L'Atelier Surrogates Cracker Crumbs (NC) (WTR) (WTRW)

[saltbox]

Not sure if NCs count, but I was curious myself as to how the wet/dry comparison would fare with my NCs, which are stored at 65RH vs. 62RH for my CCs. San Francisco also had a small heat wave during the last few days* and air conditioning is basically non-existent in SF. The tupperdor these were stored in was very affected by this, reaching over 80F during the days, so the actual moisture content of these may be all over the place and the water soak may have more observable benefit.

The Cracker Crumbs flavor profile is about as far as it gets from the Partagas Shorts I already tried this with: earthy and spicy. It's also short enough that I can commit to smoking the whole cigar even if it's terrible.

L'Atelier Surrogates Cracker Crumbs Dry Review

First third: Opens with familiar earthy spice and unsweeted cocoa powder, but the cocoa powder fades and is replaced by a dry woodiness quickly. This may be the effect of poor temperature regulation during the last few hot days.

Second third: Nuttiness and spice pick up. An odd savory note, like grilled mushrooms, appears. Occasional bitter and tarry notes.

Last third: Main flavor becomes bread that turns into almonds on the finish.

Overall: Definitely seems like the recent heat has affected the moisture content negatively, missing some of the sweetness it usually has.

L'Atelier Surrogates Cracker Crumbs Wet Review

Had to be careful with this one running under the tap, as the cigar comes with an oddly pre-cut cap and I didn't want to get water directly into the interior. Actually did a second pass under the faucet because I didn't get a good video the first time. Definitely takes more effort to light properly, something I didn't find with the Partagas Short. Label ended up picking up quite a bit of the oils from the wrapper.

First third: Opens with a nuttiness that wasn't there before, and there is way less peppery spice. The retrohale was overwhelmingly spicy with the dry one, but it's nice and smooth this time, showing nuts and leather. The draw continues to get tighter, presumably as moisture makes its way inward.

Middle third: Draw continues to tighten. Flavors are muted aside from some bread and creaminess, leather on the retrohale.

Last third: Still creamy but weak on overall flavor, with a touch of almonds on the finish.

Overall: The water dunk really toned down the spice, but it also caused all the other flavors to become extremely muted as well. As one dimensional as this cigar is normally, it was even more so this time. The cocoa notes were gone, and all that was left was a plain creamy bready smoke with a tighter draw. Would not recommend.

* Did this comparison on Monday, only typed it up just now.