CELESTINO VEGA Cuban Perfecto figurado (6x48). Indonesia
This cigar is shaped like a Hemingway Short Story, only much bigger. The long-pointed perfecto foot, however, is closed, so you have to clip both ends.
Lighting is, of course, instant and easy. In contrast to the little Short Story, the first taste is very mild--about what you'd expect if you sipped the cigar through a straw-- giving no hint of flavor to come. As you hit the bulge, though, the cigar opens up and roars, with medium strength and intense layers of oily coffee and spice, and the slight powdery touch. Smoke slowly to get the complexity.
The vocabulary of taste seems to work best for cigars from the Atlantic Rim. Southeast Asian cigars present new challenges. I like them, but they're different. They often have a twang all their own. A fruit I've never tasted, maybe.
As this figurado burns down the taper toward the head which is about 42, the flavor, paradoxically, gets softer and more powdery. Pull on it a little, and you get a wonderful blast of spice. It all ends too soon, and leaves a very clean aftertaste.
This is a tea or coffee cigar. Port, cognac, nor bourbon did anything great. No problem; the Celestino Vegas does just fine on its own.
About $3.00, if you can find it.
3 1/2
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