RealFreakinCigarReviews

Gold, eh.... Um is that COW, CAO, or Ciao?

Initial Thoughts

Alright, once again we have a metallurgic designation associated with a cigar.  Thankfully its not lead, or I'd seriously reconsider smoking it.  After removing the cellophane, I sized up this cigar.  No blemishes at all, I have to admit, the wrapper IS gorgeous.  Feeling it up (LOL), didn't seem to find any soft spots.  Simply put, this appears to be a well constructed cigar.  Sniff test... hmmm... smells kind of... leathery almost.  No hints of florals, and definitely not coffee.

The Smoke

I used my punch cutter, in an attempt to be more civilized.  No issues with cap breakage, and lighting it and taking the first couple of puffs resulted in nice fluffy white clouds of smoke, and a toasty, kind of nutty flavor.  Another couple of puffs, and we're talking some spiciness to this stick.  I like it!  Approximately 1/3rd into the stick, nice, rich, complex flavor.  I would scale this on the medium end of the spectrum.  Definitely not "Full" and the spiciness is definitely not Mild :).  Draw on this stick is absolutely flawless, and the burn is perfect.  When I say perfect, I mean just that.  You could probably take a square to this thing.

At the halfway point, I'm tasting what I would call kind of a peppery flavor, along with some toasty nuttiness.  Very good complexity, and great flavor.  The burn is no longer flawless, but the smoke continues to draw quite nicely.  The cigar produces nice white smoke, and greyish ash.  I'm a little disappointed with the uneven burn.  If you've read some of my previous reviews, you know how I whine and carry on about not getting my money's worth.

At the 2/3rd point, flavor has subsided a little.  Still has very nice flavor and complexity.  The unevenness in the burn has subsided, and I'm tasting more "toasty" possibly even nutty (?) flavors. 

Sadly, I am down to the nub.  The unevenness in the burn went away pretty much completely.  I did notice a little bit of softness toward the end, likely from me rolling it between my fingers.

The Rating