Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Felix Assouline Cuban Style Blend (CSB) - Cigar Review

B"H
THE CIGAR
Felix Assouline
CSB Cuban Style Blend
Torero 6 x 52 Toro
w. Jalapa Habano Criollo 98
b./f. Jamastran
m. Nicaragua
K A P L O W I T Z SCALE
Construction
k a p L o w i t z
Darkly hued shaft with some high-up brick-red under-tones. Decent sheen which thickens as smoke progresses. Veiny, a good bit. Neat-O tooth. Seams present unevenly at pre-light, but hold throughout and mayhaps even tighten. Medium+ density of pack down-grades to a medium after 1/3 tho that don't alter draw particularly. Draw is a tick wispy/hollow at times on first toke. Likes to be puffed at in threes. Like much/most/all of the Assouline line, these CSB offerings mandate a good dry-boxing.

Combustion
k a p L o w i t z
Resting smoke out-put fades quickly to a quite quiet burn; once pulled -- voluminous thick clouds emerge and create a sweet leathery room-note with hint of spice. Verily earthy. Pace quickens here and there a tick unevenly so, is never slower than an above average rate of speed. Ash is medium-dark grey with some flaking off a chunked build. Looking head-long into char, an aeration of burn can be seen. Burn-line wobbles-some, but self-corrects quickly off a quickly burn. .

Flavor
k a p l o W i t z
Dark earthen toasted grains. Sweetened by goodly molasses doses. Middlings revolve around an espresso-drenched dark roasted natural tobacco with a heavy smoked attachment. Lower middlings are a bissell zetz of toasted caramel. Under-belly is a scorched compost manure thing of great richness and nuance. Spices are cumin and paprika, mainly. Red pepper flakes play well inside the spices. Leather laces the profile and leaves thickish oils in its wake. Mid-point transition sees the addition of a shouting dark cocoa and whispering dried red/purple fruits. Retro-hale offers up black pepper and a toasted nuttiness. In the 3/3, there is a drying nigh scorching of profile seemingly from grains... not egregiously-so, but worthy of note.

Body
k a p l o W i t z
Sits a bit dry on the palate. Spiced earth and espresso bean finish of medium-length'd legs. Warm tingling on tongue. Oils, but powdery on cheeks, a bit of scorched feel. A half-tick coarse of texture.

Strength
k a p l o W i t z
Challah-basket warms like eating a heaping bowl of hot porridge. Head swims a tick and a half, but lending to that may be the amount of puffs needed on each draw in order to satiate smoke-hole and keep the CSB lit. My upper lip doth schvitz in the 3/3.

FINAL GRADE
****B****

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