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.
The Smoke This Trust Me Habano Robusto is a good cigar. The flavor profile is lovely from beginning to end, and the profile itself has nice components. It was balanced and complex. There was not a lot of transitioning throughout the cigar, but there was enough complexity to provide for a good smoking experience. Great burn and draw as well, which helps in an easy smoking experience.
The Montecristo Classic No. 2 had a nice flavor profile through the first two thirds, focused around toasted cedar and earth, but the supporting notes all did a good job of balancing the profile. It took a step down in the final third as the balance went off a bit due to the earth, leather and strength. This is a nice Connecticut shade offering that offers a lower strength profile. It's fairly expensive, but if you are OK with this price range and enjoy this profile, it's well worth a try and isn't just a cigar playing off the Cuban name.
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.
The Black Works Studio Boondock Robusto had a nice start, with a bold mix of toasted oak, dark earth and black pepper. The pepper began to fade as the cigar went along and with the earth moving to the front of the profile with the oak, it took a step down in the second third and maintained that level the rest of the way. The overall profile was pretty linear from the second third on.
Overall, the ATL La Carrousel 1960 Gran Toro was a solid but ultimately uncomplicated cigar. The first third offered the most complexity, particularly with the interplay between sweet tobacco, wood, chocolate and evolving pepper. The cigar never fell apart, but it gradually became more linear as it progressed, with bitterness and tannins becoming more noticeable toward the end.
I like the Patina Connecticut Copper. It has a good flavor profile that has depth and complexity. There is not a ton of transitioning, but there are shifts in the flavor profile throughout the cigar that help deliver a good experience. The body and strength match with the flavor profile, and this is a cigar that will speak to many smokers. With a great burn and draw, this is a cigar I will come back to in the future.
The CAO America Monument had an average flavor profile throughout, focused around the earth and toasted cedar. The bitter construction paper wasn't the greatest addition, but the pepper and creaminess helped to balance it out a bit. Overall, not a cigar that really speaks to me and not something I'd see myself really coming back to.
The La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto is a good little cigar, and I don’t think I would have this blend in another vitola. The cigar would either lose its qualities with a larger ring gauge and/or be too much for me to even smoke. Great flavors of rich earth, leather, warm spices and pepper.