Quai D\'Orsay Coronas (POS Mar 07)

[Tampa1257]

Very nice review Rob. One quality that I notice when smoking a Quai D'Orsay is a "Toasted Tobacco" flavor. This is for me a trait that crosses all the vitolas in the marca, but I may have the palate of a Billy Goat.................:-D

[asmith]

»but I may have the palate of a Billy Goat.................:-D

I'm sure there is something I should add here just not sure what?

[El Presidente]

» Very nice review Rob. One quality that I notice when smoking a Quai D'Orsay

» is a "Toasted Tobacco" flavor. This is for me a trait that crosses all the

» vitolas in the marca, but I may have the palate of a Billy

» Goat.................:-D

Great call Tampa. "Toasted Tobacco" is certainly what I have picked up in the past and picked up in spades. This one however went far past that description. It was a complex suave smoke.

[El Presidente]

Quai D'Orsay Coronas (POS Mar 07)

Certainly the QD is not a Marque that has overly excited me. I know that it has some real fans amongst members who know their cigars,so I have always put it down to the fact that the flavour profile just does not suit me. I am being polite because more often than not I have struggled to find a flavour …….to profile ;-)

This Quai D’Orsay Corona looked the part. Well constructed with some visible veins in the wrapper which leant a patchwork quilt look. The cigar felt very oily …almost moist so I checked the humidity reading ….62% RH. Perfect.

Aroma at cold is tobacco and slight leather. Clipped the foot to find a slightly resistant draw (spot on) and a grassy/tobacco flavour on the lips and tongue.

I looked again at the Quai D’Orsay corona and wondered how in the world the Cubans came up with such a plain band. You would swear they subcontracted the band production out to second rate counterfeiters. I suppose one could say that there is a beauty in the understated nature/look of the cigar. I won’t argue although if she is a princess then providing a band with all the excitement and quality of Jose Piedra’s is a slap in the face for a premium cigar.

Fired up the well bunched foot. Very impressive start. Light medium bodied with a complete absence of pepper spice so common in the opening of many cigars. The smoke is white, thick and as It washes over the palate it leaves behind a light milk coffee and long dry stalks of grass. There is also a slight peat/stout backbone to this cigar which belies the lighter body. While it is full flavoured it is still light medium in body. I love cigars such as this.

Towards the end of the last third a slight sweetness enters the smoke. I find it difficult to pin down…definitely not honey, not citrus, not fruits. It is an understated sweetness which combines so well with the milk coffee and peat. It took me a while to pin down the flavour but I think I have nailed it. Remember the last time you dunked some “Tea cake/sponge cake” into unsweetened tea or unsweetened coffee? Remember searching with a teaspoon for the piece that inevitable falls off into the depths of the cup? Remember finding the soggy piece of cake and how good it tasted? Well this is the same flavour I am getting with the Quai D’Orsay. The second section of the cigar is definitely sweeter than the first with some real “coffee cake “qualities. I am enjoying this.

The ash is dark and firm. The burn of this cigar for a March 2007 is quite exceptional. Into the final third now and the cigar is a tad deeper/richer. It has now reached medium body. I love the chewy, viscous richness to the smoke. Finishing with a charry under developed toffee note.

One of the best Quai D’Orsay I have had. Tremendous potential for such a young cigar. I will take one with me when I catch up with Ken Gargett this week as he may even change his mind on this Marque.

88/100 4/6 Smokerings

*** Destined for a 92 when it fleshes out its flavour profile.