Origin: Cuban
Build: Handmade long filler Cuban
Format: Hermoso #4
Size: 127 x 19.05 mm (5″ x 48)
Price: $15 CAN
This cigar has a few scars that betray its age, with a chunk missing near the foot and a crack near the cap. The wrapper has a distinctly Cuban aroma, that sweet earthy spice that seems to highten all senses and whet the palate. I don’t think I was quite prepared for the initial flavours it gave of pistachio nuts, mate tea leaves and Indian spices. The box code of this Hermoso #4 was 2005 and like good wine age creates a wealth of complexity. It’s tough to remember a cigar that required so much focus to distinguish the many different flavours. Never sweet and never too strong, every puff was a little bit different. Towards the end this scigar was a bit fatiguing, a problem easily solved by sipping some of your best scotch. The scotch in my cabinet really was’t up to the challenge of matching the delicacy and complexity, but I look forward to trying an aged Cuban with an older highland scotch with similar subtle richness and depth of flavor.