Cuba Aliados Doble Fuerte Rothschild
Chose this as my morning smoke today. It is the third one of these that I have smoked.
From the box:
"4-country blend of tobacco leaves with a black wrapper leaf made with a natural process. No chemicals used, not cooked, made in the cuban tradition and guaranteed by Rolando Reyes Sr. 20 Rothschild Negros"
First time I have seen a reference to no chemicals and not cooked..? I guess I assumed this to be the case with all handmade long-filler cigars, but maybe there are some that use chemicals or "cook" the sticks? Don't really know what that means; I would appreciate if someone could explain that to me a little bit.
Anyway, on to the review.
Appearance: Very dark wrapper with quite a bit of veining and a rough feel in the hand. There was one soft spot at about the half-way point of the stick, but the rest was pretty firm which made the soft spot pretty easy to detect.
Cut was easy, pre-light aroma and taste was just sweet tobacco. It lit easily, and produced a very white ash. Not sure if the whiteness was more prominent due to the darkness of the wrapper or not. Sort of a 'bumpy" mouth feel, not really unpleasant, just different.
The burn went to uneven very quickly, within the first 1/2" or so. Rotating the cigar did not help and several touch ups were required throughout the smoke. The ash was flaky and the veins were pulling away from the main body of the ash constantly.
I did not detect any specific flavors, just strong tobacco. There was some slight burning in the back of my throat. Tried to exhale through the nose quite a few times but did not succeed in detecting any additional flavors, and yes, it stung like a bit**. The flavors did not change during the length of the smoke, it lasted about 35-40 minutes before the burn problems and flaky ash made it too much of a pain to continue.
Overall impression: I don't think I would buy these again. :smiley6: I still have one more in the humi and I think I am going to let it sit until spring and try it again. This smoke leaves me with questions on veins though......do the amount and prominence of the veins on a cigar affect the taste, or are they the cause of the burn/flaky ash problems only? This is the most heavly veined stick that I have smoked. What conclusions can be drawn when you see prominent veins on a cigar you have never tried before? Can burn problems be expected on all sticks with heavy veining?
