Kingantz
Growing too fast.
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2007
- Messages
- 7,648
Feels nice on the back porch this morning. Not quite 70F reading on the temp/hygro with the humidity simply showing “High %”. There’s a cool breeze that’s blowing pretty good and a number of Cardinals chirping over to the left, beautiful red birds (SC state bird). I’ve got all my wares ready; laptop, camera, coffee, and the ERDM Lonnie ’98. Admittedly, I’ve not smoked a huge amount of this Marca, however those that I have smoked have been very good, so am looking forward to putting fire to this one.
Construction is very good on this cigar, the Colorado shade wrapper smooth and oily, small veins throughout, and a nice triple cap that I go ahead and punch perfectly. I don’t find any really hard or soft spots while squeezing the stick from head to foot, and holding the cigar in my palm, I find it has a good weight with decent bunching in the foot. I give the foot a good couple sniffs and get a sweet n’ sour tobacco smell, bad but in a really good way.
The most crucial part I save for last: Testing the draw. I’ve had some problems as of late with getting more plugged/tight draw Cubans than usual, which I find really messes up my enjoyment due to not being able to just throw a cigar away without at least trying to get it to smoke. I test the draw on the ERDM, hoping it’s good, and am very happy when air flows through with a perfect amount of resistance and a taste of aged tobacco. Yes!
I slowly put fire to the foot, torching it and blowing the embers in intervals until the entire foot is glowing orange, then quickly take a couple puffs to ensure an even burn and smoke is flowing well. And flow well it does as volumes of smoke pour through that I find very mild in both strength and body with no spice to be found. It’s quite smooth over the palate and has deliciously rich flavors of semi-sweetened cocoa, toasted nuts, worn leather, and a hint of cinnamon. There’s a delicious finish left on the palate that is somewhat lasting.
The burn is sharp with a medium gray ash forming that is compact with layers from each draw taken. It holds until I tap it off in the ashtray at about an inch, with a small bit of coning. Interesting that the filler ash is a light gray with the binder around it black, then the wrapper a medium gray(hard to see it in the picture).
A third in and smoke is flowing well in the perfect draw. I prefer a more medium to full strength smoke in a cigar with good spice, and was hoping this one would pick up a little further in, however I’m still getting very mild strength, body, and no spice. But, flavors continue to be rich and delicious, tastes as previously described with the sweet cocoa and toasted nuts most prominent with a very nice, semi-lasting finish on the palate.
There wasn’t much change halfway through to the final third of the cigar. The ash fell on its own at about every half-inch or so, luckily hitting the floor instead of the laptop. The strength remained mild with the smoke itself feeling light on the palate and no detectable spice. Flavors continued to be very good, rich to say the least, with the finish becoming much more lasting. Right at the very end, there was a small amount of spice that came through, hitting the back of the throat nicely and the strength did pick up to almost a mild-medium, however the body still light on the palate.
Although the strength/body was a bit too mild for my palate, flavors very much made up for it with a delicious richness from beginning to end. I have to wonder if this vitola was as mild with just a couple/few years on them. Has age taken anything away regarding the strength? I’m sure there are some that have smoked these back in the day. What are your thoughts? An enjoyable smoke!
Construction is very good on this cigar, the Colorado shade wrapper smooth and oily, small veins throughout, and a nice triple cap that I go ahead and punch perfectly. I don’t find any really hard or soft spots while squeezing the stick from head to foot, and holding the cigar in my palm, I find it has a good weight with decent bunching in the foot. I give the foot a good couple sniffs and get a sweet n’ sour tobacco smell, bad but in a really good way.
The most crucial part I save for last: Testing the draw. I’ve had some problems as of late with getting more plugged/tight draw Cubans than usual, which I find really messes up my enjoyment due to not being able to just throw a cigar away without at least trying to get it to smoke. I test the draw on the ERDM, hoping it’s good, and am very happy when air flows through with a perfect amount of resistance and a taste of aged tobacco. Yes! I slowly put fire to the foot, torching it and blowing the embers in intervals until the entire foot is glowing orange, then quickly take a couple puffs to ensure an even burn and smoke is flowing well. And flow well it does as volumes of smoke pour through that I find very mild in both strength and body with no spice to be found. It’s quite smooth over the palate and has deliciously rich flavors of semi-sweetened cocoa, toasted nuts, worn leather, and a hint of cinnamon. There’s a delicious finish left on the palate that is somewhat lasting.
The burn is sharp with a medium gray ash forming that is compact with layers from each draw taken. It holds until I tap it off in the ashtray at about an inch, with a small bit of coning. Interesting that the filler ash is a light gray with the binder around it black, then the wrapper a medium gray(hard to see it in the picture).
A third in and smoke is flowing well in the perfect draw. I prefer a more medium to full strength smoke in a cigar with good spice, and was hoping this one would pick up a little further in, however I’m still getting very mild strength, body, and no spice. But, flavors continue to be rich and delicious, tastes as previously described with the sweet cocoa and toasted nuts most prominent with a very nice, semi-lasting finish on the palate.
There wasn’t much change halfway through to the final third of the cigar. The ash fell on its own at about every half-inch or so, luckily hitting the floor instead of the laptop. The strength remained mild with the smoke itself feeling light on the palate and no detectable spice. Flavors continued to be very good, rich to say the least, with the finish becoming much more lasting. Right at the very end, there was a small amount of spice that came through, hitting the back of the throat nicely and the strength did pick up to almost a mild-medium, however the body still light on the palate.
Although the strength/body was a bit too mild for my palate, flavors very much made up for it with a delicious richness from beginning to end. I have to wonder if this vitola was as mild with just a couple/few years on them. Has age taken anything away regarding the strength? I’m sure there are some that have smoked these back in the day. What are your thoughts? An enjoyable smoke!
