RASCC ESL AGO 17 (RARW)

[StalinisBallinn]

 

These sticks are packed solid, with a decent triple cap. After a perfect straight cut, The cold draw was extremely tight. Uh-oh. The cigar lit well, but the draw didn't improve and remained that way for the duration of the smoke.

The burn was wonky at times and required quite a bit of attention, enough so that I was becoming annoyed. The cigar needed a relight about an inch in, then again at the halfway mark. It went out again about 2/3 of the way in, but I had had enough and just stopped. There was some smoke, but I feel the potential for lots of smoke is there if the draw weren't so tight.

The flavors were predominantly grass and wood, with some cocoa on the retrohale. Maybe some spices? Purging didn't help the draw or flavors change at any point. Maybe the relights negatively affected the flavors? Who knows.

The band refused to come apart cleanly, so I basically had to rip it off. The cigar is so solid, all my messing with the band didn't affect it at all. The dark colored ash stayed on pretty well, dropping in half inch chunks. Overall, slightly disappointing, and certainly not deserving of the hype. There are much better cigars at this price point. Then again, I could have gotten a bad box.

Id rate this cigar 7.5/10.

[BenW]

Nice review. I had a similar experience last weekend with this stick. First one was virtually plugged - threw it after about 1.5 inches. Second one had a very tight draw that resulted in very low smoke and flavour output.

Disappointing seeing as so many people rate this stick highly, but maybe we just got unlucky..

[SwissPEP]

Nice review

[TheMonk]

Nice job, thanks!