Thursday, June 16, 2011

Hammer and Sickle Berlin Wall Toro Review

Wrapper: Criollo
Filler: Ligero
Price: $8.00 - $9.00
When I was on vacation last weekend, I walked into the cigar shop right around the corner and saw these gems in the case. I had never heard of the brand, so I had to look it up. I found out that there are only 500 boxes of this line made. So in my eyes that makes this a pretty rare cigar. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of smoking one of these.

The cigar itself is a light brown color with a slight red hue to it. It smells very earthly and has almost a leather feel to it. The wrapper has a nice sheen to it as well. The cigar it was solid, with no veins and only a few minor soft spots.

Once this cigar was cut and lit, the flavors exploded. This was a very strong cigar right away. The primary flavors were definitely pepper and spice. The pepper was almost overpowering, but there were other flavors to dull that down a bit. There were subtle nutty notes throughout of the smoke as well sweet sugary notes from time to time.

After the first third rounded out, the flavors came out even more. The pepper flavor got a bit stronger, but thankfully the nutty and sweet notes kicked up as well. Right around the half way point, woody and earthy notes came out. This combination was different to say the least. I’ve never had a cigar that was this smooth that packed that much spice into it.

After the start of the last third, I could clearly tell that the spiciness died down quite a bit. Once the spiciness subsided, the earthy and woody notes stepped up. When those notes stepped up the cigar was very delicious and had a very good finish.

Now if you have read my posts before, you know how much I like the ash of a cigar. This cigar’s ash was not nice, it was actually quite ugly. The ash was dark gray with several black spots. Also it was very flaky. It was pretty strong, holding on until the halfway point or so, but that doesn’t make it great by any means. The aroma was very strong and spicy. It actually tingled my nose quite a bit. The smoke was almost white and there was a great amount produced. The burn was pretty inconsistent. At some points it was really even, and at others it was really bad. The draw was always effortless.

Overall I have to give this cigar a 6.75 out of 10. I think the rarity and flavor can carry this cigar a long way.

Enjoy your smoke,

Zack the Stogie Man

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