Purchased: 2 10-packs Toro (6 X 52)
Price: $85 each
Store: Small Batch
Buy Again: If I can…
Box Worthy: Yes
Experience Rating: 98
With what I’ve experienced with Paul Stulac cigars, he does nothing half-assed and his collaboration with Phil “Katman” Kohn is yet another example of the quality of his blending and the care that he puts into his cigars. And if you don’t want to read any further, this is a cigar for the ages! Like Stulac’s other blends, it’s deceptively bold in both flavor and strength, and yeah, it’s complex with lots of transitions. Buy a pack or two if you still can. If you like bold cigars, this one will be right up your alley!
Damn! This stick is like a baton. It has heft and feels packed to the gills. The wrapper is smooth and lightly mottled. And speaking of the wrapper, I’ve never smelled a combination like this on any cigar: Aromas of melba toast, sourdough bread, cocoa powder, and herbs de province on the skin, with the some light barnyard added to those flavors off the foot. That herb de province aroma took me by complete surprise. I’ve never smelled anything like that on the hundreds of cigars I’ve smoked.
I light up and get hit with roasted nuts and buttered toast. A second pull piles on some dark chocolate, caramel, and roasted meats. I realize right off the bat that trying to break up my smoking experience into thirds would be a disservice to this fine cigar. Within just the first few puffs, there’s so much shit going on that it’s difficult to pin down a single set of flavors. This is a flavor bomb from the get-go!
This is NOT a stick for newbies. For with that boldness comes a fair amount of nicotine. I’ve smoked an inch and half, and I’m buzzing.
The burn line has been dead straight and flavors just keep piling on and shifting. In addition to the flavors, I mentioned above, I’ve been getting italian roast coffee, malted milk balls, stone fruit, earth, leather, more smoked meats, sourdough, saltwater taffy, roses, citrus, baking spices, red and black pepper. They don’t all come at once, but in a shifting array of different combinations. Fuckin-a! The spice factor is another thing that has me scratching my head. It has been my experience that once spice kicks in, it’s there and doesn’t go away. But the spicincess ebbs and flows, in and out. Some puffs are spicy, other times not. Damn!
Amazingly, through the first half (about 35 minutes), the strength has been medium+ and hasn’t gotten any stronger. Or maybe I’m so high from that initial dose of nicotine that my senses have dulled. I was little surprised by the burn rate of the first half. But as I get into the second half, the cigar has loaded enough and everything has slowed down. And speaking of burn, it has been straight the entire time. I did have to make one small correction when a breeze picked up. But now that the breeze has died down, the burn line is as Katman puts it: dead nuts. I did have to relight the cigar once, but it was understandable as it’s a stormy day and quite cool and humid.
Nothing has changed much as I get into the second half. The transitions are still coming a mile a minute, but now the cigar has laid a foundation of espresso and light red pepper. The spiciness is now persistent, but not at all overpowering. It just sits there mid-palate.
The burn is slow slow slow now. The transitions have also slowed. But just as I think the cigar has settled into the pocket, the profile changes yet again. WTF!
I’m just going to shut up now and enjoy the rest of the cigar! Go git you some!
BTW, total smoke time for me was and hour and forty minutes.
Unco B's Stogie Diary 