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.
This Rojas Quiet Morning Lancero was a pleasurable smoke, being creamy and sweet with just enough earthiness to round it out. With each draw, I find myself needing to slow down in a good way to enjoy the flavors so that I don't overheat the skinny cigar. Good stuff.
I truly enjoyed the first half of the Alec Bradley Thirty Years Toro. The flavor profile was well rounded and very approachable, being abundantly sweet and creamy with added spice and minerals. But unfortunately, the latter half was a bit too tannic in wood and minerals.
The Saint Luis Rey Eiroa 30th Anniversary Rothchilde is an overall great cigar being candy like in sweet and creaminess with balancing earthiness and spice. But whomever the QC team is for this company needs a talking to. There's no reason to apply such an ugly cap to an overall good looking cigar.
Whenever I see a big format cigar like this that takes a substantial time to smoke through, a couple thoughts come to mind to gauge if it'll be a good cigar. 1) Will it have enough complexities and transitions/buildups to keep me engaged. 2) If it doesn't, can a tasty profile last the entire time. For this ChiMolly Pangu Double Corona, the good thing is I got a good tasting profile off the first third, but the following two thirds tanked in enjoyment and complexities. Given this, it's a pass for me.
