BLEND: Dark Star
WRAPPER: Honduran Corojo
BINDER: Honduran
FILLER: Nicaraguan, Honduran, Paraguayan (seed)
FORMAT: Robusto (5.550)
ORIGIN: Honduras
INTENSITY: Medium
SPICE: 2.5/5
NOTE: I am writing this during my 2024 hiatus. 48 degrees and rainy.
NOTES:
Chocolate | Walnut shells | Spice array
Weighty enough but a bit untethered, three-quarters of a bit not clingy. Balanced but set in a slim horizon. Quite chocolatey in an unsweetened cocoa powder manner. Consistent. Nutshells form a nice sturdy structure. Spices don't have much of that structure and aren't, therefore, delineated... a good savory mix though. Not very nuanced and of moderate complexity. Black pepper.
[I've begun to wonder about including a level of spiciness in my reviews. Say on a scale of five (5) because 5 is the total of TASTE, DRAW, BURN, BUILD, and FINAL GRADE. I think a good place to tuck that would be up-under INTENSITY. That way I'd have there (2) BRAND, BLEND then (3) WRAPPER, BINDER, FILLER and then (4) FORMAT, ORIGIN, INTENSITY, SPICE.
Although I typically include spice in INTENSITY; perhaps then INTENSITY becomes a holistic take on simply flavor, body, and strength. I like that. Although that 2.5 I just plugged in up there is somewhat redundant on account of the already stated 'Medium.' We shall see if that feature lasts.]
Anyhow, brown cow. Flavor landscape is a photograph, not a movie, and that ain't bad. Draw is a mix of open and empty but the latter on rare occasions only. Cap softens a tick. Burn builds very well and forms a dense sheet of white ash. The line itself is of a wiggle 'round medium thickness. A spot lags and catches up all on its quick lonesome. No hard/soft spots and tight 'nuff seams.
The aroma is of fresh blackbread. There are coffee beans and cocoa powder in that sort of loaf. The former enters into the draw in the second-half. Take another picture, why don'tcha.
TASTE: B+
DRAW: B
BURN: B+
BUILD: B+
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
::: very :::