An ode to Nicaragua...The El Gueguense is pronounced el-wah-when-say. It is a Nicaraguan play called “The Wise Man”, the cigar band pays tribute to the theatrical work. Tonight I smoked another Drew Estate connected cigar, and again it is a new to me. The El Gueguense was created by former Drew Estate vice-president Nicholas Melillo.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
Filler: Nicaragua Corojo and Criollo
Vitola: 5.6 x 46 corona gorda
MSRP: $10
This lovely cigar has a nice chocolate brown wrapper with a hint of red and an ornate band. The El Gueguense pre-light scent is that of sweet raisin, vanilla, and a pepper note that tickles the nose. The cold draw also gives hits of sweet raisin.
I received the El Gueguense from the same Hawaiian cigar buddy that sent me the Sobremosa I reviewed last night. He is a Drew Estate junkie so it is no surprise the package he sent was filled with cigars blended by Drew Estate insiders.
What I first notice, after letting the cigar warm up, is that the entire flavor profile is pretty chill. I do not mean chill in a bland way, it is just not super intense smack you in the face type of flavors. Cedar, sweet spice, and everything nice. I am having a hard time describing what the "everything nice" is exactly. Sometimes you cannot put your finger on what it is you are experiencing, other than it is good. I would rather remain authentic than make stuff up.
The draw is perfect and I had no burn issues. The rate of burn seems a little quicker than average. This is neither good or bad for me, I have no preference as long as a cigar burns without too much maintenance.
About the midway point there is a little added fruitiness to the mix. (I thought I took a picture in between this one and the one before, but I guess not.) The fruit note is like dark cherry, or raisin. Although it is faint, it pops in and out from puff to puff.
As I was smoking, I got to thinking about the proposed changes to the Steemit economic system as far as commenting goes.... I really dig it. When I signed up in July, higher rewards for commenting has been something I wished Steemit was built to do. I am no writer, but I know a lot about cigars. Steemit taught me to write, but I can only go so far. Once Steemit becomes very popular, one of the better cigar writers will come in and take my place, I am ok with that.
If you look at most viral blogs, stories, Facebook posts, etc., You have one story, and thousands of commenters. Let's get those masses to Steemit. Allocating what people think is too high of a percentage just to comments doesn't bother me. I think they are forgetting that the idea is to have hundreds if not thousands of comments under a blog, and a much higher percentage is needed to make a lot of those pay out.
Anyway getting back to the cigar (epic segue), the smoke is plentiful and smooth. It is also clean and crisp tasting. What I mean by that is it isn't getting bitter, or too tainted, as the cigar progresses and oils build up on the tobacco yet to be smoked.
The El Gueguense has been a great cigar during this evenings smoke session. It provided a lot of "new to me" flavor notes, so much so that I had a hard time interpreting what they were. Either that or my palette was off it's game. Doesn't matter, it was a great cigar all around and I thoroughly enjoyed it, that is what it's all about. I would say it is medium body, with full flavor, and not a lot of complexity as the flavor notes didn't move fast or change much.
I am going to have to dig a little deeper into the smokes provided by former Drew Estate guru's. I know there is more to be found out there. The last two nights I have been able to realize two more cigars that are worthy of a permanent spot in my humidor.
I highly recommend the El Gueguense.
Score: 9.0/10
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-Greg