San Lotano Oval Maduro
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Okay, so now I wanna kick Mike's a$$, cause he certainly kicked mine. He gifted me a San Lotano Oval Maduro a while back. I salted it away, cause I couldn't bear to burn it. Last night, I wanted a kick-a$$ cigar, so I pulled it out. Shazayamm. I am surprised I don't find a review of this wonderful cigar here. I suppose anyone who smoked one was so blown away they simply became incoherent and could not produce a page. I am going to try if I can.
The date 4/7/12 was written on a bit of masking tape stuck on the cello. Dunno why. The wrapper was dark and glossy underneath the cello. When I removed the band, a bit of wrapper was stuck to that and got pulled off. The wrapper had a spicy leathery flavor and left pepper on my lips. Not a whole lot of odor. Real firm all along. It uncapped easily, but shed a few shreds. All along the smoke of it, I got a shred or two now and then. The draw was excellent. Unlit, the draw tasted like what I dimly remember of a Navy pipe tobacco I used to get in a pale round can. I held and admired this thing a full five minutes before firing up. Toro length. Looked like they took an oval and box pressed it flatter on the sides.
Lit by toasting the foot with one match. The cherry was uneven at first, but straightened out in a few, and stayed straight and steady throughout. Great volume. Full rich smooth spice with no bite to it at all, just a hint of pepper. Maybe a bit of espresso. So many flavors. The leather I tasted unlit disappeared soon as I got involved with the smoke. I had wreaths of smoke all round my head. I could not help but inhale the thing repeatedly. And the retro was a big hairy wow. I can still smell it. In the retro I would get the leather and spice. In the mouth I would get the rich spice and espresso. The ash was white and looked tight, but dropped at each 3/4". But when the asj fell, that didn't affect flavor at all. You know how you sometimes get a puff or two of bite after an ash falls? Not here. It just got smoother the farther I went. An hour in, I got unsweetened black chocolate. The kind of unsweetened dark choc that Bearswatter puts in the center of her baked confection she calls chocolate volcanoes. Unreal. This may be the best cigar I've had in my year of smoking cigars. Certainly the best burn ever. I hit her hard for an hour and three quarters. If I had to go all Olympic gymnastic judge on the thing and find something nit picky and irrelevant to deduct a point so the other girl could win by chicanery, I'd say I regret the oval shape because it won't roll in my mouth. I never realize how I roll a cigar when pulling it from my mouth until I mouth one that won't. That roll enhances the flavor of the wrap for me. At the very nub, I began to get a hint of oak through the nose, and that's when I knew she was done. Put her to bed reluctantly. Magnificent job.
I frankly don't know if I got much stink finger afterwards or not. I assume it was fine. Smelled great. But my nose was so full of the flavor of this cigar afterwards that it's hard to be sure. I am still full of the flavor. Enjoying a powerful morning mouth right now, which I expect will last most of the day. A slight damp wheeze.
I rate this five chock full nebula out of five stars.
Mike, you just kicked me to kingdom come with this one, brother. Gotta go hock the house now and score more.
The date 4/7/12 was written on a bit of masking tape stuck on the cello. Dunno why. The wrapper was dark and glossy underneath the cello. When I removed the band, a bit of wrapper was stuck to that and got pulled off. The wrapper had a spicy leathery flavor and left pepper on my lips. Not a whole lot of odor. Real firm all along. It uncapped easily, but shed a few shreds. All along the smoke of it, I got a shred or two now and then. The draw was excellent. Unlit, the draw tasted like what I dimly remember of a Navy pipe tobacco I used to get in a pale round can. I held and admired this thing a full five minutes before firing up. Toro length. Looked like they took an oval and box pressed it flatter on the sides.
Lit by toasting the foot with one match. The cherry was uneven at first, but straightened out in a few, and stayed straight and steady throughout. Great volume. Full rich smooth spice with no bite to it at all, just a hint of pepper. Maybe a bit of espresso. So many flavors. The leather I tasted unlit disappeared soon as I got involved with the smoke. I had wreaths of smoke all round my head. I could not help but inhale the thing repeatedly. And the retro was a big hairy wow. I can still smell it. In the retro I would get the leather and spice. In the mouth I would get the rich spice and espresso. The ash was white and looked tight, but dropped at each 3/4". But when the asj fell, that didn't affect flavor at all. You know how you sometimes get a puff or two of bite after an ash falls? Not here. It just got smoother the farther I went. An hour in, I got unsweetened black chocolate. The kind of unsweetened dark choc that Bearswatter puts in the center of her baked confection she calls chocolate volcanoes. Unreal. This may be the best cigar I've had in my year of smoking cigars. Certainly the best burn ever. I hit her hard for an hour and three quarters. If I had to go all Olympic gymnastic judge on the thing and find something nit picky and irrelevant to deduct a point so the other girl could win by chicanery, I'd say I regret the oval shape because it won't roll in my mouth. I never realize how I roll a cigar when pulling it from my mouth until I mouth one that won't. That roll enhances the flavor of the wrap for me. At the very nub, I began to get a hint of oak through the nose, and that's when I knew she was done. Put her to bed reluctantly. Magnificent job.
I frankly don't know if I got much stink finger afterwards or not. I assume it was fine. Smelled great. But my nose was so full of the flavor of this cigar afterwards that it's hard to be sure. I am still full of the flavor. Enjoying a powerful morning mouth right now, which I expect will last most of the day. A slight damp wheeze.
I rate this five chock full nebula out of five stars.
Mike, you just kicked me to kingdom come with this one, brother. Gotta go hock the house now and score more.
“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
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"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
The review above was spot on. This is a wonderful maduro. I like box-pressed sticks, so I enjoyed the oval shape. The flavor profile was complex and the cigar developed quite nicely. It was very well built and burned wonderfully. I would suggest this for an after brunch smoke. It would go great with a bold Italian espresso.