WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Habano
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Honduran, Nicaraguan
FORMAT: Robusto
ORIGIN: General Cigar Dominicana
INTENSITY: Medium-full/full
NOTES:
Mulled wine | Charred oak | Semi-sweet chocolate
Big up-front spiciness. Cinnamon, ginger, cloves. That and some red fruit notes lead me to a mulled wine conclusion. Black peppercorn acts as a structuring note alongside/within charred oak. Semi-sweet chocolate, heavy on French vanilla inclusion, chugs along the top of the under-belly. Said UB is barnyard and dark earthiness, savorily-so. A bit of graphite minerality comes on at the 2/3. That's also when the sharp saltiness floods in and steers.
The middling notes are somewhat vacant, somewhat filled with drippings from on-high. A roasted orange nod appears here & there, there. At the mid-point, a licorice-anise addition to the pepper-scape rolls in. The profile is heavy but hits a bit like a pulled punch. Better yet, it's a winding path I wend upon. Nicely balanced in a neat feat if you look past the salt, and given its height. Dense heavy and tingly mouth-feel, clean at the end. Also, a bit throaty, aggressive.
Top-leaf lags a time or two behind guts, needs a pair of retouches. The line itself is a tick jagged and wide. The cherry sits a half-hair off-center. Draws well. Ash does not build much at all and displays Honduran-fugly. Smoke out-put wobbles about and while the aroma is a nice sniff of top-notes, the room-note is surprisingly wispy. Seams hold fast but the cap suffers-some. All told a profile that scans as a bit overcome by its own Habano. I remain unclear as to who a salty spice-bomb Macanudo is geared toward.
TASTE: B+
DRAW: A-
BURN: B+
BUILD: A-
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
::: very :::