Blind Cigar #1 (year: 2022) (BRWJan23)

[ayedfy]

This is a regular production Habanos SA cigar. Mareva vitola. For transparency, paired with a pint of Guinness, although most of the first third was reviewed before the beer to give myself a baseline without potential flavour interference.

Opening third: First draw is zesty citrus tang, which soon fades behind a prominent barnyard character, plus a touch of cream. Medium bodied at first before dropping a notch under. Draw is quite firm although is smoking quicker than I was expecting despite this. Despite a few initial corrections the burn is even.

Middle third: A soft and subdued sugary sweetness moves forward; with the cream, it's reminding me of a light Spanish flan. Body is still sitting light to medium. A very delicate leather note adding depth. After dropping backstage for a few numbers, the barnyard note eases its way back in around the halfway mark, playing nicely with the others without anyone fighting for the spotlight.

Final third: A few burn corrections here but despite the continued tight draw, haven’t experienced any real tunnelling or need to relight. Now the citrus zest is poking its way back in for some sporadic two-measure solos. No real evolution of flavour at this point, but I’m not complaining. One interesting change is that the note holding longest in the mouth was cream in the earlier stages of the cigar; at this point the lingering echo is the sweetness, with the dessert flan note shifting “brighter” towards a fresh honey character as the cigar wound down.

Given the lack of complexity and body, it’s the kind of cigar that on paper I shouldn’t be all that keen on. But something about it just rubbed me right. It felt like a very “purist” or “quintessential” CC experience for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. The kind of cigar I might offer an NC smoker as their first Cuban, not in a way of saying “this is the necessarily an example of best that Cuba has to offer”, but more “this is what people refer to when they discuss a certain unique sweetness of Cuban tobacco”. Nothing harsh, nothing in your face, tenderly charming from start to finish.

88/100. This is a little on the young side; I suspect age could open it up more and move it up into the 90s.

[Tunkat92]

RG Petite Corona

[david9985]

Monte 4

[riderpride]

Plpc. Appreciate the review!

Cheers 

[cigaraholic]

Punch Coronations 

[rcarlson]

Wrapper doesn't seem to fit, but I'll go with Siglo II

[Jackdani7401]

Siglo II

[Ford2112]

PLPC

[jakebarnes]

Gonna second plpc

[btort910]

PLPC

[Edicion]

x5 on the PLPC

[karp]

PLPC - nice review

[gormag38]

I’ll go with a plpc too! 

[ayedfy]

Deliberately eschewed the word “caramel” from my review to provide some degree of difficulty, luckily many keen eyes saw right through me.

PLPC. Well done @riderpride for being first in!