My Uzi Weighs A Ton Toro

Wrapper: San Andres maduro wrapper
Binder: Connecticut Capote
Filler: Nicaraguan and Brazilia Mata Fina
Size: Toro
Length: 6
Ring Gauge: 60
Price: $5.83 Retail Price: $9.95
Beverage: Diet Coke
Smoking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Humidor time: 12 days
Purchased: Cigars.com Heavy Hitters Double Stack

Construction: As I unwrapped this toro my first though was "wow, this isn't a cigar, it's a baseball bat"! This stick was simply a beast of a cigar. Taking a close look, the overall construction was nearly perfect, the wrapper contained a couple fine veins, there were no soft or hard spots the entire length. It was just one well put together cigar.

Pre-light: Putting the cigar to my nose was a joy, the wrapper had a nice mocha scent as did the foot, only stronger. Tasting the end cap was a bit disappointing as I expected such a nice smelling wrapper to have a nice mocha taste, which it did not. It was actually nearly tasteless.
As the flame jumped from my lighter to the cigar huge plumes of smoke roared from each end filling the room with a nice white cloud. I think this stick produced the most smoke of anything I have smoked and the initial scent was of woody tobacco.

First third: With the first two puffs the immediate flavor was nearly pure pepper, but then it was gone only to be replaced by notes of toasted nuts and nutty chocolate mocha. As I smoked through the first third all I could thing about was how tasty this cigar is but at the same time the flavorless wrapper was still bothering me. As I smoked farther the burn crept off to one side just at bit and it was leaving behind a tight light grey ash.


Middle: As the burn neared the mid point a spash of back-of-the-tongue pepper appeared but then very quickly faded leaving the orginal flavor profile with a bit of earthiness added in.
I have read a few cigar reviews that used "barn yard" as an aroma. Since I have been around farms most of my life I didn't understand exactly what they meant, until now. The aroma profile had changed from that nice woody tobacco mix to smelling just like the scent radiating from a barn yard. At this point the burn was still off just a bit but it was smoking just fine and the flavor was truly a treat.
End: Coming down the stretch every thing was still going along very nicely. The strength had built from what I would say was medium to a nice full bodied cigar as the earthiness continued to build and giving me the flavor that I like so much from maduro's scalded mocha. But at about the 2 inch remaining mark, this cigar went South and it did it rather quickly. The wrapper spilt, then about a minute later the binder split along with it causing me to dump the rest of a fantastic cigar.
Overall: Except for the last two inches this had been on of the best if not the best cigar I had ever smoked. I think the flavor matches the Ave Maria Reconquista very closely, but it is stronger and the flavor is even a bit better than the Man O' War Armada. Throwing the last two inches away was a huge disappointment but I do have two more in the humidor to enjoy another day.

I have been talking about needing some type of ratings so I am starting one with this new blog.

Appearance and construction: 18
Flavor: 19
Smoking characteristics: 18
Overall experience: 17
Purchased Price: 17
Total: 91

To read all my reviews visit dangumm.com