Wrapper-less '03 Upmann Sir Winston

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An unfortunate accident befell upon one of my 2003 H. Upmann Sir Winstons yesterday, and its wrapper leaf was damaged beyond repair. Out of curiosity, I decided to salvage it by removing what was left of the wrapper, and torched it to see just what a wrapper-less cigar, in this case a Sir Winston, tasted like.

Over the past few months I've enjoyed quite a few '03 Sir Winstons. Normally these cigars exhibit complex profiles of earth, wood, leather, cream, tobacco plus floral and herbal notes, as well as hints of caramel and honey here and there. Wrapper-less, the Sir Winston remained no less complex, but noticeably stronger and spicier from the get go. The flavors of earth, wood and leather were more predominate than normal, while hints of cream was only noticed once or twice. Towards the final two inches or so, I noticed some bitterness that soon disappeared into sweet notes of fruit as I made smaller, slower puffs.

It normally takes me about 2 hours to smoke a Sir Winston, and this was no exception. Wrapper-less, the Sir Winston tasted somewhat different, in particular stronger and spicier, and while I must admit I prefer my Sir Winstons with wrappers, this wrapper-less one remained a deliciously enjoyable smoke.

I've attached 12 photos for your viewing pleasure, and this time I actually had access to a real camera instead of my Palm Treo's camera. As you can see, interestingly, the cigar's wrapper leaf was quite thin.