Carolina Cigar Company

[XxMerlinxX]

A couple of weeks ago I ended up taking the g/f to Asheville, N.C. for her birthday, mainly to go see the Biltmore Estate. While we were strolling around the downtown area, I stumbled across a small store called the Carolina Cigar Company. I thought, "Sweet! I bet they have some great smokes from the local tobacco farmers." So I made my way in and started browsing through their inventory. What I first noticed was that they mainly carried their own inventory, and of the sticks that were bundled, a lot of them had cracked wrappers. This made me think to myself, "Uh oh," but I stayed and asked the girl who was working there for a little direction. She broke down the different labels for me and I ended up getting a "Red Reserve" with a beautiful Colorado Red wrapper, along with a barber pole cigar whose name escapes me at the moment. She offered to cut the Red for me, which I took her up on, and was very friendly.

I forget what size it was, I want to say it was a Toro, and after clipping the draw was really firm. As far as taste goes, the cigar was extremely one dimensional. I would put it in a medium bodied area, but there was absolutely no taste to it other than just bland tobacco. The burn began to run quickly on one side and I couldn't get it to even up at all. I ended up putting it down about halfway through, as it was such a let down. I thought for sure that a stick with such a nice wrapper on it would taste great, but it just didn't. I still have the barber pole sitting in my humi and might let it age for a few months before seeing what it's about.

 

[mjolnir01]

They also have a store in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Last time I went TDY to Hurlburt Field I dropped in and picked up a Red Reserve Robusto. I haven't set fire to it yet, but I'll post my thoughts when I do. Maybe a few months down time will do the cigar some good...