Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the Kristoff Guardrail Robusto is marbled dark brown and has some decently raised veins present. The seams are pretty smooth, the head is finished off with a tightly wound pigtail and the foot is covered with excess wrapper folder over. The band is silver and black and denotes the company and line names along with the country of origin. The aroma from the wrapper and covered foot is stewed fruit and wood. The pre-light draw is an airy mix of cedar, stone fruit sweetness and floral notes along with a mild spiciness on my lips.

First Third

The cigar begins with toasted dark oak, black pepper and earth. At a quarter inch in, a light creaminess joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted oak, lightly zingy black pepper and light creaminess. At an inch in, a light mustiness joins the profile. As the third comes to a close, the toasted dark oak is up front with black pepper and earth in the middle and creaminess and mustiness in the background. The strength was slightly above medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the earth picks up a bit. At a half inch in, the earth is now even with the toasted dark oak up front. The retrohale is now toasted oak and earth with mild black pepper and mustiness. At an inch in, the mustiness increases a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted dark oak and earth are even up front with the mustiness and black pepper a fair amount behind and light creaminess in the background. The strength remained at slightly above medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the creaminess has departed. At a half inch in, the toast level has increased a fair amount. The retrohale is now toasted oak, earth and mustiness. As the cigar wraps up, the profile is heavily toasted oak and earth up front with mustiness and black pepper a bit behind. The strength bumped up to medium-full.

Burn

The burn was a bit of a struggle as it was fairly wavy throughout. It required a re-light and a couple of touch-ups to keep it burning along.

Draw

The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.

Overall

The cigar began with toasted dark oak, black pepper and earth. Some creaminess joined in fairly quickly and some mustiness a bit later. The second third saw the earth move up front with the oak. The final third saw the creaminess depart and the toast level become very high. The Kristoff Guardrail Robusto started well, with an interesting combination of flavors. From the second third on, it dropped a level as the earth was a primary player and the supporting notes fell back. This was an interesting cigar to smoke with the Zimbabwe tobacco, but I’m not sure that I can pinpoint any specific influence it had on the blend. Interesting to try, but not something I’d really see myself coming back to.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.55

Cost/Point

$1.84

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: Kristoff Guardrail Robusto