From the Phat line of the Teten cigars is the Shorty. I found no documentation as to the designation of Winter that is printed on the label. This may be just the name of the painting decorating the label, which I guess is one of Lars' paintings. A Jack of All Trades this man seems to be into everything from skateboards to handbags not to mention cigars, which is what this reveiw is all about.
Readily apparent to me was the initial overwhelming floral scent. Almost like a pot of daisies. I soon discovered that out of the clever humidifying ziplock the cigar did smell more like tobacco. It seems as if the bag itself had been treated to smell flowery.
Smelling the cigar from head to foot I noticed the flowery smell was emanating from the cigar's band so I removed the band. Better. More tobacco less flowers.
I enjoyed looking at the firm 5 x 50 dark brown cigar. Some tooth was in evidence and the construction was clean. With a nice pig tailed head and folded flap foot the cigar was pleasing enough to look at.
After 30 minutes or so the flower smell was almost gone - or it could have been that my nose had accustomed itself to the smell.
An easy non tearing clip of the head, and an unfurling of the flap brought well bunched filler leaves into veiw.
Toasting the foot brought a light tobacco aroma and the first few puffs easily brought a good volume of smoke. Room aroma was not painful. Not overly floral but not exactly hearty tobacco either.
The Shorty was mild to medium in strength. No nic kick was observed though tauted as a strong cigar by Tetens. While smoking the first half I noticed no real overt floral tastes just a voluminous mild smoke.
Just past the halfway point I started to taste and feel an unfamiliar characteristic in a cigar. After a bit it dawned on me that I was tasting a menthol taste. And it got stronger, and stronger until I had to put it down at about the two thirds mark - about where the band was.
The finish or aftertaste was not an unpleasant one.
This cigar, while an interesting experiment, would not be a "go to" for me. I can appreciate the quality of construction but can only assume the draw it has on it's fans.
It is quite obvious the marketing campaign has been carefully thought out and many dollars have been spent. I rather enjoy the premise behind the packaging. Bright and colorful the campaign design is clever and amusing.
I have a problem with the conflicting information on the two websites. With such slick individual cigar and box packaging I would think that the websites would be as slick. Not to me. With current technology web sites can be much more elegant which is what I perceive the Teten cigars to aspire to. To be slick.
Slick. The Precious Air Cleaner. Another line, the Precious, is Lars' only machine made cigar. Stacking up at 4 x 30 and packaged in bags of 5, the Precious was just that to look at- precious. Cropped at both ends, this cigar too was a dark brown (with little to no tooth).
The hopefully copyrighted daisy smell was in the packaging like the Shorty but this cigar had the smell thoughout it's unbanded length. A mild smoke with easy draw this would be the smoke for Lars fan's with only a little of time. Lasting only about 15 or 20 minutes this little smoke left a dry bitter green aftertaste. Maybe after resting in it's own humidor this would be a pleasant enough quick, just for fun smoke.
Oh, What's up with the names, Lars? Air Cleaner?
Again, this would not be a "go to" cigar for me. I want decidedly heady tobacco tastes and aromas.
I would like to thank ragingbull for providing the cigars for reveiw. After resting a bit I will reveiw two others- the Teeshu D-1 and D-3.
JerryG
Readily apparent to me was the initial overwhelming floral scent. Almost like a pot of daisies. I soon discovered that out of the clever humidifying ziplock the cigar did smell more like tobacco. It seems as if the bag itself had been treated to smell flowery.
Smelling the cigar from head to foot I noticed the flowery smell was emanating from the cigar's band so I removed the band. Better. More tobacco less flowers.
I enjoyed looking at the firm 5 x 50 dark brown cigar. Some tooth was in evidence and the construction was clean. With a nice pig tailed head and folded flap foot the cigar was pleasing enough to look at.
After 30 minutes or so the flower smell was almost gone - or it could have been that my nose had accustomed itself to the smell.
An easy non tearing clip of the head, and an unfurling of the flap brought well bunched filler leaves into veiw.
Toasting the foot brought a light tobacco aroma and the first few puffs easily brought a good volume of smoke. Room aroma was not painful. Not overly floral but not exactly hearty tobacco either.
The Shorty was mild to medium in strength. No nic kick was observed though tauted as a strong cigar by Tetens. While smoking the first half I noticed no real overt floral tastes just a voluminous mild smoke.
Just past the halfway point I started to taste and feel an unfamiliar characteristic in a cigar. After a bit it dawned on me that I was tasting a menthol taste. And it got stronger, and stronger until I had to put it down at about the two thirds mark - about where the band was.
The finish or aftertaste was not an unpleasant one.
This cigar, while an interesting experiment, would not be a "go to" for me. I can appreciate the quality of construction but can only assume the draw it has on it's fans.
It is quite obvious the marketing campaign has been carefully thought out and many dollars have been spent. I rather enjoy the premise behind the packaging. Bright and colorful the campaign design is clever and amusing.
I have a problem with the conflicting information on the two websites. With such slick individual cigar and box packaging I would think that the websites would be as slick. Not to me. With current technology web sites can be much more elegant which is what I perceive the Teten cigars to aspire to. To be slick.
Slick. The Precious Air Cleaner. Another line, the Precious, is Lars' only machine made cigar. Stacking up at 4 x 30 and packaged in bags of 5, the Precious was just that to look at- precious. Cropped at both ends, this cigar too was a dark brown (with little to no tooth).
The hopefully copyrighted daisy smell was in the packaging like the Shorty but this cigar had the smell thoughout it's unbanded length. A mild smoke with easy draw this would be the smoke for Lars fan's with only a little of time. Lasting only about 15 or 20 minutes this little smoke left a dry bitter green aftertaste. Maybe after resting in it's own humidor this would be a pleasant enough quick, just for fun smoke.
Oh, What's up with the names, Lars? Air Cleaner?
Again, this would not be a "go to" cigar for me. I want decidedly heady tobacco tastes and aromas.
I would like to thank ragingbull for providing the cigars for reveiw. After resting a bit I will reveiw two others- the Teeshu D-1 and D-3.
JerryG
