Ashton “Heritage Puro Sol” – Double Corona

Rolled in : Dominican Republic
Wrapper : Dominican Republic
Binder : Dominican Republic
Filler : Cameroon
Size: 7″ x 52

I was planning on smoking something a little smaller on the way home from work today. But i was given a nice little treat from the Tor Imports Rep Tom. These beautiful looking cigars are not available in the UK at the moment. Ashtons “Heritage Puro Sol” are made using 100% sun cured tobacco, to produce a more traditional style cigar.

The construction of the cigar is to perfection and the wrapper is seamlessly smooth. The cigar had a unique liquorice aroma upon smelling. On cutting this hefty 52 gauge the filer seemed tightly packed, it took 4 to 5 slow rotations to evenly light, the initial flavours were a little bitter and spicy but as the cigar slowly processed along its 7 inch journey to my taste buds  a flat but complex array of nutty woody flavours with subtle hints of cocoa and coffee, which mixes nicely with the original baseline of bitter spiciness, although it did leave a very bitter aftertaste at the back of my throat.

Two thirds of the way through the cigar the bitterness was replaced with a subtle sweetness adding to the already complex array of flavours with even more coffee and liquorice coming through making this cigar more sweet than bitter, although the acidy aftertaste keeps on increasing, which unfortunately spoils the middle section. as we race towards the final 3 inches this cigar really makes up for its previous downsides, becoming incredibly smooth and creamy with a very strong, sweet woody flavour with a complex  liquorice tone still in the mix. The size and the full body of this cigar still has its downsides, at the end it becomes lip burningly tarry, but somewhat regains itself with the strong flavours still coming through.

In conclusion this cigar reminds me of a gin and tonic of its class, very bitter and sour in your first few pulls but as the shock wears off your taste buds, becomes wonderfully complex and sweet with the sourness still being present. The impressive 7” X 52 combination of pure sun cured tobacco is a bit of a challenge with the initial acidy taste and the inevitable build up of tar. Ashton “Heritage Puro Sol” – Double Corona  should be an outstanding full flavoured cigar. Hopefully with a little age this cigar could really come alive.

Ratings

Construction .. 9/10
Burn .. 6/10
Flavour (1/3) .. 7/10
Flavour (2/3) .. 5/10
Flavour (3/3) .. 8/10

Overall .. 7/10