So I looked up our buddy over at Halfwheel to see what Mr. Spice Rack thought of the cigar. He surely didn't disappoint in his descriptors....
"The wrapper smells a bit like mud with leather, oak, and some dandelions. The foot is sweet with floral, bubble gum, a powdered milkshake-like chocolate, oak, and some white pepper. Two samples show that artificial chocolate milkshake on top of some soy sauce saltiness and a medium black pepper. One sample tastes like it was soaked in grape cough syrup, which was not particularly pleasant, though it didn’t show any signs of that flavor by smelling it.
While the flavor is a mild mixture of woodiness, sour oranges, and creaminess, on one sample there’s black pepper and cinnamon all around my lips. Eventually, all three cigars get to the same place: a full-flavored mixture with Ritz crackers, soy sauce, and an array of woods in the mouth. Through the nose, there’s a huge floral aroma and some acidic ketchup. I pick up lime on two samples towards the end. Flavor is full, body is full, and strength is medium-full. While construction is pretty impressive, one sample tunnels as soon as I knock off the more than inch of ash and requires a touch-up."
"The second third of the Davidoff Winston Churchill The Late Hour Robusto sees the complexity ramp up with the first signs of barrel notes, an increased floral presence, and touches of raspberries. It’s easy to dismiss the flavors as “woody with some sweetness,” but the layering of the sensations is really where it shines. It’s got an oaky and woody mixture underneath the somewhat raw floral flavors and then some Cap’n Crunch-like grainy sweetness. At the midway point I’m able to begin picking up a whiskey flavor, though it tastes more like a corn-heavy bourbon."
"That liquid smoke flavor wanes as the final third gets going. It morphs into more of an elementary toastiness and is soon overshadowed by a growing peanut flavor. The floral flavors remain, but they’ve shifted into more of the floral flavors I pick up in Cuban cigars rather than just flowers themselves, albeit, without the vibrancy of the Cuban variety. The profile gets dry for the first half of the final third, reminding me of peanut shells, though that seems to depart below an inch. Instead, it’s a woody mixture with a homemade potato chip flavor and some black pepper, really the first time I’ve detected any pepper except for the weird sensation on my lips in one cigar."
Every time I read one of his reviews, I can't help but think how fortunate I am that every cigar I smoke, tastes like a cigar....and not an array of strange, unrelated flavors assaulting taste buds.
But thing he mentioned did draw my attention....
"This cigar requires an unnatural slowing in smoking pace. It’s pleasant enough when smoking at a normal place, but to get the complexities, I find the cigar needs to sit for nearly two minutes in between puffs."
I do that with a good number of cigars I smoke. Maybe not 2 minutes between puffs, but slowing down the pace seems to bring out the best in many vitolas.