BLEND: Hamilton Candela
WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Candela
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Dominican, Honduran, Nicaraguan
FORMAT: Robusto
ORIGIN: Dominican Republic
INTENSITY: Mild-Medium/Medium
NOTES:
Salted butter | Vegetal | White peppercorn
A fairly bold if not nigh brash look at Candela. Doses of sharp grain embed themselves in vegetal depths. A surprising savoriness is there, not meatily-so. Coarse ground salt and cracked white peppercorns mingle about. Hay, clotted cream, a nice flinty minerality. Matcha. Dandelion.
Linearly delivered on a tight line, with not much depth beyond the grains aspect. Consistent. Not overly complex but there is some interesting enough interplay in spice/salt and cream/mineral aspects. Not boring at all. As stated, a slightly more edgy look at Candela. Still light of heft outside the world of green leaf.
Draws with a tick of resistance that stays even, not snug per se. Burns on a slight and self-handling wobble. Moderate smoke out-put yields a sweet-salty aroma laced with bracing minerality. Ash grows well. This thing smokes like an updated remake of a classic film, wherein the director stays true to the original.
TASTE: A-
DRAW: B+
BURN: B
BUILD: B+
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
TASTE: A-
DRAW: B+
BURN: B
BUILD: B+
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
[Note: this is apparently the older packaging (black silhouette) and prior to part of the line moving to another factory. This offering was not part of that move.]
::: very :::