Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The Highclere Castle Senetjer has a beautiful shape with a wrapper that is medium reddish-brown with some slightly raised veins. The seams are fairly raised whale the tapered head is well finished. The band is purple, gold and black and denotes the line name. The aroma from the wrapper is a faint mix of wood and earth and the foot opening is too small to get any additional notes. The pre-light draw brings a light mix of cedar and floral notes.
Seth: The Highclere Castle Senetjer is a beautiful figurado. Firm throughout, the cigar has a dark Colorado coloring. Smooth throughout, the cigar gives off soft oil qualities. Small veins present throughout along with some tooth. Aromas of rich earth, leather and tobacco.
John: The Highclere Castle Senetjer does not come in cellophane and does not have a UPC sticker. The cigar is single banded, and is in a double perfecto shape. The wrapper is quite dark and has aromas of faint tobacco, and light-plus spicy cedar. I couldn’t pick up anything from the foot as it is barely exposed.
Jiunn: The Highclere Castle Senetjer has a quality and attractive Colorado Maduro wrapper shade. The Perfecto shape is well formed and it looks gorgeous. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the aggressive torpedo head is well wrapped. Aromas from the wrapper tell of a pungent barnyard. Aromas from the foot give white pepper spice and cedar. Cold draws reveals sweet hay and cedar.

Team Cigar Review: Highclere Castle Senetjer

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, cinnamon and floral notes. At a half inch in, after the burn line passes the initial taper, the cinnamon has transitioned to a bold black pepper. At an inch in, a light creaminess has joined in. The retrohale is toasted cedar, lightly zingy black pepper and mild creaminess. At an inch and a half in, the black pepper mellows a bit, some light earth joins in, and the creaminess has departed. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front, black pepper in the middle and floral notes and earth in the background. The strength was slightly above medium.
Seth: The cigar begins with cocoa notes and some soft coffee bean qualities. Dry earth present as well with a mineral spice that is sweet and peppery. Medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: The first few puffs are flavors of rich chocolate and tobacco. Sweet, medium strength spices come through once the cigar hits the shoulder. Some mossy wood develops in the center of the retrohale as it progresses. Tannic wood begins to finish the draw some time later. Approaching the halfway point, the mossy wood center adds some earth.
Jiunn: The first third opens with a wide assortment of flavors. Freshly ground roasted coffee beans, barnyard musk, cedar, mixed dried nuts and an accented dried red pepper spice. Retrohaling brings deeper dried red pepper spice and toasted cedar. The finish is long with minerals and dried red pepper spice. Strength is medium-full and body is medium.

Team Cigar Review: Highclere Castle Senetjer

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the earth picks up a bit. At a half inch in, the black pepper has mellowed and is even with the earth. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. At an inch and a half in, the toasted cedar transitions to toasted oak. As the third comes to a close, the profile is toasted oak up front, earth in the middle, black pepper just behind that and light floral note in the background. The strength remained slightly above medium.
Seth: The cigar shows an increase in strength and body with the ring gauge expanding. I am getting more peppery notes with leather and dryer barnyard notes. Cocoa notes present on the finish along with some earth qualities. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: Sweet wood leads the cigar into the second third, as tannic wood accents add depth. Creamy wood is present through the retrohale, with mild spices coming into the post draw. As the second third continues, rich tobacco, sweet spices and wood combine to define the retrohale, as tannic wood makes up the post draw.
Jiunn: The second third shows less flavors, but the existing flavors of freshly ground roasted coffee beans, cedar and accented dried red pepper spice is still quite enjoyable. Strength and body remains medium-full and medium, respectively.

Team Cigar Review: Highclere Castle Senetjer

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the earth is now right behind the toasted oak. The retrohale is now just toasted oak and earth. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted oak is just ahead of the earth, with black pepper further behind and light floral note in the background. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The final third showed more transitioning into the tapered head. Notes of cocoa with leather, earth and tobacco. Soft pepper and sweet spice notes present on the finish. Coffee bean qualities as well. Cool to the tapered nub and medium-full in strength and body.
John: Tobacco and earth start the last third, with medium strength spices and wood into the finish. Mossy earth moves into the center again as the last third settles. Spice and earth define the profile by the halfway point. Earth and wood are finishing the draw through the last half.
Jiunn: The final third loses out on some more flavors, now being cedar and leather focused. But this time, the flavors are less enjoyable and complex. Strength and body finishes the same medium-full and medium.

Team Cigar Review: Highclere Castle Senetjer

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy at times and the cigar went out once in the final third, requiring a re-light. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.
Seth: Beautiful burn from start to finish. One of the best constructed figurados I have smoked.
John: The burn was straight through the entire review and required no intervention.
Jiunn: Flawless burn performance. Even burn, tight ashes and cool burning temperature.

Team Cigar Review: Highclere Castle Senetjer

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: Draw was perfect throughout and you could pickup lesser resistance in the middle. Well done.
John: The draw had some resistance to it, but once it reached the shoulder, the draw was right in the ideal zone between resistant and open.
Jiunn: Ideal air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, cinnamon and floral notes. The cinnamon transitioned to black pepper fairly quickly. A light creaminess joined for a bit and then departed and some earth joined a bit later. The second third saw the earth increase and the pepper decrease as well as the cedar transition to oak. The final third saw the earth pick up a bit. The Highclere Castle Senetjer had a nice flavor profile through the first two thirds with a nice floral supporting note. The final third dropped a level as the earth became a bigger player. This is a pretty nice cigar. With it being a one and done, along with the price point, it’s probably not something I’ll get to smoke again, but not because I don’t want to.
Seth: I really enjoyed this Highclere Castle Senetjer and the flavor profile delivered. Balanced with some dry earth and cocoa qualities. Balance of sweet and peppery with the spices. Great construction. Well made cigar with nice strength and body to pair the flavors as well. Beautiful presentation. Hard to not buy a box of these cigars. Great offering by Highclere Castle and Foundation.
John: The Highclere Castle Senetjer serves up rich, dark flavors with medium strength intensity for most of the review. The last third had similar elements but didn’t quite harmonize in the same way the previous sections of cigar did. The draw and burn were perfect, which one would expect on a super premium release. Would I smoke it again? I would if price wasn’t an issue, but as always the issue with a higher price tag is that my expectations rise to meet it. I think if the last third was as good as the remainder of the cigar it would have done enough, but as it is, I can’t see myself returning to this. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Jiunn: There’s a common theme I’m noticing for Highclere Castle, elegance. All the Highclere cigars do a great job of showing full flavors and if higher levels of strength is introduced (such as this cigar), the delivery is smooth and doesn’t feel like an immediate gut punch. The price tag for the Highclere Castle Senetjer is no doubt high, but I thoroughly enjoyed smoking this blend.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.47

Cost/Point

$5.10

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

6.92

Cost/Point

$4.77

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$4.84

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$4.84

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Highclere Castle Senetjer