San Cristobal Mercaderes

[jazznut]

"Deceptively Demure?"

San Cristobal de la Habana Mercaderes

The mid-sized member of a new series of cigars issued under the Cuban San Cristobal de la Habana banner, and initially released through the La Casa del Habanos network of retailers.

Dimensions: 6.63 inches by 48-ring gauge
Type of cigar: Super Hermosos No.4
Date smoked: Sunday May 21st, 2006
Setting: A cool spring afternoon on the back porch, the sky a layered grey on grey tapestry of clouds increasingly interspersed with patches of blue brought by the northwesterly breeze.

Accompanying drinks: Two drops of Noe Pedro Ximénez Muy Viejo 30 Year Old Sherry mixed with a 1½-ounce pour of Alvear Solera Cream Sherry, thereby producing a deep, mahogany hued, sweet elixir that provided a fine foil to the more dryly toned Cuban. A side order of water for palate refreshment purposes.

Colour of wrapper: Full Colorado Claro. Burnished raw sienna liberally washed with rich cocoa brown. Deep Tuscan red punctate marks and truncated streaks evidencing isolated oil saturation of the outer leaf. Some veins as well as adjacent areas were imbued with golden ochre and sanguin tones. There was a single sap green watermark on the cap.
Colour of filler: Predominantly Van Dyke brown, with a few straw and burnt sienna regions as well as one burnt umber leaf also being present.
Surface: Semi-gloss sheen. Relatively uniform rendering. Visible yet flush seams. Some minor leaf stretching near the foot.
Veins: More noticeable near the foot, where a couple of the raised capillaries showed a hem-stitching effect.
Tooth: Moderately fine and evenly dispersed.
Cap: Very well set triple-seam affair with a fairly rounded profile.

Box press: None to speak of.
Roll pattern: Quite symmetrical. Uniform density. No excessive gaps.
Finger feel: Consistently medium-firm to firm. Good resilience.
Draw: Perfect.

Combustion: A marginally angled but not at all problematic burn edge that eventually straightened. One correction required. No re-lights.
Ash: Solid. Pale grey to ruddy charcoal in colour. The ash drooped until the 1½-inch mark and then dropped, leaving a blunted cone in its wake.
Total smoking time: 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Pre-light aroma: An alluring mélange of cocoa powder and terracotta dust. Gently cured tobacco. Cedar. Saddle leather. Trail mix.
Pre-light draw: High-toned tobacco. Cedar. Lemon pepper. Chocolate mint leaves. A touch of licorice. The word “bright” came to mind.
Post-light aroma: Softly embering tobacco with secondary fragrances of sweet woods and spices.

Opening on palate: The mild to medium textured, gently toasted tobacco arrived heavily infused with cedar. Fleeting herbal overtones evoked subtle sensations of fresh sage and rosemary, which deftly served to counterpoint the tobacco at this early juncture.
Early stages: Nuances of calcareous earth seemingly percolated up through the cedar and herbs. The first hints of citrus and spices, as well as an elusive balancing sweetness akin to honey diluted with rosewater. Delicate delineation of the various aspects. Gradually, the core tobacco taste emerged from its cedar cocoon and began to broaden out ever so slightly over the palate, becoming rounder in the process. Faint echoes of Belgian chocolate came forth, too.
Mid portion: Soft and somewhat reticent as yet. A spring garden medley of uplifted flavours, with the tobacco and cedar elements continually rising in tiny ripples of intensity only to recede once again. Light, respectively contrasting dustings of shaved chocolate and pepper. Dryish overall, yet with no bitterness at this time. Pleasurable enough.
Past mid point: Slowly gained a modicum of fullness. The chocolate mint leaf notion discerned in the pre-light draw suddenly appeared clearly on the palate, wrapping around the cedar and pepper. Refreshing and invigorating.
Latter stages: The core tobacco taste now bordered definitively on a medium bodied degree of richness. Light spices and suggestions of evergreen vegetation lent liveliness, while an escalating degree of acidity manifested itself in sharp tingling on the tongue.

Assessment: A high standard of craftsmanship resulted in noteworthy technical performance. Fairly good integration of the various flavour components for such a young cigar, though obviously still at a very early stage in its maturational cycle. An assured sense of elegance, as well. Morning to afternoon, by preference. And even though I wonder as to what the future holds for this particular San Cristobal de la Habana, I love the size!

Summary: Quite enjoyable as it stands, if not exactly satiating, but with room to grow. The question is, does the Mercaderes possess the potential to shed its currently rather demure demeanour and blossom forth, with age, in the manner of other established Cuban classics?

Tick, tick, tick…