This is where the cigar really started acting like it had personality.

Nut notes, along with some cedar undertones, started showing up on the hold and retrohale.

Then this is where things get real technical for a second because I inadvertently made some weird horizontal oval-like shape with my mouth during the exhale… and suddenly got a pretty solid coffee note.

And no — I wasn’t drinking coffee.

Then came perhaps the strangest flavor note of the entire evening.

Caesar salad.

I know how stupid that sounds.

But between the garlic-ish savoriness, pepper, and little bit of citrus brightness floating around in there, my brain immediately went Caesar dressing and honestly… I stand by it.

At some point in here the officially coined creamspice showed up too. Vanilla started hitting harder than the pepper and quite frankly… I liked it.

Now the ash? Still refusing to hang around longer than about an inch.

Disheartening.

Tragic, really.

Eventually the burn finally started getting a little goofy just underneath the wrapper and I had to do the ole relight. Right about then I started hearing Tom Petty in my head singing “don’t do me like that.”

Thankfully, once relit, this thing snapped right back into line.

Entering the home stretch, the tongue tingle arrived.

Now THIS is my spot.

Pepper ramped back up hard entering the final third, but instead of becoming harsh, it just made the cigar feel more alive.

There was a little cocoa nuisance showing up in the background too alongside some faint leather.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, I swear I picked up something almost yeast-like.

Medium most of the ride before drifting into medium-full territory late. Enough spice and pepper to make you feel something without turning the whole experience into homework.

As we got down into the final inch, the black pepper really started flexing while the cigar somehow still held itself together surprisingly well despite the earlier burn wobble.

If you take anything away, heed this – go buy the damn thing.