OK, I finished this bad-boy, and here is my newbie review. Keep in mind I have nearly zero experience with these types of cigars.
Looks/Construction:
light brown, very slightly oily. Excellently put together. Very few veins, barely noticeable wrapper lines. Cap seems solid. Foot and Head seem springier that the middle, but not squishy.
Pre-light:
Smell is very clean - none of the usual varying smells, and not aromatically complex like an OpusX. Pre-draw is solid, a little more tight than I'm used to. No discernible odor or taste other than a plain clean tobacco essence.
Light:
The cap survived the pocket Mohel with flying colors. The foot was cauterized and lit better than most cigars I've had so far. First few drags had none of the usual carbon or bitter taste (that usually goes away after a few minutes anyway) - it was actually rather smooth and creamy right from the start.
Burn: Had to do a slight correction which was due more to my impatience than to the cigar's construction than anything else (94% humidity aside). Other than that, it burned quite perfectly and self corrected itself when needed (which was hardly at all). Ash held on for just about an inch each time before getting knocked off from normal smoking activities like plopping it down between draws (I wasn't trying to get the ash to Shark lengths by any means).
Smoke:
Despite a rather tight draw, there was satisfactory amounts of smoke to sample with each pull. Not as much as I would like (I love the amount of smoke you get from a Chateau Fuente for example), but, unlike with other low-volume cigars, you could actually taste this one fairly well with what you were given.
Strength:
Fairly mild at first - actually this was the perfect strength for my personal tastes. The fairly mild strength definitely lends to the overall smoothness of the stick.
Flavor:
The flavor, unfortunately was also just as tame as the strength to me. I prefer a more potent flavor, but also enjoy a subtle bite if there is a range of subtle flavors.
1/4 mark:
Picked up some steam at the 1/4 mark both in strength and flavor. Could definitely sense some dancing in the mouth, and a slight buzz that was only barely there.
1/2 mark:
Creamy and slight chocolaty taste, like drinking a light mocha. It's the first time I ever actually had that chocolate taste spring out at me, although usually I'm just enjoying the overall sensation of smoking rather than trying to pinpoint random flavors or identify different perceptions of taste. Exhaling had an almost chalky sensation, but in an enjoyable way (IOW not something like morning cotton-mouth).
3/4 mark:
Still picking up strength in small amounts, and although the flavor seems to have stabilized somewhat I can definitely notice more subtle changes easier than usual. Mellow, yet noticeable.
The home stretch:
Flavor was definitely more noticeable over strength. Smoked more frequently in the last 1-2" than I did the rest, which probably accounted for the more obvious flavor changes. The last inch started to get bitter, but smoothed out when I slowed down. I actually burned 2 fingers trying to finish this one (medical bill will be mailed out to vitasea tomorrow
)
Total smoking time:
Started at ~ 6:30PM - finished at ~ 8:00PM
Overall:
A very nice and calming stick. Perfect for a tame, ugly, overcast, and humid Sunday afternoon with not to much going on. Burn was as close to perfect as the smoking conditions would allow (usually in this humidity I have to deal with wrapper expansion and splitting). I'd say it;s the real thing and I would try another, although I don't know if I'd spend the kind of money it goes for to get one.
Thank you very much for the stick and the case vitasea, a very good experience for this newbie.
