Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion Medium Strength Sampler - 3 Cigars

Id have to say I disagree with the other view lefton this selection as I found all three cigars smoked beautifully and I especially enjoyed the thicker one called pointy

I have mixed feelings about these. I liked the taste and smell but I was made to work for the pleasure. I smoked the small one a week ago at the tail end of a long late night so I only have vague memories of it being mild but pleasant. Three nights ago I smoked the pointy cigar. I got YouTube advice (from mr perdomo) on where to cut a pointed cigar and off I went. Unfortunately it was impossible to get a draw. I didnt know if it was the stick or the cut (it was both). After a few minutes sucking i went with my gut and cut it again closer to the shoulder, kinda defeating the purpose of a pointed end ,surely!. After that however, the draw was much better, it revealed the flavour of the cigar which was very nice and lasted close to 1 1/2 hours, which I was very pleased with. It wasnt all plain sailing though as it was still quite a tight draw and had to be smoked frequently to keep the cherry going. When left a minute, i had to really stoke it to get sufficient smoke from it again. I thought maybe that was down to this particular vitola/guage and was optimistic about the third stick as it wasnt pointed nor as thick. I smoked the third one last night. Disappointingly it was also a tight draw with little reward by way of smoke output. Again i found that almost constant stoking helped produce thicker smoke and texture but thats not how I like to smoke. If only these sticks were an easier draw they would be lovely! I conclude that the tight draw is the one big flaw but there are positives. These cigars actually taste nice. Theyre not spicy at all which was a nice change, med smoke when you get a good draw, nice on the retro-hale, they last a long time, burn slow and they never get hot despite the constant puffing. I have a feeling that they will smoke much better dry so I wouldnt rule out buying one of these again in the future, as a single, and dry boxing it to bring humidity down to low 60s before smoking. But until I know that for sure I cant give this selection a good score. 2/5 because of drawn issues on bigger cigars. Would be 4/5 otherwise