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Unlit Impressions

Love them or hate them, but I always feel a bit excited when I see an authentic, USA-grown Connecticut Shade wrapper on a cigar. Slightly less refined than their Ecuadorian cousin, and rocking a slight greenish tint, this outer leaf smells as traditional as it gets. Fermented hay, dried straw, lemon peel, and touches of toasted bread all turn slightly sweet as you sniff. Soft and slightly shiny, the roll is pure AJF perfection, and outside of a slight discoloration and a stray blemish near the cap, this stick looks quite fetching.

Since the majority of the darker, stronger tobaccos are inside, it comes as a surprise that scents from this section are just as light and effervescent as that of the wrapper. Fuji apples, cinnamon-coated pie crust, creamy custard, and a splash of citrus toward the finish make for an elegant aromatic. 

Cold draws are raw cookie dough and tangy tannins, along with a little bit of citrus followed by a bite of ginger spice. 

Like all other cigars in the New World line, this stick sports a foot band and a rather large barrel band, which on this corona gorda vitola means much of the cigar is completely covered.

Initial Smoke

That ginger and citrus note doesn't muck about, striking the tongue with a tart and spicy mixture that melds into an even spicier retrohale. Light-bodied with a shorter finish, flavors of creamy cashew nuts and a milkiness begin to awaken as initial impressions settle down. 

1st Half   

As the cashew butter party continues, flavors settle down a bit and grow more custard-forward. While it may not be a total egg bomb, there is some mellow meatiness to the internals of this blend, and after a while, you may recognize the flavor of caramel sauce coming forth. Salty, sweet, gooey, and slightly burnt, this plays perfectly with the cashew and custard and turns the first third into a truly delicious smoking section. 

With body and strength building toward medium, the second third leads with a faint apple flavor, and with the caramel taste getting darker and sweeter, this works really well as a cigar flavor profile. Beyond these tastes, there is a touch of fermented hay and that dry grassiness commonly found in US-bred versions of Connecticut Shade wrapper leaves.

Aromatics and retrohales are rather good and prefer to focus more on the grassy, ginger, and citrus side first, before leaving you with a lingering dark sweetness that gets longer and longer. This causes the finish to increase in length, which in turn causes the body and strength of the cigar to toy with the idea of being more than just mild. 

2nd Half 

Everything goes a bit dark and distinctly AJF on you in the second half. While it may start small, with the caramel becoming heavier and the milky notes growing fainter, it's the flavor of dark malts that makes the leap into medium territory. While not very beer-like, or even whiskey-based, these malts make for a rich, sweet, and surprisingly intense transition. 

As the final third heats up, so too does the char flavor of overly roasted coffee beans, which is only tempered by the milkiness of the smoke and the taste of doughy biscuits. Somewhere inside, various mixed baking spices attempt to be noticed, but only emerge further down that ever-lengthening finish.  

Parting Puffs

While I wouldn't consider parting puffs on this blend to be memorable, I must admit that the rich, nutty retrohales I experienced were well above average in enjoyment. Now, as for what rests upon the tongue, that is just one big rewind to light, where peppery and tangy citrus tastes first mixed with those herbal grassy notes and all that fermented hay. 

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

Let's have a round of applause for yet another outstanding burner from AJ Fernandez. Everything save for a touch of heat felt along the barrel at times due to the slender size of this vitola was perfect, with a fluid draw producing a surprising amount of smoke from such a small cigar.

Final Thoughts 

Could this be the perfect AJ Fernandez blend for fans of super light cigars? Not likely. While the first half is more than suitable for those who favor restraint and traditional, milder cigar flavor profiles, the second section of this stick will likely be a touch too intense for some. It's not just the peppery spice notes that start to form, or the dark undertones that eventually turn a touch charred on you. No, it's that increasingly lengthy finish and all of the body and strength that it holds close that causes me to feel that this blend is best categorized as mild-medium instead of just mild. 

Yes, it is way milder than the majority of other cigars in the AJF portfolio, but there is a boldness brewing deep within that makes me doubt that the average mild cigar smoker will dig these darker depths provided by that Mexican San Andrés binder and the Brazilian and Nicaraguan long-fillers within. 

Personally, I found myself admiring moments of this cigar, and feeling a bit befuddled by it at others. The mixture of grassy and herbal with sweet caramel and custard didn't strike me right, and they just left my taste buds wondering which direction to follow. Furthermore, the cigar did get almost too charry for my taste in the second half, despite not needing a single correction with my torch lighter. Give me those roasted cashews , caramel, and creamy custard notes any day, and let's save the grassy spiciness and dark roasted coffee for a different blend entirely.

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