avantgrade purchased this cigar on 2010-04-15.
It has 4 months of additional aging.
Wood is the prominent wood immediately upon lighting. It starts out slightly subdued, masked well by deep tobacco notes. As the burn continues on, the wood take the front stage, hinting towards cedar and oak.
I was happy to find this cigar densely packed. The draw has just the right amount of tightness to it, and the smoke is dense, rich, and cool.
The wood flavors have picked up a little more, inter-playing along with the tobacco core. Nothing more occurs in terms of flavor complexity. However, the body does evolve from the initial mild-medium to medium, and tends to stay that way down to the nub.
The ash holds very well, all the way through the first third and into the second third. It is nicely layered, reminiscent of salt and pepper.
The sweetness that I originally sense before the cigar was lit up made a comeback. It is reminds me of molasses: it is not an intense sweetness, and there is a certain mustiness to it. All in all, I think it complements the woody tobacco notes very well.
Finally, I had to ash this stick. It easily held on for 2.5 inches, maybe even more. I only had to drop it one more time before savoring the nub.
Here, we should be hitting the sweet-spot of a cigar... but I cannot help but say that this one is lacking something. The wood flavors are dark and prominent, further accentuated by the smoke heating up a bit. I can almost sense a bit of dark espresso notes in there somewhere, but nothing that makes you really scratch your head.
The flavor profile is very consistent throughout the cigar, and the main theme is "dark." Dark notes of oak, cedar, sugars (molasses), and a tinge of espresso. It was enjoyable, yet it was not as complex as one would expect from a premium handmade.