Trinidad Esmeralda 12DCRC

[Bijan]

This is my 10th cigar from the Christmas sampler.

Well over official weight (24% over), but construction looks good.

Incidentally most cigar are above official weight. Official weight from what I gather is for tax purposes and so is skewed low, though it is not uncommon to find cigars at or below official weight it is towards the low end of the scale. Generally smoke time is correlated with weight, and for smaller RG cigars tightness of draw. I find less effect on draw with big RG cigars. But generally light cigars are more likely to be wind tunnels and heavier cigars are more likely to be overfilled and tight.

Aroma at cold of barnyard.

Predraw of cream.

First third: Opens with light coffee, and sponge cake but not too sweet. Sort of a baked good with coffee. Some floral hints on the first third. Below medium in strength and body. Cigar is notable for being quite mouth watering.

Second third: More coffee and then dry wood. Still mouth watering but less so.

Final third: Strength and body kick up a notch with some light spice. Now around medium.

Quite miild on the retrohale except for the final third.

One hour and thirty minute smoke time to the nub.

Weather was 3C/37F and high 80s humidity. No wind so quite comfortable with the heater.

Burn was great, smoke output was great. Construction was great overall.

This is my third Trinidad after a Media Luna and a Reyes. The Media Luna was spicier and stronger with sharp flavours. The Reyes was more coffee and a bit lighter and smoother. This was lighter still and smoother too. Definitely closer to the Reyes.

I'd rate this between 3/5 and 3.5/5, maybe just under 3.5. If I wasn't reviewing it I might have enjoyed it more. As I said it was mouth watering and great construction. Probably the best construction, burn and smoke output of the sampler cigars so far. Definitely a premium cigar. But it was quite light and paying close attention the flavours didn't wow me.

In reviews I rate mainly on flavour and then construction, trying to ignore value. When purchasing I consider value too of course, and look at the consistency in quality (how likely one is to get a good cigar vs a dud). Construction couldn't have been better. Flavours were a bit muted. This is a $20 cigar and competes price wise with the Cohiba Coronas Especiales and the Cohiba Robusto, I'd say it does well in that comparison, especially given the higher weight and longer smoke time and the flawless construction. I look forward to trying the Siglo VI from the sampler to see how it does in that comparison as that is the cigar it is seen as competing with. I also look forward to smoking a few more Esmeraldas as I think this could be a 5/5 cigar.

[KavalanWhisky]

Nice review, I've not cracked my box open yet but will be looking forward to it.

Can I ask what does weighing the cigar give you?  This one was well overweight so is that better or worse?

[Bijan]

5 hours ago, KavalanWhisky said:

Can I ask what does weighing the cigar give you?

In this case specifically two things. One it gives a rough indication of smoke time. I expected this to be between 85 and 100 minutes smoke time given the weight and size. If it had weighed 12g I'd have expect 60-70 minutes. I generally check ash length at around 10 minutes to see if I'm smoking too fast and this gives an idea of what the total time should be.

Second it gives some idea of what the draw should be like. On a thin cigar (about 43RG or less) a cigar this heavy is likely to have a draw that's too tight. On a fat cigar like this it's probably not going to be as tight, but in this case had it been 12g and had a draw this snug I probably would have used the perfecdraw assuming there was a plug. Given that construction looked good and it was heavy I didn't use the perfecdraw on this even though the draw was snug.

In general when choosing a cigar out of the box it lets me choose whether I want a cigar that's likely to have a looser or tighter draw, or longer or shorter smoke time. (Obviously doesn't apply to the Christmas sampler where I have one of each cigar). It's not 100% guaranteed that a lighter cigar will smoke faster and be looser, but that's the general trend or probability.

5 hours ago, KavalanWhisky said:

This one was well overweight so is that better or worse?

I'd say probably better for a long/wide cigar and worse for a thin cigar. It depends a bit on the vitola too. Half coronas by official weight are one of the least dense cigars (lightest), while minutos are one of the densest (heaviest), even though they're both small/short cigars. So a half corona 15% overweight is probably less problematic than a minuto 15% overweight.

[Tstew75]

Young Trinis never wow me with flavor complexity either. In the cut with that wood/baked good/coffee thing you describe.

I really hope the majority of these (really!) pretty 18/19s boxes age & gain complexity.

[Islandboy]

Nice review! 

I happened to have my Christmas sampler stick last night as well, and found it quite interesting compared to the 2 previous examples I’ve had the opportunity to smoke. The 2 previous sticks matched your review to a tee - very light and delicate in the flavor department, almost too light. But the one last night had a very distinct nutmeg spice component that built as the cigar smoked down. It was almost uncharacteristically rich and flavorful based on my limited experience with these. Hoping to find more like that in my boxes.

[KavalanWhisky]

10 hours ago, Bijan said:

In this case specifically two things. One it gives a rough indication of smoke time. I expected this to be between 85 and 100 minutes smoke time given the weight and size. If it had weighed 12g I'd have expect 60-70 minutes. I generally check ash length at around 10 minutes to see if I'm smoking too fast and this gives an idea of what the total time should be.

Second it gives some idea of what the draw should be like. On a thin cigar (about 43RG or less) a cigar this heavy is likely to have a draw that's too tight. On a fat cigar like this it's probably not going to be as tight, but in this case had it been 12g and had a draw this snug I probably would have used the perfecdraw assuming there was a plug. Given that construction looked good and it was heavy I didn't use the perfecdraw on this even though the draw was snug.

In general when choosing a cigar out of the box it lets me choose whether I want a cigar that's likely to have a looser or tighter draw, or longer or shorter smoke time. (Obviously doesn't apply to the Christmas sampler where I have one of each cigar). It's not 100% guaranteed that a lighter cigar will smoke faster and be looser, but that's the general trend or probability.

I'd say probably better for a long/wide cigar and worse for a thin cigar. It depends a bit on the vitola too. Half coronas by official weight are one of the least dense cigars (lightest), while minutos are one of the densest (heaviest), even though they're both small/short cigars. So a half corona 15% overweight is probably less problematic than a minuto 15% overweight.

Learnt something new, I've never thought to weigh my cigars so really interested to see if this theory works for me.

Guess i have another use for my coffee bean scales.

 

[mprach024]

Nice review Bijan.  Definitely get some more of these and give them 6 months rest.  I agree with @Tstew75 on young Trinis, although I don’t think they need years, 6 months of rest is usually good enough to let the wood flavors (I tend to pick up a basalm wood quality) drift to background and let the coffee/tea and cream notes come forward.  
 

I have a question for you as I’m curious, I know you got that cool heater, but have you noticed overall your cigar performances change the last month or so as it’s gotten colder outside?  Better, same or worse?  Just curious, as I always found the colder/drier air muted my palate from a lot of the leathery/creamy notes, and my smokes would be more bland and papery/woody.  I tended to smoke spicier cigars (Partagas mostly) in colder weather, for whatever reason the paprika and pepper would hold up more.  Again I’m curious your thoughts as my experiences could have been 100% in my head.  I play a lot of golf in sub 50F weather in fall/winter/spring here in Michigan, and the P2 or Lusi is always my go to for cold weather rounds as Montes, bolivars, and Upmanns have always underwhelmed me in those conditions. 

[Bijan]

24 minutes ago, mprach024 said:

I have a question for you as I’m curious, I know you got that cool heater, but have you noticed overall your cigar performances change the last month or so as it’s gotten colder outside?  Better, same or worse?

I'd cautiously say same.

26 minutes ago, mprach024 said:

Just curious, as I always found the colder/drier air muted my palate from a lot of the leathery/creamy notes, and my smokes would be more bland and papery/woody.  I tended to smoke spicier cigars (Partagas mostly) in colder weather, for whatever reason the paprika and pepper would hold up more.  Again I’m curious your thoughts as my experiences could have been 100% in my head.

I haven't been smoking many creamy cigars lately but some stand out in my memory a Siglo II with dark wrapper which was very buttery and the Montecristo Supremos which was a rich creamy dried fruit, some bolivar with leather/earth but they didn't seem as strong as the ones I had this summer, but I was new to the marca then, and was a little overwhelmed.

27 minutes ago, mprach024 said:

I play a lot of golf in sub 50F weather in fall/winter/spring here in Michigan, and the P2 or Lusi is always my go to for cold weather rounds as Montes, bolivars, and Upmanns have always underwhelmed me in those conditions. 

Hard to say, psychology probably plays a role. Maybe certain flavours are more enjoyable in certain frames of mind or physiological states, and being a little chilly might make spicier flavours more attractive than creamier ones.

I probably haven't payed as close attention to this as you, but do you notice anything different about the burn? I wonder if differences in humidity between the seasons have an effect too?

[mprach024]

3 minutes ago, Bijan said:

do you notice anything different about the burn?

Not really actually.  At least not that I’ve noticed.  I don’t smoke much outside in the cold except for on golf course, which isn’t a straight through smoking experience.  A P2 will last almost my entire round as I let it go out, fire it up and hit it a couple times while waiting for the short hitters to catch up, then won’t revisit until next hole.  So I’m probably not in a place to comment, but construction issues haven’t really been anything I noticed save for windy days it can get a little wonky.

[Meklown]

14 hours ago, Bijan said:

but in this case had it been 12g and had a draw this snug I probably would have used the perfecdraw assuming there was a plug

This makes a lot of sense actually. Never thought about it this way ?