Pre-light Experience

The wrapper is medium brown and has two significantly raised veins running down one side of the cigar. The seams are very smooth and well hidden. There appears to be a single cap that is well placed. The foot of this cigar narrows severely and comes to a nipple shape. There are two bands with the primary being gold with some burgundy and has the company name while the secondary is a green strip band with gold lettering and borders that has the line name. The aroma from the cigar, since the small nipple head doesn’t give anything different, is a funky barnyard note. The pre-light draw is severely tight due to the very small head, so nothing detectable was present other than a spicy tingle on my lips.

Pre-light Experience

The Saga Short Tales Tomo IV L.O.V. has a darker brown wrapper shade. Major veins are well pressed, seams tight aside from the cap and a uniformed even give persists. Nosing the wrapper gives barnyard, baking spices and cedar. Nosing the foot gives baking spices, cedar and white pepper. Cold draw tells white pepper and cedar.

First Third

As the nipple burns, it takes some very deliberate draws to get some smoke, but it produces a mix of very charred wood and cinnamon. As the cigar burns past the nipple, most of the char has gone away and the wood note has a nicer profile. The cinnamon is very faint now as well. Three quarters of an inch in, some cream joins the slightly charred wood and faint cinnamon. The retrohale carries a slightly charred wood. This is the profile the third finishes with. The strength in this third was slightly above medium.

First Third

Smoking through the initial tapered portion of the cigar, it is full of black coffee. Past that point, flavors of cedar, cardboard, baking spices, sharp white pepper and intermittent chestnuts. On the retrohale, a surprising amount of white pepper pulls through, along with sharp cedar. The finish is medium in length with bread and white pepper. Strength and body is medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the cream and cinnamon have left the profile and just the charred wood note remains. A quarter inch in, some of the cinnamon can again be faintly detected in the background. A little further in, some of the cream returns as well. The retrohale is now a creamy and charred wood. At an inch in, the cream and cinnamon drop back out of the profile leaving just the slightly charred oak. As the third comes to a close, the profile gains a buttery type slickness along with the slightly charred wood. The strength in this third remained slightly above medium.

Second Third

The second third shows the “tale” of earth and minerals (see what I did there). White pepper, cardboard, cedar, baking spices and chestnuts all come through on it’s own. Black coffee also makes a comeback from the initial first third. Strength and body is unchanged at medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the buttery charred wood note continues on with the addition of some very faint black pepper in the background. A quarter inch in, that buttery note goes away and the charred wood and pepper remain. At thee quarters of an inch in, some cream comes back to the profile as the cigar begins to heat up a bit. This is how the cigar finishes. The strength in this third remained at slightly above medium.

Final Third

The last third continues to show earth and minerals providing white pepper, cardboard, cedar, baking spices, chestnuts and black coffee. Strength is moving towards medium-full and body stays medium.

Burn

The burn was spot on as it was razor sharp the entire way, which is a bit of a feat with this cigars unique shape. The ash dropped once right around the two and a half inch mark.

Burn

Burn performance was overall good. A couple minor touch-ups were required. Aside from that, slightly wavy burn live, firm ash marks and a cool burn.

Draw

The draw wasn’t that great as it was fairly tight the entire way. Even using a draw tool didn’t bring any improvement.

Overall

This is another unique cigar from Saga with the shape and some of the flavors delivered. The burn was perfect, but the draw left a lot to be desired. The buttery flavor that was present in the second third was great, I just wish it was present the entire cigar. If the draw on other samples was better, this could be another very good cigar in the small vitola arena. The experience with the third and fourth version of the Short Tales has me eager to try the fifth. If you are looking for some shorter smokes with good flavor delivery, this series is definitely worth a look to see which ones might catch your attention.

Draw

The draw was on the tighter end of the spectrum even cutting to the very end of the cap.

Overall

I find it great that a little 4 x 44 petite cigar, like this Saga Short Tales Tomo IV L.O.V., can have so many flavors. This leads me to believe the quality of the wrapper is fairly top notch. It’s a shame there aren’t many petite cigars in the market place, let alone ones that have this much flavor. Take it slow with this cigar and you’ll be rewarded with a great, short and flavored experience.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.65

Cost/Point

N/A

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.67

Cost/Point

N/A

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Saga Short Tales Tomo IV L.O.V.