Video review HERE.
(Description taken from Cigar-Coop.com website)
Ventura Cigar Company has announced an expanded distribution of its Archetype Chapter 2 line. This is a line under the Archetype brand that consists of two cigars produced by Drew Estate – Initiation and Axis Mundi. In addition the company has updated the packaging of both of these cigars.
Archetype was announced back in July, 2016 and was released shortly after the IPCPR Trade Show. According to Ventura Cigar Company, the Chapter 2 cigars almost immediately sold out. The company says the inventory has now been restored, and will now be more readily available.
“The exceptional blends of the Initiation and Axis Mundi cigars are unchanged in this second release,” says Benjamin Winokur, Marketing Manager, Ventura Cigar Company. “We’ve updated the artwork on the bands, but have otherwise left the perfection of these smokes alone. The only real difference of this batch versus the initial Chapter 2 release is its wider distribution. Initiation and Axis Mundi will finally be easier for customers to find. And that’s something to be excited about.”
Archetype was released under two sub brands: Series A and Series B. Series A consists of three cigars produced at Davidoff-owned factories while Series B consists of the Drew Estate produced offerings. Recently Series A and Series B has been rebranded Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 respectively.
Archetype Axis Mundi features a Maduro Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan tobaccos. It is also offered in four sizes: Corona (5 x 46), Robusto (5 x 54), Toro (6 x 52) and Churchill (7 × 48). Pricing ranges from $10.75 to $14.00 per cigar.
For a maduro cigar this is not a dark cigar. It is a darker shade of brown but not nearly as dark as other maduros. It also has a denser feel in the hand than the Initialtion toro.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors were cedar, chocolate, nutmeg, and black coffee. There was black pepper which I rate at a 7. Initially the chocolate notes are prominent, as well as the coffee.
About 2 inches in (28 minutes) the cigar is making major changes, just like the Initiation did, but unlike the Initiation these changes are not for the better. The cedar is turning to more of a citrus, there are light caramel notes, quite a bit of nutmeg, and the chocolate notes are rather subtle. It's almost like a chocolate fudge with very little sweetness. There is still a black coffee base. The cigar is medium bodied. Remember, this is a maduro cigar but the chocolate notes are very subtle. Unusual. The nutmeg notes are the predominant flavor accounting for 65-70% of the flavors. My score for the first third is an 86. Quite different from the Initiation's first third score of 92.
At the 2/3 point (46 minutes) the citrus notes have gone to an orange peel. There are still massive amounts of nutmeg. The sweetness in this cigar has just about disappeared. It seems obvious that this is a totally different binder and filler blend than the Initiation. There are still black coffee notes at the base and light chocolate fudge notes. Due to the loss of more sweetness the second third score is lowered to an 85.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 10 minutes. In the final third some of the sweetness came back and the orange peel reverted back to an orange citrus with some sweetness. I did not have any caramel notes. The chocolate fudge notes came out a little more. The nutmeg notes were still quite high and there was still the standard black coffee base. The pepper remained good. The finish, which I didn't really comment on previously, was one of citrus and nutmeg combination with decent lingering black pepper. I was so taken with the front end flavors I forgot to mention the finish. The cigar reached medium to full bodied. With the increase in sweetness and chocolate notes, along with the orange peel reverting back to an orange citrus I raised the final third score back to an 86. This is a very different cigar from the Initiation, at least in this size. To be honest, I was disappointed with this cigar and had higher hopes for it.
Overall score: 86
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