Cohiba Siglo II ALO NOV 16 (XNYRW1)

[Jfeath74]

Kicking off the review champion series with a cigar that is near and dear to me. The Siglo II is a cigar of nostalgia for me, as it was the first Cuban cigar I had and the one that shot me straight down the rabbit hole that eventually led me here. I'll never forget that first Siglo, it was on the patio of the Park Hyatt Zurich from their cigar lounge menu. I knew very little about Cuban cigars, I picked the Cohiba because I was familiar with the name, I picked the Siglo II because it didn't completely break the bank. Holy Honey Bomb Hell, I never had anything like it and to this day it might be the best cigar I ever had. 

Okay, this is a review right, not a trip down memory lane, did I mention nostalgia when it comes to Siglo II? 

Not the best construction for Cohiba standards, with a couple large veins going through the wrapper, but the cigar has a nice colorado claro color to it with a little bit of sheen. The draw cold feels a bit constricted and if it were a longer format cigar I may be concerned, but it should be okay, time to toast and dive in. 

1/3 - Right off the bat I'm getting really nice lemongrass and orange zest notes, these notes hold true as I get further in. Cigar is medium to a touch over, rich toasted tobacco fills the air with a lovely aroma. Half way through the first third and draw has opened up to near perfect. As I get into it I notice a dark roast coffee note here and there, which is secondary to the lemongrass/orange zest primary notes. All lemongrass through the retrohale.

2/3 - Lemongrass fades a bit and dark roasted coffee becomes more of the primary with citrus zest being the secondary note, still very good, but hopes for a 95+ cigar like in the first third is fading. As I type that, the lemongrass and citrus primary are back, so it's kind of dancing back and forth from a citrus to coffee primary, very enjoyable.

 

3/3 - Adios orange zest and lemongrass, all dark coffee on the final third, held true at medium full throughout. Turned a touch bitter at the very end but that was at the point where I was damn near burning my knuckles, so can't fault it at that point. 

Overall the cigar was excellent. Now I didn't get any honey notes, but that aside it wasn't missing anything. The burn was razor sharp on one side, but a little wonky on the other. I attribute that to me lighting it with my POS lighter, which has been giving me issues. I Wish I would have just bought a new one when it started having issues, opposed to putting it on the Christmas list! Ash was super flaky, normally I wouldn't mind, but makes it challenging for decent progress pictures on a review. 

50 minute smoke time 

Construction 7/10

Draw 9/10

Burn 10/10

Aroma 10/10

Complexity 10/10

Value 8/10

Taste 38/40

Score 92