I put it off all weekend, so now it's time to smoke the challenge stick
Hard to see in this pic, but it looks like this baby has a pre-punched hole in the end. Not a good sign of things to come...
...But I'm smoking it anyway. I clipped the head with my Xikar double guillotine, and the pre-light draw yeilded nothing noteworthy. I light it and don't get much taste initially, although there's some stank coming off the foot as it burns.
My first few puffs are flavorless, then I get a massive blast of taste in my mouth that is just like that "kinda sweet but also kinda medicine-y" taste that you get when you're at the dentist and he's injecting Novocain or something into your gums. Definitely the first time I've ever tasted this in a cigar.
As the first third progresses, the flavor is either mellowing or I'm getting used to it quickly, but it's constant presence makes me wonder if it's infused...? Certainly not as strong as an Acid or anything, but there's definitely something there... At about the end of the first third, I think I'm ready to guess what it is, but I'll save it for the end of the review. Grabbing a Natty Light to pair with it, although if it's what I think it is, a 40 oz bottle of St. Ides would probably be more appropriate.
Moving into the 2nd third, not much change in the flavor profile, but the ash hasn't fallen off yet and looks surprisingly tight. I was hoping to see how long I could keep it going, but it finally fell shortly after this pic:
I'm a little over halfway now, the draw has opened up and the same flavor is still there, maybe with a slightly sour element to it but overall, it's still not that far off from what it established as the main flavor in the first third. The ash is getting a little flaky now, I'm thinking I should put on some Limp Bizkit, and beginning to wonder if I'm a horrible person for sending out all those mystery dog rockets to you guys.
I let it go out while rocking out to Fred Durst around the 2/3 mark, but it's burning again now and still "rollin' rollin' rollin'" with the same flavor as before, and somehow leaving me with the feeling that I should have done something more with my life. As the burn line nears the white "challenge" band, it's starting to look like I'm gonna be smoking paper soon, but the band slides off the head end so I keep going. I had my eyes on a LAT earlier this evening, but I guess that's just gonna have to wait...
I'm at about an inch left with this thing, and it refuses to go out... it still doesn't taste great, but at least the burn is now pretty darn nice. But after a few more puffs, I'm done.
@EO80 I'm feeling pretty confident about this, and I'm guessing it was a Phillies Blunt - am I right?