TX Duo Review - Viaje Full Moon 2013 OR

[Çnote]

It's that time of year @Capn_Jackson

For whatever reason Viaje has connected with the market on their 'holiday' offerings to the extent that they are the quickest to sell out. This year's release of Full Moon and The Crow for the most part sold out before cigars even shipped. I've had more recent releases young and have not been a fan, but these came up and here we are. Stabilized for 5 months or so and a week of dry boxing.

Starts very mellow in the leather earth space, my retrohale is still sniffles but there's no burn at all here. Construction is fantastic. Within an inch, loses all earth and leather and turns into soft sweet cocoa with a big unami sensation on the aftertaste, maybe a sweet oyster sauce, reminds me most of some Cantonese noodles in SF Chinatown a decade ago. 

Strength picks up drastically and the flavors become more coke and soy sauce. I don't know what's going on here. Wrapping up the 1st 3rd it takes on the savory roasted pork nuance that has haunted my summer.

The 2nd 3rd abruptly shifts into a a heavy subtle gingerbread, more molasses than spice. The glue caused some wrapper damage and the 58rg of tobacco is just a lot of moisture so the earlier note on construction is right out the window. Flavor is on point if a little richly bitter. Very Bolivar vibes. Extremely pleasant, especially after burning thru the wrapper damage.  Nub starts by bringing a trace of espresso, but the sheer size of this makes it quite cumbersome to enjoy.

Solid 89. I'm unsure if I would get in line for a box to put down for a decade today, Viaje has certainly gone thru some changes since these were rolled, but if I see singles I'll pick some up for the future. 

What do you think, Jackson? This would seem to be right up your alley.

[El Presidente]

Cody, you put together some of the best reviews out there. 

[Çnote]

30 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Cody, you put together some of the best reviews out there. 

You are -much- too kind.

[Capn_Jackson]

The cello on this hefty stick says “2013,” and it’s a Viaje. Intrigued, I am. Good things are sure to come.

Cold draw is nuts, barnyard, and some cocoa powder. The light-up puff is excellent sweet hay, shortbread biscuit, and leather tack. Going on, I get a lot of raisin, coffee, and there’s a significant amount of umami. Not in every puff, but about every few puffs there is a meaty, cumin-soaked piece of BBQ dangling in the mix. 

Just before a big chunk of solid ash falls to the ground, I get a heavy dose of nutmeg, and then things turn to stout. A little honey mead, but mostly a dark cherry stout. That’s how the second third goes. Splashes of macchiato here and there, and some crushed cashew. Loving this. Holiday breads at the midway point. Strength is around medium, but the flavor is very rich. No touch-ups needed so far.

The last act turns to molasses and barnyard. I get a brief detour into ashy, bitter territory before the band, but pushing through we morph into dark beer grains and forest floor. Leather is back. The nub is full of anise, and rum raisin.

Interesting ride here. The bitterness before the band took me aback, but things evened out in the end. Mostly, a very good cocoa-biscuit, stout, leathery stick with some good slaps of dark stone fruit. Thanks for the smoke, @Çnote!

88-90

[Capn_Jackson]

Many similarities on our journeys through this one!

[Capn_Jackson]

On 10/23/2025 at 3:07 PM, Çnote said:

What do you think, Jackson? This would seem to be right up your alley.

Mostly very good. I had some bitterness toward the end, not sure to what I can attribute it. A little overly bitter coffee flavor. It didn’t last long, though. I’d have preferred more of the grassy, and more of the berry. Some vegetal flavor mixed in would have put it directly up my alley. Very good smoke, though, and showed its age very well.

[Çnote]

1 hour ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Many similarities on our journeys through this one!

We are really smoking roughly ~10 year old cigars very similarly. The biggest deviations seem to be in the 4-6 year range & humidityis still the #1 concern....hmmmm...eventually we'll have to metric our past reviews and see if there's some patterns in the math.

[Capn_Jackson]

4 minutes ago, Çnote said:

eventually we'll have to metric our past reviews and see if there's some patterns in the math.

Cigar quadratic equations.

[Çnote]

14 minutes ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Cigar quadratic equations.

It's something to do while smoking cigars.