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Emilio Cigars AF1 "My Thoughts"

Okay its been a while since I have taken notes and done a review, but since becoming rather enamored as of late with Twitter and thus the plethora of information concerning the heartbeat of the cigar industry today, I will share with you my thoughts of one of the "new" boutique brands that is causing a lot of buzz across the boards.

If you noticed my shout out to Emilio Cigars you already know how I came to hear about these cigars and I once again thank Gary Griffith for reaching out to me and sending me the samples. So let's get to the first one I have tried the AF1...

As you can see from the photo the cigar itself has a very rich dark tone to it with minimal veins, really smooth almost velvet texture and feel to it. The wrapper is a San Andreas Mexican tobacco that is becoming quite the rage it seems as of late.

All of the samples sent to me I believe are the toro size measuring 6 x 50. Pre-light aroma I picked up were pleasant barnyard with a bit of sweetness and some cocoa. There was a slight pepper presence in the pre-light draw which was just the way I like it free with slight resistance. Wow yeah I know I usually don't get that discriptive! ;-)

You can see from the photo above this cigar was quite packed and firm with no soft spots. So bring on the flame and let's fire up this bad boy!

The initial couple of draws caught my attention upfront with an underlying sweetness that I will have to describe as kind of a chocolate nut mix with very faint citrus thrown in the mix. There was not much pepper at this point but it did seem to be in the back ground when exhaled through the snoz.. The ash was a bit darker than the picture shows (dang cheap camera) and somewhat flaky in nature. Burn a tad rugged but required no touch ups throughout. I am noticing though that this seems to be common with San Andreas Maduro wrappers again just my observation.

The flavors from the start stay pretty consistent with chocolate, some coffee, and occasional hint of nuts. The smoke is cool and very consistent the finish is what I would consider med-long and not drying. The cigar really seems to ramp up with more pronounced flavor and a bit of strength about midway through. I liked this change and it seemed a bit more spice married with the flavors already present. It is not an overly powerful spice but a nice addition at this point. Nicotine wise, its there but not overpowering, for me a very solid medium.

Drawing to the close the flavors stay pretty consistent without the slightest harshness creeping in. Yeah I broke out the toothpick (that's what I am calling it these days) and smoked it for another 20 minutes after this last pick.