Alec Bradley Tempus

Here goes my first review:

Attachment 2945

Alec Bradley Tempus - 5" x 50 - Rested 1 month at 62% Burn Time: 1hr15min. with 1.5" remaining.

Prelight - Construction looks great, with a smooth and oily wrapper that has a nice sheen to it. Tight and barely visible seams. Firm pack with a heavy feel to it. The aroma is very musty, with a little hay on the prelight draw.

1/3 - Draw starts out on the tighter side, but there's good smoke output. Light-medium body. Smoke is on the thin side and doesn't give me a burst of any strong flavors. After a few minutes I'm getting a nice nuttiness but not much of it. The finish starts off staying on my tongue for a good few seconds but by the 20 minute mark it's disappearing very quickly, less than second or so. For most of the first third I get mostly the nice nuttiness as the predominant flavor. Razor sharp burn, even though I notice it's burning incredibly hot (I'm a pretty slow smoker). This will be an issue throughout the cigar.

2/3 - Nuttiness slowly fades and in moves what I can only describe as a thinner, woodier, maybe slight cedary flavor on the back of my tongue. Not flavors I personally enjoy so this part of the cigar was my least favorite. Medium body now, no strength kick at all which I like. Burn is great, ash holds on well. Smoke is still on the thinner side.

3/3 - Finally getting some creaminess coming in towards the end of the second third to the beginning of this last third. It's a welcome change from what I've been getting for the last 20 or so minutes. It comes in as the smoke thickens up a bit, and brings along with it some of the nuttiness that I enjoy. Woody flavor is gone at this point which I'm glad about. Unfortunately, even though the burn is razor sharp for the most part it's a bit too little too late. It's still burning incredibly hot, it goes from cool to scorchingly hot after each draw which I find a bit annoying and so I end it with a little over an inch left.

Overall Impressions - Honestly, I was a bit disappointed as this cigar has gotten some high reviews and I was expecting a little bit more flavor wise. Just not my cup of tea for most of the cigar, until the last third. Can't fault the construction/draw, other than the strangely hot draw. I'm a slow smoker, and was waiting at least a minute or so between draws at one point and I still had trouble getting it to cool down. I've got a Tempus Maduro that I'll try out soon, we'll see how that goes. I will say there was barely any strength, which I like. Body was medium throughout even though I see this being billed as a Full, but I just didn't get that.

Thanks for reading!