WRAPPER: Brazilian Arapiraca
BINDER: Indonesian
FILLER: Dominican, Colombian
FORMAT: Robusto (552)
ORIGIN: General Cigar Dominicana
INTENSITY: Medium/Medium-full
NOTES:
Pinewood | Earth | Grains
Rigid. Staunch, even. Unmoving and crisp. Brisk. Pinewood structures in a lightly-charred manner, dryly-so. There isn't much to test that frame-work. A straight-forward earthen core of filtered sunlit clay is sweetened by a tick of malted orange blossom honey. Grains extend from there in a sharp (tho not unkind) rye-like fashion. Something like a chocolate tea biscuit establishes itself. Light baking spices are no more delineated than that. A fleeting bit of candied citrus is on the back-end and into a short clean finish. Smokes a bit like the homogenization of any downtown.
Well-balanced with a decent enough heft. Smoothly textured in a somewhat arid way. Not at all complex but instead rather simple. Pleasant, nonetheless. A bit of cream fleshes out the profile in the final two-thirds after pepper calms. That pepper never hits too hard. No transitions aside from that, making it a fairly linear thing. No real nuance, as the overall cleanliness doesn't allow for entrenchments. Something is missing; nothing is amiss. The maltiness as noted previously is a nifty layer, and via progression, influences the grain as well. OK, the trendy part of any downtown.
As to construction and combustion, there is but one half-complaint: a quick-sided burn. Aside from that nit, the ash grows firm and sheathed. The draw is even and of a nice amount of resistance throughout. No hard/soft spots in the roll, neither pre-light nor heated. Dead-straight and razor-thin burn-line. Tight seams. Nice smoke out-put passively and actively, offering a sweet malty aroma and somewhat of a muted room-note. Smells of suede and pale ginger. Via a retro-hale, you can somewhat trap those notes on the palate. Overall, simple not boring and again, quite pleasant an affair--aided by care-free performance.
TASTE: B+
DRAW: A-
BURN: A-
BUILD: A-
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
TASTE: B+
DRAW: A-
BURN: A-
BUILD: A-
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
::: very :::