Torpedo, 6" x 52 ring gauge / approx. $6
The Esteban Carreras cigar company introduced a couple cigars with interesting names in 2010. The first is this 5150--this number is "the section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code which allows a qualified officer to involuntarily confine a person deemed to have a mental disorder that makes them a danger to him or her self." In other words, an "involuntary psychiatric hold." It was also the name of the first Van Halen album with Sammy Hagar, for what it's worth. This cigar is made of Nicaraguan filler along with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper.
The appearance was nice with a smoothly colored wrapper with no large veins or flaws. The hue was like a burnt caramel and set off the black and gold foot band nicely. Use of a foot band often brings Rocky Patel Edge comparisons and I even kind of got that vibe a few times at a recent Esteban Carreras event where "The Edge" was mentioned a few times while I was standing within earshot. The cigar seemed fairly densely packed and had an almost velvety feel to it. Sniffing the wrapper, I got grassy and earthy aromas; on the foot I got a stronger earth with a little cocoa and coffee mix. The cold draw was just a bit tight but the flavors were nice--sweet chocolate along with an underlying earthiness.
You might think I'm crazy (drum rimshot, please), but I swear I tasted maple syrup while lighting this one up. That went away pretty quickly and initial puffs on the lit 5150 yielded earth and cocoa powder flavors along with a retrohale that was redolent with roasted nuts. The draw was just not good right from the start, and I found that the head was very firmly packed. I was able to open it up with a draw poker but the pressure also broke the very thin Sumatra wrapper near the head. I realized that this might cause problems as I smoked on. Through the rest of the first third I continued to get some earth and cocoa, along with a bit of hay.
The draw closed back up before the second third started and I had to take the more drastic measure of re-cutting. This did seem to fix the draw issue, while making the stick all the more prone to unraveling. Flavors in the second third were still led by a distinct earthiness but there was also a woodiness to it, more oak than anything else, I think. Surprisingly, the 5150 did not threaten to unravel as I thought it would.
As I moved into the last third, I got a bitter flavor that that was like a combination of weak coffee and bell peppers--well, something vegetal anyway. I have to admit I was not really enjoying this stogie all that much at this point. In the end, the 5150 was a well-made cigar with a flavor profile that I just was not crazy about (sorry, couldn't resist the crazy jokes). I might try it again at some point to see if I feel differently about it or if maybe a different batch of cigars would perform better. At medium in body and strength it would be a good stick for novices, especially if it fell in line with their flavor preferences.
Body: 6/10
Strength: 5/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 7/10
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