JayMonster vs. FP Noir Bolero

[JayMonster]

After anxiously awaiting a couple of days for these to "cool off" from being in a USPS truck, I could wait no longer and with great anticipation decided to burn the FP Noir Bolero.

Appearance - 18/20 This cigar looks absolutely gorgeous. A dark brown Cameroon wrapper with a slightly redish hue that appears to have some body and substance to it. The only real knocks would be the band (which I hope is only a temporary substitute for the real thing), which was white before the oils of the wrapper started to soak into it making it look "greasy", and the wrapper looked "hairy", now I know it is the "tooth" of the wrapper, but I can only guess that the wrapper was applied, "inside out" as the "hairy side" usually points IN and now OUT. I mean obviously it is going to smoke and taste the same, but just an oddity to look at.

Construction - 18/20. A well packed Parejo with no soft spots to speak of. The cap was well applied and cut cleanly. Pre-light draw was neither tight nor loose. Volumes of smoke eminated from this cigar. Ash was solid and held on well, but was black as soot.

Flavor - 25/50 The Pre-light draw filled my mouth with the most unpleasant taste. It was almost like sucking in air while someone was spraying lemon pledge in front of you. I have had this taste twice before in a cigar. Once, it was not decernable once the cigar was lit, and the other was simply the worst cigar I have ever had in my life. With those 50/50 odds I proceeded to light it. Well unfortunately for me, I lost this bet. Now it was not as bad as the Thompsons House Brand that made me almost throw up, but the essence of Lemon Pledge and Cintronella would not go away. The sweetness of the Cameroon Wrapper tried desperately to mask this, but was no match for the acrid flavors, torturously bad aroma and deep black ask of this cigar. I was able to plod on for almost 1/2 the cigar hoping that somehow things were going to get better. They didn't. I was able to detect some hints of a decent cigar here, but unfortunately whatever was the cause of the obnoxious smell and taste was able to ruin any hint of pleasure I tried to derive.

Overall 3/10 - I see some potential in this cigar and wonder if there was just a bad or undercured leaf that was making this cigar "sick". All I could think about while smoking this was, "What a waste of a good Cameroon leaf".

Total - 64/100 - Perhaps the Noir would have been better after a long nap. I would not be willing to risk that at this point, and unless I found out differently later when this cigar is released there is zero chance of me having this thing sitting in my humidor.


Maybe it needed more time to recover from USPS shipping. I will have to give it one more chance somewhere down the road. Too many nice things said about it to actually be usually the poor quality and taste exhibited in my smoke.