Robusto, 5.5" x 50 ring gauge, approx. $7
The Special Selection was first introduced by Savinelli in 2005. Apparently Savinelli's vintage dates are in reference to the harvest date of the leaves and not release date of the cigars; these cigars featuring the 2005 harvest were released in 2009. It is produced by the Oliva family for Savinelli and is made from Nicaraguan filler and binder along with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. It is described as "powerful" and "medium to full in body." After first discovering a couple Savinelli cigars at my "home" B&M, I set out to try to find and sample the rest of the line up. I found this and Thursday's review cigar at Leaf and Ale in Knoxville, TN.
The wrapper color on this was very even and a shade darker than medium-brown. There was not much oil to look at, but it felt oily and velvety to the touch. There were some medium to large veins that made this less than beautiful along with some puckering and stretching in some areas. The aroma from the leaf was leathery with some barnyard and sweet tobacco thrown in. From the foot I got a stronger barnyard along with a bit of chocolate and coffee. After snipping the head, the draw was very good and there were prelight flavors of leather, coffee and dried fruit, along with a little spicy tingle on the lips.
Initial puffs had a mild sweetness of dried fruit, a creaminess and a nice peppery hit when blown through the nose. The first third ended up not being as nice as those first few puffs, though. There was a little coffee and earth and just the faintest hint of sweetness. There was some black pepper on the retrohale and a build up of peppery burn in the back of the throat. Through all this, though, I couldn't help thinking that there should be more--maybe the flavor should just be more pronounced. It just seemed like everything was muted to some degree.
The second third started off with a sourness that was not at all pleasant. It was so bad at one point that all I got flavorwise was "sour" and "pepper." Fortunately that aspect tapered off as the second third continued, allowing more leather and earthy notes to come through. So far body was in the medium-to-full range; the burn lines was a little crooked, but fairly even; and the draw was good, although not perfect.
The last third did nothing to rescue this cigar from utter mediocrity in my opinion. It was earthy and peppery, but just did not pack much flavor. To be honest, I have had cigars costing half the price that I enjoyed twice as much. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. This Savinelli Special Selection 2005 was not terrible, but it just did not pack the flavor I expected from its pedigree and especially judging from its prelight flavor and aroma notes. On the plus side the draw got better toward the end and the burn continued evenly. With the inconsistencies of tobacco from one harvest year to the next it might be worth trying the "2006" version when it arrives, but I have to recommend a "pass" on the 2005.
Body: 7/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 3/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 2.5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 6/10
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