Sunday, April 1, 2018

Hiram & Solomon Cigars Shriner - Cigar Review by Kaplowitz

[from the co. site] "Medium bodied blend with a smooth and perfect construction. The unique blend of tobacco from five different regions produced an unparalleled smoke offering a perfumed sense of a bouquet with a finish of cocoa and cappuccino. Comes with a Fez Humidor 100% Hand made from 47 cedar pieces and holds 20 cigars."

The humi idea is cute and even meaningful if you're in the super-secret handshake group. Also, remember when cappuccino as all the rage before the latte took over? OK then, lettuce gander the ceegar...

Flavors (medium) This took me a second to see: the overtones are bright. Undertones, dark. Sweet-bitter salty up-top and below savory(vegetal)-sour(candied). A pepper-spice set to a hair under moderate swirls the length and width of the thing cushioned heavily by creamy richnesses. Quite balanced, although there ain't a lot of notes to do-so w/. Not complex, but verily nuanced in its dark nethers. At the mid-point marker and then on-down, there is a clustering of notes not aided by a building up of sweet barnacles body. Pleasant still, but lacking utterly in delineation. The second half is a simple (yet enjoyable) sweet creamy stick.
  • Cappuccino (sure why not?*)
  • Cocoa butter
  • Leather (Suede)
  • Wood, sweet cedar 
  • Pepper, white (sauteed in buttah)
  • Chocolate, white
  • Salt, roasted
  • Black cherry (fleeting)
  • Hay, wet
  • Earth
*Maxwell House International Cafe Sugar Free Decaf Beverage Mix, French Vanilla Cafe (I'm guessing here).

Body (medium) Very smooth, quite rich & soft to the point of heavy. Lip-smacking. Long sweet finish that just don't quit and densely builds with each draw. Cool of temp throughout. Strength (mild) Does kick as high as to be almost M.-Medium at the back-loaded 3/3 but that happens near the band, so I'm OK with deeming this Shriner to be mild.

Combustion hits a jagged spot in the 1/3 but pulls through on its lonesome. Operates mainly on a slight curve. Good smoke out-put both passively & aggressively, leading to a sweet leathery cream room-note. Ash barely makes an inch, doing so only twice. Seems a bit dry there although its core is quite oily. Construction Shows some loosening of seams via progression and a top-leaf which wants to pull off from burn here and there. There is also a substantial softening of pack density, although this doesn't cause harm to a nice smooth draw of a medium tension.

WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Sumatra
BINDER: Indonesian
FILLER: Brazilian Arapiraca, Habano Jalapa, Habano Ometepe & Dominican

STRENGTH: Medium
FORMAT: Toro
ORIGIN: Plasencia Factory, Nicaragua

FINAL GRADE: B
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59

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