[BlackIrish]

The specs:
Wrapper: San Augustin Ligero
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan (Esteli), Nicaraguan (Ometepe)
Binder: Havana Medio Tiempo

Humi time: 3+ months

Prelight: This is one fine-looking cigar. The San Agustin wrapper is a deep, dark, inviting brown, shiny with oil. You know you're in for some real flavor. A couple of splotches and veins, but nothing serious. The brown, gold, and red orange band is a beauty. The cigar doesn't have the heft of some others, but it's firm, with no soft spots.

Burn: Nice. Quite straight through the first ashing -- which didn't happen for almost two inches -- and with only mild wobbling thereafter. The white-gray ash looks great agains the dark wrapper, but it is a bit soft, and it flakes a little as the smoke progresses. An easy draw that produced a LOT of smoke. And that smoke smelled good!

The taste: Smooth, rich, dark flavors of tobacco, cocoa, coffee, some sweetness, some faint spice. It's flavorful and bold, but not as strong as the appearance (and some other reviews) would have you believe. Not for kids, but not overpowering, either, and it doesn't have that peppery bite common among strong cigars, like JdN Antanos.

If you like stronger smokes, I think you'll find this an excellent cigar. When you factor in the very reasonable price -- these can readily be had for about $3 apiece -- it becomes a must-have for me.