Arsen An Interesting Smoke

I am always on the lookout for cigars that I don’t know much about.  And, there are hundreds of people making cigars.  Some doing a good job, some working hard and succeeding and all trying desperately to get noticed.  So, it’s hard to find a small maker who has no real marketing budget and no way to reach out to the cigar consumer and media.  Of course there are trade shows, but they are very expensive for smaller makers.  I’m not really sure how I came to get this stick, but I do know that I met the maker at a small cigar bar in Miami when I was with some of the people from Miami Cigar and Company months ago.  I don’t think he had cigars at that time, but if he did, it never registered with me.  Wither way, I was pleased to be trying a new small batch cigar.

When I first inspected the cigar, I was disappointed.  It didn’t really look good.  It had a few blemishes but also looked rather rough.  It was a light brown color and felt ok.  It cut and lit without a problem.

The construction of this cigar was its best feature.  It had an open draw and produced nice smoke.  The ash was long and a nice light grey color.  It held a ti hgt even edge and burned nicely throughout the forty five minute smoke.

The cigar was rough smoking and hot for the duration.  It felt heavy and was mostly one dimensional with lots of pepper.  The only other flavor notes were leathery and earthy.  The flavors barely changed at all during my smoke.  Despite its pepperyness and weight, I still did not think it had the robust flavor that would make it a full bodied cigar.

AT a little over $6 per stick, ti is not inexpensive.  Unfortunately, the value is not there.  On the bright side, the company is planning to come out with a new blend soon.  I hope that this new blend is a better smoke than this one.