*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 distributor.
This was sent to me by Karel Martinez of Enki Cigars. It is a Nicaraguan Puro with a 7 year old dark Habano wrapper. The brand is named after a God in ancient Sumerian culture which translates in English to “Lord of Earth”.
Initial impressions
The cigar has a nice chocolate brown wrapper. There are a few veins and they are a shade lighter which almost gives the effect of a turtle shell. The seams are visible but tightly wrapped. I get a light sweetness with barnyard from the wrapper and pretty close to cocoa and raisin from the foot.
The Smoke
I got just a slight dry tobacco flavor from the pre-light draw. After lighting, the cigar starts off very woody and creamy with a slight spice in the mouth. The wood and cream translate to the retrohale, but the spice does not. About an inch in, the flavors haven’t necessarily changed, but they have become fuller. A bit of spice does make it to the retrohale now. The cigar really puts out a lot of smoke and the ash fell right at the end of the third.
In the second third, the wood and cream are still in full force, but now I am getting cinnamon on the retrohale. After a quarter inch, the cinnamon fades away and a charred oak comes in. About an inch in to the second third, the cinnamon comes back. Towards the end of the third, a mineral taste has appeared.
In the final third, the mineral flavor is continuing along with some general woodiness in the background. The flavors are starting to become a little muddled. The mineral flavor has gone away and a general woodiness has taken over with a slight bitterness on the finish. The bitterness is becoming a bit more prevalent as the third progresses, almost a metallic flavor. Halfway into the third, the bitterness has faded away and transitioned into a bit of mintiness.
Overall Impressions
The draw was just slightly more deliberate than I prefer but still very good. The burn was fantastic and stayed on point the entire time. The ash dropped in about inch and a half chunks. The cigar was firm with a little give the entire length. I didn’t run into any issues with the construction during the smoke.
The cigar performed very well. The flavors in the first two thirds were very good with a slight drop off in the final third with some bitterness creeping in. That bitterness went away, but it still was a drop off compared to the previous thirds. I would be interested to see if the flavors in the final third improve with a little more rest. I have another sample which I will wait on for a little bit and revisit. Overall, with the good draw, burn and the predominantly good flavors, this is definitely a cigar I would smoke again.
The cigar lasted 2 hours and 13 minutes for me.
I would give the Enki Toro a personal score of 90.