Cigar Review: Emilio Grimalkin

Toro, 6" x 50 ring gauge / MSRP $8.30
The first time I saw this cigar, my first reaction was "bundled stick!" This was primarily because of the Cheshire Cat eyes complete with a grin made up by the letters of Grimalkin. I soon learned it was the newest premium stick from Emilio Cigars, owned by Gary Griffiths...who was kind enough to send me this sample along with samples of the AF1 and AF2 blends that were reviewed the last couple days. Jerry Cruz described the eponymous Grimalkin as a "bitchy, old female cat" and I'm going to call that close enough for government work, although if you want the more technical explanation, visit the Emilio Cigars website. The cigars are made in Nicaragua, using...well, I'm not exactly sure what kind of tobaccos have been used. It is possibly all Nicaraguan and it is possibly made by My Father Cigars.

I will say that I do find the band art to still be a little silly...if I hadn't heard so much good about these, I seriously doubt I would have picked it up based on the first appearance. The wrapper itself is oily and fairly veiny.  The color is a medium brown with a little mottling. After slipping the cigar from its cello sheath, the aroma from the wrapper was a rather intoxicating mix of earth, coffee and a little autumn spice. On the foot, I got more earth along with chocolate notes. Cutting with a Xikar Xi, I got a great cold draw with flavors of chocolate and earth along with an almost syrupy quality...not so much sweet, but making my lips smack and stick together.

Lighting up, I got mostly a very heavy cedar flavor on the palate, with more woody notes and a ton of pepper spice on the nose. Before too long I started to get chocolatey notes on the palate, making it evident that this would not be a one-note, boring cigar...or at least giving me that impression. By the end of the first third, I was get a mix of cedar, chocolate and earth that seemed to change a bit on almost every puff. Very flavorful and very enjoyable.

The second third featured more of the earthiness and less cedar. There was also a growing pepper burn toward the back of the palate, which was welcome since the nasal burn had petered out pretty quickly. The construction was top notch, with a straight burn line, perfect draw and strong ash that held on for an inch or so.

The final third had a note of dark, rich black coffee along with cayenne pepper spice and a nutty retrohale. The Grimalkin was full bodied and full flavored, as well as possessing enough nicotine strength to make you take notice so this stick is simply not for beginners. Of the three Emilio cigars I smoked this week, though, this is my favorite and that is saying a lot. If not for the sorta silly, sorta creepy packaging, this one would score full points. At this point Gary Griffith might be saying, "Really? You deducted half a point because you don't like the band?" To which my response is "Yes." Marketing is all part of presentation, sales and prelight and to me this band looks like--sorry to say it--something you would see on a bundled stick. Like I said before, if I saw these in a store and knew nothing about them beforehand...I would likely pass them by without a second look. Get past the alternately silly and creepy band, though, and pretty much everything else is perfect. And that includes the single most important metric in our rating scale: Flavor. So while the Grimalkin won't appear on our year end round up of "Perfect 10s" (so far there are not many), because it scored 5/5 on flavor, it is virtually assured of a place in the "Cigar of the Year" considerations...all of which will depend on being able to sample it a few more times and see if I still feel this way about it.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10