THE CIGAR
Om Mani HelixToro Barber-pole
w. San Andres Maduro/Esteli Habano
b. Nicaraguan Jalapa
f. Nicaraguan
I
Creamy coconut under a sharp zetz of white pepper. Some oak. Coffee and cream. Peanut butter. There's still, at a half inch in, a sharp attachment I'd rather not see. Humsoever, some nice notes, too. Big heft here, lots of tobacco, nice balance in the mitt. Even medium draw. Finish is sour dough with some sweet remnants to balance. Medium+ length'd legs. Mouth-feel is a yeasty cream; excellent moisture. Sweet earth hay note rides in and the hardwood rides up. Seasoned oak slathered in toasted cream. Leather. The taste of smelling burnt movie theater popcorn.
Profile is medium at one inch in. Strength, low+. Burn-line ribbons and a Maduro tick threatens lag. Ash is heather grey on a slight flaked sheath. Sharpness is dialing back. A caramel honey note flits in. Smoke out-put off each end is voluptuous and white. That Maduro tick is now blistering some. Caramel toasts and honey leans toward a light orange blossom varietal. Light sweet grain. Honey thickens. Black pepper is in on the retro-hale and drops sweetly toasted to the palate. Burn is finding even on its own. Soft mouth, but a tick of sandpaper throat. Citrus comes up cleanly with an orange rind from the honey. Finish lengthens and sour jockeys for the lead with sweet there. Nice nuances, fairly complex all told. Balance could be better and texture seems to wanna be smoother than it is thus far. Citrus takes a lemony turn and an immediate draw note is lemon Pledge. This wraps around the profile to reappear on the finish (sour note).
II
Chewy lemon cookies. No more furniture polish. Coffee and cream with a slight coconut remnants attachment. Oak. White spices and pepper. Sea salt dash. Dirt, nicely. Caramel, toasted. Honey down to a vibe. Draw is a medium+ tension now, but satiates the smoke-hole even more fully. Room-note is a brewers yeasty sweet tobacco with a grainy bit. Suede starts to carry the under-belly with 4" of shaft left. Popcorn. I'm visualizing popcorn. A pale nut paste comes and goes and comes and goes and...
Ash firms up its flaky bits and gets a few medium grey streakings. Burn-line ain't even, but self-correcting. Pace seems slowing and foot-smoke dials back. Pack softens a bit but seams and draw hold fast. Lingering sour bit is distracting at times and erasing of some other notes. Finish ends a bit shorter than prior but too cleanly. I'm not ready for hoodie weather. I am already flashing forward to freezing my tuchus off whilst recording Cigars City Podcasts. Oy vey iz mir.
Oh, before I forget, check THIS out, gentlepersons. You'll read all about my upcoming Kaplowitz Live-a-Thon 2016. Four hours of live Facebooking video. Wow. As the 3/3 looms nigh on this Om Mani Hybrid, its performance is admirable in both construction and combustion. Notes have become a coffee cream and lemon cookie lead. Middlings are a toasted white-spiced earthiness with honey and caramel dancing around a tobacco core. Under-belly is a suede laced with a neat roasted saltiness. White chocolate flirts in and out in a white peppered manner. There's a hint of bite under my tongue, but not egregiously so. Mouth-feel and body lighten some. Finish gets a tick of stray white chocolate but it's mainly the accompanying white pepper. Suddenly, cedar. It floods the middling and here we are in --
III
Some vanilla beans. Grains and cedar play and toast. Citrus dials back and tobacco core takes to the lead. Coffee and cream note flexes. A retro-hale is sharp wood and a re-emerging black pepper zetz. Show me the door on a final transition? Yes, please. Very nice. Bitey flirtations ease and more cream enters. Well-balanced and richly so final act.
Burn requires a slight re-touch but all other performance note are groovy, baby... I mean gentlepersons. The inner band tells me something inspirational and full of wisdom. I already forgot what it said. Two guys walk into a bar, and I forget the rest, but your mother is a woman of loose reputation. Someone on my TV wins a $125,000.00 car on The Price is Right and I haven't seen my cat in a week plus. I tend to think it's all a cosmic feces-shoot. Still, I shall stick with my Kosher wines.
Nub is squishy but smoke is cool. Fun smoke, this Helix.
FINAL GRADE
****B****
L'shalom