Cohiba Siglo VI

[jdrabinski]

Much anticipated...can this one live up to the hype? I know I am not the first to offer thoughts on this smoke, but here is my review-of-sorts.

I've purchased a few from two different places, one group with oiler wrappers. This one was from the not -as-oily group, with a pretty medium-brown wrapper, very smooth, with only the slightest of veins. Nice to look at, exactly what one expects from a Cohiba. The cigar was at 70% humidity when plucked from my cabinet (poor cabinet, confused by this humid New England weather). A bit damp for smoking a Cuban, no doubt.

That said, this cigar lit and burned perfectly. A tightly filled cigar, pleasantly heavy to the touch. The ash was tight with even, thick ripples (pretty), and the aroma off the lit cigar was heavenly. The draw was quite good, if a bit loose at first...I was worried about tightness with the slightly high humidity, but that was wasted energy. The construction on this cigar was excellent, bascially smoking itself; my puffing seemed an after-thought to the cigar (let's pretend it had thoughts). The basic aesthetics were first-rate.

The cigar started with strong flavors, dominated by a sharp dark chocolate flavor built on sweet tobacco. This opening gambit carried a nice espresso note, something that continued especially nicely throughout the first half of the smoke. The sharpness of the early flavors slowly smoothed to a milder chocolatey flavor, always reminicent of dark and not milk chocolate; there was not much creaminess to the flavor. No ambiguity to this cigar. He wore his flavors on his sleeve, so to speak. The finish from the outset was long and lovely, matching the flavors on the palate and always spreading out in the mouth, reminding me of what just was. And what 'just was' was always good.

As the chocolate flavors smoothed, the espresso took on a more prominent role. At times, it seemed I could almost feel the flakes of coffee on my tongue. Very lovely. My favorite feature of this particular smoke.

From sharp to mellowed dark chocolate, after the first half this cigar deepened and filled out its flavors. Thicker and heavier, the sweet tobacco flavor--that distinctly 'Cohiba' flavor we know and love, there really is no word for it--blended nicely and became much more prominent. I was glad to find this flavor re-emerge. At the beginning, this beloved feature was a hint in the background. The second half of the cigar moved it from background to a co-star with the deepening, thickening chocolate. A great combination that will only be enhanced with age, I suspect.

The cigar ended a bit heavy, due in large part to the high humidity level at the outset. Also, I may have 'oversmoked' the cigar at points...greedy for the flavors and impatient. Mea culpa, friend. But it was consistent to the very end, despite it all.

At this stage in its 'development,' my Siglo VI, though not straightforward, was also not the most complex smoke. Age and better humidity will draw out more complexity. However, it was very flavorful and a pure pleasure to smoke...nearly a perfect cigar in many ways and for what it had to offer at this stage of aging life. Time will bring a lot out that, now, lurks only in the margins of this smoke.

I smoked this on my porch, though I'd recommend smoking inside if possible; the off-cigar aroma is too much to miss. Complimentary drink is always an idiosyncratic choice, but I'd venture the recommendation of something sweet and light to both compliment and smooth out the strong flavors (I had Vanilla Coke with Havana Club Light Rum). If you like music with your cigar, something medium tempo and varied is good, in my opinion, as this is not a lush and mellow smoke that calls for, say, Dexter Gordon ballads nor is it a tough and rowdy smoke that might call for Ornette Coleman. My choice was the smooth but contemporary sound of Josh Redman's Live at the Village Vanguard, as this cigar is very contemporary...capable of a ballad or show-off solo exploration, but also hybrid R&B inflected stomps. But now you've ventured too far into my head. I say this all only because, for me, music is such an important aid to a good cigar. Cohiba asks for jazz, in my book. The Siglo VI calls for the new breed of players, or perhaps Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool.

My mistake with this cigar, however minor, was smoking at a higher humidity than normal. Something more like 65% would be optimal, as this is an oily smoke whose flavors were obscured a bit by the moistness. Eagerness got the best of me. Hey, that's why we buy more than one, no?

This one is worth the price. Save and invest. With age, as has been said so often at the CW forum, the Siglo VI will be good enough for the gods. I give this one a 9.5 on the jdrabinski scale...not that anyone besides me reads my cigar journal. Well, correction, you just read this entry, at least in part...thanks.

John