Okay fellas, snuck my
#2 out with Ryno for our morning walk.
(I usually don't do the large size pictures, but I thought this was appropriate)
It's not an altogether ugly cigar. Good seams, not too much veining in the albeit somewhat ugly wrapper.
I shit you not, the aroma when I toasted the foot of this cigar brought back some great memories. I caught the unmistakable whiff of ants being fried by a magnifying glass on a hot July day in Chicago. Good times. Now I fully believe that what I expect to taste is going to drive what I actually taste, meaning this could be an Opus X and if my brain is set on dog rocket I'm going to taste dog rocket. Or vice versa. The mind is powerful. Now then, on to the actual flavors.
There is a sharp, acrid, lingering tang, like I have a 9v battery pressed right at the back of my tongue. More happy childhood memories. Behind that is some artificial sweetness, like stevia, that is vaporous, or fume-like. It lingers. There's a little chocolate, some hay, something like a frozen donut. But all this is being pummeled by that acrid sharpness, with a backbone of bitterness. My wife has been sick for a few days, maybe I caught it and the flavors I'm getting are in response to my palate shutting down. Who knows?
I'm sitting under a tree and just missed being pooped on by a bird by less than two feet. It's my lucky day! (I've heard that some cultures think that ACTUALLY being pooped on is the lucky occurrence, but I think that's stupid)
Got a nice note of burning paper. Honestly, on the whole, this isn't the worst thing I've smoked. That honor is still held by R&J Reserva. Tasted like a moldy paper grocery bag the whole way through. OK this is kinda repugnant: I can't tell if that last draw presented some new, savory flavors or if I had some of the canned dog-food flavored jelly-belly stuck to my teeth and it just released its flavor treat on me again. (My son and I did the jelly bean dog rocket experiment earlier. He ate all flavors, happily. I ate them all, with tears in my eyes.) There's a smoked meat, hickory flavor. Bacon-y. Mmmmmm bacon/battery sandwiches!
Heading home. Will update.