Noob Adoption review for May 2008

[Blues Tiger]

This month MarkinCA sent me a very nice selection of Maduro cigars along with a very nice surprise of coffee. Immediately upon receiving the cigars for May, I decided to smoke a HDM Excalibur. I paired this cigar with a fresh ground cup of Sumatra coffee that Mark sent as well. My impressions are below along with some pics.

The cigar:


First impressions: Beautiful cigar. Nice dark, oily wrapper. Good construction and pre-light aroma. I can already smell the bitter chocolate and coco that I'm going to taste.

First Third: I clipped the cap with my Palio cutter and toasted the foot with a triple torch lighter. The foot toasted quickly and sprang to life with creamy smoke. Immediately I notice the dark bittersweet chocolate flavor that was hinted at in the pre-lit aroma. The cigar produced an excellent volume of smoke throughout the first third. The flavor of dark coffee/chocolate remained present until the second third.


Second Third: As I began on the second third, the dark chocolate transformed into more of a creamy coco flavor mixed with the dark roast coffee flavor from the first third. This cigar reminds me somewhat of a Padron maduro, although not quite as good. The burn remained pretty sharp with the ash holding firm for about 1-1/2 inches. So far, this is a nice smoke, nothing special but pleasurable just the same.



Final Third: The final third of this cigar was a little disappointing. The coco and coffee flavors morphed into just straight tobacco. I didn't get much further than the band until I had to chuck the cigar due to it getting too hot and harsh.

All in all I think the HDM Excalibur is a pretty good cigar. It really paired up well with the Dark Sumatra coffee. I will probably give these another try and see if the final third can live up to the first two thirds next time. Overall, I give the cigar a 7.5/10.

By the way, the coffee was excellent!!! Thanks Mark!

Jay

[rck70]

You've convinced me.....have on in the humi i will fire up tonight.

[MarkinCA]

Originally Posted by Blues Tiger

All in all I think the HDM Excalibur is a pretty good cigar. It really paired up well with the Dark Sumatra coffee. I will probably give these another try and see if the final third can live up to the first two thirds next time. Overall, I give the cigar a 7.5/10. Jay

[SIZE=3]Thanks for the review Jay. Sometimes that happens with the last third on some brands of cigars, but glad you enjoyed the first two thirds (and the coffee too)...[/SIZE]

[GHC_Hambone]

Nice review & pics! Had one of these before and really enjoyed it.