PROLOGUE
Partagas Aniversario 170
5 x 50 Robusto
Hand-feel is a tick of heftier than thunk'd, and dry and erring toward gruffness. Dryness moistens a talc bit on finagling. Pack is -firm with a single soft-spot in the 2/3. Balance in the mitt is Robusto classically fantastic. Schnozzola notes are nigh nonexistent at the shaft -- a light very light sunny hay tobacco dirt. Not a lot picks up at the foot -- a nutty vibe.
I clip the cap employing my by now trusty Xikar Xi2. Very subtle bits of creamy nuttiness and sweet dirt hay around a tobacco core. Sweetness has a light cocoa finish. Tension is a medium+ tension. Another cold pull gives some neat red spice addition; warm not hot. Comfy. There's a citrus thing flitting about.
Very firm in mitt and maw. Tension is a stiff medium+. Burn is even and grows toothy grey ash from a medium thickness line. This feels, and tastes, old school. Finish is lengthening and sweetening via a coffee and cream addition. Mouth-feel is a gentlemanly tingle on great moisture level. Smoke out-put is average, tops, off foot as to volume and satiating on an airy cream in the smoke-hole.
Burn is nuts dead even on a thinning line. Ash is thick and dense dense dense. Grey is paling and silver is happening. Zero softening of pack. A new honey attracts a malt addition on its second pull and the floral bits go there. White pepper comes on in. Profile is swirling around a tobacco core. Very clean post-finish. Smoke up-ticks on each end. Sweet baby moses in a basket floating down the Nile.
Mulling spice with a new orange rind which holds in its orbit that malted honey. Musk. Musk everywhere. Palest white ash in an unbroken un-flaked sheath. Still classically medium and now insofar as kindly strength as well. A new alfalfa comes in. A roasted salt one puff after. Smooth balance with a perfect tick of Dominican tanginess. I roll off each stubborn inch of burnt offering and each is heavy and cool.
Nothing to add. Nothing to subtract. Until the band, where a toastiness comes into the core and spins its way out and about and... wow. Did I say that already? Wow. Cool smoke from a firm nub, sees me out.
w. Cameroon
b. Connecticut Habano
PRE-LIGHT
Rather unassuming, visually. A marbled over with espresso bean paper shopping bag complexion with a high and bright under-hue of goldenrod. Couple smallish water-spots in the top-leaf's 1/3. Veiny but to no foreseen burn impediment. Tight even seams. Grey-ish tinted matte finish over-top of slightest tooth. Mousy brown and dirty blonde foot tobacco looks like a medium+ density of pack. On the other end, cap is very well-affixed.Hand-feel is a tick of heftier than thunk'd, and dry and erring toward gruffness. Dryness moistens a talc bit on finagling. Pack is -firm with a single soft-spot in the 2/3. Balance in the mitt is Robusto classically fantastic. Schnozzola notes are nigh nonexistent at the shaft -- a light very light sunny hay tobacco dirt. Not a lot picks up at the foot -- a nutty vibe.
I clip the cap employing my by now trusty Xikar Xi2. Very subtle bits of creamy nuttiness and sweet dirt hay around a tobacco core. Sweetness has a light cocoa finish. Tension is a medium+ tension. Another cold pull gives some neat red spice addition; warm not hot. Comfy. There's a citrus thing flitting about.
LIGHT
Verily a cedar centered toasting aroma. Verily ready to light and darned nigh burn. First hot draw shows an up-front zetz of spice and red pepper which dials back quickly to a end of draw buttery cedar then cream pours into finish. Hint of butterscotch behind that all. Earthy hay, sunny, in the background. Cinnamon led red spices on the retro-haled second hottie. A lemon candy note drops to the palate. Third is all that there. Flavorful, but far from a flavor bomb. Medium in body and flavors; strength hasn't yet moved the needle.Very firm in mitt and maw. Tension is a stiff medium+. Burn is even and grows toothy grey ash from a medium thickness line. This feels, and tastes, old school. Finish is lengthening and sweetening via a coffee and cream addition. Mouth-feel is a gentlemanly tingle on great moisture level. Smoke out-put is average, tops, off foot as to volume and satiating on an airy cream in the smoke-hole.
ACT I
I taste the ghost of Lemonhead candies past. Room-note has a lemon bit on mainly a tobacco core of sunlit off-shoots (woods/hay/leathery melange.) Lemonhead on the retro-hale now -- I believe it's driving in a way -- responsible for the sunny stuffs. Suddenly now quite musky and meaty about an inch in. Malty rye notes come on. Oh, gosh golly, gentlepersons. Spices dial back on the retro-hale and... wow. Flowers and herbs in a musty root cellar. Up in the kitchen on the draw, a rye bread bakes. Another couple draws then pop goes the creamy cedar and under that the coffee and cream doth muscle too. Lemon zest. Malts... many... rye, light cocoa, a barley grain. Coffee even seems malted, epis! Cream steers and builds, that lemon keeps it clean. Cedar, braced.Burn is nuts dead even on a thinning line. Ash is thick and dense dense dense. Grey is paling and silver is happening. Zero softening of pack. A new honey attracts a malt addition on its second pull and the floral bits go there. White pepper comes on in. Profile is swirling around a tobacco core. Very clean post-finish. Smoke up-ticks on each end. Sweet baby moses in a basket floating down the Nile.
ACT II
So mucho, gentlepersons! A pecan rises and soars. Beautiful balance all over. Lemon loses candy stuffs and is, as mentioned, a zest and now muscling. Sugar separates and gets caramelized in the musky depths. Incredible nuances and nigh startling complexities -- particularly given the inherent creaminess. Hand-feel is a peach skin. Texture is a slightly powdered cream. Mouth is perfect moisture. Construction/combustion are each without flaw. Oh, Partagas. Wanna find a liberal Rabbi and settle down?Mulling spice with a new orange rind which holds in its orbit that malted honey. Musk. Musk everywhere. Palest white ash in an unbroken un-flaked sheath. Still classically medium and now insofar as kindly strength as well. A new alfalfa comes in. A roasted salt one puff after. Smooth balance with a perfect tick of Dominican tanginess. I roll off each stubborn inch of burnt offering and each is heavy and cool.
ACT III
Floral rises now. This Aniversario is one long curtain call, with each of its many notes stepping forth to take musky bow. Orange blossoms. A Werther's Original from the bottom of an old lady's leather purse. Some perfume spilled in. This is reflected in the room-note. Tobacco core grows in an aromatic manner. There's a new white chocolate at play with the white pepper off to the side.Nothing to add. Nothing to subtract. Until the band, where a toastiness comes into the core and spins its way out and about and... wow. Did I say that already? Wow. Cool smoke from a firm nub, sees me out.
PAIRINGS
Loganberry Manischewitz.
SMOKE TIME
75mins.
FINAL GRADE
****A+****
EPILOGUE
wow