Yesterday, a box Victor Sinclair Connecticut Yankee, that I recently purchased from CBid, was delivered. Here's how the cigar was described when it was put up for bid:
In the early 1800’s, many cigar makers used a genuine Connecticut-grown Havana-seed leaf. This is unique today - it's neither broadleaf nor shade-grown, and offers a distinctively smooth, rich flavor. Grown in the lush Connecticut River Valley, use of this dark, super smooth wrapper faded away, as cigar makers began to favor coarser broadleaf wrappers. So much so that by the 20th century wrapper leaf was all but forgotten. Now, Victor Sinclair unearthed a small cache of this leaf; they've combined it with a premium blend of aged Nicaraguan and Dominican long-leaf fillers. The result is a full-bodied smoke with a savory, mature bouquet of flavor. Dark, rich and oily.
I rarely, if ever, smoke a cigar until the box has stabilized/dried for at least a month. Because this brand was just introduced at RTDA 2003, and the ad copy intrigued me, I was eager to smoke one and broke tradition. Visually, the cigars are beautiful; wrapper just as described. But they could not be more in need of aging. The wrapper had all the problems of the earliest generation of H2000. It would not burn. The cigar tunnelled for the first inch. Finally, I attempted to correct the burn, touched flame to the foot, and the foot ignited like a torch, then canoed radically. The quantity of smoke was minimal and extremely hot. Flavor was indeterminate, but could be described as acrid. It's clearly a cigar with potential, but in need of serious aging and drying. Many of the problems may be attributed to excessive moisture still contained within the cigar. I'll let the box rest in an ambient environment for a month and try another. Hopefully, the problem is just RH.
I'm quite disappointed. Two of my favorite new cigars are the V.S. Bohemian Red Corojo and the V.S. Series 55 Sungrown. I had high hopes for the Connecticut Yankee, which were not met.
