Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Hooah (Robusto), 50” x 50 ring gauge / MSRP ~$6.95
When I was talking to Jay Lundy about his new cigars at the Chattanooga Tweetup and he told me he permanently changed the Respect blend to this less strong one. Since I really liked the original, I was a little bit worried to hear this. I was very curious to find out what Jay did with this blend. You can view Dave’s review of the original blend here. According to the AKA website it doesn’t look as though the varietals of tobacco have changes just the blend. Jay was kind enough to provide this cigar and the two previous cigars I smoked of this new blend.
The first thing I notice about the cigar is that the wrapper is definitely darker than the old blend. There is also a foot band with the year of the cigar as well. The wrapper is a nice dark brown with a bit of tooth and a good amount of oils to it. There were some fine veins to it as well. When I gave the cigar a squeeze it was fairly firm without any soft spots. Putting my nose to the wrapper brought about the light aroma of leather with barnyard coming from the foot. After I clipped it and took a cold draw on it I got a notes of sweetness with a good draw.
Once I lit up the cigar I noted flavors of chocolate, leather with a red pepper spice on the tongue and retrohale. After taking a few more puffs on it I started to get a good amount of sweetness from it as well. The draw and burn was perfect. It started off in the medium full range. As I got to the end of this third the spice had started to tone down.
As I got into the second third the flavors of creamy chocolate and leather had the tastes of coffee and molasses make themselves known. The cigar was still in the medium full range and the draw and burn continued to be spot on. One thing I’ve noticed about these newer releases was that they didn’t have the overly flaky ash that the original blend had. The spice started to come back along with a slight nicotine hit making itself known.
The nicotine really started to hit me at the final third. It didn’t spin me but I could definitely feel it. The strength was firmly in the full range by now. The flavors were pretty consistent of chocolate, cinnamon, leather, cream, coffee and earth. The draw and burn continued to be spot on until the end.
While I was skeptical going into this cigar, I will say that this new blend is definitely better than the original. It was more complex, rich, and dark which are all things I like. It still had a lot of strength, which is another thing I like in a cigar. I will warn you that this isn’t a cigar for those sensitive to nicotine. However if you like a good strong cigar, and the flavors I mention appeal to you, I’d recommend picking at least one up to try. I know I will be picking up more.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 9/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
Always good when you come in to a smoke with limited expectations and it impresses the heck out of you.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. that is what it means to me!!! Sorry I had no choice!
Thanks for the review!! Still havent had a chance to try this cigar but have heard so many good things about it..
Great review once again
Definitely jealous of all the great cigars that you guys get to “try” I have no doubt you love your job. I have added this as ANOTHER one that I am looking forward to try.
I received one of these in a pass recently and look forward to giving it a try.
I hear great things about AKA cigars, and I have a few in the humidor, but never get around to trying them.
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