Had to attend a Black Tie Award ceremony last night organized by my employer - I picked up two Cigars to take with me - the Coloniales, and a Partagas Selecion Privada. Both cigars I had been aging for over a year now in the humidor. Coloniales from a 5 Pack i bought last year on a whim while transiting through airports and hence I don't know the date code (Pity).
Turns out my department ended up winning all the awards last night including picking up one myself, so it was the perfect opportnuity to light up a celebratory cigar. Since it was already quite late in the night I ended up choosing the smaller Vitola, and I'm glad I did.
Cigar had no veins, impeccable pigtail and had just the right amount of oil in the wrapper to know this would not require any touchups during the smoking. Straight cut from the Xikar and a quick light and I am hit immediately by a cream with a slight bitterness that reminds me of a well brewed Cappuccino.The strenght a was medium to mild (milder than i remember when i last smoked it a year ago) and the extra time in the humidor had done it wonders.
Coffee bitterness is soon replaced by a honey sweetness but the cream remained throughout the smoking experience. This was also one of the times when the evolution was so subtle across flavours of coffee,chocolate, spicy (nose) and the everpresent cream - that i just sat there and was amazed how good a job the roller did. This is for me a dessert cigar, the aroma, flavours, richness all work perfectly as an after dinner treat. It might be the Caramel Truffle I had for dessert that made me feel this way but boy did it work.
Needless to say, there was never a need to fix the burn.
What really impressed me with this Cigar was the evolution of the Aroma - First time in a long time, where i just wanted to sit there and smell the gorgeous sweet and honeyed smells from the Trinidad. The smell was so good that i actually got 3 comments from random people, asking what I was smoking, and at one point, while walking a guest to the Valet, she asked me to stand a little closer because while she never smoked Cigars, she enjoyed the smell of this stick particularly.
One of the great experiences i have had since picking up this hobby. I have 2 left now from the 5 pack, and they too will be saved for these special celebratory nights. The Trinidad has gone straight to the top of the list of "Special Treat Cigars".
Have to keep a lookout for a PSP Box from the Pres!