Bond Roberts Linea D 01

[JDoughty]

I will begin by confessing that I committed the sin of smoking this one ROTT with just a couple days of rest on arrival. I blame the incredible aroma of this stick for tempting me into this act of premature cigar depredation. Also I am not the least bit sorry. With archery deer season starting soon, I have been seeking that last magnificent smoke to tide me over during my scent minimizing regimen. I definitely found it. I shall go much more happily into cigar starvation with this wonderfully enjoyable three hour smoke in my sensory memory bank. 

Smelling the stick on arrival, the aromas were sweet, rich and delicious. It reminded me of very good old school Cuban tobacco, pre-1990's, well aged and ready for smoking. I kept opening my humidor just to smell it. It was difficult to resist even for a few days to let it rest, but somehow I managed. With a nice wedge cut, my favorite, the cold draw was perfect and offered notes of cream and cedar. On first light, a generous volume of rich, creamy smoke offered flavors of milk chocolate and warm, buttery toast. It left a lingering sweetness on lips and tongue, like powdered sugar on buttery French toast. About an inch in, I was getting some wonderful flavors of buttered peach cobbler and cream, pastry and pie crust notes, with an elegant backbone of cedar and toasted pine nuts. It was like eating a rich, creamy dessert with every mouthful of smoke. Incredible. 

The flavors were light and sweet, but balanced and well structured throughout. The smoke was rich and almost juicy, very mouth filling. Another few inches down and a few more savory notes emerged - grilled lean meat, aged wood and a hint of leather. The peach pie evolved into slightly dryer and more tannic but still tasty peach skins with a bit of milk chocolate and a faintly Cubanesque twang. Sweetness still predominated, but in good balance to the other flavor notes. 

With the last third, rich cappucino and even more Cubanesque notes came in. It reminded me very much of a well aged Monte #2 at that stage as coffee notes emerged along with a hint of darker chocolate. Enjoyable to the nub. 

My minor nitpicks are that the ash was very flaky and I got a bit of splitting towards the end, but I have only myself to blame for lighting it up this fresh from transit. The flavor was so good I did not care. I don't know when this particular stick was rolled, but it did not taste fresh at all. It tasted like a very well aged cigar, and dare I say, quite a bit like a well aged Cuban cigar. I don't know how they managed it, but they did. Impressive feat indeed. I am salivating just thinking about how these will age for enjoying after deer season. Also, my mouth does not taste like an ashtray after three hours of puffing. The aftertaste is rich cappucino, chocolate and sweet buttercream. Amazing. It's been a few hours since I finished it and I'm still licking my lips.