5 Vegas Series 'A' Alpha

[Augie754]

5 Vegas Series 'A' Alpha
Cigar Size = 6 x 52 (torpedo)
Country of Origin = Honduras
Wrapper = Costa Rican Maduro
Binder = n/a
Filler = Dominican, Nicaragua, Honduras
Purchased From = CigarBid.com
Purchase Date = 2006-07-06
Purchase price = $2.35
Smoke Date = 2008-06-22

Appearance = 8.8
The torp came cedar wrapped with a classy gold and black band. It had a dark maduro wrapper that was smooth and oily looking. It was a classic torpedo shape with straight sided and minimal lumps and small veins. The head was slightly rough in appearance and there were a couple small blemishes in the wrapper, but overall the look of this cigar was top notch and exceeded it's price range.

Construction = 8.7
After cutting with my Palio, the pre-smoke draw was a tad tight, but not too bad. After lighting the draw was just about perfect, not too tight, but definitely some resistance. The bunch was firm and it it felt solid, no soft spots. It burned a little uneven for the first couple inches, but never needed corrected and burnt straight after. About half way through it swelled and split the wrapper about an inch (no it wasn't over humidified, always 65-67% humidity). Even with the split it burned straight and required no touch ups. It burned cool until the last 2 inches. The ash was light gray with a darker gray peppered in and was a little flakey however it managed to hang on for about an inch. Good construction overall but I had to ding it a few tenths for the wrapper split.

Taste = 8.5
Pre-smoke taste was musty and sweet, typical of what I expect from a maduro. Upon lighting it was sweet and had a rich coffee flavor with hints of fruitiness. It became a stronger coffee flavor throughout, approaching a almost bitter espresso flavor by the end. It had strong flavors of spice after the first inch and this tapered off until the end. Although the espresso taste was almost too much for me a the end, the flavor was good the entire time. It was full flavor and medium or medium-full strength. It had a medium to short finish with a very pleasant flavor.

Overall
I've had a couple of these before and this was by far the best. This along with the 5 Vegas Miami are great cigars. For the price you can't go wrong with these cigars.

Appearance = 8.8 x 1
Construction = 8.7 x 3
Taste = 8.5 x 6
Overall = 8.59
Strenth Rating = Medium-Full

Rating scale:
10.0 - 9.5 = buy at any price
9.5 - 9.0 = premium price box worthy
9.0 - 8.5 = box worthy
8.5 - 8.0 = single or 5 pack worthy
8.0 - 7.0 = single worthy if dirt cheap
7.0 - 6.0 = will smoke if given for free
6.0 - 5.0 = suffer through if have to
5.0 - 4.0 = unsmokable
4.0 - 2.0 = would rather stick my head in a dirty toilet
2.0 - 0.0 = would rather stick my head in a dirty toilet with my mouth open