FOH Xmas & New Year Review Comp 2018 Quai D'Orsay Imperiales 2012

[99call]

QDO Imperiales 2012 

Aroma at cold:   Cedar, lemony light tobacco, 

Cold Draw: Not much, clean rich tobacco, a little nuts

1^st 3^rd Such a classy opening, I always liken QDO to have a creamy porridge base flavour, with cedar, vanilla, lemon, anise, toasted oats, all lying over as the top of that base.  Retro not holding much at this stage but the smoke off the foot is rich, sweet, and intoxicating.  Struggling to think of a classier light body smoke. I know many will spit their beer out, but IMHO I think these cast a big  shadow over Cohiba. Whilst I think a may prefer QDO with only a couple of years on them, at this point this Imperiales is so together, those elements deliver in a really lovely light umami profile.

2^nd 3^rd  I must confess to getting bored of some other Churchills, but flavour delivery in this is so smooth and full of clean flavour, I never once find myself thinking “is it a waste to leave in the ashtray yet?”.  If drawn a little hard the lemon curd, and vanilla turns a little chlorine like.  Still a little pinch in the retro, which is surprising. Buttery Macademia nuts, toasted oats, vanilla.   Unusually the lemon elements switch to rosewater for a couple of seconds. Rich pipe tobacco follows this. Lovely

3^rd 3^rd   Lemon curd, Hay, Creamy porridge.  Little bit of that anise coming through, The slightly darker aspect of pipe smoke is a nice balance.

Some have said these are like Cuban Davidoffs, and I can’t really comment as the only few Davidoffs I’ve had were dead as door nails. but I can see how this does relate to the trinity of Cohiba, Trinidad and Davidoff. Rich light delivery, but with complexity, and evolution. If I did manage to find to well edged Davidoffs I wouldn’t be surprised if these had a lot in common. 

Last inch, ends with cream, lots of oily brazil nut shell, pipe tobacco richness. dark manuka honey,  lots of cedar tannin. 

Conclusion  My collection sort of lies either side of the spectrum, either light or dark bodied. I tend to get a little bored with medium bodied smokes.  In the light spectrum this is my favourite cigar. and the only Churchill/DC that has never been boring. All other i've had been guilty, at one time or another.

Score   97-98, in full confidence, no ifs no buts! lots of legs still..................Epic smoke RIP

[Guest Nekhyludov]

That is a beautiful box of Imperiales! 

[99call]

11 minutes ago, Nekhyludov said:

That is a beautiful box of Imperiales! 

Cheers yep, I was pretty chuffed when I got them, and they've not failed to impress