Hey all!! Back yet once again with another review!
And I think I am setting Cigar Moose history with such a new review so soon after the last one, and with the most pictures I have ever posted in one review!
For today's cigar review, I have to start where I bought it. The journey begins in Lake Placid NY. New York States premier training center for the Olympics resides here.
When I used to visit Lake Placid I looked forward to visiting a place called The Pipe and Book. There they had all manner of pipe supplies and a walk in humidor. To my dismay, it closed a few years ago.
But Alas! Mrs. Cigar Moose on a trip there came across a new establishment. Not only did she find this gem but she brought me home 2 Camacho Triple Maduro cigars complete with the box they came in!!!! I knew I loved her for some reason!
Down on Main Street, nestled inside the back of a mini strip mall called The Alpine Mall, sits Stouts and Stogies. If you find the glass blowing store, you'll find Stouts and Stogies.
Stouts and Stogies has a decent sized walk in humidor with premium selections for your selecting pleasure.
And also has a diverse selection of micro brew beers.
Behind the counter you will find Jon. He is extremely friendly and helpful in helping you find something you might like.
If you need a physical address to plug into your GPS it is:
2527 Main Street
Suite 8
Lake Placid, NY 12946
(518) 837-5063
Now on to our review!
Room 101
THE BIG PAYBACK
I must say, this is one BIG F-ing cigar at 7 X 70! The box itself is huge housing 30 cigars. And you can see below how chunktastic it looks!
Turk and I decided to take refuge in the garage out of the wind to fire up these tree trunks of a cigar.
It has a firm body with very little give to it. The body smells slightly sweet as well as the foot. But the foot has the added smell of honey and raisins. The wrapper is flawless and veiny. Even the Cap was veiny which I have never seen in any cigar.
Bands come off with a little effort, mostly the one at the foot, but didn't damage anything in the process.
Draw is effortless with sweet tobacco tastes.
Upon light I get a blast of peppery power which quickly mellows into a woody sweetness.
Turk says "Wow! Now that's a cigar!"
I have to agree, I wonder what have we gotten ourselves into?
Turk comments that he is getting a citrusy taste coming through. After he mentions this I get the same. A bit of leather and creamy espresso are hitting the palate with a bit of sweet wood earthiness always present.
About a third in, an uneven burn is still present from shortly after start which is noticeable in both cigars. Ash is Layered and flakey.
Tapping the ash off revealed a fairly decent cone. You can see below the uneven burn line is more pronounced.
One thing about this cigar is that from the beginning it produces large volumes of creamy smoke. Another thing is that this is a strong cigar! Turk says he started buzzing from the first puff!!!
Going into the last third, I have been buzzing already! I can only imagine that it has to level out at some point. But no, it continues to flood our bodies with the buzz, getting us in a sleepy euphoric state.
Now I must attribute the size of this cigar to the time it takes to burn fully. 2 hours in we are still burning!! For some reason Turk is always behind me in the burn. He savors the cigar much more slowly than I, puffing less, resting the cigar between puffs more. Actually his method is a cooler burning smoke, which is better for the tastes. I sometimes have to gauge my speed to his, as to not burn to hot. I just want all that cigar goodness!!!
Final tastes coming through are chocolate, earth, wood, still a bit of leather and pepper, espresso, and the sweetness has turned to caramel.
Turk throws in the towel with about an inch and 3 quarters left. Nicotine Overload! He sits in his chair and falls asleep for about 10 to 15 minutes while I finish off my cigar review. I wish I got a picture of it!!!
Buzz Rating on this one I give a 10 out of 10
This one is really an ASS KICKER!!!
Very powerful cigar but worth every puff as I smoked it till my fingers burned!
Turk loved this cigar too and could be plainly seen in his Nicotine induced slumber!
Overall Rating I give a 4.5 out of 5
Very good cigar with a lot going on in respect to flavor complexity. The uneven burn was throughout the whole smoke but didn't affect the cigar at all and wasn't enough for me to take any points off.
The only thing that bothered the both of us was the fact that we both had to keep re-lighting from the halfway point on. But man it was hard to even mark off for that as it just tasted so good and had such a high buzz!
It's not an everyday smoke, but one you should have on hand for special occasions.
I guess if I had only one complaint about this cigar it would be the price per box.
I mean really? $188 for a box of 30 right up to $268 for a box of 50 depending on the size?
What was Matt Booth thinking?
This seems to be the trend in a few other cigar brands too. Who has that kind of cash hanging around?
He would have been better off marketing them in boxes of 10.
Thank God online vendors had the sense to split the boxes up into 5-packs for $23 to $33 each. At that price I am sure I will pick up a 5-pack to have on hand, maybe even find them for cheaper on the auction site.
Well that's it for today! I had to work on this review for about a week! Whew!
Remember, If your in Lake Placid , NY be sure to stop in to Stouts and Stogies on the main street. And when you see Jon behind the counter, tell him Cigar Moose sent you!
(And no, I don't get a kick back!)
Till next Post..................Peace!
