4:46pm
I'm still very excited about my Royals being world champs. It was great how they didn't completely collapse like those terrible Mets fellas.
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Now for --
THE CIGAR
Nomad Cigar Co.
Therapy Maduro
Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper
Habano Jalapa binder
Nicaraguan fillers
4 1/2 (4.5 if yer a stinkin' socialist) x 50
Courtessy of Fred Rewey (Thank you, sir)
Looks ripe as Maduro, this. Some visible seams but nothing egregious and/or worrisome. Not the most even complexion, but not terrible. There's a pin-hole prick at the 1/way point and a blemish at the end of the 1/3 -- we'll see how those fair. Too, the cap lays a bit askew. Lightly oiled and toothy without a great amount of sheen. Foot tobacco is red brick brown with blond highlights and seems to offer a denser packing than its two brothers, the Therapy Connecticut and Habano.
Squeezing the shaft of the thing confirms a firm density and it's an even one. A nibble off of the cap shows a medium+ firmness draw, which I personally like. Cold draw is of a ripe tobacco with dark coffee and a mulch earthiness backing. Peppers are there, black. Some black currant too. Very Maduro, very Broadleaf. Very much what Mr. Rewey does well -- allowing the tobacco to shine.
Where's my head? I forgot the ol' schnozzola routine. Shaft smells of manure (I mean that it the best way possible), and ripe tobacco with faraway notes of chocolate and coffee. From the foot I get red/purple fruit and sweetness from the Maduro which borders on a cherry, some peppers are there, as well as leather.
LIGHT
Roasting coffee beans and cocoa powder are on the foot-toasting notes. First hot pull is very darkly roasted coffee, very dark chocolate with a subtle dark red to purple fruit syrup, and very ripely mature. Like a compost ready for the garden. Second hot pull is retro-haled and I get a doable double-dosing of black pepper, but as a reward, it causes a very dark and sweet chocolate to drop to my palate and hold. A third hot pull shows a surprising mellowing, as I wasn't expecting that until later, and a very earthy note sets in alongside the chocolate as the primary notes -- nicely balanced ones, at that.
Finish is medium+ length and chocolate, coffee, earth, red/purple fruits in that order, particularly.
Burn is dead even and burn-line will cut chu, mang (razor-thin). Ash is very white and smooth. Draw is a medium plus and BOOM ash on my lap and I forgot to lay out my schmatta/hankie. It's surprisingly powdery and fluffy. Will someone please getta broom and clean this up?
Thus far and really not far at all, the profile is a medium, but it'll ramp up or my name ain't Knobby Walsh.
We get through the first wrapper blemish in no-prob-Bob style. The flavors ripen further now and sweeten on account of that ie: ripe bananas. To be clear, I do not taste bananas. I must be careful. Chocolate gets moistened not by cream, but by a chocolate liqueur. Notes of black currants and cherry (in that order) rise, but remain far from the foreground. Backing of earthiness stays at the same dampness and it's a rich mulch niceness. I detect no more leather. Coffee weaves in and out of each pull on the draw, but comes close to staring in the finish alongside the chocolate which dries there a bit.
The burn-line doesn't thicken, but ribbons a tad, correcting itself each time. Draw remains the same. and density of the pack remains the same, as well.
Medium smoke output all around. Room-note is very chocolate and earthy with a bit of a char. Not bad, but chances are your wife will gut you if you took this into the house.
As Act II doth approacheth, I am surprised that the profile, strength in particular, has not ticked up even a hair. Primary notes remain the same, as does the finish, which lengthens a bit and lasts now well into the next puff. Very calm smoke. Slow burning and gentlemanly.
ACT II
I begin with a rolling off of an inch or so of ash, it's fluffy and powdery. On the stick, its a handsome and full white, thanks to the PA Broadleaf. Near espresso coffee takes over from the black pepper on the retro-hale. On the draw is that coffee, dark chocolate filled with chocolate liqueur, syrupy red/purple fruits, and bologna. JK on the bologna -- I'm just making sure yer paying attention. Finish remains unchanged. This is Therapy at its finest, and I feel as though I'd set my best pal on fire for the opportunity to stretch out on a leather sofa with this sucker.
The draw tightens a bit, but is still alright. The coffee gets a tad bitter, especially off the retro-hale. The black pepper remains almost exclusively at the tip of my tongue. We have successfully smoked past the 2/2 of the blemishes to no atrocities. Burn and its line, hold.
As III approaches, a roasted black pepper comes in on the draw and suddenly stars there as the chocolate and coffee go to supporting cast. I'm only catching fruitiness in the once in awhile, and the strength has kicked up to a -full. Body, with the new-found peppers, goes to medium+ and flavors minus the fruit complexity are now at a medium. The room-note has sharpened and the smoke off the foot has ramped up, its notes are the same as mentioned earlier. A thick leather is on the draw now.
Mouth-feel is a bit a-tingle but pleasantly so. Construction has softened a notch while remaining even. Smoke remains cool and even with more foot-smoke, continues to burn in a slow roasting simmer. Advertised as a full profile, I disagree in the aforementioned ways, but it is the deepest of the Therapy line and flirts with chewy like a drunk Han Solo, as the second act closes.
ACT III
Ash darkens and shows more oil in the here and now. Flavors and profile: same as before. I prefer my therapy and my Maduros in short sessions, and adhere to that here. Very nice smoke, but one which might prove laborious in a larger vitola. There's a bit more charring now. Black pepper, leather, dark chocolate (sans liqueur) and a less damp earthiness are the flavor notes now and in that order. A retro-hale is mainly black pepper with a strong Full City Plus coffee bean backing. Finish is dark coffee with traces of leather and dark chocolate traces.
Insofar as profile, strength is at full now and has snuck up on me. Pardon me, gentlepersons, as I swoon. body is the same as before. Flavors: medium. My mouth dries a bit, but not terribly so. Smoke remains cool and as the offering fades out, I get a little savoriness as a burger cooked to well-done over a charcoal grill.
NOTES
Readers ask me why I don't mention price. "Get yer own blog," I tells 'em. In truth, I don't mention price because it changes too much according mainly to your geographical locale. I will say here, though, that each of these Therapy offerings could easily carry a larger price tag than they do. My hats off to Mr. Rewey for making sure they do not.
That stated, and also now stated that I am not the biggest Maduro fan in the world, this offering left me just shy of satiated. Although that's a common occurence in my dealings with such. Although I am surprised I was less than riveted by the Pennsylavania Broadleaf. Too a surprise was the flaky and prone to surprise ashing ash.
PAIRINGS
A tawny port is a nice catch-all cop-out. Blackberry Manischewitz. Cappacino, lo' I hate to 'go there.'
FINAL GRADE B
Maduro fans will find what they're looking for here.
EPILOGUE
5:50ishpm
Go Royals! Lifelong fan here, as of quite recent.