From the West – Chinock Cellars Private Reserve

Brian Chinnock is a nice guy.  And he makes a nice cigar that’s easy to review.  I met Brian last year at the IPCPR show.  Before giving me a cigar he wanted to talk about wines.  And that’s not a surprise since that is his primary business.  Brian owns a vineyard in Paso Robles, California, a lovely area on the central coast that I had the opportunity to visit a few years ago.  As an aside, if you have the opportunity to go, it really is a must see.  So Brian is passionate about his wines.  When I told I also enjoyed a nice glass, he reached under the counter and poured a taste.  If I were a wine reviewer I would give it high marks, but let’s stick to cigars. Brian then spoke lovingly about his two different cigars, the estate and the terroir.

Our cigar today is the Estate torpedo, sporting a beautiful light brown wrapper.  The cigar presents as a smooth and oily stick.  It looks stately as I pluck it from the humidor.  The cigar clips and lights without a problem.

The cigar is well made.  It has an open draw.  The ash, which holds well, is light gray.  And the cigar burns evenly holding a tight edge.  The stick burns cool throughout the entire smoke.

Flavors were nice but a little bit boring.  The first taste gives an earthy straw and grass flavor.  As the cigar burns it moves to a hint of cedar and leather, but retains the earthiness.  It finishes similarly.  During my enjoyment of the smoke I always tasted a mild hint of pepper as an undercurrent.  This causes me to rate this as a medium bodied or ‘lunch’ cigar.  The after taste was short lived and not offensive.

Overall this is a fine cigar, priced just below $10 which gives question to the value.  I liked it and would definitely smoke this stick again, but there are lots of nice smokes to choose from at this price.