Vitola de Galera:  Prominente
Vitola de Salida:  Double Corona
Shape: Parejo
Body: Round
Dimensions:  49 RG /  7 5/8 inches
Presentation: Dress Box 25
Vintage:  December 2005
Age When Tasted:  8 yrs, 7 months

SUMMARY

Strength: 7
Touch:  Dense, substantial
Color:   Colorado Maduro
Draw:  Excellent
Burn:  Perfect
Progression:  Three distinct phases
Finish:  Long, persistent
Smoking duration:  1 1/2 hours

AROMAS

Pre-Light:  Cocoa, tree nuts, earth, toffee, slight floral.
First Third:  Peat, leather, black pepper, toast.
Second Third:  Leather, chocolate, black pepper, earth, animal.
Last Third:  Animal, bitter chocolate, spice (cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg), earth, burnt sugar, molasses.

FLAVORS

Soil, truffle, burnt sugar, aged bourbon,  a persistent animal flavor (tanned deerskin?), cinnamon, nutmeg, honey.

ENJOYMENT 

While I love this vitola year-round, I tend to indulge in the cooler months.   It’s like having access to a warm, satisfying fire after a cold day walking the fields of the midwest in search of a covey of quail.  The kind of cigar you’d smoke on the tailgate after the hunt with a flask of well aged bourbon.

EXPERIENCE

To experience this vitola is to experience the rich, red soil of the Vuelta Abajo, and the penetrating warmth of the Cuban sun.  I think of a recent visit to Cuba and the smell of tobacco fermenting in the barns that populate the entire region.

The smell was pungent and heady.

This vitola has moments when the flavor of earth and leather verges on the obscene, and yet it possesses an uncommon refinement–as if by the force of will it keeps itself contained.

I mention above the distinct phases, gradually building on intensity.  The progress is cadenced.  Subtle. And at no point does the cigar become unruly or unpleasant if handled properly.

If possible, get your hands on a cabinet of 50 and you will be treated to one of the finest gustatory experiences imaginable.