JC Newman

November 26, 2023

Viaje Full Moon 2023 (5 x 58)





Video review HERE.


(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website)

The Full Moon debuted in 2013, offered in a 5 x 58 petit gordo vitola and presented in an elaborate, circular packaging designed to look like a full moon, finished off by a bright orange jack-o-lantern on the lid. The company has since streamlined the packaging to more traditional boxes while retaining the jack-o-lantern imagery. Since its debut, the line has seen several releases, with its most recent release coming in 2021, as it was not released in 2022.

As for the blend, the original Full Moon is a Nicaraguan puro, with a corojo 99 wrapper leaf. In 2015, the line added an Edición Limitada version, swapping out the corojo wrapper for a Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper, with that version released in significantly lower quantities.

The company has thus far not disclosed how many cigars are being made for this year’s release or what they will be priced at, though recent releases have been around $12 per cigar. It has confirmed that the cigars are being made in Nicaragua, but did not disclose the factory.


The cigar has a nice feel in the hand and has a mostly closed foot.




The test draw after cutting the cap was good with a touch of firmness. The initial flavors at light up were citrus, a little cedar, brown sugar, cinnamon, a lot of nutmeg, and leather. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2. Not a bad start but the amount of nutmeg concerns me.



At the first third (31 minutes) the nutmeg is still very high and seems to be rising. I still had the citrus, brown sugar, and light cinnamon but the nutmeg is a large part of the flavors. And there's still leather in the mix also. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is a lot of nutmeg and light leather with good lingering black pepper. The nutmeg is holding it back because the sweet notes are nice. The black pepper is up to 7 1/2 to 8. With all the nutmeg I rated the first third 92. It's not too bad at this point.




As I moved through the second third (1 hour 8 minutes) the nutmeg went into warp drive. It's very high. There are light notes of citrus, brown sugar, and cinnamon but there's so much nutmeg. The leather is light compared to the nutmeg. The black pepper remains very good. The cigar is now full bodied. The finish is unchanged. There is too much dry, earthy nutmeg in this cigar. I rated the second third 86.




The cigar lasted 1 hour 34 minutes. A very good burn time. The black pepper remained very good and is around 8 at this point. But that's about all the positives. There are only slight hints of citrus and brown sugar with massive amounts of nutmeg and increased leather. The cigar is full bodied. The finish is unchanged except the lingering black pepper is very good. The cigar lost all appeal for me. I rated the final third 80. This cigar started out pretty nice but quickly went downhill with the massive amount of nutmeg.




Overall Score: 86

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