Date Added: Thursday 15 August, 2019
by gavin
£23.00
From mobile (apologies for any spelling/formatting errors):
Smoking the cigar at the moment, I was about to post a ‘disappointed’ review. White pepper and little else to begin with. I also had to make quite a deep cut to get a decent draw . . .
then . . . the middle third:
the creaminess starts to come through: the burn perfect. Still the pepper, but calmed down by the creamy, faint vanilla sweetness. Paired with a Shackleton as an experiment but I think it would go better with a nice rum.
Down to the last third, the draw is still firm, but not tight, a little leather coming through, the burn still perfect.
I had wondered if the Caldwell line was partly hype, but this cigar (the lower end of their pricing) is at least good enough to make me want to work my way up.
The build is excellent, the draw so-so (if like me you like lots of smoke) and the true flavour takes a wee while to come through, but this is definitely proof that the Caldwell line isnÂ’t just all hype. IÂ’ll definitely be buying another to judge consistency, at the very least.
Last third: now more of a black pepper with a faint molasses sweetness, rather than vanilla, but still mellow in strength.
Definitely not a cigar to choose if youÂ’re in a hurry - you need to give this one time to develop.
This isnÂ’t the kind of cigar IÂ’d normally buy - my preference is Padron - but if IÂ’ve the time to get past the first third, then IÂ’ll definitely buy more.
On the whole, a very good mid-range cigar ... but you do need to give it time.
Oh, and the branding? Wonderful. You canÂ’t help but love that band.
7/10
