Rafael González Très Petit Lonsdales PEL ESOO June 1999 (DDRW)

[Bijan]

My first time smoking the discontinued Franciscanos vitola.

The cigar is a little below the official weight of 6.35g.

Predraw of intensely minty tobacco, which is extremely pleasant.

First third: Lights up quite sweet at first and reminds me of the last RGP I had. Very soon it becomes mint on the draw and mint and marzipan or bitter almonds on the retrohale. For the whole rest of the first third I am retrohaling almost entirely and immediately after I puff (it is so smooth on the retrohale that I can't help myself) so it is hard to say what it tastes like on the palate, but there is a consistent mint aftertaste, so I would say it is still mint.

Second third: the sweetness goes away and the mint goes away and it is an earthy flavour, earthy on the retrohale, I start to worry that it is getting bitter but about a third of the way some sweetness comes back and some cream, and it is a cream tea flavour on the draw.

Final third: the mint comes back and it is marzipan again on the retrohale. Halfway through this third I get the aroma of slightly burnt coffee grounds or roasted coffee, quite distinctly.

43 minutes smoking time.

There were a myriad of fleeting flavours that I wasn't used to tasting, and which I have a hard time putting a name to. Lavender, a bitter herb I can't quite name, a spice I can't quite name, and so on.

The burn was excellent and though it got uneven in the first third it corrected itself without my having to do much of anything.

For once I appreciated the evolution and progression of flavours. Usually there is one flavour so much more pleasant than the rest in a cigar that I would prefer the cigar were more of that flavour and less of all the other flavours. But the flavours were so even (except maybe for the brief earthy period) and quite new to me except for the mint and tea. Again some flavours quite fleeting. Very complex.

[RDB]

Nice review @Bijan, thanks. 

RG must be the most under-appreciated marca. Reliably good and interesting smokes.