Through twists and turns in the road and a chance occurance in a small town this cigar found its way into my possession. I live in St. Louis and there are not a lot of shops that sell cigars in the area, so I went looking for a place called ‘The Cigar Bar’ in a town about 45 minutes to an hour from my house, logical, bar that sells cigars right? I show up at this location, and sure enough, Just a bar with a sign above it in the shape of a cigar. Awesome.

So I decided to walk around the town a little, since I’m already out here might as well do something productive. As I go down the street for 30-45 minutes, I noticed this shop that caught my eye, tobacco road. Laugh, but my first thought was the company that makes high end belts and why in the world they would be in a small town like this. Shaking off that crazy notion, I realized this was a tobacco shop, just what I had been looking for! I go inside, specials and assistance are offerd as I enter the store, a good sized walk in humidor on the left catches my eye. I hardly nod my head in the shop keepers direction, informing him I am simply looking as I speed into the humidor, awaiting the crisp, cedar blast while opening the door.

Once inside, the keeper made his way in and after a decent discussion, pointed out a few cigars I may be interrested in. This cigar he had received roughly a week prior and he personally has gone through many of them and had them set aside for himself. He told me the common story we all hear of limited production and how less than 50 stores in the country sell the cigar and once its done its done, no more. Well, I bit.

None the less, I tell the story because this cigar, to me, was the needle in a hay stack. I live in St. Louis, this cigar was in a small town shop 45 minutes one way from home, and even once I was in the right shop, it took me talking with the shop keeper before he pulled these from the side. Milo’s Tobacco Road in Edwardville Illinois carries these.

Every cigar has a story, every smoke a memory

Construction :

This cigar is very well made, and the thing that caught my attention the most was a few large veins that ran down the cigar. They were not raised like one would expect, but rather ‘lines’ in the sand-paper like wrapper.

First Third:

The cigar started off with a lot of resistance, but through this I was able to find some wood, earth and a slight pepper sensation. After 10 minutes or so the draw opened up and was providing perfect amounts of smoke. The taste reminded me a lot of paper but was followed by a slight hint of leather. This wood and leather flavor was starting to coat my mouth, and through this base flavor a sweet note or two was easily detected. At first I thought this was a hint from their Acid line, cigar dipped in sugar. Luckily for everyone, this is not the case.

2nd third:

The second third was a lot of the first third, although a certain dry sensation had me constantly pulling from my water. This didnt bother me, for the tastes kept me interrested. The wood turned into a nice, light charred wood flavor and the leather notes kept increasing but remained sweet. The thin mascara burn line held the ash perfect and required little to no help and held on for over an inch.

Towards the end of the second third the dry mouth went away, the charred wood and sweet leather remained and a slight flavor of nut started to take over, similar to cashews.

Last Third:

The last third really disappointed me, but that is mostly because the wrapper split open and I had to put it out early. Wood and Coffee remained in this last portion, but they started to pick up a bit more spice. I am still wondering if the last third was ‘tanted’ becasue of this crack, so only take this last portion as a grain of salt.

Cashews, Coffee, Wood (paper) remained in the part, the charred wood and sweet flavors had left and what remained was a good, low full body cigar. I was not ‘wowed’ by this cigar but at the same time, I would enjoy another just not at 10.00 a cigar.

And the Reason I stopped