Kingantz
Growing too fast.
It’s turned out to be one absolutely gorgeous day with temps in the low 80’s and definitely feeling it. Even the nice breeze blowing feels a bit warm. After getting my belly full of stuffed bell peppers that just came out the oven, I decided to head out under the walnut tree to put fire to a Tat Drac. I have to say up front that I just got this smoke in the mail today and it’s quite dried out, however I’m thinking it actually might be a good time to fire it up as I would’ve probably dry boxed it a day or so anyway.
The cigar has good construction with a prominent vein running the length in the dull, dark brown wrapper. There are no oils at all to be seen, looking as if someone used fine sandpaper on it to make it look dull. The cigar actually does look like a wooden stake. It’s very light in the hand, too light and the bunching looks quite loose in the foot. I clip a small piece off the tapered cap and find the draw with slightly less resistance than I like, however not too bad. I will say that there is definitely a very strong taste of varnish (not kidding) coming through in the cold draw.
It takes no time at all to light the cigar, even with the breeze blowing, and I take a few puffs to get the smoke flowing. I hold off on taking a good draw until there's about a quarter inch of ash, and then when I do, a very powerful blast of peppery spice hits the back of the throat, which is what I was hoping to avoid by letting the cigar “settle in”. I’m having a hard time discerning any flavor due to the peppery spice, so just take a few puffs every minute or so for a little longer, hoping it will smooth out.
The burn has a fairly bad run in it right from the start, and when I knock off the light gray, flaky ash, the filler looks to be burning very loose. I touch up the cigar and continue on, getting strong pepper in the full strength smoke. What flavor I am getting is not that good to my palate, simply a charred wood taste and bitter.
At halfway, the burn is absolutely terrible, running down one side a good inch and a half or so. Strong spice continues to dominate and not so good flavor continuing to flow through. I am not exaggerating when I say that same varnish I tasted in the cold draw is also coming through in the smoke, and is most noticeable in the second hand smoke wafting through the air.
Towards the end, the burn started to go straight and the draw really opened up with copious amounts of full strength smoke flowing through the somewhat loose draw. The strong pepper spice calmed down just enough to actually taste what this cigar possibly could’ve been. There was definitely a richness in there with a depth to it that was really good. I mean really good. Cocoa, wood, and leather taste came through with a touch of vanilla. But, unfortunately the cigar got very hot leaving a bitter, dry taste in the finish.
As mentioned at the beginning, I just received this cigar in the mail today, so that may have had something to do with how it tasted, however I do feel it probably didn’t have much to do with the burn issues. I have a few of these now, so will let them rest for a while before trying another and hope that they smoke better than this one. Time will tell.
The cigar has good construction with a prominent vein running the length in the dull, dark brown wrapper. There are no oils at all to be seen, looking as if someone used fine sandpaper on it to make it look dull. The cigar actually does look like a wooden stake. It’s very light in the hand, too light and the bunching looks quite loose in the foot. I clip a small piece off the tapered cap and find the draw with slightly less resistance than I like, however not too bad. I will say that there is definitely a very strong taste of varnish (not kidding) coming through in the cold draw.
It takes no time at all to light the cigar, even with the breeze blowing, and I take a few puffs to get the smoke flowing. I hold off on taking a good draw until there's about a quarter inch of ash, and then when I do, a very powerful blast of peppery spice hits the back of the throat, which is what I was hoping to avoid by letting the cigar “settle in”. I’m having a hard time discerning any flavor due to the peppery spice, so just take a few puffs every minute or so for a little longer, hoping it will smooth out.
The burn has a fairly bad run in it right from the start, and when I knock off the light gray, flaky ash, the filler looks to be burning very loose. I touch up the cigar and continue on, getting strong pepper in the full strength smoke. What flavor I am getting is not that good to my palate, simply a charred wood taste and bitter.
At halfway, the burn is absolutely terrible, running down one side a good inch and a half or so. Strong spice continues to dominate and not so good flavor continuing to flow through. I am not exaggerating when I say that same varnish I tasted in the cold draw is also coming through in the smoke, and is most noticeable in the second hand smoke wafting through the air.
Towards the end, the burn started to go straight and the draw really opened up with copious amounts of full strength smoke flowing through the somewhat loose draw. The strong pepper spice calmed down just enough to actually taste what this cigar possibly could’ve been. There was definitely a richness in there with a depth to it that was really good. I mean really good. Cocoa, wood, and leather taste came through with a touch of vanilla. But, unfortunately the cigar got very hot leaving a bitter, dry taste in the finish.
As mentioned at the beginning, I just received this cigar in the mail today, so that may have had something to do with how it tasted, however I do feel it probably didn’t have much to do with the burn issues. I have a few of these now, so will let them rest for a while before trying another and hope that they smoke better than this one. Time will tell.
