WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Connecticut
BINDER: Indonesian
FILLER: Honduran, Mexican, Nicaraguan
FORMAT: Corona (5.5x42)
ORIGIN: STG Esteli (Nicaragua)
INTENSITY: Mild-medium
NOTES:
Cappuccino | Pumpkin spice | Buttery suede
When you retro-hale this thing, you get straight pumpkin spice, and that's nice. Goes well with the flannel shirt I'm wearing. Along with that and throughout, you get a dry cappuccino, some white chocolate, and a lot of buttery suede. Underneath is a slight honey-roasted peanut. Also a somewhat sour-bitter but gone by the second-half of the first-third sour-leaning dandelion. The flowers stay, just the hinted unpleasantness leaves. Creamy citrus takes on a more white pepper character about then. Chicken coop nethers.
& then we coast. Consistent but not boringly--as there are some nice mainly warming evolutions. Just no new notes, per se. The notes sort of square dance 'do-si-do,' then, 'pass through, separate and go home.' I don't square dance; I take it as probably a calling I've not received. I'm seeing a bunch of gingham fabric--red and white--like the band of this smoke. Nice body, sweetly-pleasantly, for a fairly mild stick. The finish is something akin to an Orange Julius with a few white peppercorns tossed-in.
The draw starts a tick snug, even after snipping twice, but does loosen to a decent tension. Bear in mind I like a tick of resistance. Burn is about perfect, with excellent slow pacing, dead-even line showing no sight of mascara, and an admirable ash growth. Seams stay tight, cap holds firm even with the somewhat hard tugging, and the roll is evenly-packed. Moderate smoke out-put culminates in a room-note much akin to the finish. All of this makes for a happy smoke, and about the most pleasant I've experienced in a good bit.
TASTE: A
DRAW: B+
BURN: A-
BUILD: A
FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
::: very :::