Background
Pre Light
Today’s review is for the Gold (Corojo) rendition. It features a Dominican Corojo wrapper over Dominican binder and a filler mix of Dominican, Brazilian and Cameroon tobaccos. The sample I received displays a medium brown color with some moderate mottling. The wrapper leaf feels oily and very smooth, but little sheen is visible. Veins are sparse but pronounced. The foot feels a bit less dense than the rest of the stick, but overall the pack was sound throughout. Prelight, the draw is of deliberate but open resistance, and provides little in the way of flavor. Maybe some slightly earthy notes but not a great deal more. The aroma is mild and straightforward tobacco in character.
The Smoke
Initial puffs present solid spice, and some pleasant – and crisp – charred oaken flavor that, if slightly sweeter, might have led me to call it leathery….or even buttery. I get a lot of (black) pepper from it, which probably pushed me more toward considering it of a more woodsy nature. The burn immediately resolves, and will continue to remain very sharp throughout the duration of the cigar. By the middle of the cigar, the spice has subdued but never wanes entirely. It takes on a more “tropical spice” tenor, reminiscent of bright baking spice rather than the early pepper. This transition is fairly abrupt, occurring more rapidly than one might normally expect. There was very little transitory time, and no muddling of flavors at all. These more mellow characteristics continue throughout the midsection of the smoke.
Somewhere around the end of the third inch I noticed another, less sudden progression back into a bit more pepper. This time, however, the pepper is felt more on the soft palate and is more akin to red than black pepper. It should be noted that although I’ve spent a good bit of time writing about this spice, it is NOT of the variety you might find in the Preferidos’ Nicaraguan cousins. There is also a core cedar component, which tempers the spice as well. It remains approachable and palate-friendly to most any smoker. It’s during the final portion of the cigar that I believe it really shines. The strength picks up a notch, but never becomes overtly potent. I would place it solidly in the medium range in this regard. The flavors do intensify as I near the end, with the cedar and pepper playing the dominant roles. It smokes down to a 1″ nub, the evidence of 80 minutes well spent.
Summary
