Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra is dark tan and has a network of knotty, raised veins. The seams are slightly raised while the caps are well applied. There are two bands, both in a blue, white and gold color combination. The primary has Chinese characters on it while the secondary has a horse in front of some mountains. The aroma from the wrapper is cedar, earth and smokiness while the foot brings bread, cedar and smokiness. The pre-light draw brings fire cured smokiness, cedar and earth along with a mid-level spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra is a nice looking cigar. It has a decent cap applied against a lovely Natural to Colorado wrapper. Antique brown coloring with some deep red. It has small to medium sized veins present throughout, and it is firm in texture. The bands are gorgeous against the wrapper and I am getting aromas of aged tobacco, barnyard, leather, tobacco and spices.
John: The ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra comes in cellophane and does not have a UPC sticker. The cigar is double banded with a Chinese primary band that Google translates to “green ink” and a secondary band with a white horse on it. I weighed the cigar at 20.2g and measured the humidity with the CigarMedics HumidiMeter Pro at 64.9%. Aromas from the wrapper included wood, mild hay and barnyard. From the foot, I was getting faint tobacco and hay.
Jiunn: The ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra has a golden caramel like Colorado Claro wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas consist of aged cedar and subtle barnyard.

ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, earth, baking spice, smokiness and some mustiness. At a quarter inch in, the baking spice becomes pretty bold. At a half inch in, the baking spice returns to its previous level and some light chalkiness joins the profile. At three quarters of an inch in, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with the baking spice, mustiness and chalkiness all a good distance back now and some light smokiness in the background. The retrohale is toasted cedar, gritty earth and some baking spice and mustiness. At an inch and a half in, the smokiness picks up a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with the baking spice and smokiness a fair bit behind and the mustiness and chalkiness in the background. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third begins with faint tobacco notes paired with some barnyard, soft spices, hay and herbal qualities. Some toasted nuts and faint earth notes are present, and it is balanced in strength and body. Between medium and medium-full.
John: My impressions in the first third are creamy baking spices at light-plus strength with spicy wood to finish. There is a delayed dry wood on the post draw. An herbaceous component mixes with dry wood as it settles. Sweet tobacco quietly joins the front of the profile as the first third continues. As the cigar moves to the halfway point, light spices are lingering on the post draw palate.
Jiunn: The first third provides a fairly one dimensional experience. The primary flavor is minerals, followed by cedar that has decent tongue sticking tannins. Retrohaling gives a combination of spicy cedar, red pepper spice and a hint of sharper minerals. The finish is pretty clean with palate sticking cedar and wood tannins. Strength and body is medium.

ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the baking spice transitions to black pepper. At a quarter inch in, the black pepper increases a bit. At a half inch in, the toasted cedar and earth increase in fullness. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with some creaminess and chalkiness. At an inch in, the black pepper has mellowed a fair amount and the smokiness has departed. At an inch and a quarter, the earth mellows a fair amount and a light creaminess joins the profile. At an inch and a half in, the chalkiness departs. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front, with earth in the middle of the profile, black pepper just behind and creaminess in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third is fairly in line with the first. Tobacco, barnyard, soft spices, hay and herbal qualities. Earth and nut qualities are present with some pepper and additional tobacco notes on the finish. Like before, medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: The second third starts with creamy herbs and light spices, with mild spices and wood combining on the finish. As the second third settles in, the spices, wood and herbs have found a balance, with wood as a supporting note. Cinnamon comes through on the finish. Through the bottom half, spices and herbs are leading off, with spices and wood finishing.
Jiunn: The second third shows the same flavor range of the first third but the flavors meld more cohesively. The best part is still the retrohale. Strength ramps to medium-full, while body remains medium.

ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the black pepper has become very mellow. At a quarter inch in, the earth picks up a bit. At three quarters of an inch in, some burning paper joins the profile. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, earth and light amounts of black pepper and creaminess. At an inch in, the toast level increases a bit. At an inch and a half in, the toast level is now pretty heavy and a fair amount of mustiness returns to the profile. As the cigar wraps up, the heavily toasted cedar is a bit ahead of the earth, with black pepper and mustiness just behind the middle of the profile and some creaminess and burning paper in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly above medium.
Seth: The final third is identical to the second third. Tobacco, barnyard, soft spices, hay and herbal qualities. Spice and earth on the finish. Medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: The last third opens with creamy wood and musty spices underneath, as tannic wood finishes. Sweet wood leads the profile as the cigar continues, with earthy wood to finish.
Jiunn: The final third is unchanged from the second third. My favorite part is still the retrohale as it gives the most distinctive and full flavors. The profile overall is still minerals dominant with cedar and wood tannins. Strength and body finishes the same medium-full and medium, respectively.

ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight throughout, but the cigar went out once, towards the end of the first third, requiring a re-light. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.
Seth: Very good burn from start to finish.
John: The burn was straight starting out, becoming wavy in the first third as it continued. The burn became uneven, forming a canoe that required a touch-up. The burn continued straight until the last third where it went out, requiring a re-light.
Jiunn: The burn performance almost seemed to be set up for failure from the get go. The foot took awhile to light up, with a quarter of tobaccos having a hard time lighting up. Aside from that, flakey ashes and wrapper uneven burn line caused a couple touch-ups.

ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: Perfect level of resistance on the draw.
John: I measured the draw to 64 inches of water with the CigarMedics draw machine. Subjectively, I found the draw to be 2.5–3 notches towards the resistant spectrum, which is somewhat snug compared to the ideal range of one notch towards open to one notch towards resistant.
Jiunn: The draw on the other hand was perfect, striking the ideal balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, earth, baking spice, smokiness and some mustiness. Some light chalkiness joined a bit later. The second third saw the baking spice transition to black pepper and then the pepper increased and then mellowed a fair amount. The smokiness departed and then the earth mellowed and some creaminess joined in. The chalkiness then departed. The final third saw the black pepper mellow and earth picked up. Some burning paper joined in and the toast level of the cedar became pretty heavy. The ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra had an average flavor profile throughout, but there was a lot going on here. Lots of transitions and there were some series of two or three draws that were very good, but the cigar couldn’t put it together for an entire third. This is a very interesting cigar, and while I’m not sure I’d come back to it, I’d recommend that people give it a try. I’m very interested to try some of the other offerings from the brand.
Seth: The ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra is a good cigar. Following a lot of recent smokes, it is fantastic, but overall a good release. A nice blend of tobacco from prominent countries. The blend was balanced and pleasant from start to finish. Nice level of complexities with some lacking qualities on the end. I would like to know the breakdown on the filler blend. The price is high on the cigar, but from a visual perspective, the packaging helps in justifying the price. I would come back to the cigar for a couple singles, and look forward to the other blends.
John: The ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra presented with a balanced mix of creamy baking spices, spicy wood and herbaceous accents in the first third, though the flavors remained at lighter intensity. The second third was the highlight, showing better integration of spices, herbs and wood, with cinnamon adding interest. The final third saw a return to a simpler profile of creamy and sweet wood with some tannic and earthy elements. Construction was mixed, with a canoeing issue in the first half and a re-light in the last third, and the draw being somewhat snug. Overall, an average experience with its peak in the second third. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 22 minutes.
Jiunn: Coming out of the PCA, ChiMolly was one of the highlights of some folks stating their cigars were surprisingly good. After smoking the ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra, I’m not sure what the rave was all about. The cigar was one dimensional and lacked complexities. The interplay of minerals and cedar was fine but the cigar needed sweetness and spice (especially through mouth draws). I look forward to the other blends because this just wasn’t it.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.65

Cost/Point

$3.19

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

6.72

Cost/Point

$2.68

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.50

Cost/Point

$3.27

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$3.30

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: ChiMolly Dynasty Robusto Extra