Viaje Honey & Hand Grenades, The Shiv (6 1/4 x 50)

6/27/19

Epilogue post added: https://tinytimblog.blogspot.com/2019/06/epilogue-viaje-honey-and-hand-grenades.html

Video review HERE.

(Description taken from Cigar-Coop.com website)

The Viaje Honey & Hand Grenades are back. This will be Viaje's fourth release of the line. Honey & Hand Grenades initially made its debut in September 2012 but has not been released since 2016.

Honey & Hand Grenades is small batch release. The Nicaraguan puro utilizes Aganorsa tobacco and features a Nicaraguan Criollo wrapper. The cigar features an inverse torpedo with at pointed footer and rounded cap. The three sizes include: Rapier (6 1/2 x 44), Shank (5 1/4 x 52), and Shiv (6 1/4 x 50). Each is packaged in 25-count boxes.

Each vitola has a unique pointed foot construction, and is named after a type of pointed weapon. The red foil on the portion below the band simulates a blade that has been "used" to simulate blood.

The cigars are produced at Fábrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubanas S. de R.L. (Raíces Cubanas) in Honduras.

The cigar is very beautiful. Farkas is known for his unique shapes. The foot features a very small opening.

Because of the small opening at the foot the test draw after cutting the cap may be hard to draw through but it opens up quickly. In this case I tested the draw after cutting the cap and it was actually very good. The initial flavors at light up were very sweet, tangy, candy-like pronounced orange citrus with brown sugar and lots of cinnamon, creamy nutmeg, and black coffee. There was black pepper rated at a 7 1/2. The nutmeg does not take away anything from the cigar. In fact, it gives a nice creamy effect to go along with the massive sweetness of the citrus, brown sugar, and cinnamon. The black coffee makes a nice base and is somewhat subdued at the outset.

At the first third (30 minutes) I noted caramel notes added to the other nice flavors. The cigar is very sweet but it's kept from being one sided with the creamy nutmeg and black coffee. The lingering black pepper is very good. There are also sweet cream notes and nutmeg on the finish. The heavy citrus notes seem a little more cedar-like but still very nice. The cigar is medium bodied at this point. This is an impressive cigar. I had 2 others prior to this review and was very impressed by them also. I rated the first third at 96.

At the second third (54 minutes) the cigar is about the same. It may have lost a touch of flavor but hardly enough to talk about. The only thing that has changed is the black coffee notes are elevated. But, that actually gives the cigar more balance. The finish is unchanged. The cigar is medium to full bodied now. I am enjoying this cigar. I rated the second third at 95.

The cigar lasted 1 hour 19 minutes. At times I seemed to get a honey note which seems appropriate with the cigar's name. I still had the nice, tangy cedar/citrus flavor with plenty of brown sugar and cinnamon, nutmeg, and black coffee. The finish was unchanged. The cigar is medium to full bodied. This is an impressive cigar. So much so that after the first two samples I decided to purchase a box! I rated the final third at 95. I highly recommend you try this cigar. Very good cigar from Viaje.

Overall Score: 95.33