Video review HERE.
(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website)
The Viaje Birthday Blend celebrates company founder Andre Farkas’s birthday on June 6. The Viaje Birthday Blend debuted in 2016 as part of the company’s White Label Project (WLP), though it quickly moved to its own line with dedicated branding the following year.
It also last appeared in 2020 with an undisclosed blend, but the 2019 version used a Nicaraguan criollo 98 wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s a blend that has evolved over time, having started with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper before moving to the Nicaraguan leaf in 2017. While Viaje isn’t disclosing blend details, it has confirmed that it is returns in a 6 x 52 belicoso vitola—a shape selected to evoke thoughts of a candle—that is priced at $11.30 per cigar.
The Gold version uses a Nicaraguan maduro wrapper.
Viaje Birthday Blend 2022 Gold Torpedo (6x52)
Shape Torpedo
Size 6 x 52
Wrapper Nicaraguan maduro
Binder / Filler Nicaragua / Nicaragua
The cigar is rather dark and well made. It has an average feel in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was a bit tight. Not surprising as many torpedos have a tight draw. I used the PerfecDraw tool to open the draw. The initial flavors at light up were citrus, citrus peel, brown sugar, light leather, and what appears to be black coffee. It's hard to tell because there is so much black pepper which was rated at 8+. Perhaps the bottom flavor will fall into place by the first third. But, this is a very good start.
At the first third (25 minutes) the cigar is already full bodied. It jumps out at you. The mystery flavor at the base is dark chocolate. The black pepper has toned down a bit which helped reveal that flavor. I still had nice citrus, citrus peel, and brown sugar. I also had leather and there is a lot of dark chocolate. The finish is dark chocolate and leather with good lingering black pepper. This cigar is in no way, shape or form, anything like the 2022 Birthday Blend that I reviewed a couple weeks ago. It must be a different blend and not just a maduro wrapper on that cigar. At this point the cigar is impressive. I rated the first third 94.
Moving through the second third (59 minutes) I lost the nice citrus notes leaving the citrus peel and brown sugar, light to average leather, and a lot of dark chocolate. The loss of citrus was a negative. The cigar still has sweetness from the brown sugar but the citrus notes were very nice. The finish is leather and dark chocolate with very good lingering black pepper. The cigar is very full bodied. You might want to have something on your stomach before smoking this one. The loss of citrus caused me to lower the score to 93.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 24 minutes. The citrus notes came back. The cigar is nice and sweet. It's also quite dark with the leather and lots of dark chocolate. The citrus peel toned down helping the sweetness. The cigar is VERY full bodied. The finish is dark chocolate and leather with some citrus notes and very good lingering black pepper. This has been a surprising cigar. It's so different from the regular Birthday Blend. It's like 2 totally different cigars. I have been impressed by this cigar. I raised the score back to 94 for the final third. You can find these if you diligently look.
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