PROLOGUE
6:00pm (thereabouts)I'm fresh off a phone interview pertaining to Moe, Larry, Curly and going to the dogs. The results shall be posted here ASAP. Intrigued? How's that for a teaser? How's:
I'm set to send out my first KAPLOWITZ INSIDER email newsletter. You still have time to get in on the ground floor and sign up via the EZ form to the right of your screen. Get exclusive writings and reviews I won't post nowhere else including the blog, and special savings near galore! The general vicinity of galore. An outlying suburb of galore.
Have I been lax in my anecdotes lately? Perhaps.
I went to Fred Meyer today and their Cod Liver Oil has now crossed the 30USD mark. Flintstones Vitamins were on sale, however. So my new way of staying quirkily healthy thanks to supplementation is Flintstones Vitamins. I plan on taking a double-dose of two (2) a day. How'd that grabs ya? Now --
THE CIGAR
Nomad Cigar Co.Esteli Lot 8613
Ecuadorian Habano wrapper
Nicaraguan binder/filler
6 x 50 Toro
Courtesy of Fred Rewey (danke)
PRE-LIGHT
I like a nice foot band. Nice being simple, elegant, and possessing of purpose. The purpose on this Nomad offering's foot band is to let me know I'm about to enjoy an "Esteli Lot 8613." The main band gets points for an uncluttered design, successful branding, and for being embossed. Whether or not it's my particular style is "Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man." But I will say it ain't egregiously ain't.Cap construction has a tad of an uneven tobacco lump but is affixed nicely. Very smooth feel in the hand. Some thick but still smooth veins, tight even seams. Cream in coffee mainly matte and even complexion with a tad of green hue undertone throughout. Foot tobacco is a dark rich chocolate color with a few highlight flexes that fall short of dipping all the way to a dirty blonde. medium+ density with a small lagging lesser-dense spot.
Pack is soft of medium and gets there via traveling from a soft foot to medium+ cap in a smoothly linear transition. At the tippy-tip-top of the cap, it softens back again. Interesting.
Sweet hay and milk chocolate notes to the nose via shaft. At the foot, a bit of a tangy orange citrus chimes in. Cold pull, after slicing the cap with my Old Timer, is an easy draw of milk chocolate and citrus. I'm put in mind of a Terry's Chocolate orange; the segmented orange-shape/sized treat you bang on a table to separate into portions. Maybe there's some hint of oak there, too. The draw itself is smooth and easy.
LIGHT
Oak notes with a Bit O' Honey off the foot toasting. We start off with a first hot draw oak, honey, and cayenne pepper. The cayenne increases on the finish but remains kind, that finish has nice legs this early. Second pull is a retro-hale and I maybe shouldn't have done that. Very cayenne, but dulls and dissipates quickly. There's a more full honey coming on in the draw and also adhering to the finish. Third hot on is a milder and toasted cayenne with a nice sharp oak and orange blossom honey. In that particular order, yes.We're taking on a bit of a bready mouth-feel which sets the body at a medium. Flavors are medium, as well, and I''ll say light insofar as strength.
Burn is even but occasionally ribbon'd and self-correcting. Burn-line is thin+ and the ash is an airy in appearance off-white to flecks of medium grey. It grows in evenly spaced ladder rungs and slowly so. Nice cool burn. Light amount of foot-smoke with that orange blossom on its aroma. Draw remains effortless and provides no shortage of smoke.
ACT I
Cayenne flirts with harsh, but subdues quickly after each pull. I set the Nomad offering in my tray and a 1/2" of ash plops off. I set my schmatta/hankie in my lap and investigate... very airy, very powdery. My thought is that this onset is meant to fade quickly and that calls for a fading of the cayenne looming on the near horizon. We shall see what that brings if it is brought.Cayenne does indeed subdue, but not vanish, as it stays on the retro-hale and finish. Earthiness comes in now and the orange blossom honey is quite purdy. Bread is heavier now and doughy and ticks the body up to medium+ or -full. There's a whisper backing of a very sweet hay note that borders on floral. Very much a nuanced offering, this. The earthiness is sharply clean. Finish is that and honey, nicely balanced.
Smoke output ramps up to -full and is a mellow tobacco with a nice toasted sweet bread. Burn is even enough, burn-line is medium. Ash seems to have more density now under the same complexion. The firmer parts of the packing soften to meet the rest. Draw has picked up a bit of resistance, and is perfect. Cayenne is still on-board and very pleasantly muted, offering a nice warm dimension and decent level of complexity.
Am diggin' it, gentlepersons.
ACT II
The cigar has a great feel in the smoke-hole and a pleasant foot-smoke, so I dangle it from my lips. I do so after rolling off an inch+ of denser yet still powdery ash. Strength is up to a hair away from medium, the rest of the profile holds, as do the construction notes.Mouth-feel holds, too, and a perfect moisture level sets into me mouf. Smoke warms a tad, and pleasantly so. Flavors hold steady but do not bore. Very smoov character, this. Very inviting, as well. But it does have an edge. Nice.
A seam lifts a bit at the burn-line but will, I believe, hold well. I've begun to appreciate the cayenne (which I'm normally not a fan of) for keeping me if not on my toes, at the middle portion of my seat. I will say to be somewhat careful to not over-smoke this Nomad, due to it's lesser density and nice flavors. Neither of which should at all be taken as a knock.
The only change as the half is met is that I'd say we're now at a medium strength.
There was no raucous transition in the 2/3, but I wasn't expecting one, as it would have been out of context here. Cayenne goes further back and is all but gone. Slightly less sweet hay notes lead now with a sweet backing of honey that thickens some as orange picks up. There's a quick bit of savoriness that leaves before I can fully identify. I smack my lips and VOOSH. Farethe(meaty)well.
Very nice construction holds and that looser seam tightened/was smoked through. Medium flavors and strength now, with a -full body on account of the bready texture.
ACT III
Oak comes in to lead now and honey is a close second. Beyond those front-runners are distant hay and occasional muted cayenne remnants. It's reminiscent of the Oregon Coast. Mild and pleasant, with an occasional jagged rock -- but no real memorable moments. I wouldn't mind living there, if I could travel. A good place to come home to.
NOTES
A very good stick for the everyday, or to stave off disappointment in a flashier offering."Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Freud. (Whom most likely never said that.) If that cigar is an 8613 -- take comfort there. I suppose this offering is a cigar's cigar.
PAIRINGS
Cup of blonde coffee. A blond in your lap holding it for you. It being the blonde coffee. THe final third was impressive not in flavor complexity or even nuance, but in that it was nice enough and simple -- sans bringing boredom or a sense of laborious chore. It just was.
FINAL GRADE
**** B- ****
EPILOGUE
7:14pmWhattaya wan'? I gave ya a prologue with a hype and an anecdote. You know, this is free...
Thanks for reading, gentlepersons.