Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 6 x 50 Torpedo Box Pressed
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $11.00
My cigars have had 2 months of naked humidor time.
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
The cigar feels good in the hand. I experiment by using my PerfecPunch on a torpedo cap. Living dangerously. Works great. Dr. Rod is currently in Barbados teaching the indigenous people how to whiten their teeth.
Woody notes. Slightly spicy. Creamy. Medium strength. A scoche of baking spices. Indentured southern fried ferret lips. And malted lager.
Just a few minutes in, it gets musty. Oh no. Wait for it.
Complexity doesn’t seem to be interested. Maybe the cigar needs a year of humi time.
This might be a second half kind of cigar. I didn’t find any reviews. Yorktown Fleet is a regular production release. And made its debut this last summer. Plenty of time for reviewers to jump the gun.
I am experiencing extreme blandness. Might be the reason for lack of interest.
Reviewing is generally very taxing and time consuming. You gotta be all in. If possible, we try not to exacerbate our patience with a cigar that is listless and without a boner.
There is an absence of richness. The most important thing a cigar can possess. It doesn’t need to be deeply complex. It doesn’t need to be a flavor bomb. It needs real depth to succeed.
Boutique brands take on an unfair amount of spotlight. Each release is examined under a microscope. But then the cigar company knew this would happen. So, all’s fair. As long as we aren’t mean. And reviewers do give new boutique branders a bit of leeway. A swing and a miss is understandable.
I can count numerous start ups that were initially successful. And then got cocky. A fall from grace ensued. As far as I know, the boys at Stolen Throne are grounded and nice guys. Still, blending and selling cigars is treacherous business.
A bit of lemony twist is added. But the blend ain’t going anywhere. It has no love to give. Here’s the thing…a company knows when the experiment fails. What do they do with thousands of cigars. Sell them of course. Who absorbs the mistake. The consumer. But lash back does occur. Word spreads. Trust is not a soluble commodity. Rough road ahead to gain it back. Some survive. Some don’t. The road is paved with the hearts of good intentions.
2” into the cigar and nada. It sucked the life right out of me. I can’t think of one clever thing to write. Bummer.
I know I’m jinxing it. But strength is still medium. A jack boot is waiting for me.
Construction is good. The burn is sharp.
Remember when you dated…I do. Sort of. The chicks that just lay there quietly and uninvolved. You thought she may have dozed off. Nope. But we did question our sources and methods.
The cigar is non-descript. Could be any of a million catalog blends with no heritage and no sustenance.
Maybe a year from now…Dunno.
I know where this is going and I’m just killing time. Bland doesn’t cut it in this competitive world of consumerism. The vast majority of cigar smokers don’t have sophisticated palates. They’ll smoke anything that’s pretty. Spend a year working in a B&M and you know this to be fact.
I sense the cigar wants to purge its insipidness.
The second half is better. Enough to recommend…No. You can buy any number of cigars for $5 less. See my Value Spotlight list.
I was truly hoping for a better experience. Real bummer. I liked their Call to Arms blend. I loved their Crook of the Crown blend. It was my #3 cigar for 2019. A splashy debut can kill a company. I never tried their 3 Kingdoms blend.
Medium/full arrives.
I did a couple BBC Sessions with Curved Air. Big stage. Big auditorium. Full house. In the wings, a professional announcer did his thing. It was like having the Real Don Steele doing radio DJ shtick until one second before the singing started. Cracked me up.
Pretzel logic. A salty baked good. The cigar needs a good kick in the arse. Not spiciness…a jump start. It’s so close. Sweetness shows up in the form of dried fruit. Otherwise, it is devoid of real balance.
“Smoke on the Water.” Someone called the cops on Curved Air and Deep Purple when we went swimming in the hotel pool. Naked girls were observed. Nope. Just us longhairs.
The thing is that the cigar is not bad. Just not good. OK doesn’t cut it.
Thankfully, the good folks at Stolen Throne did not get greedy. The price point is fair.
No point in dragging this on.
RATING: 86
Discover more from Cigar Reviews by the Katman
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
