Category: Reviews

At first draw of the Bolivar Belicosos Finos, you find yourself walking through a park in the fall, kicking the neatly piled stacks of leaves on your way. Just under is a hint of floral sweetness that says sunflowers and the honey that bees produce from their pollen. When...

This Gurkha, unlike a number of others I’ve had, begins with a sweet note that on the cold draw, first stirs up the memory of wet mud. No, that’s not a bad thing. It’s just a rather unique taste that can’t be described as anything else. And yes, whether...

The cigar begins with a bitter note, but not one that’s unpleasant. More like taking a bite out of really bitter chocolate, one with 90 percent cocoa. That slight bitterness continues at the end of the draw down to the first one third of the cigar, accompanied by the...

It’s hard not to think of sauternes cask finishes as anything but an after dinner drink, sipped in a pairing with dessert. Arran’s offering, perhaps because it’s bottled at 50 percent, brings a bit more of a kick to the table than you’d expect. Nose: An immediate hit of...

Warms up nicely after the first 1 cm. Not a great deal of complexity, but that’s to be expected in a cigar this size. A little acrid initially, but it settles down to a more muted flavour, with shifting spices and woody notes. Towards the end, a hint of...

This cigar did a really good job of surprising me. The flavour profile was totally unexpected, with an unlit aroma that had me wondering whether it had been dipped into a stagnant pool before being dried and put into a box. Expecting the worst, I got instead a topnote...

The H Upmann Magnum 54 is a delightful smoke that offers complexity from the first draw. Little to no acrid burn when it’s first lit, moving gently after across flavour and aroma profiles. The first draw takes you back to a schoolroom with pencil shavings and bits of rubber...