The people over at General were kind enough to send me a couple samples for this review. The cigar was introduced at the IPCPR last year and is a nod to the Music City roots of the brand. They come in four different sizes, all about five and a half inches long with ring gauges that range from 46 to 60. These cigars are comprised of Nicaraugan and Honduran fillers, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and an Ecuadorian habano wrapper. Dave did a review of a different size of this cigar here. I know I smoked at least one of these cigars before the review sample but there might have been more.
The wrapper on this cigar was very nice medium brown in color. The color was pretty even throughout. The cigar did exhibit a large amout of oils as well. There were some scattered fine and medium veins. When I gave the cigar a squeeze it was fairly firm to the touch without any soft spots. Once I put my nose to the wrapper I got an intense leather aroma, with lots of barnyard coming from the foot. After clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I got notes of wood and leather with a very firm draw.
As I lit up the cigar it started off with lots of spice, leather and earth. After a few puffs on it I started to get notes of oak with a slightly creamy finish. The draw was too tight for my liking and it felt like I had to keep puffing on it it to keep it lit. The cigar started off in the medium range.
Once I moved into the second third the spice did start to tone itself down. I didn't really notice much change in the flavor except some nuttiness started to come through. The draw continued to be too tight and I started to get a slight sourness that I usually get when it is.
The final third didn't see a whole lot of change in the flavors. The spice did start coming back a bit, but never really built out of the upper end of medium range. The draw didn't change, although the burn line did keep itself almost perfectly straight throughout.
Overall I was a little underwhelmed by this cigar. I remember liking the other sample that I tried a lot more than this one. Dave also liked the one he tried a lot more as well. So I would suggest that you give this a try for yourself, especially seeing as it isn't that expensive. I think that if the draw issue was worked out it would be a much more flavorful and enjoyable cigar.
Body: 7/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 5/10
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 7.5/10
I was gifted these in the 6x60 size. and I was looking to pick up some of the smaller RGs 60 RG just isn't really my things although it wasn't a bad smoke for a CAO at this point still far beneath the La Traviata in my opinion.
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