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Padilla Dominus Robusto

I had smoked only one before and it wasn't really memorable in any way... but if I recall correctly the atmosphere wasn't exactly conducive to enjoy it patiently.

I lit this one up on the way home from work on a sunny afternoon. The pre-light aroma had some nice chocolaty overtones. Construction was solid, with the wrapper showing one or two large veins and few smaller ones.

The first third was consistent with the pre-light, offering some really nice note of dark chocolate... and maybe even just a hit of malt. I'm not usually great at picking up food-specific nuances, but this one definitely conjured up images of a Frosty, especially on the occasional retrohale. About ten minutes in, some creaminess appeared, but didn't really stay for long. Nice slow burn, tight ash

The second third continued the same, and a few draws brought on some nice sweet spice, specifically nutmeg and clove. Again, didn't stick around long.

The last third is tough to judge for two reasons: 1) I find that I pick up more flavor in the 1st half a smoke just about every single time. I don't know if my palate just ultimately becomes overwhelmed or what. 2) I had to finish sitting outside, and when the sun went down the temp quickly dropped to sub-freezing. The burn got wonky on me twice, and didn't really self-correct. I just smoked through it until the small island of unburned leaf fell off. The ash also become much more loose. The flavors remained enjoyable, just not as well-defined as in the first half of the stick.

I should also mention that I don't really age any of my sticks. This one is about 2-3 weeks off the truck, and I keep my small allotment in cigar.com pouches with pillows. I've found my humidor to be totally unreliable in Colorado winters. So, take that for what it's worth.

For the right price, this is definitely a stick I will come back to. I don't know about the 93/94 rating... my benchmarks for that particular rating are the Oliva V and Padilla Miami. This is step below those two, but certainly a solid 90+.
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