Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Brazilian
Filler: Brazilian / Dominican Republic / Nicaraguan
Vitola: Rothschild Masivo
Purchase Link: Balmoral Añejo XO Nicaragua
AÑEJO XO NICARAGUA REVIEW – CALIFORNIA
Summary: This cigar begins with pepper and a slight freshness/bitterness that I usually attribute to young tobacco. The flavors make a smooth transition to something between semi-sweet chocolate and Tootsie Roll. Spot-on ash and burn and a ton of smoke output.
Moving into the second third, the flavors are pleasant, but mellow. Cantaloupe melon adds a bit of sweetness here and there.
A touch of cinnamon to kick off the final third. More chocolate and some peanuts close out this smoke.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Collecting football cards.
Pairing Suggestion: Stout.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Fiver.
AÑEJO XO NICARAGUA REVIEW – WISCONSIN
Summary: This cigar brought creamy sweetness and notes of wood, earth, cocoa, cinnamon, brown sugar, and gingerbread. A bit of spice complemented the profile nicely. I struggle a bit to describe the retro hale, but 'buttery cinnamon' is pretty close. I'm a bit of a sucker for this type of flavor profile. It's exactly my jam. It might not be yours.
The draw was perfect. Thick smoke poured out of the cigar. It did need a couple of touch-ups as it went.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Gingerbread cookies.
Pairing Suggestion: Christmas Beer.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Box.
AÑEJO XO NICARAGUA REVIEW – OREGON
Summary: This cigar has a semi-smooth, reddish brown wrapper and unfortunately, the wrapper on my cigar has a half-centimeter hole in it about the halfway point of the stick. Hopefully that doesn’t affect the draw. I smell scents of straw just cut from the field with a little sweetness to it coming off the wrapper. The cold draw has a perfect amount of resistance and honestly, the only flavor I taste mirrors the scent from the wrapper...fresh cut straw.
Starting off with fresh oak, citrus and leather, a barely discernible amount of pepper spice and a very dry finish on the palate. The retro hale has very citrus laden flavors of wood and some mixed nuts as well. Improving steadily with warm wood notes accented with a sweet mix of coffee and cashew. Tons of smoke... really nice first third.
Ok, the middle is very smooth flavors of walnut and leather with hints of coffee and wood... but, the sweetness has disappeared much to my dismay. Still great smoke and the ash has been solid throughout.
The end portion features returning sweetness to the profile of nuts, wood, hints of citrus and some nice mild coffee and cocoa. I’ll add, when you smoke this cigar, let the ash hang on as much as possible. I found the flavors to take on some harshness when the ash fell but became smooth and sweeter with an ash keeping the end of the cigar cooler.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: An enjoyable 90 minutes of contemplating the coming holidays.
Pairing Suggestion: Black coffee or maybe a mild IPA.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Box.
Participants in this blind review were completely unaware of the cigar they were evaluating until all submissions were received and processed. Each participant was asked to answer a summary paragraph, an if/than statement, a pairing suggestion, and a purchase suggestion. Cigars were provided by Small Batch with only the expectations of candid responses. All pictures, information, and formatting were completed by a Coordinator outside of the reviewing process.
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