Wrapper: Dark Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitola: Box-pressed Toro
Factory: La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate
Purchase Link: Herrera Esteli Inktome
Herrera Esteli Inktome Review - California
Summary: Draw is on the loose side. Milk chocolate and lots of pepper in the first few puffs. There's a muskiness to this cigar and I can't tell how I feel about it yet. Jasmine.
Starting the second third, the burn is perfect. The flavors remain pleasant, but are unchanging.
More milk chocolate in the final third. It's getting pretty hot and I still have two inches left. All in all, this has been a simple yet enjoyable smoke.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Making paper airplanes.
Pairing Suggestion: Pina Colada.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Fiver.
Herrera Esteli Inktome Review - Wisconsin
Summary: This full-bodied smoke started with a big blast of spice, then moved on to chocolate, leather, and cedar. The spice slowly dropped off and was replaced with a lot of wood notes. It had a long pepper finish throughout.
There were a few additional notes: oak, occasional fleeting sweetness, coffee, and a really nice mint note that left too quickly. At times, the cigar was harsh at the back of my throat. Something about this cigar just didn't fit my palate - it was like there was an underlying mustiness to it, and the strong (and occasionally harsh) pepper and spice just weren't a match for me. I can think of several friends who would probably like this cigar, though.
Construction-wise, the draw was on the loose side. I had to touch it up a few times and it went out on me out of nowhere once. So not the best construction, though I wasn't fighting it the whole time or anything.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Full-bodied smokes with big pepper finishes.
Pairing Suggestion: Rum. Or coke. Or rum and coke.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Single.
Herrera Esteli Inktome Review - Oregon
Summary: This week’s cigar was slightly box pressed and had very nice aesthetics. Heavy barnyard scents emanated from the wrapper but the foot reminds me of bran flakes, honey and toast; promising. The cold draw was perfect and tasted like slightly undercooked oatmeal cookies.
The first half of the cigar was heavenly for me. Perfect burn, tons of smoke and a solid ash. Flavors included oak, leather, cinnamon with a retrohale of sugar cookies and cayenne pepper that really lingered in the sinuses. I really can’t say enough about the retrohale experience. Intense smoothness and at times the cayenne heat bordered on wasabi. The amazing thing was it managed to stay smooth yet intense. Towards the middle of the smoke the ash lost the fortitude of solidity I enjoyed early on and became rather messy, but the burn remained perfect.
The last half of the cigar remained steeped in fantastic flavors, featuring hints at caramel, a nutty sweetness, and toasted marshmallow followed with a floral touch. So very nice. Occasionally natural tobacco notes appeared but were understated as were the floral flavors. The wood notes of oak trended towards cedar and became really creamy as well. This cigar shined form start to finish for me, even with a messy ash in the late stages.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you like this then you like sweet tea on a sunny porch!
Pairing Suggestion: I would pair this with an IPA that has some orange citrus or a lighter summer brew.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Box purchase.
Participants in this blind review were completely unaware of the cigar they were evaluating until all submissions were received and processed. Each participant was asked to answer a summary paragraph, an if/than statement, a pairing suggestion, and a purchase suggestion. Cigars were provided by Small Batch with only the expectations of candid responses. All pictures, information, and formatting were completed by a Coordinator outside of the reviewing process.
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