Webmeister
Senior Member
Registered: June 2007
Location: Indian Trail, NC
Posts: 5154
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Review Date: Sat August 11, 2007
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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Pros:
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Flavor and complexity
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Cons:
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A little mild for me, but still enjoyable
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Graycliff Red Label Hand Rolled
Environment: About 9:30pm, mid-80's with a light breeze. It's been in the 100's all week, so it's a nice night for this smoke.
Prelight:
Wrapper scent: woody and a little sweetness
Scent @ foot: wood and a little leather
Appearance: Well shaped torpedo/belicoso with an unfinished foot. Light-to-medium brown, very fine lighter veins.
Uniform wrapper color and texture. A couple of minor flaws in the wrapper (cracking?). One just below the band and another about an inch from the foot.
Feel: Firm (but not hard) and pliable from head to foot with one slightly softer spot just above the label.
Tongue: a little bitter, maybe a hint of pepper.
Flavor on draw: nondescript taste on draw. A little citrus aftertaste (orange?) after exhale. Great draw, just enough resistance.
Smoke:
Haven't smoked a cigar with an unfinished foot before. Lit without trimming the excess. Took a bit to get it burning uniformly. Nice toasty, woody taste with a hint of orange familiar from the prelight draw. Not a whole lot of smoke, but the draw is good. Burning a little hot on one side, so I set it down for a bit to see if it will even out.
About an inch into the cigar now. Light grey, very flakey ash that fell off at about an inch and a half. We'll see if that had anything to do with lighting the unfinished foot. Definitely on the milder side of mild-medium smoke. Not my usual strength, but I like a medium cigar if it has a lot of flavor. Still not a lot of volume of smoke. The wood flavors have taken over, and there is only the slightest taste of citrus now. I think this cigar would go very well paired with a White Belgian Ale. Since I don't have one, I'm sticking to water.
Approaching the second third and have passed the first wrapper blemish. The volume of smoke has improved. Strength has krept up to about medium. Taste still woody/toasty and the citrus taste appears every so often. The burn is still a little faster on one side, but not unmanageable. Light grey flakey ash with some large dark crevasses.
At the half-way mark, the ash dropped again. Looks like the average ash length is going to consistently be about an inch to an inch and a half. Flavor and body are also consistent. The cigar has softened up quite a bit now, although the head remains firm.
Into the last third and almost to the band, smoke has good volume and remains cool. A little bit of a bite on my tongue now. Well-constucted cap that is not falling apart this far in. Popped the band off as I am running into some burn issues that will need correction. Passed the wrapper flaw just below the band, and the smoke is more volumous. Flavor has intensified, and I get a little bite on every draw, although the smoke and the cigar itself remain cool. This time I got about two inches of ash before it dropped.
Putting this baby to bed with about three-quarters of an inch left.
Webmeister scale:
1 - Not bad, but not memorable
X 2 - Maybe, but I'd like to try another stick
3 - Pretty darn good - I think I'll buy a fiver
4 - This is a keeper - gimme a box for bombing!
5 - A great stick - Buying a box to keep for myself!
On the "official" scale, I am going to give this a 7.5 overall.
7 for construction due to wrapper flaws
7.5 for draw, ash, and volume of smoke
8 for taste and complexity
It's milder that what I like to smoke, but I wouldn't mind keeping a couple in the humi. Recommended to those who like a mild-medium stick.
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Discussion is an exchange of intelligence; argument is an exchange of ignorance.
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