Ashton ESG
Tonight’s smoke is the Ashton ESG. I was gifted this for X-mas from my brother in law. If your reading this, thanks for the smoke! I’m pairing this cigar with a few sips of the Balvenie 17 year scotch, and water. I’m paraphrasing from Ashton’s website below, and I’m assuming the tobaccos are from the Dominican.
Robert Levin and Carlos Fuente Jr. have teamed up to create the Ashton Estate Sun Grown (ESG). The ESG uses a unique Dominican wrapper grown on the Chateau de la Fuente farm in the Dominican Republic, and has never been used on any other cigar.
Size: 5 x 52
Price: Around $20.00
Pre-smoke & construction:
This cigar was tightly packed with no soft spots. The wrapper was shiny with minimal veins. The foot and wrapper had a scent of hay and rich soil. The pre-light draw tasted earthy, and had a small amount of resistance. The burn only required a few touch-ups, and the ash held firm for over an inch. Construction overall was great.
Flavor:
The first third began with simple earthy notes, and a peppery taste. As this third ended, sweet, almost chocolaty flavors crept in.
The second third continued with earthy and peppery notes. Chocolaty flavors, combined with coffee entered the picture. I noticed slight notes of nut as this third came to a close.
Although the cigar was nice during the first two thirds, it really came to life in the last. The chocolaty flavors increased significantly. A sweet spice came into the forefront and couldn’t be ignored. If I had to pinpoint the spice, I’d have to say cinnamon and pepper. A tingling sensation could be felt on the lips as well.
Conclusion:
Overall, this was a good, full bodied smoke. It started off with a fairly simple flavor profile, and built from there. The only downfall is the price. For $20.00, I guess I was expecting more of a “Wow” factor. Price aside, I have to give this cigar a thumbs up. It was a damn good cigar, and I suggest you give it a try.
This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 12:00 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.
Rob February 6th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Yeah, that price point is sure unattractive. Either way looks like a good smoke.