Kristoff Cigars Vengeance in Review "A Swashbuckler, This One. Swarthy"

“Have you Kaplowitz’d to-day?”

WRAPPER: Connecticut Broadleaf
BINDER: Indonesian
FILLER: Nicaraguan, Dominican

FORMAT: Toro (6.25x54) unfinished foot, pig-tail cap
ORIGIN: Charles Fairmorn, Dominican Republic
INTENSITY: Medium-Full/Full

WEBSITE: kristoff.com

NOTES:

Black peppercorn | Baking spice | Wood

A profile that is steered by wood, therefore perceived as delivered rigidly, kindly-so. There is a constant cream, toasted & thick, though not the latter enough to stave off some gruffness. That wood is a charred wine cask oakiness & seasoned salty cedar, scorched. Baking spice is high-up near the front yet a bit dusty and non-descript; a bit disappointing since the rest of the blend is quite delineated and focused. Black pepper is a front-loaded thing, seeping but not lost into creaminess via progression. 

Undertones are a neat separation of wine & cask for more intimate look-sees at each in each's depths. Excellent layering of nuances, there. Dark chocolate shavings ride high albeit a bit waxily. More cream toasted more, more depths then. Underbelly is a compost pile, some manure, barnyard. Leathery-savory. Tick saline mineraly, responsibly-so. Quite complex in the wood notes, particularly. Some black walnut comes in there at the mid-point, too, a richening of chocolate. I'm realizing this cigar has an eye patch & peg leg, read on...

Neither elegant nor refined but quite complex & nuanced for its intent. That being large, in-charge, & if not in your face -- not at all opposed to being there. A bit of a swashbuckler, this one. Swarthy. A stick w/ an abundance of character & unafraid to impose it on a fellow. Burns well, but the line does mainly run un-egregiously jagged. Self-correcting then self-erring again & again. Draws toward snug but acceptably and evenly. Ash ain't a builder so if that's your fetish get those kicks elsewhere. Aroma comes off a lesser than moderate smoke out-put & is darkly sweet peppery woods. Leathery. The captain's chambers of a pirate ship, say.

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

::: very :::