Foundation Highclere Castle Victorian Corona
A beautiful dark chocolate brown, oily, smooth habano wrapper, well filled, tight seams, perfect cap.
Overwhelmingly peppery to start, oak, Earth, spice, a bit of sweetness in the finish. Retrohales are all but impossible. Strong (but good) tobacco aroma to the abundant smoke.
The pepper mellows after the first inch (thank goodness) and allows the flavors to come into a better balance, as well as allowing me to retrohale a bit now and then without choking. After the first deliberate ash drop as I near the end of the first third, the sweetness picks up and finds it's way into the retro and even a bit on the palate. A little creaminess even shows up to give it a bit of a latte vibe that seems to alternate with the wood and earth notes from puff to puff.
The ash drops in my lap at under an inch, so I purge, drink a bit of water, and take a few small puffs. Mostly wood and earth, but with a nice clean feel to them if that makes sense. Nearing the end of the middle third and the creaminess is gone and the sweetness has retreated more into the background.
At the start of the final third things are staying steady. The sweetness pops it's head up from time to time but it's mostly wood, earth, and pepper, in that order.
The ash drops on it's own again but at a more reasonable inch and a quarter, so another purge and drink, but no major changes result.
Moving beyond the band the wood remains dominant and the pepper is backing off again. The overall flavor is going from clean and dry to a little more wet. Typical around this point of most cigars in my opinion, absent a good amount of humidor aging. It's still decent but I can tell it's getting close to the end. The finish is just starting to pick up some minerally bitterness with about an inch and a half left. I'll try nursing it along a bit but I'm sure that the best part of this cigar is behind me. Strong woody retrohales now, the smoke is getting thin and the burn is wandering. I call it quits with around an inch left.
Burn was excellent, if perhaps a bit fast (maybe helped along with some fairly regular swirling gusts of wind), ash was bright and solid, but dropped a bit unexpectedly a couple times. Draw was perfect with just the right resistance. Smoke production was prodigious and potent. Nicotine content seems fairly high. This is obviously a very well made cigar. I suspect a year plus of age would really make it shine.
Overall I'd recommend it for fans of full bodied, strong, spicy cigars.
A beautiful dark chocolate brown, oily, smooth habano wrapper, well filled, tight seams, perfect cap.
Overwhelmingly peppery to start, oak, Earth, spice, a bit of sweetness in the finish. Retrohales are all but impossible. Strong (but good) tobacco aroma to the abundant smoke.
The pepper mellows after the first inch (thank goodness) and allows the flavors to come into a better balance, as well as allowing me to retrohale a bit now and then without choking. After the first deliberate ash drop as I near the end of the first third, the sweetness picks up and finds it's way into the retro and even a bit on the palate. A little creaminess even shows up to give it a bit of a latte vibe that seems to alternate with the wood and earth notes from puff to puff.
The ash drops in my lap at under an inch, so I purge, drink a bit of water, and take a few small puffs. Mostly wood and earth, but with a nice clean feel to them if that makes sense. Nearing the end of the middle third and the creaminess is gone and the sweetness has retreated more into the background.
At the start of the final third things are staying steady. The sweetness pops it's head up from time to time but it's mostly wood, earth, and pepper, in that order.
The ash drops on it's own again but at a more reasonable inch and a quarter, so another purge and drink, but no major changes result.
Moving beyond the band the wood remains dominant and the pepper is backing off again. The overall flavor is going from clean and dry to a little more wet. Typical around this point of most cigars in my opinion, absent a good amount of humidor aging. It's still decent but I can tell it's getting close to the end. The finish is just starting to pick up some minerally bitterness with about an inch and a half left. I'll try nursing it along a bit but I'm sure that the best part of this cigar is behind me. Strong woody retrohales now, the smoke is getting thin and the burn is wandering. I call it quits with around an inch left.
Burn was excellent, if perhaps a bit fast (maybe helped along with some fairly regular swirling gusts of wind), ash was bright and solid, but dropped a bit unexpectedly a couple times. Draw was perfect with just the right resistance. Smoke production was prodigious and potent. Nicotine content seems fairly high. This is obviously a very well made cigar. I suspect a year plus of age would really make it shine.
Overall I'd recommend it for fans of full bodied, strong, spicy cigars.
