406 Cigars

Over at the Half Ashed forums we have a little “cigar pass” going on. Each person involved sends two unbanded cigars to another person in the “Blind Review Pass.” For the next few weeks I’ll be posting (with permission) those blind reviews. If you have never smoked a cigar blind, or unbanded, I would highly recommend it. Get some friends together and trade cigars with the bands removed, or have your wife take some bands off a few sticks in the bottom of your humidor. You’ll be surprised at how much a band can affect your perception of a cigar.

Today’s review is from Your’s Truly!!. I smoked this cigar right before I had my wisdom teeth removed. The second cigar will be smoked post-recovery.

A mottled, dark brown wrapper covers this unknown robusto. There are several large, pressed veins a triple cap. I get a very faint chocolate aroma off the wrapper and almost nothing off the foot. There are no oils on the wrapper, and the dryness and faint aromas make me think this cigar has some age. The cold draw is slightly woodsy and a little tight.

The first draws are peppery, especially on the retro hale, while the smoke in my mouth is dry with a nice finish. There are some faint earthy flavors in the background that I can’t pick out yet.
Well into the first third I can finally pinpoint some dry cocoa. The burn has a slight slant but keeps up with itself, and the ash is flaking all over my car. Despite the flaky ash, I’m liking this so far.

The second third loses the cocoa and an oak flavor dominates. For some reason it reminds me of rough hewn oak boards. The pepper had dropped significantly, leaving a little bit of white pepper sharpness in my nose. About halfway through I got 2 puffs of deliciously dark leather, but it faded as soon as it appeared. Toward the end of this third the smoke developed a smokey-whiskey flavor that I often get in Nicaraguan cigars.

The smokey-whiskey flavor was short lived, and the final third has resumed the same oak flavor as before. I’ve had to touch up the burn line a few times in this second half, but overall the cigar has performed well. The finish is a little stale at this stage, but that’s to be expected at the end of a cigar. A touch of sweetness that wasn’t present at all in the rest of the smoke shows up briefly at the very end, and accompanying it is the dark leather from earlier.

I would guess this has a broadleaf wrapper based on looks. As for the blend, I thought it was a Dominican pro, but the woodiness and Nicaraguan flavors threw me off. However, I’m sticking with Dominican and I’ll throw in Honduras since the woodiness seemed different from a Nicaraguan wordiness. I’m guessing Camacho or (a really good) Rocky Patel.

The Reveal
Turns out this was a Tatuaje La Casita Criolla HCR 5×50.
This is a Nicaraguan cigar with 100% broadleaf tobacco for filler, binder, and wrapper. Another delicious smoke from the My Father factory.