This is written based on notes I took yesterday while smoking the cigar.
Feeling a bit cooped up, I decided to work from West Coast Cigars lounge yesterday and when I got there I dove into the humidor to see if they had anything new. And true to form, Kyle, one of the owners of the shop, showed me one of their newest arrivals, Jake Wyatt cigars. He met them at PCA this year and is now carrying them, so I decided to give one a try.
I’m not sure why I chose this particular one simply because it has a Connie wrapper. It’s not that I don’t like CT wrappers, it’s just not a go-to for me. But I was in the mood for something on the lighter, brighter side of the spectrum so I picked one out of the box.
Taking the wrapper off, I smiled at the creativity behind the barber pole layout. It reminded me of the BWS Killer Bee lines. The wrapper was generally smooth with some veins, but it wasn’t rustic. The stick was also solid with no discernable soft spots and it had a bit of heft.
Sniffing the wrapper and foot, I got what I expect with a Connie stick: hay, grass, honey, and even a bit of citrus. No surprises.
Clipping the cap with my guillotine, the draw was tight. Really tight. Luckily I had my PerfecDraw with me and after a few pokes, I was able to get a suitable draw. But I also knew that it would eventually close up again as the cigar loaded.
On light up, I was greeted with a nice blast of cinnamon and vanilla that immediately faded, replaced with sweat cream. I was surprised by that because the tight draw didn’t produce as much smoke as I like. It was quite pleasant and quite a surprise.
A few puffs in, I noticed that the burn line started to slightly canoe. I didn’t do anything about it because I wanted to see if it would self-correct. It didn’t. Within a few puffs, the burn line had become slanted enough where I had to make a correction. But after that it behaved itself throughout the first half; especially after I made more pokes with my PerfecDraw to open up the draw. That bit of more air really helped it burn more evenly.
As far as flavor profile is concerned, make no bones about it. This cigar was made in the classic Dominican style which is mild+. Even when it started producing more smoke, there was nothing bold about it which immediately told me that this was a cigar that was best smoked in quiet contemplation to hopefully pick out the bounty of flavors.
But here’s the thing… I didn’t pick up a bounty of flavors. What I did pick out were the following: grass, cedar, honey, cinnamon, white pepper, citrus, nutmeg, buttercream, malt, and a couple of times, I was surprised to get the slightest hint of anise. That might seem like a lot, but it’s really not. I really had to sit and think about what I was tasting. And once those flavors showed up, there wasn’t much more beyond it. But I must say that despite that, it was a very pleasant smoke. I was smoking it while drinking a cup of chai tea (hot) and it accompanied that drink superbly, the ginger in the chai providing a nice foil to the creaminess of the smoke.
That said, and to be fair, I admit that I smoked this way too early. Katman talks about finding the “blender’s intent” and often says that you can’t get that without some age. That couldn’t be truer in the case of the Appendix II cigar. While I was smoking it, I could feel that there was so much more to it, but it wasn’t giving up what it was holding. Also, the fact that until the last third, I had to make several corrections had me nodding my head that not only did this cigar need more shelf time, but it would also benefit from being dry boxed before smoking.
I’ll go back and buy a couple more and let them sit a while in my humidor for at least a couple of months before smoking them. Hopefully by then they’ll reveal what the blender’s intent was.
As an aside, Kyle, co-owner of West Coast Cigars is big into baseball, coaching and bringinh up his son in the sport. Apparently, one of the owners of Jake Wyatt cigars was a professional baseball player. From their “About” page:
For two decades our individual journeys have encompassed the world of professional baseball & firefighting.
This has brought us to the launch of our shared passion, Jake Wyatt Cigar Co. named after each of our sons – Jake & Wyatt.
Each box of our core line will contain 22 cigars signifying the lineage of three generations of baseball players wearing jersey number 22.
Every cigar we make is one we smoke ourselves. We hope you enjoy them too.
I’m wondering if Kyle started carrying Jake Wyatt cigars based on his involvement in baseball. It’s kind of a cool backstory.
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