WRAPPER: Jamao Dominican
BINDER: Honduran
FILLER: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Dominican
FORMAT: Toro (5.75x54)
ORIGIN: Dominican Republic
INTENSITY: Medium
NOTES:
Boiled peanuts | Suede | Turmeric
Turmeric is a type of ginger, I don't know if a lot of folks know that. As to this smoke, that, as already mentioned italicized above. Also, those boiled peanuts which take up most of the sort of flat profile. They're a forward part of an earthen-clay back-end. Suede envelops a bit dryly-so. Flitting about is dandelion tea, white peppercorn, and a buttery cedar that gets bullied a bit by the less-smooth aspects of the blend.
Not terribly complex or equally nuanced. Balance is titled toward a bit more bite than what you might expect from fairly calm flavors. Not much delineation. All that griped, there are a couple notes of interest and the aroma is a quite nice sweet spiciness. It's much more dessert-like on the nose. However, it is a bit desert-like on the palate. I believe some of that dryness skews the experience toward sharpness.
Issues do occur in the mechanics of the thing. The top-leaf wears akin to a t-shirt after a long hot day. A bit less than form-fitting, say. Visible bumps and lumps, some uneven seams. The burn-line is wonky out-of-the-gate and while it does even-some, never fantastically. The first-third's particularly worrisome with a threatened runner. Draws a bit too far open for my liking. Packed a tick light. Smoke out-put is inconsistent.
TASTE: B
DRAW: B+
BURN: B-
BUILD: B
FINAL GRADE: B
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
PS: The nom de tobacco of 'Jamao' is a portmanteau of the words Jamastran and Mao. The seeds of this experimental leaf are from the former and are grown in the latter. (Mao is a growing region of the Dominican Republic.) My $0.02 is that for a new leaf, it tastes quite retro.
::: very :::