Wrapper: Connecticut Habano
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan
Purchase Link: Cohiba Macassar
COHIBA MACASSAR REVIEW – CALIFORNIA
Summary: The large ring gauge and a slight sponginess worry me a bit, but the perfect draw after a punch is encouraging. Wood, thyme, and rosemary -- weird flex, but ok. Potpourri and a dash of cinnamon. Essentially, this cigar tastes like a fresh kitchen.
The second third starts out a little disappointing as the flavors have moved toward earth and leather. The ash is fairly flaky, but I have no complaints about the burn. Potpourri is the only thing livening up the earth and leather, so I'm hoping for a shakeup soon.
Some of the herbs are thankfully back in the final third. The draw is getting hot even though I still have the entire third to smoke. Corn tortillas. Putting it down with two inches left because my mouth is on fire.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Using a free music streaming service with ads.
Pairing Suggestion: Ice cold ale.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Fiver.
COHIBA MACASSAR REVIEW – WISCONSIN
Summary: This big ol' cigar brought flavors of oak, cocoa, earth, pepper, hickory, cream, leather, and a little chalkiness. Its profile was pretty consistent, only changing to add coffee in the second half.
Construction-wise, the burn needed a couple of touch-ups. Holy cow, could it hold onto an ash though. It just wouldn't come off. Draw was great. The only construction flaw was the at-times-quite-uneven burn.
This isn't a vitola I typically reach for (it's intimidatingly girthy), but I enjoyed the couple of hours I spent with the cigar.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: A relaxing night sitting by a campfire with friends.
Pairing Suggestion: Rum.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Fiver.
COHIBA MACASSAR REVIEW – OREGON
Summary: This week’s cigar was a mottled combination of dark-brown and light-brown with a semi-rough looking appearance and a small amount of tooth on that wrapper leaf. If you’re interested, this cigar also bought into that theory that size matters, meaning this review took a while.
The cold draw was a little loose and it turned out to be foretelling of the experience. The cold draw offered me a whole lot of nothing. Actually, maybe a little dry hay and some generic wood notes.
Right from the beginning, things took a fairly harsh turn with strong notes of fresh cut oak, green grass and a bitterness that didn’t compliment the previous two at all. The burn line also left no doubt that it had a mind of its own within the first quarter inch of the cigar, threatening to keep me busy with the torch.
Wood, earth, and tobacco... all with harsh undertones were the only flavors through the halfway mark. I also used a measurable amount of butane keeping the burn straight and the cigar lit.
The second half remained uninspiring and difficult to finish...nothing to look at folks, move along.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Removing splinters.
Pairing Suggestion: Bourbon, neat.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Single stick.
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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