A Connecticut to Conquer them all?
Welcome to the second installment of our "Not Just Coffee" section of the Honest Roast Coffee Blog. If you happened to have missed the first, we reviewed a fantastic beer. Check it out here. This time around we are reviewing a very nice cigar from AJ Fernandez: the New World Connecticut Belicoso. The original New World by AJ Fernandez is currently in my top 10 list of favorite cigars so I had high hopes for the Connecticut as well. I enjoy a milder cigar from time to time, be it in the morning with coffee or just wanting something pleasant to smoke that isn't going to kick like an angry mule, so the New World Connecticut seemed like a no brainer. Let's get this thing toasted already!
Construction of the cigar was very good. Wrapper is solid, and upon inspecting the foot, the cigar is rolled rather well. Given the price point of about $5.65 when you buy a box of 20, no red flags here.
Draw of the cigar was just about perfect. I like the cigar to draw ever so slightly tight without there being no resistance whatsoever to the air flowing through the cigar. Flavors of spice, cream, leather, and what I can only describe as "waffle cone" lingered throughout the first third or so of the smoke. It's a flavorful smoke, with the strength being a good halfway point between mild and medium. The spice was the dominant flavor of the cigar along with some cream on the finish where I also detected that waffle cone flavor which I'm pretty sure is the first time I've tasted that flavor in a cigar! The smoke also had that "cool and voluminous" aspect to it which I always enjoy yet only a handful of cigars seem to be able to produce.
It was a fairly breezy day and the burn line was extremely consistent. The cigar produces a fair bit of smoke which was fairly hard to capture in a photo on such a day. The aroma of the smoke off the cigar was very pleasant as well. Had sort of a fruity boozyness to it. Like ripe berries and the sweet notes of a single malt whiskey. Also detected some walnut nuances as well in the scent of the smoke.
Through the final third or so of the cigar things stay pretty consistent as far as construction and burn go. As I mentioned, it was a fairly breezy day and not once did I touch up the burn or relight the cigar. As you make your way though about half of the cigar the subtle flavor nuances do drop off and the more dominant flavors tend to, well, dominate. This is fairly common with milder cigars and with someone that smokes as fast as I do(I burned through this 6x54 cigar in about 35 minutes). In addition, at the half way point I also started to get some grassy notes which is also common with Connecticut wrapper cigars. I attribute a lot of this to my smoking pace more than anything and have often found if you can slow down your smoking this issue is all but resolved.
All in all, I found this to be an enjoyable cigar with really solid construction. I'm not sure it's as good as the original New World by AJ Fernandez, but it's certainly worthy of the New World band. If you have yet to try the New World line, I can't recommend it enough. Both of them pair excellent with coffee. I would probably pair the original New World with an after dinner espresso, and the Connecticut New World with your coffee of choice for a morning smoke. As always, use code "botl" to save 10% on your order at the Honest Roast Coffee store.
Until next time, stay smokey!