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Unlit Impressions

Construction on this smoke, and like every other Jake Wyatt blend I've held in hand, is virtually flawless. The contrast in colors and textures between the green and tempered toffee wrapper leaves is a delight, the flag cap is fitted tightly and bound beautifully at its base, and the overall feel of the cigar is exemplary. If anything, it might feel a bit too overfilled, but that's it.

The smell of the unlit barrel starts with a dark honey sweetness. Part sugary and unrefined, part tart and wildly fermented, the two-tone wrapper sings with smells of wet grass and old-fashioned sugar cookies baked with lots of butter. Since the foot is the size of a Q-tip, I abstained from stuffing it up my nose and sniffed the rounded 64-gauge rosado wrapper around it instead. Light leather and a lick of sun-grown earthiness but that's about it on that end. 

Chop off that flag cap and take an unlit tug, and herbal grassy flavors are the first flavor to be found. Raw, yeasty sourdough sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and wholegrains come after, along with a mixture that makes me think of drinking a mixed white and green tea blend while sifting through dusty manuscripts. Delightful.

Initial Smoke

Grassy and herbal, as only a candela wrapper can create, smoke formation begins in the field and grows bread-like after a while. Like a lightly kilned malt or a pint of pale pub ale, initial impressions offer a light and refreshing cigar flavor profile that is not all that spicy or cloyingly candela either.

1st Half   

Still distinctly herbal, but gradually growing earthy, the flavor of light leather and a mixture of different pepper spices shift the scene to a medium-bodied smoking experience. As things grow earthier and more malty, a stick or two of cedar show themselves, lightening the mood for just a moment before the next section.

What follows is a metric ton of tannins, both in tea form, as well as within hardwood and tobacco tastes. Retrohales have shifted from a light, grassy affair into something dark and oiled leather-heavy. The finish has grown significantly longer and darker and is now sponsored by medium-grade terroir funk. Blended together, the retrohales and that lengthy finish form an impressive team, as herb tea and tannins coincide alongside leather and Dominican topsoil. The blend is an even medium by this point, and a touch intense at times when considering the uptick in spiciness on the tongue and nasal passage. 

2nd Half 

By the time the second half comes about the blend is medium-full and even more intense. Charred hardwood has replaced the raw tannin tastes from before, and the smell and flavor of hickory is in the air. Roasted peanuts pop out for a few minutes to brighten the mood and deliver a much-needed snack break, as things have gotten rather peppery and the tongue could use some respite. 

As you keep puffing, the grassy and herbal notes of the candela leaf return for a final farewell. This brightens things up a bit, but with the sharpness of those pepper flavors and the charry wood tannin tastes taking over it becomes difficult to detect their presence the further down you go.

Parting Puffs

Resinous, spicy, hot to the touch, and blasting you with every ounce of smoke it can muster, parting puffs were a hard pass for me on this blend. 

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

I had high hopes that this cigar would burn just as beautifully as the other Jake Wyatt smokes I've torched in the past few years. But the reality was that my review cigar required a rather large touch-up in each section, and these relights likely caused those char flavors to form in the final third and ultimately, completely ruin my chances of enjoying parting puffs. 

The only positive points had to be smoke production and the cone, which surprisingly, remained tightly formed after each ash discard. This gives me cause to believe that it was indeed the dual wrapper design that hampered this blend's ability to burn straight and not the binder or filler section. 

Final Thoughts 

Dammit if this wasn't a frustrating smoking experience. For months I had looked forward to reviewing this blend and giving all of its promised cigar flavor profiles as much praise as its wild unlit impressions. Unfortunately, things didn't shake out that way, and I found myself struggling to enjoy the cigar due to all of its burn issues. 

However, there were just enough positive points to this blend that caused it to remain in favor, with all of those herb tea aromatics and aftertastes being a top pick. I also really enjoy the unlit impressions of this blend. It not only looks sensational and feels fantastic in hand, but it also smells splendid and stuffs just enough candela flavor into cold pulls to get you prepped for the first half. 

And while I found the first half of the cigar to be its most enjoyable section, what with all of the mixed tea tastes, herbal flavors, and licks of light leather, each passing touch-up caused me to fret further. This issue does not seem to be unique to this cigar, as I encountered the exact same burn issues in the Partagas Añejo, which also is a barber pole "perfecto" vitola.

So my advice is to snag a stick, but also buy the regular toro vitola, and then see which one burns and tastes better. For when it comes to smoking cigars, function truly is more important than form. Regardless of what color you are, the flag you fly, or the type of nipple or foot you prefer.

Stogie Specs