Ramon Allones Gigantes ABO JUN 2019 (R&RRW)

[hrs1]

Another crazy week.  My toddler's daycare continued its interactive study of infectious disease.  The disease du jour: Hand, Foot and Mouth.   The daycare claims it's taking hands on learning to new heights.  My wife and I suspect it's a front for bioterrorism.   Our colleagues suspect it's a ruse to get out of work until the kids make cameo appearances on Zoom calls.   This typically converts skeptics of working from home into true believers.  

While the kiddos are resilient and bounce back quickly, Friday night can't come soon enough for Mom and Dad.  Once we get them down for bed, I'm laser focused on disinfecting myself and clearing my head out.  A splash of whisky, a little music and a cigar should do the trick.

This box has been a star performer for me this year.  It produced my best smoke in 2022.  It had perfect construction.  The flavor:

On 2/5/2022 at 8:26 AM, hrs1 said:

Was rich and balanced, starting off with graham cracker & caramel evolving into nuts + vanilla + baking spices with sweet, stone fruit teases.  Now for the "To smoke or to age?" debate every time I see the box

I can still taste it almost 9 months later.  I gave it 98 points and still can't explain why I dinged it for 2 points.

Any reservations I had about smoking from this box were quickly put to rest.   I've given out a couple and smoked 8 more.  None of them had the super richness and definition of the 98er, but they've all came in between 93-96.

I grab the remaining cigar from the top row.  It looks great, but it's loosely filled near the foot.   Give it a punch and the draw is OK.  It's got a raisiny, Ramon Allones twang to it.   Let's get this R&R session started.

Light it up.  The burn starts wonky.  It's got a sharp sweetness along with honey.   But, the finish is ashy 😕  Worried that a mutant virus has infected my cigar, I slow my smoking down.  It settles into rich nuts with bits of vanilla.  Maybe I'm in the clear?

I reach the properly packed portion of the cigar.  It goes out.  I relight.  The flavor profile goes weird.  It's almost bubble gummy.  Then the classic stewed fruit pops up.   Then more technical difficulties.   Tar build up around the punch.   Grab a guillotine - off with it's head!

Second third and it's finally settling down.   The bubble gum flavor has clearly defined peach notes.  The smoke has a chewy, cotton candy-like texture.  There's chocolate on the finish.  It's different than the others I've smoked, but tasty nonetheless.

The cigar starts evolving toward the familiar profile around the halfway point.   There's vanilla, stewed fruit and raisins.  It's like moving from the treble to the bass clef in the key of sweet.   All the while there's a rich nuttiness and graham cracker supporting the score.

It requires near constant attention to keep the burn from going off the rails.   But, the interesting flavors keep me from minding too much.

After rotating between the sweet, peachy bubblegum to the raisiny, stewed fruit profiles a few times, we reach the final third.   At this point, it's a nutty, vanilla graham cracker.  By the time I reach the band, it's a hot muddled mess.   Time to put her down.

This is a tough one to score.   Construction was low to mid 80s.   After the loosely filled bit near the foot and before the nub, the flavor was low to mid 90s.  The peachy bubble gum notes were a welcome surprise.  I'm not sure if I was due for a let down, this box is in a transition period or my children's viruses have infected it.  I'll give it an 88 and chalk it up to weak construction and a sick period.   Much like my kids, I'm optimistic that the box will bounce back stronger than it was before