tomthirtysix
Wishing I was as cool as Phil
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2006
- Messages
- 7,022
Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label Firecracker
Wrapper: Corojo Oscuro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
From what I can gather, a one-time only release, for July 4, 2007. I picked this one up from 2 Guys Smoke Shop last fall when I was up in NH. I figured what better time to light it up than on the Fourth.
Description: 3" x 50, with a fuse in the cap and a closed foot. I've seen it referred to as a "shag foot," but I thought a shag foot was when the filler extended past the bottom of the wrapper, not the other way around. I was sitting under the gazebo in my parents back yard on a perfect day. As is our tradition, my dad and I opened the day with a little Johnnie Walker Green.
Pre-light: The fuse snapped off rather easily. Quite some time ago, actually. Good idea in theory; in execution, not so much. When I grabbed this one, most of the cigars in the box at the shop were already missing their fuses. It couldn't have been because they were too dry, because I didn't notice any problems with the cigar itself when I picked it up. The hygro in the cabinet read 68%. I think because the fuse is a pretty considerable length, and wrapped pretty tightly, unless these are stored untouched in the box, most would encounter similar problems. I kept the fuse, though, because I needed it for the picture. I clipped a little off the head. There wasn't much of a pre-light draw due to the construction of the foot. I set flame to foot, and away I went.
Early impressions: (The cigar is really too small to break down by thirds, but there were three separate flavor 'developments') WOW! This thing was peppery! Right off the bat I could taste it, and how! I was thinking to myself, if this whole smoke stays like this, I may have to see if I can still find a box of these. This would become my go-to short smoke! After the first draw, I reached for some of my Green Label. Yeah...I could get used to this...
Settling in: The peppery overtones only lasted for the first couple of draws. I'm assuming this was from the excess wrapper at the foot. The cigar quickly settled in to almost muted leather and cedar. Talk about a power swing! It's as if this had gone from a full bodied cigar to a mild/medium in just a couple of draws. The flavor stayed like this until about the mid-point of the cigar.
The finish: The leather and cedar flavors stayed, but as the cigar smoked along, they intensified. This was getting good. And I was getting to the end of my Green Label. So, I reached for a Dinkel Acker, which was a nice touch. The closer I got to the end of the smoke, the stronger the flavors got. I wished I didn't have to put it down.
But, like all good things, this too had to come to an end.
Wrap-up: When I hit the middle of the cigar, I was honestly disappointed. After the smoke started off so strong, for it to go so mild so quick was a little disheartening. I was happy that it picked right back up after the half-way point. Yes, I liked the cigar. But, for the single price of $5, I'm not tripping over myself to pick up anymore. You're definitely paying for the novelty of the Firecracker design, since the larger Blue labels can be found at similar prices. If I was able to find them at the box price of $4 a piece... I would probably pick up a couple more for when I needed a short smoke. The cigar was exactly what it looked like: a condensed version of a full-sized DPG Blue.
(Yeah, I lit the fuse to see how long it would burn for. It was July 4th. Gotta set something on fire.
)
Edit: to change title
Wrapper: Corojo Oscuro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
From what I can gather, a one-time only release, for July 4, 2007. I picked this one up from 2 Guys Smoke Shop last fall when I was up in NH. I figured what better time to light it up than on the Fourth.
Description: 3" x 50, with a fuse in the cap and a closed foot. I've seen it referred to as a "shag foot," but I thought a shag foot was when the filler extended past the bottom of the wrapper, not the other way around. I was sitting under the gazebo in my parents back yard on a perfect day. As is our tradition, my dad and I opened the day with a little Johnnie Walker Green.
Pre-light: The fuse snapped off rather easily. Quite some time ago, actually. Good idea in theory; in execution, not so much. When I grabbed this one, most of the cigars in the box at the shop were already missing their fuses. It couldn't have been because they were too dry, because I didn't notice any problems with the cigar itself when I picked it up. The hygro in the cabinet read 68%. I think because the fuse is a pretty considerable length, and wrapped pretty tightly, unless these are stored untouched in the box, most would encounter similar problems. I kept the fuse, though, because I needed it for the picture. I clipped a little off the head. There wasn't much of a pre-light draw due to the construction of the foot. I set flame to foot, and away I went.
Early impressions: (The cigar is really too small to break down by thirds, but there were three separate flavor 'developments') WOW! This thing was peppery! Right off the bat I could taste it, and how! I was thinking to myself, if this whole smoke stays like this, I may have to see if I can still find a box of these. This would become my go-to short smoke! After the first draw, I reached for some of my Green Label. Yeah...I could get used to this...
Settling in: The peppery overtones only lasted for the first couple of draws. I'm assuming this was from the excess wrapper at the foot. The cigar quickly settled in to almost muted leather and cedar. Talk about a power swing! It's as if this had gone from a full bodied cigar to a mild/medium in just a couple of draws. The flavor stayed like this until about the mid-point of the cigar.
The finish: The leather and cedar flavors stayed, but as the cigar smoked along, they intensified. This was getting good. And I was getting to the end of my Green Label. So, I reached for a Dinkel Acker, which was a nice touch. The closer I got to the end of the smoke, the stronger the flavors got. I wished I didn't have to put it down.
But, like all good things, this too had to come to an end.
Wrap-up: When I hit the middle of the cigar, I was honestly disappointed. After the smoke started off so strong, for it to go so mild so quick was a little disheartening. I was happy that it picked right back up after the half-way point. Yes, I liked the cigar. But, for the single price of $5, I'm not tripping over myself to pick up anymore. You're definitely paying for the novelty of the Firecracker design, since the larger Blue labels can be found at similar prices. If I was able to find them at the box price of $4 a piece... I would probably pick up a couple more for when I needed a short smoke. The cigar was exactly what it looked like: a condensed version of a full-sized DPG Blue.
(Yeah, I lit the fuse to see how long it would burn for. It was July 4th. Gotta set something on fire.
)Edit: to change title
