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Old 10-27-2006, 10:43 AM   #1
Black Plague
Herf Meister
 
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Southern Indiana
Posts: 7,650
Whiskey and a Smoke: Rare Breed and Punch RS12

Whew! What a busy month I've had! Between class, job interviews, ROTC stuff, my current job, I have had little time for myself. With a much-welcomed lull in all this activity, I made the time to indulge two loves of mine today. Unless you're a bit slow, I'll bet you already guessed them by the title of this thread!

So without further ado...

Punch
Royal Selection No. 12
5 1/8 x 42 Mareva (NIP OCT03)

and

Wild Turkey Rare Breed Kentucky Straight Bourbon
108.2 Proof (Barrel Proof)
Batch No. WT-03RB


Prelight: The Punch Royal Selection No. 12 felt smooth and moist to the touch. Colorado claro in color, like a very lightly tanned strip of leather stained with carmine. Wormy streaks of oil criss-crossed the wrapper leaf with only one raised vein. The cut was okay (a little angled due to my Xikar's spring being now broken) and prelight draws revealed wood and light tobacco. The Wild Turkey poured opaque tan, the color of dark butterscotch. The aroma was an enticing mixture of bubble gum, cloves, and burnt vanilla sugar.

The Whiskey: The flavor mimiced the aroma in many respects. The flavor was of sweet white corn, a very light and barely noticeable pepper spice, vanilla, charred American oak, a hint of banana, and a flavor like old aromatic pipe tobacco. Being barrel proof, it had a sizeable body, but went down incredibly smooth and without burn.

The Smoke: Tasted beautiful from first light! The lightly-fragrant wood and lightly-toasted tobacco of the prelight were dominant flavors, along with the wonderful taste of aged Chinese black tea and English leather that decomposing tannins add to a blend. Hints of dried fruit, rich nuts, and a very subtle coffee finish. The aroma also smelled of leather, warm roasted nuts, and the classic smell of Cuban tobacco. The whiskey accentuated the toastiness of the tobacco and the nuts. One-third through, the tea flavor grew even deeper and tasted as if sweetened with a dollop of mixed fruit jam, fresh-cut wood wafted over the palate with a light dusting of black pepper. Halfway through, the mixture of the whiskey and smoke made the tea even more pronounced and enriched the already succulent wood. For a while, the flavor was more tannic than I like, but subsided after a few puffs and a small rest. The flavor was indescribably rich and complex and the whiskey made it even better. In the final third, the flavors persisted and I could detect a slight saltiness in the finish. Overall, mild in body but very full in flavor.

Construction: The draw was just right. Ash was tiger-striped and striated with black against medium gray. The burn was, for the most part, even, but grew wavy at times. To its credit, it never grew severe and always corrected itself without human intervention.

Summary: Punch's Royal Selection and Super Selection offerings are the epitome of flavor, finesse, and complexity in a cigar. When allowed to age, these cigars are hands down the very best the Punch line has to offer (and I'll bet solomr2 won't disagree with me either!). No humidor should be without them! Being a son of Kentucky, bourbon also occupies a special place in my heart and, for some reason, I've always found my eye drawn to Wild Turkey (probably since the first time I snuck a sip from my grandpa's liquor cabinet when I was young ). The two made a very nice pairing. They didn't really create any new flavors with each other, but the bourbon served to accent and enhance the wonderful flavors of this cigar. This is a nice pairing, but with an eye to the future, I believe a fuller-bodied smoke would serve this barrel-proof, undiluted bourbon even better than the Punch. Thanks for reading!
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