Video review HERE.
(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website.)
Hiram & Solomon Cigars has added a limited edition toro size to its Veiled Prophet line.
The new vitola is a 6 x 54 parejo called Monarch that will come in 20-count split top cabinet boxes that are similar to other cigars in the company’s portfolio. A total of 500 boxes are being produced by Plasencia Cigars S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua. Pricing is set at $10.50 per cigar.
It retains the same blend as the rest of the line, with an aged Brazilian Arapiraca colorado wrapper, Indonesian binder, and a filler that includes Nicaraguan habano from Estelí, Nicaraguan habano ligero from Jalapa, as well as tobacco from Paraguay. The line had previously been available in a 7 x 60 vitola called the Grand Monarch.
The cigar is dark and has a nice weight in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors were citrus/cedar, brown sugar, cinnamon, leather, nutmeg, and black coffee. There is a meaty flavor and feel to this cigar. There was black pepper which I rated at a 6 1/2 to 7. There are quite a bit of dark notes in this cigar.
About an inch in I decided to nail down the flavors a bit more. They are: citrus peel, a touch of brown sugar, some cinnamon, quite a bit of leather, nutmeg, and black coffee. The cigar still has a meaty flavor and consistency. The finish is a combination of nutmeg and cream with a continuation of that meaty undertone. There was a nice amount of lingering black pepper. At this early stage it's already coming across as medium to full bodied in strength with a heavy leaning toward full bodied.
The first third (42 minutes) had the same flavors as they were at the one inch point. There continues to be a meaty presence to the cigar. There are a lot of nutmeg, leather, and black coffee notes. The only sweet notes are orange peel, a touch of brown sugar, and some cinnamon notes but they are much less than the darker notes. I am very interested to see where the cigar will go. For the first third I rated the cigar at a 90.
As I reached the midpoint I got some notes of chocolate/fudge but it did not have a lot of sweetness. There seems to be a little more sweetness from brown sugar. There continue to be a lot of dark notes in the cigar but there are some sweeter notes to go along with them. The breakdown is about 65/35 dark notes to sweet notes. The cigar is very full bodied at this point. The finish is unchanged. The cigar seems to be moving in a positive direction.
At the second third (1 hour 27 minutes) I had a burn issue; a runner developed. I will let the cigar try to even out on it's own. I still had a lot of dark notes; leather, chocolate, nutmeg, and coffee. The orange peel and brown sugar are still there but they are dwarfed by the darker notes. I got flashes of caramel but surprisingly they did not add sweetness, just the flavor of caramel. The cigar continues to be very full bodied. The cigar is burning very slowly. The burn issue is not from going too fast. My score for the second third lowered to an 89 but I deducted a point for the burn issue so the second third score is actually an 88.
The cigar lasted a whopping 2 hours 3 minutes. An amazing burn time for a 6" toro. In the final third the cigar actually improved. The caramel notes came out more and there was a little more brown sugar. There were still plenty of chocolate, leather, nutmeg, and black coffee notes. The burn also improved to a manageable point. The cigar is very full bodied and I suggest you have something on your stomach when you smoke this cigar. The cigar had a very meaty presence throughout. This is very much a steak-like cigar. The finish was unchanged. I was surprised the cigar improved in the final third. So much, in fact, that I raised the final third score to a 91. The overall average is 89.67, which I rounded up to a 90.
Overall Score: 90
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