Tom's Cigar Reviews

Ashton VSG follow up

Last week Ed and I reviewed the Ashton VSG. Check out the review HERE. There was a flavor that we couldn’t quite pin down, and we asked you, the viewers, to help us out. We had a few interesting replies. Next time I light up a VSG, I’ll refer to these posts. Check them out:

Mississippi Rifleman, AKA Bulldogrifleman on twitter, AKA Ben, wrote his review over at Cigar Weekly.

Well, I have a LITTLE time on my hands now that the baby is born and to celebrate his birth, I’m smoking my favorite cigar…..the Ashton VSG. The size I selected today is the torpedo. Very good size and quite tasty. Below is the description from their website:

For those who desire a powerful and intoxicating flavor with a complex rich finish, look no further than the Ashton VSG. The VSG is blended exclusively for Ashton by Carlos Fuente Jr. using 4 to 5 year old aged Dominican tobacco taken from the finest and most fertile plants. The distinct flavor of VSG comes from its wrapper grown on a private estate in Ecuador owned by the Oliva family where this proprietary wrapper leaf is grown for the Fuente Family exclusively for Ashton VSG. The leaf is taken from the higher primings and matures slowly by sunlight filtered through the region¹s natural cloud covering. The result is the rich intoxicating wrapper which has made the Ashton VSG the most in demand cigar on the market today.

Appearanceark mocha brown color, toothy cigar with a smooth foot and nice cap. No soft spots.

Pre-light draw: Very earthy, sweet with hints of pepper.

First third: spicy, sweet and earthy like the pre-light draw. Its not overly sweet. Kind of like a little cane sugar in bold coffee. A little spicy bite on the back of the throat that is actually nice. If you’ve ever had Mayan spicy hot cocoa, you have an idea of what this cigar is tasting like. Personally, I LOVE hot peppers in my chocolate.

Second Third: Now, most of the spice is gone and the rest is very subdued. It now has a rich mocha flavor. Hints of dried dates on the finish. Hard to pull it out. There is also a taste of roasted cashews.

Final Third: Not much has changed except the mocha seems to have intensified and I now detect hints of nutmeg. Nice little surprise.

Overall Impressions: This is a really good cigar. The flavor profile is outstanding. The burn was excellent with no touch ups and the burn line was razor sharp. Ash was a nice bright white with mottled grey. I wish I had an infinitely supply of these.
Score: 96/100

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Stef, over at The Stogie Review, gave us his opinion:

Hey.

Just smoked one, and it burned well and tasted good.

As to that elusive sweet flavour: I had a molasses taste, with a slight bitterness, instead of coffee or chocolate (I pick up espresso/black chocolate in Bolivar BCF or Monte Sublimes, not in the VSG).

Another flavour I may’ve gotten: mint. Admittedly, I noticed it on the pre-light draw, and while smoking, more with the spiciness. That’s likely not it, as it wasn’t really sweet, and I only barely noticed.

Both tastes through “retro-haling.”

Thanks for the review. I’m up in Canada, and it’s too cold currently to smoke as often as I’d like … so, if I can’t smoke, then I can at least enjoy via proxy by watching others smoke!

Note, I’ve a novice-and-a-half, so take this for what it’s worth.

Cheers

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Schedel from The Stogie Review replied as well:

Tom and Ed.

I found there to be a very subtle taste of Sandalwood. Might that be the flavor you couldn’t describe? Almost like a very very mild flavor like the smell of Nag Champa incense?

Posted in: Cigar Reviews

Tags: ashton, ben, bulldogrifleman, cigar, stef, stogiereview, vsg, weekly

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 7:42 am and is filed under Cigar Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.