LOLrazorblades

Ah, Santa damiana, what a lovely cigar. I got my first in a random sampler, and judging a book by it’s cover, left it unsmoked for quite some time. When I finally decided to smoke it, it was blissful, I was taken to another place, the best most dynamic, crisp, wonderful flavours. I held off on ordering more because they cost more than I wanted to spend, but then one day they came up on sale, and I scored 10 for like $25 – awesome.

The cigar is… fairly scentless. Construction looks good and there are no real veins, the band is loose and free. An interesting note, the end looks like there is one kind of darker redder tobacco in the center of the filler, and a tanner browner tobacco surrounding that also within the filler. The wrapper is the lightest, and is obviously the outermost.

The cold draw is firm, yet enjoyably so, it’s bready and cool. Upon lighting the flavours open up, and are warm and sweet with a hint of spice in the back. It’s rich and spicy through the nose, and the pallet is getting heavier and malty. The flavour is doughy and malty, rich and quite good. The flavours shift slightly with each puff, picking up a little spice here and a touch of wood there. It leaves a tingle in your throat and a sweet doughy taste on the palate.

It’s gotten sweeter, and warmer tasting, but the draw is still cool and crisp. There are also hints of spice, not sweet or peppery, more like a cedar spice, but not quite the same – nice.

It’s shifting now, leather, more spice, I’m about half way in. Bread, leather, sweet cream. Coffee, cocoa… Delicious. The burn is perfect, all the way down, straight, clean, cool, wonderful. It’s certainly not the most dynamic cigar, but the first and second halves smoke like two completely different cigars which is… interesting to say the least.

• Smoking time 1:40

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