2002 Joya de Nicaragua Antano 1970 Gran Consul

[jrfoxx]

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper Color: Dark brown Colorado maduro

Wrapper type: Nicaraguan Criollo

Filler: Nicaraguan

Binder: Nicaraguan

Humidimeter Reading: 65%


Environment:

Temperature: 96 degrees

Humidity: 12%

Wind: intermittent, up to 9mph


A 4.75x60 gordo Nicaraguan puro with a fine, slightly toothy wrapper, short, medium texture cap and hard bunch.

An even burn with a short conical coal, mottled white, typical ash and easy draw. Only problem was a couple one inch cracks with slight peeling, developing at the foot about a half inch into the beginning of smoking.

Ample smoke volume and a faint, subtle, floral aroma.

Of ample richness, medium body and flavor, a perfect balance of earthy, herbal and woody flavors and a medium earthy and woody finish.

First third strength was mild, with a slight increase to mild-medium for the remaining two thirds.

No sweetness, bitterness, burn on the tongue, sharpness or saltiness.

Not a bad smoke at all, just nothing special or particularly interesting.

Overall character was good, with an overall good score of 84 out of 100.

It lost the largest majority of points for the cracking and peeling wrapper early on, which I don’t believe was caused by environmental factors due to happening within about 10 minutes of smoking it most, long before the environment would have had a chance to have effected it, and had no further issues after smoking past the initial cracked and peeled area.

Every other section was pretty much simply acceptable/average which also lowered the score slightly.

Very possibly has just passed its prime, as it was quite mild in strength and flavor for a Nicaraguan puro and looking at reviews of recent production ones, they typically got better scores/reviews and the information on taste and strength tended to indicate they were notably stronger.

All that said, another interesting, well aged NC from before my cigar smoking days began, that I enjoyed smoking regardless of the score, compliments of the very generous Bruce aka @Ljutic

I friggin love cigars