CroMagnon Knuckle DraggerSource: trade with Steve C. (HRP) on another forum.
Initial notes: this cigar has a super oily wrapper with a few medium sized veins across its dark brown skin. At the foot I see a relatively even filler bunching, but at least four good sized stems are visible. The wrapper aroma greets me with oak, peat, cocoa, and a nutmeg-like spice, whereas the foot gives off leather, black pepper, cocoa, and oak notes. After a punch cut I find a perfect draw that produces very faint pre-light flavors of oak and leather.
Drink pairing: freshly ground Javana Colombian Supremo coffee with a tiny spot of cream.
Smoking time: one hour and fifteen minutes.
First third: the cigar is gently toasted with a soft flame lighter several times while never allowing the flame to touch the tobacco and pausing and purging between toastings to allow the foot to cool and to expel the light wisps of smoke that have made their way into the cigar on their own. Upon the third time that the flame nears the foot, a solid and even red glow engulfs the foot indicating that the cigar is ready for its first draw. After letting out a huge cloud of smoke I can taste white pepper, leather, and cocoa, but all the flavors are dry on the back of my throat where the finish lingers about with just pepper and oak on the palette. This Knuckle Dragger produces tons of drawn smoke, but not much resting smoke; however, the resting smoke aroma is fantastic. Throughout the first third the burn is slightly off but no touch-ups were required, and the ash remained quite solid with no flaking. The flavors are shallow and the strength and body are on the mild side of medium.
Second third: the main flavor here is the same dry oak, with leather and cocoa in the background, which transitions into a dry finish of oak and black pepper. Once again, oak and pepper are found in the nose. The flavors are switching around a little, but overall it's pretty much the same – the flavors are pleasant, but not deep, complex, or refined. In this third the burn remained a bit ragged and needed a quick touch-up, while the ash remained solid as before. The drawn smoke volume is still very good and the resting smoke volume is very little. The strength and body have picked up a bit, but they are just barely medium at this point.
Final third: as the cigar transitions into this third, the cocoa flavor jumps up a bit more, but oak still takes first place and the pepper is left to the background while the leather is nearly gone. The dry finish contains flavors of oak, pepper, and some tiny hints of leather. There isn't much going on here that's any different than before – the burn is still ragged (no touch-ups here) and the ash remains solid. The volumes of smoke are the same as before, and the resting smoke still is quite pleasant. The body and strength are pushing up a bit over medium, but not quite what I'd call in the medium-full range.
Overall impression: the cigar has nice construction even though it looks a bit rustic, the body and strength are a bit lacking until the very end, and the flavors are fairly flat and lack any complexity or depth.
Grade: I'd give it a B- but the resting smoke aroma is so good that I'm going to bump it up to a B. It's a good cigar, not great.
