Privada Watch Series; Silver AP (6 x 46)

Video review HERE.

This is the fourth consecutive installment in LCA Plus of the Privada Watch Series. There will likely be more Privada Watch Series cigars later in the year, but this will be the last one for at least a few months. Like the Rose Gold AP from the January LCA Plus release, the Silver AP is based on the legendary AP Royal Oak Chronograph timepiece, but in the steel colorway. The wrapper on this 6x46 cigar is a Habano Claro leaf. All the tobaccos in the blend were grown on AJ Fernandez’s farms in Nicaragua, blended by AJ Fernandez personally, and rolled at his factory Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua."

The cigar is nicely made and has an average feel in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were citrus, light citrus peel, brown sugar, a little nutmeg, and quite a bit of leather. There was a lot of black pepper rated at 8+. Very nice flavors. I think this is the best start of any cigar in the series. 

At the first third (24 minutes) the great start didn't hold. I still had light citrus, brown sugar, and citrus peel and they're coming through but there is a massive amount of earthy leather and black pepper that's holding them back. In the midst of all those flavors there are lightly scorched popcorn notes. The finish is very short. It had light brown sugar notes and leather with average lingering black pepper. The cigar is medium bodied, leaning toward medium to full already. The cigar is good but not as good as it started. I rated the first third 92.

Moving through the second third (52 minutes) I expected big changes but there weren't many. I had the same flavor notes on the front end. Even the popcorn flavor is still in the mix. The earthiness, leather, and pepper are preventing the citrus and brown sugar notes from elevating. One change is the cigar is now medium to full bodied. The finish has a touch of brown sugar and leather with pretty good lingering black pepper. Not enough changed to change the score; 92.

The cigar lasted 1 hour 15 minutes. The massive change I expected happened in the final third. I lost all citrus, brown sugar, and citrus peel notes. I had faint popcorn notes and massive amounts of earthiness, leather, and black coffee. The black pepper remained very good, however. The finish was one of leather with good lingering black pepper. The cigar is full bodied. The cigar sort of "fell off the table". I rated the final third 86. Not much appealing to me at this point. The cigar was decent in the first two thirds but the final third really fell off.

Overall Score: 90