moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
I whipped out this interestingly shaped Figurado on the patio of V-bar in San José with a few friends of mine. Immediately, the comments were flying about how phallic the cigar looked, that I'd have to smoke it down pretty far before it was smaller than my penis, and so on and so forth. I ignored their childish remarks (well, okay, I didn't -- I actually made some of my own) and sparked it up.
This is the first "Figurado" I've had, and I must say, it's an infinitely cooler way to have a cigar wrapped. You light the little nub on the end, and the cigar takes care of the rest -- saves you a lot of time trying to light the whole foot properly and evenly. I'm going to wish more cigars came this way, just for sheer convenience sake.
The cigar itself certainly is meaty, quite thick especially at the foot end, tapering down to a more respectable ring gauge, with a slightly rounded tip. I only had a punch on me, and I'm not convinced that this type of cigar can be properly punched, because the draw I got from it was a little tough, but smokable. The construction was excellent, and it kept a nice long solid ash, and burned evenly from bow to stern.
The taste itself was good; mellow, and understated, but by no means tasteless. It was a low-key cigar, with tastes more on the subtle side of things, with notes of coffee, carmel, but not much in the way of spiciness, and certainly not bitter at all. I smoked it with a nice Cognac, but I think it would have been better of paired with something at little more subtle (a nice white wine, perhaps, or a mixed drink), because the cognac taste was overpowering the cigar.
I wouldn't call it extremely mild, but rather medium to mild bodied. All in all, a very good smoke if you like medium/mild bodied cigars. I personally don't think I'll be buying more of these (I have 2 naturals and one maduro left) simply because I'm starting to think I like cigars with a bit more full body, but that might change: it was really quite a wonderful cigar. But if a nice, tasty, mellow smoke is your pleasure, you won't go wrong with this one, and the shape/size of it certainly will get you some attention as well.
The real downside here is that these cigars are not cheap. $14 a pop is about the cheapest I've seen them (and I've seen 'em selling for over $20 each as well), and though the quality of the cigar is top-notch, I generally expect the taste to be a bit more memorable for that price. However, it is not intended to be a meduim/full bodied cigar, so I think this may just be my bias for stronger cigars thinking the price is a bit high for what you get.
Bottom line: if you like medium/mild cigars, you owe it to yourself to try this cigar. Even if you prefer stronger smokes, you may want to check it out, because it is quite wonderful, and worth the price just try give it a puff once before you kick off.
Random link to the cigar:
http://www.payless-cigars.com/items.php/deptid=1&styleid=68
