I had already posted there before seeing this thread - but here it is again.
Excellent review my friend and I can see that in my review here I definately have to step up to the plate, raise the bar, strecth my limitations and deliver a hardcore review...
And so it begins...
Smoking a fine cigar is all about experiences. Each brand, each line, each individual cigar has an experience it is made for. The more premimium or rare a cigar is, the deeper the experience. Despite this review competition happening I had reason to celebrate last night. We had taken some big steps in getting our new house the way we like it, with new furniture for the front living room, a new big screen TV and the completion of our bonus back room with furniture being settled into place.
For the occassion of breaking in the new furniture and TV I decided that a premimium cigar was needed. I broke out a Ashton VSG Spellbound that has been aging in my humidor for the last 8-10 months. A monster size cigar weighing in at a 54 gauge by 7 1/2 inches, it was firm, dark and gorgeous. The smell of the cigar itself in pre-light stage was incredible with a rich, dark tobacco odor with a hint of light, sweet pepper.
I found the bullet cutter opened up an excellent hole for smoking this cigar with and I was dead-on with my cut, allowing a smooth, long draw upon lighting it. The flame took quickly and burned evenly, leavng a near perfect white ash for the first couple of inches before it needed tapping.
The rich, thick smoke reminded me of unsweetend chocolate that instantly attracted my Princess - the cigar loving cat and whose favorite cigar is a VSG. She literally bathed in the smoke for the first few minutes before curling up on the arm of the chair next to me and remained in calm, relaxing lounge for the duration of the cigar. Afterwards drunkely finding her way to the couch to splay fully out and go to sleep. I am finding with her that dark and maduro cigars work better than catnip with affecting her mood.
The taste of the Ashotn VSG Spellbound is simply second to none amongst sun grown cigars. The first third started off with tastes of dark chocolate, light pepper and fresh minty spice. The mixture of tastes relaxed and enthralled over the next 2 1/2 hours with gradual changes that happened so slowly, one was almost unable to detect except you would stop and think - hmm a distinct change has taken place, and always for the better and stronger as the cigar smoked down.
The second quarter of the cigar the taste changed subtly to that of sweetened coffee, still with hints of pepper that were to bloom even further in the last third of the cigar. As it burned even further down, unsweetend chocolate and coffee flavors strengthend this full body smoke and I was in nirvanna even before the spectacular finish of this cigar.
This cigar can be reviewed in one word: strength. Strength of construction, strength of smoke, strength of taste. The latter reaching a high peak of pepper, spices and coffee, leaving the aftertaste of these for a long time after the cigar was finally laid down to rest.
Cigars are all about experiences. The Ashton VSG Spellbound offers a great experience. That of time, relaxtion and an enjoyment of abundance. With 2 1/2 to 3 hours of smoking time, this cigar is not one to be rushed. Because of the nature of the complex tastes it is one that needs this time to enjoy and to relax. With the abundance of taste, smell and textrue, this cigar reeks of abundance and in my new living room last night, watching some movies ( ended up watching "A River Runs Through") gave me ample time to do but one thing: enjoy the little successes in my life and to take time and enjoy them. That's what the Ashton VSG Spellbound experience is all about for me.
I rated this cigar a strong 93 and my cat Princess made no score - she was too busy in feline nirvanna passed out and purring the entire time and well into the night.
Sam a.k.a. "the newbie reviewer"
