Cohiba Coronas Especiales REG JUL 18 (CWRC)

[slowsmoke]

I decided to try something new for the Cohiba weekend, picked up a quarter box of these recently.  Despite having only 60 days rest on them, and despite coming after a huge meal of Korean bbq and beer, it turned out to be an excellent smoke.  Right off the bat, the draw was perfect for my taste, light and easy.  Such a rare thing in my cuban journey.  Construction was solid, no soft spots, and sure enough, it burned perfectly.

The wrapper gave off a distinct hay odor, like real barnyard hay bales.  The foot had a vague graham cracker or cookie aroma.  The cold draw was grassy, a tiny bit sweet.

The first half of this thing was bliss.  All of the stuff I hear about Cohiba, grass, light citrus, twang, mild coffee.  I even got some sort of melon, like cantaloupe, at times.  The only thing really missing was honey, a few times I thought I picked it up, but it was never major player.  And again, the light draw just made it so easy to relax and let this thing wash over me.

Around halfway, I had to start hitting more frequently to keep it going, the result of sitting outside in 90% humidity.  This started to take a toll, as it heated up and flavors got muddled, with some char.  It had been so good though that I just kept puffing, trying to go as slow as possible without letting it die.  I was rewarded with the return of some very nice flavors in the final third, a chewy biscuit and coffee thing, a little tangy.

Overall, this was an excellent smoke, and while some of the muddled flavors and harsh stuff might be expected with such a young cigar, I also think much of it had to do with the weather outside.  I am really looking forward to trying these with more rest, more age, and just better weather.  This could be an absolutely sublime morning coffee smoke.  It definitely has me thinking it is worth a full box in the humidor.

[TheMonk]

Very good job!