PROLOGUE
6:45pmI'm editing this the morning after reviewing. In my belly rests perhaps the greatest breakfast known to the LGBTQstory of personkind. It shall be our #FoodieFriday post for this week. SPOILER ALERT: nomnomnomnom.
In other news, I still have not raked my yard.
THE CIGAR
Nomad Cigar Co.Connecticut Fuerte
Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper
Ecuadorian Habano binder
Dominican Republic & Nicaraguan filler
5 x 50 Robusto
Thanks to Mr. Frederick Rewey for the fine sample.
PRE-LIGHT
What I first note and shall therefore first notate, is the surprising amount of oily sheen which exists on this offering. To be clear, it is an awful lot for a Connecticut affair. Minimal veins, tight seams, with some small crimpings here and there but nothing egregious nor threatening. A well appointed cap with a tad of a hiccup peel that may have been from shipping. A nice, even, pale roasted coffee with cream and bit o' caramel complexion. There's a hint of pink, too. The tobacco that peeks out at me from the foot is a lively reddish hue with deeper chocolate backdrop. Packing is soft end of medium from foot through 1/3 and medium the rest of the way to the cap.A whiff at the wrapper which I won't call the shaft because calling it the shaft makes me giggle, gives notes of grasses to hay riding on a sweet and creamy tobacco note. At the foot, some sweet spices are added to the schnozfile.
LIGHT
Sweet tobacco comes at me softly as I toast the foot. First hot draw is of kind sweet tobacco with a definite depth of sweet spices I won't yet define definitely. Very lovely sweet tobacco finish already. Charmed, I'm sure. A second hot pull is retro-haled and the depth, she doth deepen. Sweet and Baker's spices offer quite the same ingredient list, albeit in different ratio. I'd say each ratio is being represented herein. Beyond and beneath that, there is a creamy nuttiness that softens the mouth-feel and too fills the palate. A third hot pull is all that and then some... then some being a very nice setting in of a nutty finish of peanuts and hazelnuts and macadamia. Vrrry nice.Burn is a bit ribbony but self-correcting in a blink and a half. Burn-line is medium+. Ash is Dominican. Pale to dark grey. It's pale is darker, it's dark lighter, than Nicaraguan -- to my limitless experience, at least. It piles up at a medium pacing in a bit of stair-casing, and I should never have given up on my rap career dreamz.
A medium profile thus far. A tick below on strength; a tick above of flavor. I'd like it noted that I added a semi-colon there as proof I have some college credits under my; belt.
ACT I
The sweetness is not sickly, sure -- but too it has a great depth. Into those depths a nice floral note is thrown. The draw, while looser than I typically adore, is well placed in this Nomad offering and makes possible much kind smoke to the smoke-hole to dissect and appreciate.Medium+ foot-smoke, as well. This adds to a lovely aroma of complex sweetness. Mixed nut tray, sweet spices, and just a darned nice tobacco note.
A subtle and roasted black pepper comes in now and adheres to the creaminess as to remain very kind. It remains on the finish which is of medium+ length now and very balanced. Mouth-feel is spot on as far as moisture and chewy in a very light sense. I roll the ash off at an inch and it's far more dense than I'd have guessed. Excellent construction.
As to construction: burn slows nicely to a calm sort of thing. It is not dead even, but the slowing causes it to stray less 'dramatically'. Burn-line is at medium. Smoke thickens and is pure white.
At the end of I, cinnamon rises softly but noticeably above the other spices. The cream rises to meet it and the nuts get a pale roasting. That pretty floral note remains with the hay, mainly at the onset of the finish. A touch of vanilla drives the cream now.
ACT II
Profile remains the same, and we'll leave it at medium, even as the pepper warms and rises a bit. Burn is just about dead-even. Very nice construction, indeed. There is a touch more resistance on the draw, which works because now there is a good touch more flavor to draw.I get the sensation I'm cruising an open road.
The ash even pretties up now to a smooth and pale exterior. Dead-even burn. Great smoke output from both ends, like myself after Taco Bell -- except far, far, far more pleasant, by far. Very vanilla now with maybe some caramel and the peanuts roast further -- Cracker Jacks! I can even make a case for pop corn, but mainly because this is my blog and I'll gash darned do as I please. I love that the peppers, white (now) and the black (since always) have remained sources of flavor and not sharp mouth-feel. A rare treat, that. There's even some red on the retro-hale but roasted and kind and immediately sweetened with cream and vanilla. Then further prettied up by sweet hays and floral notes. I just smacked my lips.
At the end of II, I roll off an inch and a half of fat pale ash. I wonder what my wife is up to now. Why did I go there? It's thick and ... oh. I get it.
ACT III
This is the very most flavorful Connecticut gets, gentlepersons, whilst still retaining its inherent traits.There is a nice sour note now, a dry white wine. I believe it has morphed from the floral notes. The profile dampens nicely, like a watered lawn in the sun. The ash returns to a more Dominican thing which is fine because I once left my heart, my wallet, and almost my passport there. Never having visited the lovely place, you can imagine that to be quite the ordeal.
The mixed pale flesh'd nuts all roast and toast nicely. Peppers mingle among themselves in clear delineation from the spices which now rise to meet the cinnamon as it falls back to them. Hay, sweet and warm sits in the underneath. Caramel and vanilla are taking a roll in it and I pretend not to look. Okay, I don't stare. Okay, I stare. I snap a picture and post it to my Facebook. I'M TAGGING EVERYBODY.
The white wine comes on more as I reach the nub, ever so kindly it does. My skirt hitches itself up, and ... I'll see you fine folks in a bit.
NOTES
Brilliant construction and a dazzling Connecticut showpiece on the back of Habano, which Nomad used so well sometime later in their Therapy line. The cigar that helped launch an equally impressive fleet. As well as aid in a rediscovery of that New England state I used to make fun of as a Brooklyn kid. I'd like a box for Chanukkah if yer listening, Santawitz.I saved this for last, in the lovely sampling I received. I am ever so glad I did. #ShowStopper
PAIRINGS
A dry Sherry. A strong coffee with cream and sugar. A spiced tea. It all depends on which characteristic you wish to advance. Vivaldi, any season but Winter. A Three Stooges short starring Shemp -- Curly wouldn't get it.
FINAL GRADE
****A****
(An incredibly strong one)
EPILOGUE
<8:00pm
Signed,
Full & Unraked in Oregon