Cohiba Esplendido MOL AGO 2017 (XNYRW4)

[Jfeath74]

Woke up on Christmas morning with a bit of a headache after over indulging at our Christmas Eve party. Misses made a nice breakfast, we opened presents (got a new lighter & cutter) and then it was time to take the edge off with what would hopefully be an excellent cigar. 

Esplendido is one of my favorite special occasion cigars. I haven’t been disappointed by one yet, however this one has an extremely tight draw at cold, bordering clogged. Wrapper appears to be on par with what you expect from a Cohiba but the constricted draw has me concerned.

1/3 - Backbone flavor of lemongrass with notes of milk coffee and hints honeycomb in the background. Flavors are excellent, but the elephant in the room is this tight draw. I try to massage loose but it’s not happening. I bust out the perfecdraw tool in a last ditch effort to save the cigar. 

Somehow I’m miraculously able to break the clog, without destroying or poking through the wrapper. It’s not cleared to the point of having a perfect draw, but it’s workable and I’m no longer considering ditching an expensive cigar, so I’ll take it. 

2/3 - able to relax a bit now that the draw issue has been resolved, decided to crack a beer to help take the edge off. Milk coffee note has taken over as primary note with some orange zest coming in and out. Cigar has an occasional hit of pure honey that is mouthwatering excellent. 

Pairing - Beer is a Lagunitas Contents Under Fresher IPA, which is a annual brewery release of day fresh beer where they brew fresh whole hops of mosaic, simcoe, citrus and sabro hops, opposed to dried for kilned hops. Beer is juicy hazy IPA that is extremely hop forward with a nice citrus taste profile, which pairs excellent with a Cohiba! 

3/3 - milk coffee note turns to dark coffee and then back to milk coffee. Citrus zest is still present, but honey notes have dissipated. Aroma is picking up in intensity, strength has built from medium to medium full.

Pulled the band off and apparently I did poke through the wrapper, luckily the band kept everything intact. Even with the draw issues, burn was razor sharp and flavors were on point. 

Appearance 10/10

Draw 3/10

Burn 10/10

Aroma 9/10

Complexity 10/10

Taste 48/50

Total 90

Christmas Day Pictures:

[Bearcore]

Nice write up. Glad you were able to save the draw, this is my favorite cigar. Out of curiosity, what Bolivar is that in the box?


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[Jfeath74]

6 minutes ago, Bearcore said:

Nice write up. Glad you were able to save the draw, this is my favorite cigar. Out of curiosity, what Bolivar is that in the box?


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Thank you, yeah I got lucky, usually I end up destroying them when I go that deep with the poker. Bolivar in the holiday dry box is a 2015 Corona Gigantes, review will follow in the next week or so. 

[RDB]

Isn’t it bonkers that Cuba still manages to roll a top cigar like the Esplendido badly!