*Note: This is not a blind review, this is just to give a quick take on a cigar that was provided to us by the manufacturer.
Reviewer: Aaron
Cigar Info
The Battleground Cigars Lincoln is an infused cigar. It is aged in seasoned bourbon barrels. The Emancipator vitola measures in at 6”x50.
Initial Impressions
The wrapper is a tale of two colors. Towards the head, it is medium brown, but following the wrap of the leaf towards the foot it gets darker and ends up a very dark brown. There are a few visible veins. The seams are visible but smooth. The cap has a few wrinkles to it. The aroma from the wrapper seems to correspond with the darkness. Towards the head of the wrapper, the aroma is very faint hay. As I get closer to the foot, I get a cherry sweetness. From the foot, I get the smell of sweet bourbon.
The Smoke
The pre-light draw brings a light tobacco and bourbon flavor. On initial light up, I am getting a dry cedar which also comes across on the retrohale. At about a half inch in, the cedar becomes a little spicier. On random draws, I get hints of bourbon right at the beginning of the draw. The spiciness that went along with the cedar has now become a bit of baking spice and the cedar is still there as well which creates a nice combination. The retrohale contains a bit of spice, but nothing overpowering. Strength and body both came in at medium.
In the second third, the cedar has completely gone away and now a general woodiness is present. The baking spices are a very mild secondary flavor and the retrohale is a warm woodiness. About half an inch into the third, the dry cedar has returned. The cedar fades back to a general woodiness again, but the smoke is still drying. I would put this third at light to medium in body and mild to medium in strength.
The final third continues with the dry woodiness. The woodiness is evident in the retrohale as well. Not really any transitions as it remained very dry throughout the third. The body and strength bot moved back up to medium for this third.
Overall Impressions
The draw was a little tight, but not enough to effect the experience as it still produced plenty of smoke on each draw. The burn was excellent. It was very straight the entire way. The cigar was slightly spongy the entire length. It smoked well, so no construction issues to speak of.
I'm not opposed to smoking infused cigars, so I'm always interested to see how the flavors that the cigar is infused with translate to the smoke. The aroma of the bourbon from this cigar was very inviting, I just got barely any of it during the smoking experience. Other than some hints at the beginning of some of the draws in the first third and the aroma before lighting, I'm not sure I could tell you that this was an infused cigar. Outside of that, the experience was just ok. The first third was the best as it had the most flavor with some good transitions. After that, the dryness took away from the overall experience. The flavor stayed pretty much the same from the second third on. I wouldn't see myself going back to this cigar as I look for more flavor from the entire cigar.
The cigar lasted 1 hours and 55 minutes for me.
I would give the Battleground Cigars Lincoln Emancipator a personal score of 84.