Aaron Loomis

 John McTavish

Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2 is light brown and has a couple of lightly raised veins. The seams are a bit raised while the caps are well applied. There are two bands, with the primary being gold, white and red and having the brand name on front. The foot band is a copperish colored ribbon. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of wood and earth while the foot brings cedar, stone fruit sweetness and dusty earth. The pre-light draw brings cedar with a very light stone fruit sweetness.
John: The Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2 comes in cellophane and does not have a UPC sticker. The cigar features a primary band, along with a copper ribbon foot band. Aromas off the wrapper includes sweet graham cracker, hay and wood. Out of the foot, I can detect sweet, dusty tobacco and hay.

Team Cigar Review: Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with cedar and a cinnamon forward baking spice. At a half inch in, a light chalkiness becomes present. The retrohale is cedar forward with some baking spice and chalkiness. At an inch in, the baking spice is no longer cinnamon forward. As the third comes to a close, the profile is cedar just ahead of the baking spice and chalkiness. The strength was slightly below medium.
John: My first few puffs deliver creamy baking spices, sweet tobacco and a clean hay and wood combination to finish. Some spices start to develop and linger on the post draw, primarily on my tongue tip. There is an equal strength sweetness that serves to balance out that finish. Some tannins start to come through with the hay, primarily focused in the center of the profile. Chocolate and toasted marshmallow present on the retrohale as the first third continues.

Team Cigar Review: Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the cedar takes on a toast note. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and light baking spice. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front with baking spice right behind and chalkiness in the background. The strength has bumped up to medium.
John: The second third delivers creamy baking spices, wood and a tannic wood to define the post draw. A bitter hay moves into the center of the cigar along with some wood as it moves towards the halfway point.

Team Cigar Review: Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toast level increases a bit. At a half inch in, the chalkiness departs from the profile. The retrohale remains toasted cedar and light baking spice. At an inch in, the cigar warms up and a vegetal note appears. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar is up front with baking spice in the middle and vegetal note in the background. The strength remained at medium.
John: The last third greets me with tannic hay, wood and some sweetness. A graham cracker returns to the middle of the retrohale as it settles in. The tannins calm down, and it settles into a hay, wood and sweet tobacco profile.

Team Cigar Review: Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy throughout, but never needed any attention. The ash held on in inch and three quarter increments.
John: The burn started straight and spontaneously went out in the first third, requiring a re-light. The cigar went out again in the second third, requiring another re-light. At this point, I significantly increased my puff rate, and it went out again not long after requiring a third re-light. The wrapper was struggling to combust in the last third, requiring a touch-up.

Team Cigar Review: Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2

Draw

Aaron: The draw was a bit tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
John: The draw was at most 1/2 to 1 notch towards the resistant spectrum, putting it right in the ideal range for an ideal draw.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with cedar and a cinnamon forward baking spice. Some chalkiness joined in a bit later. The second third saw the cedar gain a toast note. The final third saw the chalkiness depart and a vegetal note joined in as the cigar warmed up. The Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2 had a pretty basic flavor profile throughout. It was pretty mellow and had a medium strength for most of the cigar. While this is not a profile that I would come back to all that often, I could see it doing well with smokers that enjoy mellow, lower strength cigars. The price point is fairly attractive as well.
John: The Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2 delivered some enjoyable and balanced flavors for almost the entire review experience. The profile was medium-minus in intensity at its peak and sat comfortably at light-plus at times. The burn struggled, requiring three re-lights and a touch-up, while the draw was perfect. I enjoyed this cigar, and I’m interested in trying another to see how it performs without any re-lights. The pricing is reasonable given the current market of 2023. Total smoking time was 2 hours on the nose.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.50

Cost/Point

$2.00

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.32

Cost/Point

$1.74

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Lovely Ain’t They Lovely Elegante X2