Viaje White Label Project Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $7.50

Surprisingly there aren’t any Viaje retailers in the Philadelphia area. According to their website, the closest retailer is two and a half hours away in Wilkes-Barre, PA. When a couple different Viaje cigars were sent to me by a reader, I was ecstatic. I held this one aside for a little bit because it was one of the smaller ones sent to me, and with the cold setting in, smaller cigars are a better choice at the moment.

Now this cigar features a very nice, chocolate brown Nicaraguan wrapper. The wrapper is very smooth to the touch and appears very oily. The cap is placed on perfectly flush, and the foot is covered by excess wrapper tobacco. There are no veins running through the wrapper that would cause any sort of burn issue. As for the stick itself, it is very solid. There is a slightly softer spot near the band, but it isn’t enough to concern me just yet. Once I cut this cigar, I noticed how evenly packed the tobacco was. And the closed foot also helped to light this cigar so easily.

As soon as I lit up this cigar, I was punched in the mouth with a ton of spice. Throughout the first half inch or so, the spice is very strong and the prominent flavor.  Right around this point, there were some earthy tones forming. As the earthy tones picked up, a leather flavor came out and started to build up on my palate. Just when I was thinking the flavor couldn’t get any better, a nice oak flavor entered into the picture. Throughout the entire first third, the spice stayed consistently strong.

The spice stayed strong right on through to the second third, but eventually mellowed out when a slight creaminess comes out. It seems as though the flavor profile took a complete twist, because now I was getting more coffee notes than wood and leather tones.

Right around the halfway point on this cigar, the spice really mellowed out. As the spice subsided, the earthiness and creaminess picked up to fill the void. The leather tones completely left my palate and the oak took over. Now I have a combination of coffee and spice on my tongue, and a woody palate. It was a complete flavor explosion.

The last couple inches were very mellow compared to the rest of the cigar. The peppery spice was dulled all the way down to a minor accent flavor, which is the complete opposite of what it was at the beginning. The finish was focused around the earth and coffee tones. Now with the wood notes being minor again, I was getting little hints of leather again on the exhale.

The ash on this cigar was a darker shade of gray. The gray ash was evenly layered and held on for about an inch and a half at a time. The burn was perfectly even throughout, even at the soft spot. With a nice even roll, the draw was exceptionally easy and helped to produce a thick, white smoke. This is one of the first cigars that I noticed two completely different aromas at the start and finish. It started off with a very spicy aroma, and during the last couple inches it was very earthy.

This was a very good cigar. The construction was pretty good, but the constant flavor profile changes were amazing. If I had access to these, I would certainly be interested in buying a box of them. I give this cigar a 8.25 out of 10.

Thanks for reading,

Zack the Stogie Man