BLEND: La Mandarria Oscuro
WRAPPER: Mexican San Andres
BINDER: Ecuadorian Habano
FILLER: Nicaraguan, Pennsylvanian, Dominican
FORMAT: Toro (652) Shaggy-foot
ORIGIN: Dominican Republic
INTENSITY: Medium/Medium-full
SPICE: 2/5
NOTES:
Kasha | Worcestershire sauce | Black licorice
A rather distinct profile. The shaggy-foot'd onset is a smell-taste of Kasha Varnishkes. Once the wrapper hits, it does-so in a leathery manner, a hide dipped in somewhat diluted Worcestershire. Buckwheat, not kasha then. Ah, the old threat of assimilation. Black licorice underneath over-top compost. Cumin.
Black pepper sprinkled about and around. Smoked paprika. Peeks at marzipan. Much umami. Draws well, a barely 1/2-tick unevenly here and there. Burns nicely. Thin mascara line, slightest of slow self-corrrecting wobbles there. The burn rate slows and evens-out after that shaggy start. Ash is white and dense.
Smoke out-put is moderate and aroma is darkly old-world sweet. Maybe a Black Forest Cake pulled from an oven three houses down. Rolled tight and stays tight insofar as seams and cap. A crimped vein distracts the eye, not the burn. It's all oddly somehow medieval. Wrought iron boundaries. Stone. Rising smokiness.
TASTE: A
DRAW: A-
BURN: B+
BUILD: B+
FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
::: very :::