Seeing as this will post on the 4th of July I wanted to start off with a happy birthday America! Also a big thank you to all of those in uniform doing their duty to keep it free!
Today I will be reviewing the other Tarazona cigar that I got in trade from Chris. You can read my review of the 305 here. This cigar is comprised of a Nicaraguan filler and binder with a Nicaraguan sun grown corojo wrapper. Their description of this cigar is: "The XTC is a medium to full-bodied cigar that is very complex. It has subtle, spicy overtones that are followed by a rich toastiness." Sounds pretty good to me. They come in three sizes, robusto, Churchill and torpedo and in boxes of 25. If you're interested you can check out the Tarazona Cigars website to purchase them or find a local retailer. I smoked one of these for the review.
The color of the wrapper on this cigar was a nice medium brown with a slightly greyish tint to it. There was a pretty good amount of oils with a slight amount of tooth to it as well. The wrapper also exhibited a slightly velvety feel to it when I ran my fingers along it. There were a couple of tears in the wrapper, but I don't know at which point of the process or transport they came from so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. When I gave the cigar a squeeze I didn't detect any soft spots and there was a slight amount of give to it. From the wrapper I got the pleasant aroma of hay and leather while an intense barnyard came from the foot. After clipping it with my MTX and taking a cold draw on it noted flavors of sweet leather with an ok draw.
Lighting up the cigar brought about the tastes of leather and cream to start with a hint of spice on the finish. After a few more puffs I noted tastes of wood, earth and leather starting to come though. The spice did start building after about a half of an inch into the cigar. The draw was ok, but could have been better and the burn was uneven. Towards the end of this third I started to get some bitterness coming through. It might have been due to the tight draw and having to puff on it frequently to keep it lit.
As I moved on into the second third a tunnel developed and I had to relight the cigar to get it going again. Luckily I was able to get it going without needing to cut the cigar. This didn't help with the flavors thought as the bitterness was still there. However towards the middle of this third the bitterness went away and was replaced by leather, earth, wood and cream.
The final third really stared to get enjoyable. The spice started building nicely to a point where I would consider it in the medium full range. The draw opened up pretty well, although it was still a little firmer than I prefer. The flavors changed to cinnamon spice, leather, wood and coffee with a slightly sweet finish.
If this cigar was like the final third all the way thought it would have been a great cigar. But since half of it was either ok, or slightly unpleasant I'd definitely like to give another one, probably a parejo shaped one, a try. This was slightly stronger than the 305 so those of you sensitive to strength might not like it.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10
I have smoked a few and an angle cut to the head did wonders to the draw.
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