Graycliff Chateau Grand Cru Review

[Acesfull]

Name: Graycliff Chateau Grand Cru (Purple Label)

Manufacturer: Graycliff Hotel and Resort, Nassau, Bahamas

Blender: Avelino Lara (Founder of the Cuban Cohiba Brand)

Size: Presidente ( 7.0" x 48 )

Filler: Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Costa Rican long-leaf tobaccos

Binder: Ecuadorian Criollo

Wrapper: Costa Rican Corojo

Drink: Water

First off I want to thank 19redwings (Bill) for sending me this in a bomb. These have a price tag of about $15-22 at a B&M.

I picked up the cigar and was concerned, it was a churchill in size and felt very light in weight and thought it was going to be underfilled so I snipped the end with my guillotine cutter and took a prelight draw. Too my surprise the draw was perfect and gave a nice sweet and very very slight peppery flavor. Since the draw was perfect I was very excited to light this bad boy up and smoke it.

I toasted the foot with and got started. The first few draws gave a pleasant light, sweet and smooth flavor. Slightly fruity but very very good. This flavor profile continued for the first half inch or so into the cigar.

Soon after I started to notice a slight black pepper flavor start to kick in. By this time I smoked enough of the cigar to develop a nice sweet finish that was pleasant to chew on in between draws. I've smoked probably 10 other of these cigars and they have all had this same finish from what I can remember. Its been about 6 months since the last time I've smoked one of these.

About 2 inches into the cigar the flavor profile started to become more earthy and dark. The sweet smooth profile began to fade and the pepper kicked up just a notch.

About halfway into the cigar the flavor was dominated by earthy flavors of leather, nuts and cocoa. The cigar began to become more bitter and the sweetness was gone. The cigar remained earthy to the end. The spiciness varied from this point to the end from draw to draw sometimes it was just like a black pepper and other times it was very spicy.

The last inch of the cigar was dominated by spiciness and a burnt toast flavor.

As for the construction goes, as I said before it felt very light. The cigar was firm at first but became spongy towards the end. Sponginess doesnt bother me as long as it has a good draw and the burn is good. Im going to add that this cigar required 0
touchups. Not a single one and the burn was razor sharp from beginning to end.
This cigar is one of my favorites and continues to be one of my favorites. Now if I can only find them on Cbid!

If I have to give it a letter I have to give it an A because it was complex, required 0 touchups, awesome draw and produced the perfect amount of smoke. To me it is worth every penny. Thanks again Bill for gifting me an awesome smoke bro!

[docruger]

thanks for the good review

[azpostal]

Nice review. I always wonder about those cigars, being such a high MSRP.

[orca99usa]

I love the Chateau Grand Cru, but I don't buy many of them because they are so pricey. I have one in my humidor (a Pirate) that was gifted to me by a fellow BOTL.