Monday, January 1, 2018

Isabela StarDust - Cigar Review

Happy New Year, gentlepersons!

Please allow me to begin both the year and this post on a thankful note. It has not been but a couple weeks or-so that I've embarked upon my #cigarmodel #cigarmodels cigar modeling career journey. Already: success. As of this QWERTYing, I stand numero uno in the aforementioned pluralized hashtag and numero tres in its singular iteration. I also appear rather high-up elsewheres in each list. I am humbled. I am hot. Put a gun to my head and ask if I'm more humbled or hot? The gun would MELT.

Thanks again.

Now lettuce shift our gaze away from me (sorry, I know it's hard/sad) and toward the cigar at hand -- the Isabela Cigar Co. StarDust. This offering is somewhat a by-product or cousin-kin-folk to the Time Traveler. Like the TT, it promises more transitions than Cher's kid and Bruce Jenner put together.

"So three, Kap?"
"Stop being so literal."

KVELL
  • Draws is a smooth medium+ tension, gate-to-wire.
  • Holds form well 'nuff throughout.
  • Burn-line is even, nigh as a razor.
  • Ash holds firm, dense.
  • Pacing is excellent to the tune of a nigh 90 min. Corona
  • Voluminous smoke out-put.
  • Room-note: an enticing sweet-spice w/ citrus-clean lilt.
  • Peppers are poppin', kindly-so and all a' them.
  • Lovely sour notes, never overly-acidic.
  • Salt is a lovely lip-smacking addition.
  • Bitter balances sweet, supremely-so.
  • It's all A-level balanced.
  • Bupkis bite.
  • Finish is of lengthy & sweet complexities. Clean.
  • Rich as in a decadent fruit and cream dessert.
  • Smooth as Billy Dee Williams selling malt liquor.
  • Trust me: retro-hale OFTEN.
KVETCH
  • There are small soft-spots near foot & cap.
  • As to cap, there is slight degradation there.
  • Some dampening of draw leading to a slight hesitancy in the 3/3.
KIBBITZ
Sometimes... OK many-times, I ask myself while smoking a new cigar (and this 'un just dropped in Nov.) "Why'd someone come out with something that's already been done a million times?" I have NEVER queried that re: any Isabela release. While their portfolio differs from almost all else out there, and each particular offering from the others -- still each has a reason for being intro'd as well as a common link in delivery of experience. A brilliant brand you've got here/there, Mr. Piette. Here are the flavor notes (it'll be a lengthy list, but I feces ya not):
  • Peppers, jalapeno, black, cayenne, white, bell
  • Citrus, lemonade & lime wedge & grapefruit
  • Cinnamon
  • Nutmeg
  • Wasabi
  • Clove
  • Wood, cedar & wine cask
  • Chocolate, Swiss Miss & malt
  • Honey, orange blossom & malt
  • Fruit, pale syrupy melange
  • Coffee, cream & sugar
  • Cream, whipping & sour
  • Nuts, praline (sugary almonds), peanut brittle&butter
  • Car-a-mel
  • Cardamom
  • Anise (builds)
  • Avacado
  • Herbal (dillweed & lemongrass)
  • Floral, chamomile
  • Leather (brushed suede)
  • Graham cracker pie crust
  • Hay, sweet
  • Dirt, sunlit
Sweet Tip was the name I worked under in... another project. Never mind the particulars, rent was due and I'd just been laid-off. I'm reminded of that former although short and ultimately regrettable alias here because every time I review an Isabela offering, I note their sweet tip. The cap is affixed with a sugar-based glue. This is not infused, nor flavored. This too, is a perfectly acceptable method clear on back to the mother country, Cuba. It diminishes here, as per brand usual, coming outta the 1/3.

WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Des Florada, Nicaraguan Habano
BINDER: Nicaraguan Media Tiempo
FILLER: Nicaraguan Media Tiempo & Ligero

STRENGTH: Medium
FORMAT: Corona Barber Pole
ORIGIN: Nicaragua

FINAL GRADE: A+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59

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"(Pardon My) French Toast" Kaplowitz Radio: December 27, 2017