The Crowned Heads Buckeye Land is more straight forward in flavors (chocolate, black pepper, soil/dirt) but the number of flavors is not indicative of a bad cigar. Quite the contrary, it is a straight forward approach to a great tasting cigar. Between this cigar and the Court Reserve XVIII Robusto, it's safe to say Crowned Heads got Mexican San Andres on lock down this year.
This is no doubt quality Honduran Corojo. I enjoyed the slick and oiliness of the profile a lot with the minerals, baking spices, non-sweetened cream and nuts. I would smoke the JRE Aladino Corojo Reserva Robusto again without a doubt.
For me, the El Artista Cimarron Connecticut Robusto is more towards the traditional side of Connecticut shade cigars. The baseline flavors of sweet cream and bread are notes I always welcome to any cigar. Paired with white pepper, cedar, hay, nuts and underlying bitterness rounds out to a profile in which I can enjoy any time of the day.
This HVC Edicion Especial 2018 Corona is Aganorsa Corojo done right and what I love about a well made Aganorsa cigar. The flavor count was pretty crazy, nearing ten. It's not just that the number of flavors were many, but the flavors worked very well together.
The first ultra premium price tagged cigar out of Illusione. The big question of course is, is it worth it? At this point in time, I'm afraid not. But the Illusione OneOff +53 Super Robusto absolutely has the potential to be great down the line.
The Crowned Heads Court Reserve XVIII Robusto is a proper Mexican San Andres. This wrapper has a tendency to be too earth dominant for me. But Crowned Heads did a great job of tapering the earth with some tasty notes of cherry cordials and creamy bread. That and the evolving spice led to an experience that was enjoyable from first draw to the last.
The Southern Draw Jacobs Ladder Lancero was a pleasurable smoking experience. The chalky cocoa and milk chocolate finish giving just the right accented spice was the key takeaway for me. Would absolutely smoke this again.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience with the Byron Serie Siglo XXI Aristócratas. For fans of softer and more subtle notes (think a more traditional Connecticut shade or Cuban cigar), this will be a good fit. The only gripe I have is, for such a long (3 hour) smoking time, there weren't enough transitions and build ups as I'd like it to have.
With the Southern Draw Cedrus The Hogan, I enjoyed the interplay of the chocolate initially being dark chocolate and eventually moving into a fudge and brownie like type of chocolate. That mixed with cedar and dry red pepper spice makes for an experience well worth searching out for, especially if you are well versed into the Southern Draw profile.
The Espinosa Las 6 Provincias LHB is yet another example of the stronger, spicier side of Espinosa's offerings. For me, this is a post (big) dinner smoke as the spice would be better complimented after such. If you enjoy the "typical" Espinosa offering, you will no doubt enjoy this.
