I’ve smoked quite a few of these at this point. The last one I smoked, I received from Cigars Daily and it was in perfect condition. To me, it represented a cigar that had been sitting in a proper humidor for some time. The cellophane, nor the band had any patina to it, suggesting it had been aged-in-humidor for some time. That being said, it smoked great right out of the package. Indeed, kept in good conditions from where it came. I like to go on huge tangents about flavors, leaving reviews for each third of the cigar and so on. That being said, its been a few days (and a few cigars) since I’ve smoked my last Elegancia, so i’ll keep it somewhat general. San Cristobal has a different cigar (Habano I believe) in their line-up named the “Quintessence”. I’d like to think that would be a great name for this cigar as well. Really a quintessential Connecticut cigar experience, time and time again. A bit on the milder side as one would assume, however do not mistake that for a lack of flavor and satisfaction. Nice dry earth notes on light up, crisp, cedary retro hale. As it transitions into full form the smoke texture becomes unmistakably creamy, on the butter, half and half spectrum. Often, I find a nice cayenne pepper edge to the retro hale of these cigars that can carry into the final third, which then inevitably crescendos into rich mouth flavors of butterscotch, cream, cedar, caffe au Laut. The first Elegancia I ever smoked, the Cayenne was so prevalent (not just in retro hale, but mouth flavor at times) that it was reminiscent of Tabasco hot sauce. I’ve been chasing that dragon ever since with the Elegancia.
