RoMa Craft Intemperance EC XVIII Charity -- Short Smoke (FRC#2Jun24)

[TacoSauce]

Here is review two in this short smoke duo (first one here: https://www.fohcigars.com/forum/topic/159419-partagas-short-opu-jul-06-frc2jun24/). This time it is a NC cigar. The Roma craft petite coronas are one of few NC sticks that fit the mini-smokes genre that CCs cover so well with Perlas and MInutos. I am posting these two reviews together because of the similarities I experienced between the two: both in size and in flavor. 

 

RoMa Craft Intemperance EC XVIII Charity (++): A tiny petite corona sized stick (4" x 46). I smoked the Intrigue version of this same size from the BA XXI blend before (https://www.fohcigars.com/forum/topic/156872-tacosauce-nc-diary/?do=findComment&comment=1241628) and found it to be extremely flavorful, but a little bolder than what I like. I was hoping that this stick could deliver the same flavors but at a slightly less intense level.

After lighting, the cigar opens at at medium body and the first flavors are a blast of Espinosa black pepper/pencil shavings. I call it "Espinosa" because it is the same as the dominate flavor in many cigars from Espinosa. As the cigar continues, the pepper flavor becomes less intense, while the pencil shavings persist until the half way point. Here, the complexity jumps with a touch of sweetness and fruit -- kind of like dried orange peels. It melds nicely with the pencil shavings in the background. The retrohale was easy and flavorful throughout.

The flavor profile of this is very different from the BA XXI, but it stands well on its own. Sticks of this size from RoMa craft are nice in that, size-wise, they are the HUHC of the NC world and there aren't too many NCs that fit this size category.