5 1/2 X 54, Dominican Puro
Appearance: Some have said recently that I have wandered away a bit from the "cigar" aspect of The Smoking Lounge more than they might have liked. Well though I do not want to stop writing about all the other fun stuff on my mind, here is a return to my roots with a review of a great cigar I had the opportunity to smoke this evening, the Chiselito Puro. This evening I had the opportunity to frequent one of my favorite local "Brick and Mortar" cigar establishments, the Cigar Affair, in Maumee, Ohio. If I lived closer to Maumee, I would be there all the time. I was searching for something I have not tried before. After perusing for a few minutes, I decided I was going to try something from La Flor Dominicana, either the Factory Press II or the LG Diez lines. Well with nothing else to go on, the decision came down to aesthetics and the one thing I know for sure about the La Flor Dominicana line, I love the chisel shape (it is well know that one of my favorite staple cigars is the Double Ligero Chiselito!), and so the LG Diez it would be.
For those of you who don't know, the "Chisel" shape is something that seems to be unique to La Flor Dominicana. Looking at it sideways, the cigar appears to be a pyramid, with a tapered head coming to a point. But looking at it from the front, the pyramid becomes something else. Instead of coming to a point at the tip, the head is flat. After examining this
vitola for a moment or two, the only way to describe the shape is that it is chiseled, and so the name is quite apt.
"This way it goes into the mouth in a perfect way, very comfortable," says Litto Gomez. "I think it even fits better than a torpedo or a pyramid. It also allows you to smoke a big ring gauge cigar without filling your mouth. After I made it and I smoked it, I discovered the way that it distributes smoke into your palate is fantastic."This cigar was a great example of this unusual design. Wrapped in vaguely cinnamon toned wrapper that was smooth and free of any visible flaws, this cigar was a sight to behold. This cigar was rather heavy for its size, and seemed to be pretty firmly packed. In general it looked like a very well made handmade cigar. It must be a lot of work to get put this
weird shape together.
Pre-Light: Before putting it to the blade I ran this cigar under my nose. A beautiful earthy aroma wafted up towards me, just like it must smell like to be in the rolling room when it was made. Delicious. Often when dealing with the chisel style cigar I just pinch the end of the cigar and the wrapper splits cleanly along the seam
providing a more than acceptable draw. This time I set my trusty
Palio Cutter upon it cutting just the smallest amount for an opening. this idea was rewarded with a very clean and forgiving
pre light draw. The
pre light draw produced more of the
earthiness from the nose, along with a strong peppery taste, looks like there will be a lot of flavor in this smoke.
Burn/Draw: One might be worried when they see such an odd cigar shape. Often, unusual shaped cigars have a
tendency to burn funky, and require multiple touch ups. If
that is not the case, they also often have draw issues which could take away from an other wise enjoyable
stogie. Not in this case, at all.
Litto's "Master Rollers" truly prove themselves worthy here, as the construction was impeccable. This cigar smoked razor straight the whole way down
, light it and forget it for sure. The draw was a not issue as well, this cigar burned long and cool and slow, producing volumes of flavorful, bluish grey, smoke. A joy to smoke.
Flavors: This was one hell of a flavorful cigar. the initial puffs through the first half inch or so just burst spice across your palate (mostly black pepper, but some fragrant far eastern incense notes as well). At about half way it calms down a bit, and settles in. the pepper never really goes away, but it does lighten up, and allow the other notes to peek through. the earthy undertone that I got from my initial nosing came through about halfway, along with some leather, and a cinnamon/honey sweetness that kept this cigars flavor from getting out of whack. Over the last third a nice french roast coffee note crept in rounding out what was a sublime, meditative experience on the whole. I enjoyed this cigar tremendously.
Before I recommend this cigar, there are a few caveats. This cigar is not for newbies. It is also not for those who like their cigars mild. This is a fairly strong cigar, for the experienced cigar smoker, and probably best had after a heart meal. that said, if you like Strong, very flavorful cigars, I suggest you try one out.
Recommended.
TomC
(Check Out FanGraphs.com For statystical Analysis Of Individual Games.)
(Beckett was a stud, as usual.)
(Drew contributed today.)
(Manny Hauls It home. . .)
(. . .with Mike Lowell right behind.)
(Pedroia Flashed The Leather.)
(Papelbon Gets The 1/3 Inning Save)
A note about the fangraph: I think this site is a great resource! I know there are some deep statistical stuff that you can glean from these (which I may get into later, i a trying to learn more about Sabermetrics), but from a pure graphical perspective, one can get a better feel for the ebb and flow of games that just from a box score (like, in the example above, one can tell that Baltimore was never really in this game). I think I might include these more often!
(Litto Gomez)
