This Villiger 1888 San Andrés Toro was a good one to sit back with while enjoying some fall football (best time of the year). While the flavors weren't all that complex, it sang beautifully and kept the engagement for the vast majority of the cigar. It's also a nice bonus to have a heftier body, which enhances the flavors of the cigar.
Wonderful sweet and creamy nuttiness up front but the staleness in cedar wood was too impactful and disappointing. Without that, this OZ Maracana Robusto would have been a great desert like cigar with all the sweetness and coffee tones. A pass for me.
While I enjoyed the texture and density of the profile, there wasn't enough fullness in flavors to make it worthwhile. For a cigar to be fuller bodied, it's especially disappointing when the flavors don't match up to it. The Rocky Patel Sapphire Toro is for sure a pass for me.
The AVO Expresivo Robusto is a tasty cigar that has the major factors of a good cigar covered (sweetness, spice, earthiness). The overall good flavors were paired well with an oily/buttery mouthfeel that kept me engaged throughout the entire cigar. Would love to revisit.
This West Tampa Chef Rick was a bold and rich cigar that felt satiating. The candy sweetness paired with big spice retrohale, earthy, and herbal background was just the right amount of full flavors and fuller strength to keep me wanting more draws. I'd for sure want to smoke more of these.
Overall, the Joya de Nicaragua Clásico Original Green Room Selection is a good cigar, capturing a good amount of complexities to never bore the palate. The combination of spice, wood, natural sweet creaminess and a mouth coating oiliness worked really well. It's not the typical profile that I gravitate towards but I respect and enjoyed the blend.
Can one flavor note make a cigar good if it pops that much? My answer is no, although I LOVED the jammy stone fruit delivery of this JRE Aladino 250th. But the jam was accented very nicely by marshmallows creamed coffee, zippy minerals and cedar. On a side note, I'd love to know what tobacco is giving that great jammy stone fruit taste.
This HVC La Decoración Churchill was an enjoyable blend that was nuanced enough. The combination of herbs, creaminess, earthiness and spice was well composed and balanced. And for a bigger size (toro-ish), it was just enough to satiate the palate. I'd definitely go for more of these.
I'm sort of battling myself with this AJ Fernandez Amar Torito. Typically, I have a strong dislike for highly earthy (dirt/soil) type cigars. But even though this cigar had that, there was a richness in other flavors (spice, sweetness, barnyard) that kept me engaged in every draw. Given this, I want to smoke more in the hopes of finding consistency.
I enjoyed the initial third's baseline of sweet and creaminess the most. Past the first third, the Drew Estate Undercrown El Tigre Dominicano Corona Viva became a bit more stale and highlighted bitterness in minerals and oak wood. Overall, it's not a flavor profile that I enjoy but I can see others enjoying this style of cigar.
