RealFreakinCigarReviews

Finck Cigar's Dominican Giant

Initial Thoughts 

Ok, so who in their right fuckin’ mind is gonna smoke this thing?  Probably folks with the same mentality as the old farts who should, by all rights, be on life support and attempt to climb Mount Everest, because “its there.”  Of course, then again, this cigar may be an offshoot of the “bigger is better” mentality, the result of which has been such fine things as monster SUVs (which can squish an eco-friendly boxlike car and still keep on drivin’ like it squished a turd in the road), to super-sized McDonalds meals (which subsequently resulted in some of us getting super-sized asses).  I mean seriously… this cigar is pretty damned big!  How big is it?  Well, big enough that it won’t fit in my cigar cutter, so I’m gonna use the ghetto snipper, aka my pocket knife (which, I might add, is NEVER in my pocket).

The Smoke

So, for starters, I’m actually going to time how long after successfully lighting this stick, it actually takes to smoke.  I’m also thinkin’ that rather than a double Martini, I better go with a quadruple Martini… on second thought, Jack and diet-coke it is, since I seem to be out of the pinko-commie Vodka that goes in it (Hey, I never said this would be a politically correct review, did I?). 

Construction wise, the cigar appears to be firmly constructed.  I observe some veininess on the wrapper.  I saw off the cap with my pocket knife.  The “fencepost” (as my buddy Ash referred to it as) smelled decent enough.  Igniting the stogie was a bit of a chore.  Think about it: according to what I’ve read in various fine (and not so fine) publications,  you’re supposed to “toast” the foot of the cigar all the way around, and then ignite it.  With this stick…  er… fencepost, that’s just not gonna happen.  Ultimately, I used my 3 flame butane lighter as a blowtorch and fire the thing up.  My first couple of puffs on this cigar were a bit confusing for me.  I could taste the cigar, but there was very little smoke.  What the fuck here?  Puffing on it some more (yes, I actually looked at my reflection to see that it was lit), and I realize that, unless you’ve got a mouth like a shop-vac, you aren’t gonna get much smoke from this stick.  Ok… there was this one gal I knew in college… I bet she could get copious amounts of smoke from this stogie, but that’s another story and topic in its entirety.

Flavor on this stick is definitely medium.  I’m not observing a great deal of complexity, but it does taste decent enough.  I’m noticing some unevenness to the burn.  Draw is quite easy.  I’m approximately ¼ of the way done, and flavor continues to be decent; decidedly medium, and doesn’t have a great deal of depth or complexity.  The burn is still uneven, and draw continues to be quite easy.  The amount of smoke has increased, but not overwhelmingly so.  This is definitely a “take yer sweet ass time and enjoy it” kind of stick.  I’m noticing a little bit of bitterness; nothing to be of particular concern, but enough that I noticed it.

 I ended up relighting a portion of the cigar to even up the burn at the half way point.  I’m continuing to notice a little bitterness that detracts from the experience. At approximately the 2/3 point, the bitterness seemed to subside.  I noticed some cracking of the cigar that most would attribute to over-humidification.  However, my digital hygrometer says that my humidor is at 68% which is pretty damned close to perfect, so I don’t think that over-humidification is the issue (also see my review of the CAO Criollo… I’m thinkin’ this isn’t the issue).

After an hour and 20 minutes, I have finished the cigar.  All in all, not a bad smoke.  I was honestly disappointed with the bitterness, but overall, decent flavor throughout.

The Rating