JC Newman

June 23, 2013

2013 Viaje Zombie (5 x 52)







Video review HERE.


A total of 4 retailers got this year's Viaje Zombie cigars...FOUR! That's it! Now, you can find them online if you search. There are actually 2 versions, the standard black box and a natural box. I received this cigar from a friend at a local shop and do not know which box it is from but based on our location and the fact that a shop in Greensboro, North Carolina got a shipment of the black box I am guessing this is from one of those boxes.

If this is from the black box series it is the same blend as previous years. (but I don't know what that blend is). I believe this cigar is a Nicaraguan Puro.

Each of the 4 retailers received 50 boxes of the blend, whatever that may be.

The cigar is very dark and pretty well made. This is a robusto with a tapered unfinished foot.




The cigar has a nice feel in the hand. After cutting the cap the test draw was good. The initial flavors were nice sweet notes of cream and cedar. The cream is the primary flavor which precede the cedar. There are also light black coffee notes. The pepper is very good and rated at an 7. The finish is a nice sweet cream.



About 1 inch in the cream notes have changed to cocoa, which is sweet, and it combines very nicely with the cedar. The light coffee notes are holding the base. The finish is about the same. The cigar is medium to full bodied at best. I am surprised that the cigar is not full blown full bodied from the start but it's not. In fact, it's on the low end of medium to full bodied.






As I approach the midpoint the cocoa and cedar have some richness. The coffee notes are more prominent now. The pepper is a black pepper and it's intertwined in all the flavors. It also lingers very nicely on the finish. There is still a nice sweet cream on the finish and it's a long finish. The cigar is still, at best, medium to full bodied. There are times that this flavor combination give you a flavor of black cherry. It comes and goes and does not last but it reminds me a lot of black cherry. That should tell you how sweet this cigar is.




Just a little further the cigar has obvious notes of charred oak. You get them at the back end of the cocoa and cedar. The coffee backs up the charred oaks. This cigar now feels like it has a sneaky ligero. I am just feeling the ligero. The reason it is not detectable before now is the cigar is smooth. This is not a ligero that slaps you in the face. It builds and sneaks up on you!








With about 1 1/2 inches left the lingering pepper  has intensified. It is much more noticeable and it's very nice! The pepper on the front end has also moved up to an 8. The subtle ligero is still kicking in. The flavors are about the same as previously noted. The cigar continues to be quite tasty.








Here at the end the cocoa notes decreased just enough to bring out the sweet cedar. You also have more of the charred oak notes. The coffee remained a nice base. The pepper remains very good at an 8 and the lingering pepper also remains very good. The finish continues to have a long, sweet cream. This cigar is smooth and now feels like a medium to full bodied cigar. These are very limited cigars and will be hard to find but if you can find them you will really like them! I very much enjoyed this cigar.

Score: 93

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the blog!! Have you ever heard of a company called custom tobacco? They make some good quality customizable cigars that I think you'd like.

Anonymous said...

This post reminds me a lot of a gift I bought my boyfriend a few weeks ago. It was his 25th birthday and to commemorate it I ordered custom label cigars. It was really easy to design the label and you could even design the cigar as well! I would defiantly recommend checking out Custom Tobacco for any custom cigar needs.