Wrapper: Corojo (Dominican)
Binder: Corojo (Dominican)
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
Vitola: Lock Stock (5 x 52 Belicoso)
Factory: Tabacalera William Ventura
Production: Regular
Purchase Link: Long Live the King
LONG LIVE THE KING REVIEW - CALIFORNIA
Summary: Candy grape on the retrohale, but in an intriguing way (not like a Swisher Sweet). All lit up and holy crap this is delicious. Banana and rose-like sweetness settle in behind wood, fresh bread, and nougat. Absolutely dripping with complexity (the cigar I mean, not me [yet]). A dash of pepper is adding some nice zest to the mix. Uh-oh. Please don't go out on me. DON'T YOU GIVE UP ON ME MR. FRODO!
Saved by the touch up. The prevalent notes kicking off the second third are rose, fresh bread, and pepper. The chocolate is coming back but I can't quite decide what kind of chocolate it is. Too rich to be milk chocolate but not quite dark chocolate. Is there anything in between? Great smoke output unless I ignore it for 2 minutes.
The complexity has decreased some so I'm unable to identify specifics. That being said, there is no bitterness. Went out on me with two inches to go but I'm committed to smoking this thing to the nub. Mild roast coffee with some chocolate sweetness. Nubbed.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Good ol' fashioned Rock 'n' Roll.
Pairing Suggestion: Pair with whatever you drink when you're sad. Smoke the cigar first, then pop that bottle open because once this smoke is done, you might shed a tear (if you're the crying type).
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Box.
LONG LIVE THE KING REVIEW - WISCONSIN
Summary: This cigar gave me all kinds of ups and downs. There were times when the flavors hit just right - the peppery blast at the beginning giving way to creamy undertones of caramel, oak, honey, and molasses, for example. The delicious meaty notes. The creamy chocolate with a bit of cinnamon thrown in that was just heaven.
And then there were other times when the flavors just didn't go together. A big salt note alongside cedar. An odd soapy note that came and went in the background. A particularly odd combination of nuts and mint.
There were a ton of different flavors, well beyond what I'll fit in here. Sometimes they worked beautifully together. Other times they missed the mark in strange ways.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Cocoa Krispies.
Pairing Suggestion: Coffee with plenty of cream.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: I'm going to make a prediction: buy a fiver of these and let them sit for a year. I bet they'll be very good after that.
LONG LIVE THE KING REVIEW - OREGON
Summary: This Belicoso shaped stick appears to be about 5x56 with an expertly applied cap. The wrapper is medium brown with a reddish hue to it. There is one spot about one inch up from the foot where the wrapper is just barely separating at the seam.
This cigar offers a very strong barnyard scent on the wrapper but the foot combines barnyard, cocoa, coffee, sweet tobacco and hints at some baking spices as well. A little flame applied and we have early flavors of wet oak, cinnamon, natural tobacco finishing with a faint sweetness. The retrohale is smooth and reminds me of fresh baked bread with a strong black pepper finish.
Moving through the middle of the cigar, the flavors haven’t transitioned greatly, yet notes of raisin and stronger tobacco meld in with the previous profile. Toward the end of the stick, heavy charred meat flavors pound their way into the mix as well.
Looking back, the burn was near perfect and the char line was razor sharp from beginning to end. The one large problem I had all the way through was the draw...overly tight right off the bat and it never loosened up.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you like this you probably like checkers in the park with that old guy that always wins.
Pairing Suggestion: Pair this with your morning coffee or a lighter stout...maybe even a sweet 80 proof bourbon.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Go fiver on this one. The draw issue I had may have been a fluke and without that setback, this was a great cigar.
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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