WRAPPER: US Connecticut
BINDER: Ecuadoran Sumatran
FILLER: Brazilian Dominican, US PA
FORMAT: Corona
ORIGIN: Royal Agio, Dominican Republic
INTENSITY: Mild-medium
NOTES:
Cocoa butter | White pepper | Cafe Au Lait
"[Balmoral is] A brand kiboshed in the US market by its overlings at Scandinavian Tobacco Group back in 2020 on account of low sales and FDA blah blah blah." (Me, Hiatus Report | A Birthday Unicorn)
Terroir is the tale this blend tells. Its somewhat frail (though unmarred) silky-smooth wrapper, its equally refined flavors of smoothly-bright tangy bitter-sweet depths. The paleness of its complexion. All ::: very ::: US Connecticut as compared to other countries' Connies.
You stare into the kindly well-lit abyss and it stares back at you and sometimes you aren't certain either of you saw what you think you maybe saw. Cocoa butter, coconut flake, Cafe Au lait, creamy hay? White pepper, Chamomile (apple-y), Suede? Chicken coop, suede, White chocolate? Citrus (growing via progression). A spoonful of sugar accompanies each, though never cloyingly.
Well balanced, sneakily delineated on the back-end, and into the lingering-building sweet-floral finish. Complex and nuanced, if you believe it is. You can either sit & stare off at it and into the mist, or pleasantly go about your business as it leaves its kind taste on your palate. Either/or. There are transitions of evolving notes deepening ever-so little.
As to mechanics, all is care-free & EZ. Slow burn. Excellent draw. Nice ash. Moderate smoke out-put culminating in a room-note you'd expect from the profile, quite creamily-so. Dreamily-so. Really, it makes sense to have pulled this from the US market and continue it in Europe. It's an excellent profile for the mores of that geography.
TASTE: A-
DRAW: A
BURN: A-
BUILD: A-
FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
::: very :::