WRAPPER: Nicaraguan Corojo
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Nicaraguan, Dominican
FORMAT: Corona Gorda (6.5x48)
ORIGIN: El Titan de Bronze, USA
INTENSITY: Medium
NOTES:
Lemon | White pepper | Oak
Bright and a tick flighty. Retro-hale is pale-scorchy like flash photography. Yellow af, like the floaters in your eyes after saying "cheese" in an under-lit room in 1998. But also that acts as sunlit earthiness as a pale earthen grounding begins after the opening-third. Hints of candied papaya and banana chips. Lots of cereal grains, the powdery bottom of a Honey Nut Cheerios box. Some quite intriguing flavors but the sunniness has you pulling down your visor as you drive on ahead. White peppercorn.
Somewhat imbalanced toward sour citrus notes and even when table sugar enters at the half-way mark, it's still a tangy ade. Grassy. Slightly after that, a thin pale suede gets touched with whatever seasons duck sauce. I'd hazard apricots, vinegar(?), and salt. Definitely some intrigue, as mentioned. Quite fleeting into the finish and surprisingly sharp on the retro-hale. Complex a'plenny, lesser-so nuanced. Nicely structured raw oaken delineations of notes. I get visions of hot air balloon rides. I don't do heights.
The cap doesn't degrade, necessarily, but it does noticeably soften quickly after lighting the foot. Draws OK but seems a bit open then damply-blocked later on the same draw. To fit with that moist theme, the burn is quite slow and top-leaf seems to lag. A couple of re-touches are needed along the way and accepted well enough. Seams hold nicely. The burn-line is predominantly even with a moderate thickness of mascara and perhaps a slight jaggedness. Ash grows well and slowly in an oily pale sheath.
TASTE: B+
DRAW: B
BURN: B+
BUILD: B+
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
::: very :::