on a box of Oliva Churchills for a really good price, I liked these when I reviewed them, they are a nice medium strength cigar, and will be perfect for those long summer evenings paired with an iced coffee….
I have not had any Leccia white cigars before so when a fiver became available it thought I would give them ago, They are supposed to be full flavour so will make sure I eat before sampling.
UK Cigarnewbie 