Leoninos by leon Jimenes #4 Review

[caskwith]

Its time for one of my longwinded reviews!!!

Well for tonights smoke i wanted to try something new and having just had a great meal (Cod in a provencal pepper sauce with Cornish New potatoes (any brits will know why that is good!) and some steamed runner beans, mmmm damn tasty that meal was!) and it was a wonderfully warm evening outside i decided to go for the Leoninos. this is first leon jimenes cigar i have smoked but i have been excited about trying one after i heard Bob and Dales review of the belicoso (i have one in the humi). Well for starters it was a wonderfully constructed cigar with a beautiful wrapper (dominican shade corojo) it had those great oil lines where the filler was pushing out againt the wrapper, i love it when a cigar has these. it felt really nice and firm and ic couldnt feel any major soft spots. the prelight draw revealed a host of woody fragrances that made my mouth water, it lit easily and the burn was razor sharp throughout. there was plenty of smoke and the draw was nice and easy but not too loose. the first flavours were mild earthy flavours with plenty of woodyness in there and i really quite enjoyed it. after the first ashing (about and inch but im sure it would have gone much further, i just decided to nudge it a little) i started to notice the flavour geting stronger and more of a nutty chocolate flavour coming through. halfway down and a slight peppery taste started to build aswell as a leathery spice flavour, all adding to the previous flavours so this was becoming a very complex cigar. On the last two inches i started to get a little bit of a bite, i dont know whether this is because it is quite a small cigar (5.5 x 52) or whether it was just the tobacco, i know some guys like this, i personally do not but it wasnt to bad so i continued. at the last inch the smoke got a little too hot and the flavour was getting a little strong for my young palette and i decided to stop smoking.
I started drinking tea with this cigar, big mistake and i soon changed to my normal cigar drink, blackcurrant cordial. the acidity helps to cleanse the palette.
All in all i quite enjoyed this cigar althoug i my opinion a larger size would help, hopefully the belicoso will fulfil this role. if you want a good value, fairly short smoke (probably less than an hour for most guys) then this cigar would be a good choice, although its quite a mild cigar IMO i think it can really stand its own against a strong drink, just make sure there is a hint of acidity in there, maybe a well oaked chardonnay.

hope you enjoy the review guys!

[TimL]

Thanks for the review.