B"H
My Father Cigars
Le Bijou 1922
6 1/8 x 52 torpedo box-press
w. Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro (Pelo De Oro)
b./f. Nicaraguan
A full review of this offering can be read HERE.
A K A P L O W I T Z Scale review can be read HERE.
All 18 Sabbaths (& more re: the project) can eventually be read HERE.
This offering and the remaining seventeen are courtesy of Cigars City and my mad March Madness skills.
I
Two thing jump out at me right off the bat: 1. the box-press is quite rounded, and 2. the draw's a bit snugger than I've come to expect. Blast of pepper this time rides on a syrupy espresso pull and delivered on a creamy chocolate cloud. Ash is a brilliant white and line is even. No softening of pack off lighting. Hand-feel is a greater heft maybe than previous Sabbaths. I should note that I don't read prior ones anytime near whenst writing new ones -- I don't want them to affect my current take. That stated, I might remember wrongly, as oft I doth do so (when referring back).
There's a very ripe fruitiness coming in that is a pale wet red, but too a tick artificial in its finish. Chocolate is a thin but rich note. A slight slice of decadent cake. Espresso is very much attached to a darkly sweet earth note, a compost thing. A pumpernickel comes in toasted and it's in a wooden oven. The initial zetz of black pepper was maybe not as much as other times, but too seems to have greater legs and more lasting of an influence. Some herbs are hinted at. Red wine now. Texture is not smooth as in creamy per se, but the bits are ground to a smooth 'nuff talc. Legs on the finish are quite short and of an earth sweetness with espresso and generic wood notes flitting about.
Draw has loosened well. Press is barely of an oval varietal. Pack has yet to soften one iota. Line is perfectly even. Ash is white silver with only a tick or two of slight flake on a densely solid sheath. Profile is of robustly medium body/flavor until the second inch where each earns an additional +. Strength seems restrained in a nice way. Perhaps we have turned a corner here, gentlepersons. Leather comes in the under-belly, then sweats its oils upward in an umami spike that is a tick sharp on the mouth via a meet-up with toasting woods. All told, quite rich and well-balanced. Smooth in the way a bully plays nice when the teacher is around. Roasted salt is here and it seems to hearty up the notes.
II
A plodding pace of combustion, but performing excellently. Fruit darkens moistly; an almost floral extension is felt and the artificial vibe hath doth lefteth. Whole profile seems a bit less foreboding than previous Sabbaths. Quite leathery now in a thickening creamery butter made from its oils. A tick of top-leaf threatens to impede, but then succumbs to the neat-O burn. By far, gentlepersons, this is my greatest Le Bijou Sabbath experience as of yet. Smoke out-put ramps up off both ends. A new acidic quality enters on the draw, a citrus rind leading some mulling spice into the upper middlings. Chocolate is way less brutish in this offering and allowing nuances of fruits and floral to enhance it minus losing any richness. Too, there is a greater nuance in the espresso, lending to greater complexity when it plays in the composted earth with leathers... which are too more nuanced. A real balabusta, this My Father! Pumpernickel soars now, on the back of a newly intro'd darkly roasted walnut. Woods are perhaps falling a tick.
The box press has failed, but all other construction notes hold firm and fast, so Jimmy crack corn and I don't care. Although it is noted and notated. Nuts bitter the profile a tick, but don't bite. A tingle is on my tongue as the woods re-emerge seasoned and bracing the darkening and muscling-up tobacco with inherent pepperiness. Combustion is threatening to get squirrely, but ain't yet. Still a voluptuous out-put and a downright tantalizing room-note of sweet woody leather tobacco. An anise bit peeks in on the end of draw. It's in the black pepper and man, yummy.
III
Bitterness trails off and a savory load gets delivered. Perfect balance to the richness already afoot. Burn works its own way through a bugaboo sans re-touch. Notes all hum, for they do not know the words. Seasonings come up, a rosemary note leads and hits the meat and grain, highlighting that there thems. Ash loses its sheath to flaking, but don't make a mess, just ain't as pretty. Schmatta stays pocketed. Burn goes out after secondary band is removed, and I at first blame myself for allowing too much sitting. Then it gives me a slight hassle on the re-light, so whom knows? Acidic rind hits hard occasionally and sharpens the notes, but all told, I am looking forward to next Sabbath; something I might not have been doing after the previous one.
Other than again mentioning the failed pressing and onset's tighter than comfy draw, and some slight burn hiccupses -- construction and combustion each level up here. Mainly though, the flavors have elevated in nuance and complexity to a nigh startling degree. At the primary band we are a sharper than perfect espresso led earthiness surrounding a darkly aromatic core. Leathers and chocolates and meaty grains spin out and a fruity sweetness backs them. Finish is short and bittersweet, ending cleanly sans chemical attachments. Smoke is a finely finely ground smoothness and cool in the ol' smoke-hole. Strength spikes expectantly so.
EDITOR'S NOTE
Written prior to the Sabbath. Gut Shabbos, gentlepersons... happy Saturday, goyim.
L'Shalom