Upgrayedd
Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2015
- Messages
- 28
This is my first review ever. I recently got ahold of some aged sticks and feel like I ought to do them justice by putting my thoughts about them together, but before I do that I may as well start working out the kinks on stuff that I have more than one of.
One of my first influences and starting points in reading about cigars was a thread on a humor forum I belong to and praise for RASS was abundant, so it ended up being the first box I bought. That box was from March or April 2014, with claro or colorado claro wrappers. The first one I smoked was the ugly duckling of the box, with a rustic looking and toothy wrapper complete with a kinda ghetto repair job near the foot, with a small piece of wrapper pasted onto a flaw. It made me wonder if the sticks were legit until I lit one up...the flavors were out of this world in spectrum compared to the sticks I'd been smoking, largely one note peppery stuff. The RASS was way deeper, and even then I was picking out flavors of cappucino, ginger, and hints of fruit.
That was in September. I've mostly finished that box, aside from five I set aside to age more.
In comes this new box, a lot younger, but with much nicer looking wrappers. Oilier and maduro or colorado maduro in color. Unlit aroma, something that the first box didn't blow me away with upon receipt, is much stronger and nicer here. Barnyard, cocoa, tobacco, lumberyard.
The first smoke I had from this box, immediately upon receipt, roughed me up a little. I hadn't eaten all day and was pairing it with water. This time I came prepared, washing down some green bean, onion, and beef stew with water and coming at the cigar with a fresh palate and a bottle of Barbancourt 8yr, an agricole rum.
Unlit draw was a little tight and mostly tasted of strong tobacco and wood. I clipped it again further down and the draw improved. Had a sip of the rum. Light, sweet, and floral like some Highland whiskies.
I lit it up to spicy notes that would be at home in a Partagas, along with the strong earthy tobacco flavor you might find in one. The spice quickly mellowed out, though the powerful tobacco flavor remained, joined by dark coffee and bitter cacao or mocha. Sips from the rum began to bring out sweeter notes as the first third ended. I'd say it took on notes of dark fruitcake, molasses, and some nuttiness, though the core of dark tobacco flavor remained potent and dominant.
The fruitcake phase was somewhat short lived, and after a while despite a couple purges and many, many alcohols, the flavors got heavier until they went over the deep end into an oily and bitter dark coffee abyss, overpowering the rum's ability to bring out the lighter notes.
I took the band off after this photo and continued as the flavors, though intense and agressive, were still enjoyable, but before long it was a little overwhelming and the nub was thrown overboard, hopefully to take root and some day grow a bountiful cigar-tree, which is where I'm told these come from. On an unrelated note about six standard liquor drinks were, unavoidably, harmed in the making of this review. The things I do for science.
One of my first influences and starting points in reading about cigars was a thread on a humor forum I belong to and praise for RASS was abundant, so it ended up being the first box I bought. That box was from March or April 2014, with claro or colorado claro wrappers. The first one I smoked was the ugly duckling of the box, with a rustic looking and toothy wrapper complete with a kinda ghetto repair job near the foot, with a small piece of wrapper pasted onto a flaw. It made me wonder if the sticks were legit until I lit one up...the flavors were out of this world in spectrum compared to the sticks I'd been smoking, largely one note peppery stuff. The RASS was way deeper, and even then I was picking out flavors of cappucino, ginger, and hints of fruit.
That was in September. I've mostly finished that box, aside from five I set aside to age more.
In comes this new box, a lot younger, but with much nicer looking wrappers. Oilier and maduro or colorado maduro in color. Unlit aroma, something that the first box didn't blow me away with upon receipt, is much stronger and nicer here. Barnyard, cocoa, tobacco, lumberyard.
The first smoke I had from this box, immediately upon receipt, roughed me up a little. I hadn't eaten all day and was pairing it with water. This time I came prepared, washing down some green bean, onion, and beef stew with water and coming at the cigar with a fresh palate and a bottle of Barbancourt 8yr, an agricole rum.
Unlit draw was a little tight and mostly tasted of strong tobacco and wood. I clipped it again further down and the draw improved. Had a sip of the rum. Light, sweet, and floral like some Highland whiskies.
I lit it up to spicy notes that would be at home in a Partagas, along with the strong earthy tobacco flavor you might find in one. The spice quickly mellowed out, though the powerful tobacco flavor remained, joined by dark coffee and bitter cacao or mocha. Sips from the rum began to bring out sweeter notes as the first third ended. I'd say it took on notes of dark fruitcake, molasses, and some nuttiness, though the core of dark tobacco flavor remained potent and dominant.
The fruitcake phase was somewhat short lived, and after a while despite a couple purges and many, many alcohols, the flavors got heavier until they went over the deep end into an oily and bitter dark coffee abyss, overpowering the rum's ability to bring out the lighter notes.
I took the band off after this photo and continued as the flavors, though intense and agressive, were still enjoyable, but before long it was a little overwhelming and the nub was thrown overboard, hopefully to take root and some day grow a bountiful cigar-tree, which is where I'm told these come from. On an unrelated note about six standard liquor drinks were, unavoidably, harmed in the making of this review. The things I do for science.
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