Amendments
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2021
- Messages
- 7
I'd passed on these in my local shop several times and recently seen a few great reviews so I set out to smoke one this evening. This is the "Immensa," which is a 5.75x60 wearing what the internet says is a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, which would make this the darkest Connecticut wrapper these eyes have ever seen.
And I'm still filling up a new humidor so I grabbed a few extra. My wife chooses not to understand why I need to buy three cigars just to smoke one. Lol, rookie.
Pre-Flame
The wrapper had a bold flavor, not uncharacteristic of other Nicaraguan sticks I've sampled, but very much unlike anything else from Connecticut I've put in my mouth. The draw seemed fine and the cigar certainly looked the part, with it's rich chocolatey brown color and commanding girth.
1/3
Right away I had some running on the burn and it took nearly the whole smoke to even out. This caused the premature disposal of a few ashes I would've preferred to hold on to and thoroughly destroyed my OCD for the better part of an hour.
You can easily see the disfigurement in the ash where it's running whereas the rest of the crown looks lovely, so I'll chalk it up to a faulty "Connecticut" wrapper. I've been to Connecticut many times and Hartford is nothing to write home about, I assure you. No doubt this wrapper was born in Rhode Island and moved to Hartford early in life, therefore assuming the title.
Moving on, the draw was average to light, but not terribly uncommon for a 60 ring gauge. I don't smoke this size often, but I recall the bigger ring gauges having a more tempered draw. The flavors weren't all that complex, but pulled off the fine trick of presenting a full-bodied smoke without the need to be overly "strong" and assaulting the pallet. Initially, there were distinct pepper and wood, to an almost burnt wood sharpness to it, but I can't say enough about the smoothness of it. I couldn't even get the biggest of draws to show an aggressive approach.
2/3
This portion of the cigar was very similar to the first so not much to report. The burn was trying to correct itself, but it was a long dig to crawl out of the tunnel that had been dug.
3/3
This is where things started shaping up nicely. The running of the burn was really starting to self-correct and the draw had, naturally, started to open up nicely. I was finally able to bestow upon my neighbors billowing clouds of smoke from the Nicaraguan heavens fitting of such a physically impressive cigar. The flavors had also finally opened up a bit and I got my first hints of any sweetness. My ill-equipped pallet didn't find any of the advertised chocolatey richness, but I could detect a bit nutmeg and possibly a hint of cinnamon.
At no point did I find the flavors to be complex, but it was always smooth and pleasant. I'll chalk up the terrible burn to a one-off wrapper imperfection and the slow draw to a wide gauge. The flavors were almost entirely spice; pepper, then a nice hint of nutmeg and cinnamon, and some great woodiness early, and that's about it. It's a very pleasant smoke and even an hour afterwards I didn't feel like I needed to run to brush and rinse. No regrets whatsoever, but I've smoked some pretty nice cigars in the last few months and I'd put this somewhere in the middle of the pack. It was nice, but not the experience I look for in a cigar. I don't think I'll buy another for a while, and I'll probably look for the Monarch which is 6x52 when I do.
And I'm still filling up a new humidor so I grabbed a few extra. My wife chooses not to understand why I need to buy three cigars just to smoke one. Lol, rookie.
Pre-Flame
The wrapper had a bold flavor, not uncharacteristic of other Nicaraguan sticks I've sampled, but very much unlike anything else from Connecticut I've put in my mouth. The draw seemed fine and the cigar certainly looked the part, with it's rich chocolatey brown color and commanding girth.
1/3
Right away I had some running on the burn and it took nearly the whole smoke to even out. This caused the premature disposal of a few ashes I would've preferred to hold on to and thoroughly destroyed my OCD for the better part of an hour.
You can easily see the disfigurement in the ash where it's running whereas the rest of the crown looks lovely, so I'll chalk it up to a faulty "Connecticut" wrapper. I've been to Connecticut many times and Hartford is nothing to write home about, I assure you. No doubt this wrapper was born in Rhode Island and moved to Hartford early in life, therefore assuming the title.
Moving on, the draw was average to light, but not terribly uncommon for a 60 ring gauge. I don't smoke this size often, but I recall the bigger ring gauges having a more tempered draw. The flavors weren't all that complex, but pulled off the fine trick of presenting a full-bodied smoke without the need to be overly "strong" and assaulting the pallet. Initially, there were distinct pepper and wood, to an almost burnt wood sharpness to it, but I can't say enough about the smoothness of it. I couldn't even get the biggest of draws to show an aggressive approach.
2/3
This portion of the cigar was very similar to the first so not much to report. The burn was trying to correct itself, but it was a long dig to crawl out of the tunnel that had been dug.
3/3
This is where things started shaping up nicely. The running of the burn was really starting to self-correct and the draw had, naturally, started to open up nicely. I was finally able to bestow upon my neighbors billowing clouds of smoke from the Nicaraguan heavens fitting of such a physically impressive cigar. The flavors had also finally opened up a bit and I got my first hints of any sweetness. My ill-equipped pallet didn't find any of the advertised chocolatey richness, but I could detect a bit nutmeg and possibly a hint of cinnamon.
At no point did I find the flavors to be complex, but it was always smooth and pleasant. I'll chalk up the terrible burn to a one-off wrapper imperfection and the slow draw to a wide gauge. The flavors were almost entirely spice; pepper, then a nice hint of nutmeg and cinnamon, and some great woodiness early, and that's about it. It's a very pleasant smoke and even an hour afterwards I didn't feel like I needed to run to brush and rinse. No regrets whatsoever, but I've smoked some pretty nice cigars in the last few months and I'd put this somewhere in the middle of the pack. It was nice, but not the experience I look for in a cigar. I don't think I'll buy another for a while, and I'll probably look for the Monarch which is 6x52 when I do.
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