Esteban Carreras 5150
It’s been a busy week. So I resigned myself to missing todays review. You see, I often schedule reviews a week or two ahead of time. Basically the reviews you read are often written a week or two ahead of time. Not today. Here I sit on a Thursday night, determined to meet my self imposed deadline. While I’m at it, a quick Ed & Tom update… We will most likely get together on the 24th. The review will follow about a week after that.
On the menu today was a cigar I first tried at an event Ed had recently. I liked the sample that I smoked, and found one in the humidor that I bought awhile back at the Habana Cigar Factory. As for the name 5150, are they talking about Van Halen’s first album with Sammy Hagar? Maybe they are referring to the California Welfare and Institutions Code that basically means you are nuts. “Joe got 5150’d last night.” Who knows. Who cares. I paired this cigar with water as always…
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Toro 6 x 50
Price: Around $5.00
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
The chocolaty brown wrapper had a nice oily look to it, and had minimal veins and flaws. The wrapper had a dark sweet smell. The foot had more of a spiciness. The cigar was solidly packed, with barely a hard or soft spot. The draw had some resistance, but feel within my tolerances. The pre-light flavor was sweet earthy tobacco.
The ash held for around an inch, and the burn required no corrections.
Flavor:
The first third opened up with a simple earthiness. After about 1/4 of an inch, an interesting woody flavor joined in. The smoke took on a thick feel with a tinge of sweetness. After about an inch in, a nice spice joined along with a little pepper. Passing smoke through the nose there was cedar, sweetness, and spice.
The second third developed into a nice sweet mocha. Mixed with it was a tingly spice that clung to the inside of the mouth and sinus. Woodiness and earthy notes fell into the background. Occasionally they would stand out, and then fade into the background again. At the mid way point I picked up black coffee and the associated bitterness. I don’t mean a strong, bad kind of bitterness. The smoke feel was sweet and creamy.
The last third kept that sweet mocha-ish flavor, with a bitter sweet aftertaste. Coffee was up next. The woody and earthy flavors were still in the background. Basically the flavors stayed the same, but the delivery switched up a little, much like in the second third.
Conclusion:
This was a good, solid medium to upper medium bodied cigar. The flavors were smooth and refined. The complexities in the flavor profile were nice as well. Basically it hit the spot for me. As I often say, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but this cigar delivered. Considering the price point, I’d say it met or even exceeded it. This cigar is worth a try.
This entry was posted on Friday, September 16th, 2011 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.
Hogman September 19th, 2011 at 11:04 am
I will have to give this one a try. Like the flavor profile and u better start getting ahead lol.