This is one of the cigars I purchased at my local cigar shop, Telford’s, just to give it a try. I’m a big fan of the Partagas Spanish Rosado, and I liked the Black series almost as much.
The first thing that struck me was the beautiful black wrapper; it had a few veins, but was mostly smooth and oily. I put it in my mouth for the walk outside, and it started hitting me with an intense pepperiness on my lips right away. I knew this was going to be a good one.
It toasted with a very deep and fragrant aroma, almost like peppered (red, not black) dark chocolate. The draw was almost perfect; not effortless, but good volumes of smoke without having to try too hard.
Just after lighting, it was all pepper. I let it cool off, and the pepper stayed but the cigar started to develop hints of dark chocolate on the finish. About halfway through, the pepper started to dissipate and was replaced with a molasses-like sweetness, which I found quite pleasant after the pepperbomb.
There was a slight canoe that corrected itself about 1/4 of the way into the cigar, and the ash was a nice white color with slight flaking.
Overall, this cigar was not quite as complex as I had hoped – there are better cigars (as is true of everything) out there. However, for the price (around $7.50), it is hard to say anything bad about it. I’m not sure I’d go out and buy a box because I prefer certain others in the Partagas line, but having a few of these around could hardly be considered a bad idea.
Bottom Line: Definitely worth trying.
