Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Maduro
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan
Vitola: 5 x 54 Box-Pressed
Purchase Link: BLTC Last Rites Viaticum
LAST RITES VIATICUM REVIEW – CALIFORNIA
Summary: Peanut butter, oak, and black pepper on the retrohale. A floral bitterness creeps in, threatening to ruin my groove. The lack of sweetness is also unsettling, but the construction is looking solid.
The second third kicks off with chocolate and an herb that I can't quite place. I'm going to go with mint because that makes sense alongside chocolate. There's also a slight funkiness that reminds me of Parmesan cheese. Quick burn touch-up.
Final third and my mouth is drying out slightly. Flavors have pretty much dissipated so I'm putting it down.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Eggplant.
Pairing Suggestion: Rum.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Single.
LAST RITES VIATICUM REVIEW – WISCONSIN
Summary: Firing this up, I got notes of spice, dark chocolate, molasses, a bit of cream, black pepper, leather, and coffee. There were times it reminded me of dark chocolate ice cream, though the spiciness shattered that illusion pretty quickly. I enjoyed the flavors.
Then it went out, despite consistent puffing on my part. Relight. Flavors are enjoyable again. Burn gets pretty far off. It corrects itself. It goes out again. It gave off a huge volume of smoke when it was burning, but the burn was just a mess. It took a lot of effort and attention to smoke this cigar.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Mullets. You might like one part of this cigar's personality, but it just doesn't work when put together.
Pairing Suggestion: Coffee.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Single.
LAST RITES VIATICUM REVIEW – OREGON
Summary: Rich tobacco and raisins off the dark wrapper of this week’s cigar. Sharp box-press on one side, soft on the other. Maybe mine was made on a Friday. The draw is on the loose side and carried the raisin note along with sourdough bread.
Charred oak, dark earth, beef jerky and a “bite” in the finish I can’t place. Small amount of pepper spice on the palate too. The retro hale smoke is heavy and laden with more than one variation of pepper spice. You wouldn’t want to try this for your first retro hale experience...unless MMA’s greatest knockouts is your thing.
Marking the middle is a slight profile shift. Still has lots of charred wood flavor along with the earth notes, however, baking chocolate and coffee find their way in as well. Pepper spice is all but gone. Messy ash on this stick but it’s churning out smoke like a locomotive.
Well, last third...and it’s out. Probably explains the sudden harshness in the flavors. Relight. Nope, still on the harsh side. Not a happy ending.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: Finding out your wife’s planning a special dinner...with all her girlfriends coming over.
Pairing Suggestion: Black Butte Porter.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Single.
Participants in this blind review were completely unaware of the cigar they were evaluating until all submissions were received and processed. Each participant was asked to answer a summary paragraph, an if/than statement, a pairing suggestion, and a purchase suggestion. Cigars were provided by Small Batch with only the expectations of candid responses. All pictures, information, and formatting were completed by a Coordinator outside of the reviewing process.
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