Review Notes: Nice firm pack. just beautiful vitola. velvety dark brown box-pressed wrapper. FWIW a gorgeous band. A few visible veins, but completely flush, can't feel them at all. Nice cap. Wrapper seams are nearly invisible. Pre-light aroma at foot was sweet and thick almost like molasses. Prelight flavor sweet leather and fresh tobacco. Perfect draw. At lighting, very cool, lots of smoke. Nice cedary aroma in the room. 1st third: Nice, easy draw with some slight resistance. Lots of muted pepper and leather flavors. Very cool burning, very enjoyable experience - I already want it to last 3 hours :). Black and grey zebra-stripe firm ash (but fell at 1 inch), razor straight (Alec bradley has this part DOWN) and slow burn. Spicy and creamy at the same time. Feels good in the fingers (smooth, silky, velvet) and looks great too! Ash fell again at 1 inch (no, I don't care at all about ash length, just commenting on the experience). 2nd third: This cigar is still quite firm - no squish. Straight burning. Not much smoke coming of the end of the cigar, but plenty coming through the cigar. Nice big cool creamy mouthfulls of spice and sweet cream mixed. Strong spice, leather, and some sweetness in the flavors but not at all overpowering. Ash is consistently dropping off at 1 inch. burn remain completely straight - wrapper remains intact. Very interesting flavor profile - a nice mixture of spice. I'm enjoying it even more now that the flavors are intensifying - still not overpowering. Makes the Rocky Patel Decade (One of my top favorites) seem almost one-dimensional in comparison. Burn line went a wee bit off near the end of the 2nd third, but was easily corrected with a touch-up from a lighter. Final third: Still firm and wrapper intact. Draw has remained consistently perfect. Strong spicy and leathery flavor with sweet cedar aromas. My wife is loving the aroma of this cigar in the house. Burn line razor straight - much more smoke coming off the foot at this point than earlier. Removing the band caused the wrapper to come up a bit but was easily repaired and stayed down. Some coffee and cocoa flavors coming through on top of the spice. Still a very nice mixture of deep flavors without any harshness or bite, thought the spice is quite strong, though not too. Overall: The richness of this cigar really comes through right to the very end. In fact it gets better as it burns down - richer, more flavorful, and more aromatic. I smoked it right down to finger-burning level and it just kept getting better. I would call this an oppulent smoke and well worth the price paid. Beats many cigars I've paid over $10 for. I am a BIG fan of the RP olde World and I would put this in the same class, but I can't tell which is better. This is much more juicy and tasy, while the RP is a bit more refined and smoother with more nutty flavors. I would say they were equals in quality but they are quite different in flavor. Did I say "oppulent" yet? Even without the band, this is a royal cigar IMO. I am definitely going for a box.