Matt and I walked through this cigar a while back, but in a different size. Xikar recently expanded the size of the cigar to the new Grande 6 x 60. Before you ask … Yes sometimes play a role. You can take the same cigar blend and Churchill will differ from Lancero or Robusto.
That is why I was happy when Jerry, Bob and David from Xikar offered to send me some samples of the new Grande size.I was curious to see if size affects the taste of this line; I still have to examine the HC series Criollo and Connecticut in the new size, so stay tuned for that.
For more info about Xikar, and their HC series cigars, check out their informative homepage. as always tries I pair this cigar with water.
Wrapper: Habano Colorado
Book: Esteli
Filler: Costa Rica, Jalapa Honduras
Size: Grande 6 x 60
Price: $ 9.50
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
The dark wrapper looked nice, with an oily sheen and minimal veins.The smell comes out from the wrapper was sweet with mild spice. Foot had a mild barnyard-ish odour, which is not bad. The cigar was overall very fast and even packed. A draw was ever so something properly, but fell in my tolerances to be good. On pre-light a draw was a sweet natural tobacco.
The ashes are held for about 1.5 inches, and the burn list requires some minor touch-up's
Taste:
The first had a slightly woody taste that decreased in strength as the time went.Through the nose, I detect a pepper is not too strong, but it had a nice little zing to it.Taste was a smooth earthy nature of tobacco.
In the second third seemed overall taste profile really come together and smooths. Smoke rose relatively little; a nice sweetness entered the profile that you want, and sometimes it resembled the glaze.Signs of woodiness lasted in the background, and coffee notes would come and go.When passing through the nose, a piece of cake, pepper is still there.It had a nice kick that what not excessive.Later, it took on a sweet, almost cinnamony feeling. Taste was sweet and slightly creamy.
The last third had some differences compared with the 2nd third; the overall profile as the taste of mocha-ish tastes sometimes.On the other, draw was a mixture of woody notes, coffee and pepper.Some draw had a creamy feeling, others had a dry, fresh feeling.Smoke cover your mouth and tongue with a sweet flavour.Blowing smoke through the nose, as you know, sweet and peppery spice.
Conclusion:
Let's get this out of way first … you haters think perhaps I succumb to Xikar because I got these cigars for free; Also Xikar has been good for me for a long time, I know they only give honest opinions; that is, of course, all this Web site is a place to speak about cigars; I am quite sure that they would want nothing to do with me if I would be.
Of course, Grande was similar to the smaller size Matt and I reviewed last year; there were some slight differences but (you need to look at the second review comparing). Grande seemed more of a ramp up period, if it is meaningful.
What it boils down to is if you think about cigars in this ring gauge; I thought it was a damn good upper medium to full wheel smoke. Tastes was good, and there was no harshness or a bad thing; This slow burner is worth a try, and I give it a thumbs. Thanks again to Jerry, David and all from Xikar to send these cigars for me!
Published: Cigar reviews tags: colorado, grande, habano, hydrocarbons, series, XikarThis entry was posted on Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 12: 00 am and is filed under Cigar reviews, you can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed you can leave a response, or trackback from your own website.
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