Ramon Allones Belicosos RE 2005

[Kingantz]

Whew! What a week it’s been. Past few days full of wind and rain with wind gusts up to 30 mph at times. I had just got the pool covered and now…what a mess. I somehow caught hold of a nasty stomach virus, and a lady at work has been in the office all week with strep throat. Yep, looked down the ‘ol windpipe last night and sure nuff, white stuff. Yuck! Needless to say, I’m not feeling too great, however not too awful bad. Regardless, I wasn’t going to let some nassiness get me down. Slept in ‘til 8:00 a.m. this morning and woke up in a great mood. No wind, no rain, and sunshine! Finally!

Unfortunately the day has grown overcast with the sun peeking out now and then. Even though I’m feeling rather icky, I thought I’d still go out and have a smoke. After rummaging through my singles boxes, I spied a Ramon Allones Belicosos Regional Edition 2005 (UK). I got this smoke from a cigar draft on another board and had been waiting a while to put fire to it. Ah why not! I grabbed it up and headed out the back door.

I’d have to say the belicosos is close to the top of the list as my favorite vitola. This belicosos had a beautiful dark brown wrapper with near flawless construction. A couple of small veins ran down one side, and I didn’t notice much by way of oils. It had only a slight give when squeezed and the foot showed some possible overfill. I cut the head and tried the draw, and it was just a bit tight. I went to cut a small amount more, and took off more than I intended, though the draw was perfect afterwards. There was a deliciously rich tobacco flavor that came through in the cold draw.

I put fire to the foot and the ash was black once the embers started. First draw was amazingly rich with a sweet smoke full of dark, rich coffee notes. A few more draws and smoke began to flow really well. Immensely rich, creamy coffee with delicious cocoa underneath. A roasted nuttiness was coming through in the sweet smoke. I had planned to smoke under the walnut tree, however there were just too many bugs biting, so I moved onto the back porch to get away from them.

The ash continued to burn a very dark gray and fell at a little over an inch. It was razor sharp, having no run issues at all. I took it very slow with this smoke and really enjoyed it, even with the slight burning sensation in the back of my throat from being sick. Luckily, I’ve had no serious sinus issues so still had my sense of taste/smell.

I found the cigar to have a medium to medium-full strength, with the most amazing long finish that I’ve had the pleasure of tasting on a cigar. Smooth, rich flavors of a deliciously sweet, caramel toffee. Notes of cedar and earth were in there with predominant coffee and chocolate sprinkled with roasted nuts.

The final third picked up to a full strength, however the flavors intensified only slightly. This was an absolutely amazing smoke with some of the richest tobacco flavors I’ve come across. It was a shame it had to end! But end it did, down to the nub.

[aavkk]

Once again thanks for the great review and as always excellent camera work. Feel better and keep em coming.