The halfway point sees a renewal of flavors. What was once muted is now explosive. The cocoa, creaminess, sweetness, caramel, cedar, and even the cinnamon are now in my face. A flavor bomb. Something I’ve always wanted to do…and probably most cigar smokers as well, is to spend a couple months at the side of a master blender like AJ and be that fly on the wall watching and listening to how he does things…how he picks the leaves…and seeking out his vision of what he wants to impart with his cigar statement. I have no idea how a bunch of leaves, grown in the right place, provide these wonderful flavors that anyone in their right mind would say, “Impossible.” How, possibly, could you make tobacco leaves creamy or taste like cocoa? This cigar is going nuts with flavor. Even the spiciness is back and tingling the tip of my tongue. The end is near. And it’s been a wonderful treat for over 90 minutes. The last portion is cool and not a trace of harshness. The price point is ridiculously sane. There are those mystical, expensive, hard to get cigars that don’t come close to this flavor profile. AJ comes as close as possible to making the perfect cigars. Clearly, this man is a tobacco genius.

Draped in a dark, alluring wrapper, this box-pressed cigar offers notes of cocoa, coffee bean and nuts that meld pleasantly with hints of marzipan and sweet raisins.