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Old 12-17-2014, 10:29 AM   #1
AKDiscer
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Huntsville, AL
Posts: 528
Post Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Belle Encre Reserva

DATE: 12-17-2014
Beverage: Water
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Temperature: 59 degrees
Humidity: 58%
Size: 5 3/8 x 48

Before Light


PRE-SMOKE
COLOR: Chocolate Brown Connecticut Broadleaf
TEXTURE: Medium – had a few suture marks from slightly larger veins, the rest of the veins were slight. Slight sheen from light oil.
CAP/HEAD: Barely noticeable and the outside ring cap supporters went down past the shoulder, so you have plenty of room to cut or make a mistake on the first cut.
BUNCH: Firm for the most part, just one spot that was kind of soft under the first band from the foot (Reserva label).
BURN: Uneven in the beginning, but most likely my fault as I didn’t get a good light from the start. Afterwards, it was pretty even for rest until I laid it down.
COAL: Flat
ASH COLOR: Mainly very white, with some light gray
ASH STRUCTURE: Very solid, held its shape, not flakes to speak of
PROBLEMS: No, running, tunneling, splitting or unraveling.
DRAW: Pre-light and in the beginning it was between perfect and tight.
AROMA: Faint, brief, and subtle with a light burn in throat

PRE-SMOKE COMMENTS: Looks like a good, well-constructed smoke overall, and I feel almost like a kid at Christmas time waiting to light it. I really took my time to smell the body and foot, really analyze the construction, veins, cap, and feel. It was like I was teasing myself on purpose building up to the mindset to smoke this puppy.

SMOKE
RICHNESS: Between weak and medium
BALANCE: one-dimensional
STRENGHTH: light in the beginning, then medium until rest
BODY: between mild and medium
FLAVOR: Weak in the beginning, then modest, then moved to the lighter side of medium before laid to rest.

TASTE/AFTERTASTE
SWEETNESS: None
BITTERNESS: Smoke aftertaste none, but there was some because of tar bubbles
BURN ON TONGUE: There was spice on the tip of my tongue and on the front sides of my tongue
SHARPNESS: light
SALTINESS: none

SMOKE COMMENTS: This smoke took a bit to get going, did not want to stay lit without a modest bit of help. Took over an inch in to settle before I could let the cherry be on its own. The ash stayed the shape of the cigar all the way through, I let the ash fall off on its own. The first ash happened after a little more than 2 inches, the second ash happened about 1.5 inches. I suspect the reason the second ash fell shorter was because of me rolling the cigar between my fingers. When the first ash fell, the ash and coal left was pretty much table flat, the subsequent ash had a pyramid shape left after.

After the first ash is when I started to have draw problems and had to use a poker to open up the head for a decent draw. Shortly after and a few more puffs is when I noticed 6 tar bubbles and they were all one side of the head. At this point, I started massaging the smoke between my fingers from the head just above the cherry. This opened up the smoke to get about 3 decent draws before I reached the first band. I used the poker on the side that didn’t have any tar bubbles to gain decent draws again, didn’t take long to fill the holes and draw tight. I decided to give a long purge a shot to see if that’d clear up the clogging, bitter, and chemical taste, this lasted about 15 seconds. This process barely made a difference in the draw, so I rolled the stogie again, this finally opened up things. I honestly thought I turned the corner after all that work, thinking it was smooth draws from here on out….nope. I looked at the head again and you would’ve thought that I dipped part of it inside molasses stew. At this point, I decided to lay it to rest with about 2.5 inches to go, still would’ve had mileage on it if it were smokeable.

Other notes: Not much blue smoke at all during this whole process and full, long, and intentional draws didn’t produce much smoke on exhale. During my tough draw periods and a bit of chiefing, I had to reset my palate with some water in an attempt to get a taste of the intended flavor profile. As far as any aftertaste, there wasn’t much, didn’t stay around long and wasn’t overpowering. I didn’t really notice a flavor change, didn’t appear to be complex and went from a mild in the beginning to a medium, but I think that was more because of the buildup of tar and nicotine. When I did get some good puffs the flavor seemed pretty tasty, but I didn’t get enough of them to really make a fair judgment.


SUMMARY

OVERALL QUALITY
CHARACTER: not much to say here as I had to fight with the smoke
BODY: mild to medium
SCALE: ummmm, lol

SUMMARY COMMENTS: I’ve heard glowing reviews about this stick and was really excited to try it, but I’m thinking I got a REALLY bad one as this experience was nothing in parallel with what I read. I think I need to give this smoke another try and then update this review or just provide another one.

TOTAL SCORES
APPEARANCE/CONSTRUCTION: 4.6/5
BURN: 4.7/5
DRAW: 1/5
AROMA: 1.5/5
FLAVOR: 5/10
TASTE/AFTERTASTE: 6/10
SUMMARY: 5/10
TOTAL: 27.8/50

Laid to rest
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Everyone needs something to believe in, I believe I'll have another cigar. Further, I believe you're not to work during drinking hours.

Last edited by AKDiscer; 12-18-2014 at 04:23 PM.
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