For brevity, I will refer to this cigar as “Diamond” in the post.
One thing I have always loved about cigars rolled with Dominican tobacco is that they can mask an underlying strength that can take the unprepared completely unaware. After all DR tobacco in general is known to be mild and mellow; full-flavored yes, but not as immediately bold or in-your-face as Nicaraguan tobacco. That doesn’t mean the strength isn’t there. It’s just delayed and shows up through the progression of the smoke. And this is where the beauty of DR cigars lies.
Except for La Flor Dominicana cigars, which can be ass-kickers from light-up, most DR cigars in my experience start out mild and mellow and ramp up in strength over time. I love that progression and that has endeared me to DR cigars for years.
The Diamond was no exception. In fact, when I first lit it up, though I enjoyed the flavor coming from the CT Broadleaf wrapper, my reaction was a little meh. Nothing special. But knowing this was a DR cigar, I had expectations on the direction the cigar would take. And I can honestly say it went in the right direction.
I won’t discuss tasting notes here because I was more concerned about the experience. But I will say that the flavor profile was right in my wheelhouse. It wasn’t complex, but that was probably due to a lack of box aging. I bought it at the lounge and pulled it from a recently opened box. I could tell while I was smoking it that the cigar needed a few months or more of rest to bring out its best qualities.
But as far as the experience was concerned, I was quite pleased. I will admit that I am not a fan of figurados or perfectos. And especially with this stick being a rather short figurado at five inches, I wanted more. But that’s psychological because it took me over an hour-and-a-half to smoke to the nub. I must admit though that when I hit the halfway point, I was a little concerned because there didn’t seem to be much left of the cigar. But it slowed way down at the halfway point.
And speaking of the halfway point, this was where the cigar hit its stride. At that point, smoke production spiked, producing a thick, bluish grey cloud of smoke with each puff. Damn! And though I didn’t focus on the flavor profile, I was awash in all sorts of complexity and strength. It was magnificent!
The texture of the smoke became creamy, Creamy, CREAMY! It was luscious and luxurious and so good that I had to stop what I was doing and just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. It was akin to riding a roller coaster. The first half was spent clickety-clacking to the top. Kind of boring, but the anticipation was palpable as I could sense what was lurking. Then over the top I went, and the cigar took me on an exciting, thrilling ride full of twists and turns.
Yeah, I’m going to return to this one for sure, but I’m going to go with a traditional Toro rather than a figurado. I’ve put out an inquiry on a box from Hiland’s Cigars in Scottsdale, AZ. If you haven’t ordered from them before, I highly recommend them. But instead of ordering online, call them up.
Buying a box after just a single cigar? And in a vitola that I’ve never had? I know that in general I have a rule to smoke at least a couple of cigars before deciding on a further purchase. But the experience I had with this single cigar excited me enough to just get a box. And even though I’m going for the Toro, it’s the blend over the vitola that has gotten me excited.
Unco B's Stogie Diary 