Checking in on The Duke

This is such a giant cigar, it's almost comical, but it continues to impress every time I smoke it. This one was loaded to overflowing with cuban twang and coffee notes.   There remains this red wine flavor in the background that switches from dark and smoky to recent, sweetened fruit.  Still it retains that dry character of a fine red wine.   Barely creamy, no tea notes, perhaps about to age into a rounder, creamier profile in years to come.  The draw is too airy to suit me, but it has only minimally impacted the burn and it burns reasonably straight all round it's circumference.  As it passes into halfway, the strength picks up and it gets less sweet and more into bitter herbs and chocolate.  And just like that it gets creamy.  Wasting a lot of heat while I air this smoke out of my living room.  But it's worth it. 

As things have tightened up for smokers, these are pretty much past the discount stage and are now full on havana currency.  It's hard to imagine that these will pass quietly into Edicion Limitada history.  It'd be nice to have a few boxes of these.  For someone who rarely has any money or interest for ELs, these are an exception.  While these are still there to be had, might I suggest shopping?  I peel off the EL gold band and tuck in for more smoke.  It gets tart and green indicating a bit of trouble with balance here at the one year old mark.  The ash is salty as I accidentally put that end into my mouth.  Nice. 

I am not a fan of boxes of ten in ELs.  They are more 'afforable' but they lose that feeling of  'having some' too quickly.  If I had 25 of these, I would be down to 23, not 7.  That's a little sad.  Of course, I never would have bought these were they only available in 25s.  The draw on this one tightened up a bit making it more smokable.  Sipping smoke off a stovepipe draw is no way to enhance combustion.  Although flavor concentration is aided somewhat.  I'd like this smoke a notch tighter, although that could only be helped by humidity, and I dried this one out for two days+.   Taken as a review of three cigars over two months, I'd notch this smoke at 91 points.  There is so much power in this smoke it could go on for decades.  I think I would put them in cabinets as fast as possible were that  my intent.