Byron - Siglo XX - Londinenses (FSCRC)

[hawkeye5050]

Byron - Siglo XX (20th Century) - Londinenses

SIZE: 5 1/2 x 54
WRAPPER: ECUADORIAN SHADE
BINDER: UNDISCLOSED
FILLER: UNDISCLOSED, DOMINICAN & PERUVIAN LIGERO

My interest in Byron came from a local cigar lounge using it's name and branding. It was the only local spot I can remember seeing it and the others (Atabey and Bandolero) from Selected Tobacco. The company is run by Nelson Alfonso, famous for the design of Behike. He reminds me of the role Nathan Myhrvold has in gastronomy but for the cigar world or maybe just some sort of mad scientist of tobacco.

My evidence -

• includes secret tobaccos harvested in 2010
• made in small Costa Rican factories Nelson Alfonso takes over for his runs and then returns
• post roll stored with multiple types of cedar(Western, Spanish and Lebanese?) for their different properties
• put through temperature and humidity cycle changes during aging for 5 years

This is an undertaking of someone with a lot of passion and ingenuity.

Cold Draw - Rich flavor of hay

1st /3 - Chocolate and hazelnut flavors at the start. A bit of cubanesque twang. As it goes the flavor of clove joins the party. The retrohale is all citrus.

2nd /3 (+40min) - An orange rind joins the clove. The other flavors transition to barnyard and smoke. Not cigar smoke, the smoke from a BBQ. Not a propane grill, a real BBQ - offset smoker loaded with Post Oak from Texas.

3rd /3 (+80min) - Left with the wood smoke and almonds towards the end. Very smooth.

Score: 91/100

Writers Note:  Smoked this on Christmas Day encouraged by Rob's Festive Season Cigar Review to select something pricier ($35>). That may have set my expectations high as I was assuming a higher score given the labor to produce and age. In the past I have had other Byron & Atabey and recall liking them more than this one.