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!
This is pretty new out in the USA, its from Drew Estates, and seems to be causing quite a stir, so lets see how it does in what I think is the first UK review of this stick.
Appearance 8.0/10
As the name suggests this cigar looks rustic, it looks very hand made, the wrapper is toothy and dark, the band has a hand drawn look to it, and both end ends of the cigar look hand finished. Drew Estates seem to have made the cigar look “rustic” without making it look to contrived, which of course it is to some extent as they set out to produce a rustic looking cigar.
Construction & Draw 9.0/10
Whilst the cigar may look rustic and “unpolished” its actual construction is anything but unpolished. General construction is excellent, the cigar is well put together, there are no soft of hard spots, the cap and foot are excellent. Cutting the cap was simple and I got a really nice clean cut, the draw on the cigar was excellent, only the slightly wobbly burn line spoilt the marks for this stick.
Flavour 8.0/10
This cigar is not what I expected, the wrapper has a slightly musty sweet chocolate smell, but this was not a strong flavour during the majority in the stick. The first third was spicy and peppery with a nice general sweetness, it was like a spicy explosion on my tongue.
This is a medium strength cigar, and stayed the same strength throughout its length. About half way through the sweetness increased a little, and I could detect some chocolate flavour as suggested by the smell of the wrapper. The last third was similar to the rest of the stick with just a little more chocolate and a slight musty note. I would describe this cigar as a little rough and ready compared to other sticks I have had, but it always manages to keep itself in check, and I did really enjoy the strong pepper and spice much more than I though I was going to.
Value 9.0/10
This cigar is around 5.60 – 6.90 USD, I think that this represents extremely good value for money, its well constructed, has lots of interesting flavours and is nice and strong. It managed to keep its spice and pepper under control and was like a flavour explosion on my palette.
Summary 8.5/10
This cigar was not quite what I expected, for some reason I thought it would be less spicy, and have more chocolate and other creamy flavours than it did, so I was rather surprised when I smoked it. However it was a nice surprise, despite not being what I expected I really enjoyed this stick, it was pretty “up front” and in your face, a little rough and ready, but managed to keep everything under control, and was full of flavours.
This is probably not a cigar for a true newbie, but if you want something spicy and interesting you cant go wrong with this cigar, its also very good value. I can see this being added to my humidor.
This cigar is not available as far as I am aware in the UK, which is a great shame, as apart from a very odd name, this is an unusual and epic cigar…
Appearance 9.5/10
Just take a look at the picture (for once I managed to take a good one), its a very good looking stick. The wrapper is dark and very oily, and its got a great little pig tail cap, its also a pretty fat cigar at 60 inches, to be honest I expected this cigar to be a little overwhelming but it was not.
Construction & Draw 9.0/10
The construction of this cigar is extremely good, the wrapper is dark and oily, there are no soft spots anywhere on the cigar. The only thing that slightly detracts from the appearance of the one I had were a couple of quite large veins.
I have never had a cigar with a pig tail before, and I wondered if it would make it harder to cut the cap, luckily this did not turn out to be the case and I got a very clean cut.
The cigar had an interesting musty smell prior to the cut, the draw was perfect (as you would hope from a cigar of this ring gauge), the pre-light draw consisted of strong coffee and cocoa flavours. The burn line on this cigar was sharp and straight for the entire length of the cigar, and it required no correction or re-lights.
Flavour 9.5/10
I had expected this cigar to be a powerhouse and knock me for six, but I was wrong, whilst this is a medium – strong strength cigar, the power is tempered with an amazing richness, in fact if there was one word I would use to describe this cigar its rich.
The flavour profile of this cigar changes many times during its life, you get wonderful blends of strong coffee’s, some rich chocolate (cocoa), about halfway through I detected a strong vanilla note coming through, and in the last third a slightly nutty tone.
I could go on for ages dissecting the flavour of this cigar, however there is one unique thing about this cigar that just tops the whole experience off, the smoke. This is going to sound odd, but the smoke from this cigar is so rich and smooth in your mouth it feels more than smoke, its like a light cream or treacle, its almost as if its tangible and you feel its more than smoke. I probably have not explained that very well, but it was incredibly enjoyable, and I have never had a cigar’s smoke feel like this.
Value 8.5/10
I believe this retails at around 17 USD, which for a cigar in the states is pretty expensive, I would expect that if these were available in the UK they would be somewhere around the 25 GBP mark. For this reason I knocked off a point and a half, but even at this price the construction and flavour still make this cigar very good value for the quality of the experience.
Summary 9.5/10
I absolutely loved this cigar, the only problem I have is that I only had two of them, so now I only have one left. This as I mentioned earlier in the review is an epic cigar, it was insanely tasty, and in some ways unlike any other cigar I have smoked so far, and its for this reason, that even though it is a little expensive its so good I have to give it 9.5.
If your in the UK and you visit the USA make sure you pick some up if you can find them (and send me one), and for anyone in the cigar importing business, please please start bringing them into the UK!
UK Cigarnewbie 