Also I would like to give a Shout Out to my buddy GMan! He was supposed to be part of this review but due to confusing schedules, was not able to be here. Catch you next time you are in the area pal!
J Grotto Silk cigars...............There is almost no info on this cigar as far as flavor profile because it is so new. But this is a good thing! I like to go into a review blind and see what the cigar brings to the palate, and it is quite interesting what you get between smokers. What I can tell you is the cigar comes in 4 sizes: Gran Robusto (5x52), Gran Toro (6x52), Churchill (7x50), and a Gordo (6x60) which wasn't available at the time of this review. But Paul Joyal assured me the Gordo size would be ready soon, as he likes to age all his cigars additional 8 months after he receives them from the factory. It has a Connecticut seed wrapper grown in Ecuador. The filler consists of Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos all wrapped in a double wrapper of Indonesian and Criollo 98 binders.
I gathered Turk and Meatloaf on two separate occasions to collaborate a review of this "Silky" cigar. And this cigar is Silky! First thing we notice is the silky flawless wrapper and generous cap. Paul really has some superb rollers, who do their jobs in manufacturing this beauty very well, using top notch materials.
We all agree that the body has a sweet straw aroma with the foot smelling of milk chocolate. The band came of rather nicely with little effort, leaving no residue. There is nothing I hate more than residue from the wrapper sticking to the cigar and possibly, more than likely, damaging the wrapper.
Pre-light draw was very good and tastes of caramel. Upon light, we are all greeted with toasty nut flavors. Meatloaf notices that the cigar mellows really quickly and we all agree it is "silky smooth". Paul hits this one out of the park and is right on the money with its name "Silk".
It has to be noted that this cigar pleasantly produces copious amounts of creamy smoke, producing beautiful smoke rings to those who have the technique down. Turk says that this cigar reminds him of Perdomo Champagne cigars, the original cigars not the Anniversary, and that they are too good to not be expensive. When I tell him the MSRP he is pleasantly surprised. There seems to be a hazelnut aroma to the smoke.
I start getting coffee notes and a slight tang, but in a good way. Meatloaf points out that this cigar dries his mouth out slightly like a dry wine. I notice this too, it is very much the same dryness as Opus X Lost City cigars, but not as dry. Very nice!
This cigar produces a nice dense whitish ash, Turk getting a 2 inch ash, as stated by Paul of routine characteristics of this cigar. My cigar produced a nice sharp cone, while Turk had a blunt cone. Meatloaf kept finding hallow spots throughout his cigar, but on the brighter side in no way had any effect on the performance of the cigar.
Turk broke the silence in what we were all thinking. He said that the cigar was quite refreshing like a 7 UP. What he means and what we were all thinking is that there are notes of citrus. Lots of woody tastes through out, but 2/3 into the cigar definite cedar tastes prevail. Towards the end of the smoke we get a sweet taste from the smoke. This cigar in our opinion is mild in strength and tastes.
Buzz Rating on this one we give a 4 out of 10. Not strong but that's what we expected.
Overall we give this cigar a 4 out of 5. Very nice, and very good!
MSRP on these cigars is $6.75-$7.50. To date I cannot find any retailers that carry them yet online, but you can click on the link on this blog page to J Grotto Cigars, and you can look at the retailers to see if there is one near you that you can contact to see if they carry them. Usually online, 2guyscigars.com carries the J Grotto cigars and I would bet that soon they will carrying these Silk cigars.
Like it?: Yes
Buy it again?: Definitely! If this were on the shelves of our local store we would buy them!
Recommend it?: Yes, This would be a good cigar for newbies as a milder cigars. This cigar would be a good morning cigar or after a light meal. A cup of coffee might compliment this cigar nicely.
Thanks again to Paul Joyal of Ocean State Cigars for his support (and sample cigars!). And thanks to my Posse for helping me review this cigar! Till next Post................................Peace!
