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Review Notes:
Earlier today I received a pair of these from a buddy of mine, I (being the impatient person that I am) Just had to light one up tonight...Now, before I get into it, I must verify, that yes, these were verified to be authentic by somebody who knows ISOM sticks, although I couldn't give you a year as I dint see the box that they came out of. That being said, lets get down to business. The overall construction of the stick was really something, it almost appeared to be rolled too tight, very slight bumpy-ness. I snipped the pigtail tip off with ease, and tested the pre-light draw...it seemed slightly on the wrong side of tight. I took my time in lighting it, and then, I took the first draw...Kind of weak and tight...I was gearing up for a disappointment, especially when I saw the burn becoming slightly crooked. I took a few more puffs and got the same result. I set it down for a second...just to let the burn straighten out. I took another long draw and it hit me...this cigar came to fight! A blast of rich peppery smoke filled my mouth, and lingered on the palate fading away into an almost sweet dried fruit taste. The pepper flavor eventually adopted that of wood and leather, and the finish got even sweeter. The burn straightened out about 1/4 of the way down when the flavors of black pepper, wood, and leather seemed to reach a peak and introduced yet another flavor...a subtle hint of bitter chocolate. About halfway down I was feeling the effects, the cigar I thought was going to be weak began to floor me, The chocolate began to fade away, and the pepper only got stronger, it changed from a lowly black pepper to a complex spicy mixture of different chillie peppers, all the while being complimented by the slight taste of wood and the fading hint of leather. The smoke got a bit more dense, but this was never a really smoky cigar, the ash was very firm, although not quite as dark as I was expecting, the finish was sweet salty and spicy all at the same time, kind of like a grilled mango with chillie powder on it. with less than 1/4 of the stick to go, I began to really feel floored, but the stick was so good I didn't want to get up anyway, the pepper eventually got more tame, and the wood took over in the drivers seat the rest of the way down. The overall finish was long and left the taste of sugarcane on my pallet. This was perhaps one of the most complex cigars I've had in a long time, and I'd definitely recommend it, if I had to put a number rating on it, I'd give it a solid 93, using the ISOM RYJ Churchill en Tubo as the benchmark 100. The Cohiba Lancero is definitely a fantastic smoke, right on the cusp of being a classic.
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