Cigar:            Ramon Allones Brioso

Size:             45 x 6.00

Country:          DR

Wrapper:          DR, E

Binder:           CT

Filler:           DR/Nic

Flavor Strength:  Medium

NicotineStength:  Mild

Date Received:    2004-10-29

Suspected Age:    1.5+ years

Vendor/Price:     Gift from Stogie, aka Uncle Grumpy.  Thanks, Unc!

                  $2.40 from CI

Beverage(s):      Water, Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Smoke time:       1:20

Date:             2005-12-11

Posted to ASC:    2005-12-11

Overall:    Very nice 4" cigar, so skip the last 2" if it goes south on you.  Starts nutty with a sweet, short aftertaste.  Aromatic wood increases and nuttiness wanes until the halfway point when it is all aromatic desert woods - cedar, sage, mesquite, perhaps rosemary.  Nice finish.  Worth having some around, and I would never be ashamed to gift one. 

Ambience:   Sunny Sunday afternoon in the sunroom.  Hot in here.  If I wasn't smoking I'd still be running the hot air fan transferring hot air from the sunroom into the livingroom.  Barefoot in slippers (flip-flops),

tee-shirt, and shorts.  It feels like Maui.  Later I'm going out to my favorite holiday party, P & C's.  Good eats, good wine, nice dog, mostly fine folks, but no smoking.  I'll probably bring an Amarone.  Ex-wife should be there, so I shaved my head in anticipation.  (See Frapper).

Appearance: Very attractively presented in cedar with a foot band.  A dark brown, mottled, medium-veined, wrapper with some tooth.  Triple cap.  Quite firm along length.  The wrapper has an almost dry, powdered appearance in places. 

Cut & Prelight:   Cut cleanly, and yielded a slightly restricted draw.  Aroma is reminescient of cedared fermented manure.  On the other hand I have never smelled cedared shit. 

First third:      No pepper.  Nice white ash.  A hazelnut (filbert) nuttiness, slightly sweet with a short aftertaste.  Much dry cedar.  There is a high note in the smoke I have not yet identified.  Held the ash to 3/4".  Good burn and adequate smoke volume.  So far very nice medium smoke.  Still quite firm behind the coal. 

Second third:     Still very good.  Still trying to identify a high, bright sweetness.  Could be sweet sage.  Definitely a desert, woody aromatic. 

Third third:      Becoming a bit charred.  Aromatic and lightly sweet in the aftertaste.  Abandoned at 2" due to charred flavor.