In the years of cigar and pipe smoking I have grown weary of those tobacco offering alcohol casings, finding that generally they have offered as little more than an obstruction to the tobacco tastes that I enjoy when smoking. That being said, when discovering that Ted’s Cigars, makers of a number of alcohol infused cigars, had developed a cigar infused likewise with hops, the bittering agent in beer, my interest was stoked.
Working some Internet magic I found myself the recipient of a sampler of 5 cigars courtesy of the manufacture for review, which was mailed to my new home in advance of my arrival in the lone star state.
After taking the dogs for a short walk with my wife, I found myself on the patio, lighting up the smallest of the tubed sticks, a 5 by 38 Rhum petit corona, for a pre breakfast, pre swim smoke while the Texas sun was still relatively low at a nice 88 around 8 am (as I write this its about 103-105 at 4 and still climbing).
Despite not having been in a humidor the cigar was still well kept and ready to smoke. The pre light draw was sweet and hot with the tobaccos rum casing, which was somewhat off putting in that I was expecting a smoke that was overly sweet.
With a slight trepidation a lit the cigar, and to my surprise was not inundated with the cloying sweetness, but a more earthy, slight bitter beginning. This flavor profile was persistent through the first half of the stick, and stayed somewhat flat as far as complexity, leaning me to suggest a less than positive impression of the smoking experience. Once the halfway mark was reached though, the cigar opened up immensely with a fair amount of generic spice and the beginning of a sweet rum aspect on the backend that became more pronounced as the cigar dwindled down to its butt.
With this cigar I can only say that while it was not a bad cigar, the casing aspect of the tobacco was more novelty, and prompted a less offensive aroma to those around me, than augmented the flavor for the smoker’s benefit.
Happy Smoking,
Pope Crisco