Video review HERE.
This wound up being a very interesting review. I suggest you read it fully to get the whole scope of what happened, or watch the Youtube video.
(Description taken from Cigar-Coop.com website)
Cornelius & Anthony has released The Mistress. It is one of two limited production releases being offered by the Virginia-based company that were only available for retailers attending the 2018 IPCPR Trade Show. It’s a cigar that showcases U.S. grown tobacco.
The Mistress is produced at the La Zona factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. The cigar utilizes both a U.S. grown binder, fillers from Pennsylvania, and is finished with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The Mistress will be available in four sizes. The company describes the profile of The Mistress as full in strength.
The company has also announced another limited production offering IPCPR attendee exclusive offering called The Gent.
Blend Profile
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: United States
Filler: Pennsylvania
Country of Origin: Nicaragua (La Zona)
Vitolas Available
Corona Gorda: 5 1/2 x 46 (SRP $8.95)
Robusto: 5 x 52 (SRP $9.45)
Toro: 6 x 50 (SRP $10.00) REVIEWED TODAY
Gordo: 6 x 60 (SRP $10.95)
The cigar has a very dense feel in the hand. It is very weighty in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was a bit firm but I decided to give it a try. The initial flavors at light up were a bit odd. They were cedar, tart apple, touch of brown sugar, light chocolate notes, and earthy black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 6 1/2 to 7.
At the first third (41 minutes) the cigar is burning very slowly. That is a tremendous burn time for 2 inches of a toro cigar. It was at this point that I decided to touch up the burn as the cigar was canoeing badly. Here are shots of what the cigar looked like just before I touched up the burn line.
I gave the cigar ample opportunity to catch itself up on the burn line but it simply would not. Another thing I had to do was use the PerfecDraw tool to open up the draw. It was a bit firm initially and it only got worse. As far as the flavors go at this point I no longer had much of the chocolate notes. I still had the cedar and tart apple and much more brown sugar. There were also light caramel notes giving the cigar some added sweetness. There was a low level coffee base. The cigar is medium to full bodied and will no doubt move up. The finish was tart apple with cream and a modest amount of lingering black pepper. The score for the first third, which are for the flavors only, was rated at a 91. 
As the second third ended (1 hour 22 minutes) the flavors were nailed down precisely. They were tart apple, some cedar, brown sugar, caramel, light chocolate notes, and light black coffee base. The cigar is very full bodied now. The finish is unchanged. During this segment I had another setback. The cigar went out. I have not had a cigar do this during a review before but this one did. I relit it and continued. I am hoping this was a fluke, just as the burn issue was, but I judge the cigar on taste first and will deduct for the burn issues later. For the second third, for flavor only, I raised the score to a 92.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 51 minutes. A crazy long burn time for a toro. The dense feeling at the beginning was confirmed in the long burn time. In the final third the cigar lost significant sweetness. I still had the same flavors but the sweeter notes were weak. The semi-sweet chocolate and black coffee really took the lead making the cigar dark and quite unsweet. The cigar remained very full bodied. The finish, surprisingly, was unchanged. With the huge downturn in sweetness I rated the final third 88. That would give you a raw overall score of 90.33.
But, I have to take into account the burn issues. I am deducting 2 points for the burn issues.
This cigar had nice flavors and I believe another sample may have different burn results. But, I judge each cigar on it's own.
Overall Score: 88
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