Monti was nice enough to reach out. Like I stated prior, I would give a breakdown after smoking a 2nd cigar after acclimation. When I pulled the 2nd one out this past Friday, the Accurite hygro read both 67% RH and 67°F. For a reminder photo shortly after light:
View attachment 76445
Prelight impression: I didn't measure, seems in the Churchill area. The aromatics were a delight. Sweet with light spice and rich earthy undertones. The sweetness of the cold draw gave me gingerbread and ceylon cinnamon, and spiciness from the wrapper that gave my lips a little tingle.
Solid construction, average veins, 4 or 5 light pinches from shoulder to foot were all consistent... not squishy, not hard. Not the fanciest bands ever, which I normally could care less about, but at the price point, I expect
everything to be of the highest caliber. The ink and flag images, especially Old Glory, were a bit fuzzy.
Both bands gave zero issues when it came to removal.. that's a BIG pet peeve of mine. If I have a great experience with a cigar and smoke to the band, to just have a wrapper tear due to a sloppily applied band.. that's an instant point or two deduction. If it's blatant and consistent on 2 or more cigars, I write emails.. just ask Alan Rubin.
Back to the cigar, I always open cut with my Cuban Crafter's Perfect Cutter.. tried and true cutter for over 15 years. Cut was easy, taking about a dime worth off the cap, roasted with a triple jet containing Xikar brand fuel.. all uneventful. First puff was a flavor bomb. Often, the prelight aromas aren't always indicative of what you'll actually taste.. especially at first.
This was different. Got graham cracker, not the cheap stuff in the cookie aisle.. fresh-baked graham cracker. Their website says the wrapper is Ecuadorian.. I have nothing to doubt that and it's a fine example. Few puffs in, medium profile so far.. good smoke output. I didn't get any of the draw issues on either sample that Ed experienced.
I've talked before about various tobaccos I'm fond of and have bought for rolling my own sticks. Cuban-seed Criollo 98 has been a favorite leaf for a longtime. The Illyrian site says the binder is D.R. San Vicente, a great choice and is an offshoot "hybrid" from piloto seed. They could have went either way for the binder, but the SV just works. A good read on tobacco typography:
It's late morning and Siegfried Maruschke walks with his father down a smooth and immaculately clean concrete floor in a warehouse in the Dominican Republic. There's no need for the halogen lights, as the strong, tropical sun shines through the windows in dusty beams. They're bright enough to...
www.cigaraficionado.com
Davidoff throws piloto in a lot of their core, and when you see the copycats, they often throw in inferior-grown piloto to try and mimic the classic Davidoff profile. It seemed, initially, that Illyrian was trying to go the same route. Thankfully, while being Dominican-made with many of the same attributes, they've done enough to make it their own. That's due to the interesting mix and choices for the filler (more on that later).
I'm a little more than a third in, 25 minutes have passed. I had a buddy over and we were smoking in my walk-in. At this point, his LFD is starting to taint my experience.. I open the door about 6 inches and within a few minutes, most of the smoke clears. He stays closer to the door, I move a few feet toward the back. His smoke is pulled right outside, mine hangs slightly over me.
Starting the second third, I have zero complaints. Burn isn't razor-sharp, but damn near. Smoke output is solid and hanging, I'm smoking it at the right humidity level. I'm getting fig with the graham cracker fading, and smooth cashew, my mouth and back of teeth have a nice slick feel (ever had cashew butter?). My tongue keeps sliding along my teeth and I have a good tingle on my lips.
I'm a little more than halfway through, about 45 minutes have passed, and coming up to the first of two bands:
View attachment 76446
First band is removed perfectly.. just a light flick of my thumbnail.
Good. Burn is still great, just like you see above. Ash holds easily an inch at a time.. I don't play the long-ash game. I typically give it an inch.. then I look to see if a light tap on top of cigar will drop it, or do I need to "break" it off using the ashtray. Good construction usually means the latter, which was my experience each time.
Going into the last third, their site lists the fillers as Criollo 98, Pennsylvania, Corojo, San Andres. There's no specifics other than that. Like I said earlier, it's an interesting mix. And it's where this Dominican-made stick starts twisting and turning. I'll maybe puff once a minute at my quickest. I'm going longer between puffs because of the conversation between my buddy and me.
There was probably a 5 minute unexpected pause when my sister brought my 4-year old niece out. They are both living with me temporarily and my niece hadn't seen me that day and was going to bed. We had a few minutes together and off they went. Went back in to humi thinking the cigar probably went out.. picked it up, and had a puff instantly on first draw.. terrific.
The last third was just a surprise with every subsequent puff. All the usual notes you'd expect from such a diverse mix of tobacco were there. I'm not sure if the "best for last" was intentional of the blend, or just a coincidence, but I will say I'm looking forward to trying another one this weekend to see. At this juncture, I have about an inch and a half left, the medium profile has picked up to full, but not overpowering at all.
A lot of lengthy sticks like this guy can get potent toward the end just from the nicotine and tar buildup. This was no exception. I'm not a "nubber", I rarely smoke past the inch mark, especially a thinner stick like a Churchill. Just too hot and squishy for me. So at that point, I put this guy down and sit back, relaxed and slightly buzzing from the Vitamin N. Total smoke time was around 82 minutes.
Ok, after such a write-up, time for the nitty-gritty. Is this cigar good?
Yes. I enjoyed it thoroughly and was very happy in almost every category. The only category I would not be happy about is the price point. Could I complain about that here.. no, they were free.
But I saw the 5pks of these going for $150. For those not hip to the maths, that's $30/each. Which is adorable. Adorable times two. At dress-box pricing, maybe $15/ea with inflation and everything being where it's at right now. In the Churchill size at more of an upscale B&M, I could see them
maybe getting away at pricing of $17.50-$18.
And I'm being really generous there. I would give my experience with this particular sample a score of 94. And I'm stingy. So a 94 from me is nothing to balk at. It still doesn't vault it into the $20+ arena either. It's better than many Davidoff's I've had, but I also think Davidoff's are one of the, if not THEE, most overpriced cigar makers. That's taking into account their entire portfolio however.
I do want to thank Imran, "Monti", for providing a generous sampling of his brand. I will save some other thoughts and ideas for him personally. But I did say if he sent samples I would give my honest take and review on them.. including pricing. So here you have it.
I look forward to trying the remaining samples and will update if necessary.
Lastly, a big thanks to Chad
@CBoukal, Rod
@Rod, and Ed
@Pugman1943 for helping Monti get back on here. He's been true to his word and a gentleman. I hope he sticks around.
