Cu-Avana Intenso Gordo

Pre-Light

The stick is 54x 4.5.  It is a nice medium to dark chocolate like brown.  The wrapper is mostly smooth, but has some veins.  As you look at the filler you see dark and light tobacco, almost swirled.  The stick has a nice earthy tobacco smell, you can pick up spices and a slight sweetness.  The stick is nice and heavy in your hand.  It is almost like that shorter stature type of guy in the gym you see putting up 300.  I used a medium punch.

1^st 3^rd

It is a nice firm draw, needing just a slight pull.  This is how I do like my cigars.  It feels like a nice firm wrap.  It has a nice rich dark coffee flavor with almost a subtle dark chocolate sweetness in the background.  At first a slight bit of spice hits the sinus.  It certainly has a nice full smoke.  The spice really begins to pick up after the first few puffs.  Black Pepper begins to show up.  The spice blends with a nice sweetness.  It has a very intense spice as the first third rolls in….it gets you salivating like a dog looking at a raw steak.  A beautiful smooth sweetness hits the palate right after spices….all I can say is YUM!  Already in the first third this stick keeps the tongue on edge.  The burn is nice and even, no big problems here.  Toward the end of the 1^st third a great slight cocoa flavor with dark chocolate comes through.  I lost the ash at the end of the first third.

2^nd 3^rd

I begin to pick up Cayenne Pepper!  The stick then has a mellowing of sweetness and spice again.  A nut rears its head about half way through the stick, like a dark angry Mr. Goodbar…..a little nut, dark chocolate and add spice.  Black Pepper comes on strong in the last part of the 2^nd 3^rd, before yet another smoothing out with sweetness again.  It is a nice slow even burn. 

3^rd 3^rd

The final 3^rd stays with the spice, but it is a little more mellow.  You get bursts of flavor including cocoa, but the cigar is certainly mellowing out.  It does not burn too hot, but the flavors are not nearly as strong and begin to fade.  It is a little more earthy and a tad leathery in the final 3^rd.

The Jester’s Performance

This will move into my regular rotation.  It is not over the top in respect to sitting down and trying to figure out the flavors, but it has a nice mix of flavors to keep your palate salivating.  It is a well constructed cigar.  If you like spice and a hint of sweetness this is for you, but you must like spice.  It is a very enjoyable smoke.  The final third just mellows a little too much, which hurts the rating.  This stick has a Napoleon complex that not only talks the talk, but it walks the walk.  Keep this little bad boy on your side, it is worth it, it will deliver.

Jester says 14.5/19