San Cristobal Muralla

Turned out to be a fairly decent day with partly cloudy skies and a slight breeze blowing. I decided to put fire to a San Cristobal Muralla gifted to me on my birthday by my good friend DeVonn (thanks brother). This was one hefty cigar with measurements of 7 x 54, the wrapper a medium brown and coarse with prominent veins running throughout the length. Squeezing the cigar, there was some crunchiness sound and very little give. I clipped the tip and found the draw to be overly tight, so clipped a bit more hoping it would open, but no such luck.

I toasted the foot and took a few puffs to get the fire burning good and found very little smoke coming through. I put the torch to it a little more, but still very little smoke was produced. I grabbed the Palio and again clipped more off, but still the draw remained overly tight. It took several good puffs to get any smoke out, and not very much at that. A slight run started but corrected itself, then started again. I made a slight touch up at one point as it got a little too off on one side, and finally smoke started to flow a little better. Tastes of roasted nuts and sweet hay came through with a smidgen of spice on the back of the throat.

The ash was a very light gray, holding strong to about half way where it fell on its own. At this point the cigar really opened up, and a good medium strength smoke flowed well with a good amount of spiciness and tastes of coffee and sweet, raw honey came through. The finish wasn’t very long, but satisfying nonetheless. Roasted almonds and dark earth flavors came through as well, finally starting to really enjoy this smoke.

Towards the end, the cigar really opened up to a good medium strength and a good, long finish manifested. I believe the cigar was a bit too damp, wishing I had dry boxed it a day or two prior to putting fire to it. That, coupled with the overly tight draw, made for a difficult smoke over the first half. However, the last half proved to be an excellent smoke that I very much enjoyed.

Thank you again DeVonn for the opportunity to try such a magnificent cigar.

Thank Gregg. This stick has been on my wish list for a while. Time to track one down.


Brian

A visually stunning cigar with a full rich flavor. One of the very few exceptions to my vow of no longer purchasing double banded Habanos. Thank you for the review.

Thanks for the review.
Very beatifull looking cigar,another one to the must try list.

Thanks. :thumbs:

Thanks for the review Greg. I've only had this cigar once, and it was good, just as you mentioned. I still prefer the Mercaderes, La Punta, and El Principe though. I think I'm going to have to revisit it soon.