Video review HERE.
The Pura Sangre is the product of The Ventura Cigar Company. Pura Sangre translates to "Pure Blood". First off, it's Plasencia made. Second and more importantly, it's Nestor Sr.'s private blend. It's what he starts his day with - everyday - with a few more sticks waiting in his shirt pocket.
Viso Habano Colorado wrapper, aged 5 years. All viso Habano binder. Long-fill tobaccos from Jalapa, Esteli and Condega. In other words, this cigar is the legit Nicaraguan Puro that represents its name to the fullest. Viso Habano Colorado wrapper, aged 5 years. All viso Habano binder. Long-fill tobaccos from Jalapa, Esteli and Condega.
The cigar is a dark brown and well made. The band is beautiful and almost three dimensional. Very nice.
The cigar feels dense in the hand and this end shot of the foot shows just how dense it is.
After cutting the cap the test draw was very good; effortless. The initial flavors were leather, sweet cedar and a nice amount of pepper. (5 out of 10 in intensity)
About 1 inch in there was a minor burn issue that I blame myself for. The wrapper is very dense and the cigar should be smoked slower than I anticipated. The flavors at this point are very much like the initial notes. They are now leather, coffee, sweet cedar, and a touch of cream on the back end of the cedar. The pepper remains very good. The finish is a combination of cream and lightly roasted almonds. You could almost call it almond butter. There is some lingering pepper.
As for the burn issue, I will attempt to let it correct itself. And, it did. With some patience the burn evened out very nicely.
At about the midpoint the cigar has moved up a notch in richness. The leather notes are richer. The other notes are about the same. There is a little more richness in the finish notes of "almond butter". The pepper lingers on the finish. If I were to give it a score of intensity it would be a 4 out of 10.
The cigar ended up with some decrease in the cedar but an increase in the leather. The richness in the leather also decreased. The coffee notes accentuated the leather. The pepper remained about the same with possibly a little increase. The finish remained about the same. I could see this cigar going very well with coffee. Usually heavy leather cigars do not score high with me unless they have other flavor notes and this one does have other notes; cedar. The cedar notes combined very nicely with the leather. Plus, when the leather became rich it made the whole cigar even nicer. I would suggest this cigar for anyone who enjoys leather heavy cigars with some sweetness from cedar. I enjoyed this cigar quite a bit.
Score: 91
4 comments:
Leather heavy cigars... Sounds good to me. Would be something to tame with a glass of good Bourbon. Nice review Tim.
Smoked a few of these...packed too tight, hard draw, harsh smoke, poor burn, over-priced...in short, this cigar blows.
I'm smoking one now, with about 2 years aged in my coolerdore. Nice review and pretty much spot on.
Thank you.
Post a Comment