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5 Vegas Triple A 5"X56 Burn Time : 1hr 10min Rested 1.5 months at 62%
Wrapper : Penn. Broadleaf Maduro
Filler : Esteli, Condega and Jalapa
Body : Full Strength : Med-Full
Prelight : This is a very dense, heavy stick. Has a dark chocolate wrapper with perfectly tight seams. Strong aroma of hay/barnyard/cocoa.
1/3 : It starts off with a great draw that produces lots of thickly textured smoke. Solid medium-full body right off the bat. There's a very strong chocolate/cocoa flavor on the draw and I'm getting spice on the back of my throat. There's a long finish of the chocolate/cocoa and nuttiness, very nice. The flavors are very full but not overly complex. Enough to keep me focused on the cigar. Towards the end of the 1/3 the spice fades away and the draw flavors become smooth, creamy and nutty.
2/3 : The draw and smoke output is very good, but I had to fix up the burn at the start of this third. Halfway through there's still lots of flavor with good thickly textured smoke, but the flavor profile is the same as towards the end of the 1/3. There's no noticeable strength yet.
3/3 : The spice comes back at the start of this third. I remember reading a HerfnTurf thread about ammonia in the cigars being detected on the back of the throat and it's starting to bug me. This spice is not on my tongue, but on the back of my throat. Anyway, there's no big transition in this third. The only other change to the flavor profile is a deep woody flavor coming in the last 20 minutes or so. The strength quickly builds up to a noticeable level in this last third.
Overall : A good stick. It's a very solid smoke throughout, and even though it's not very complex and lacks big transitions the flavors are full bodied and keep your attention throughout the smoke. I've heard good things about this cigar before I smoked it and I would agree that this is a solid stick. At the least, it's my favorite from 5 Vegas up to this point. It would probably benefit from some longer resting.
