Ramon Allones Gigante

[Ophidion]

Beautiful day out today, decided to spark this guy up. I purchased it from a freshly open box at the LHDC in Grand Cayman. I remember it was a MAR 11 box, but I don't remember the box code.

Also, Ramon Allones did not release a new cigar in the "A" size, I just have little girly hands.

PRELIGHT:

Very intense aroma coming off the foot and wrapper, very earthy. The wrapper is fairly consistent in terms of how smooth it is and the cigar shows no soft spots, hard spots or any blemishes. I punched the foot with my Credo on the small "setting" and took a cold draw. All spice, and damp wood.

First 1/3:

The smoke is smooth but somewhat dry, almost chalky with a very pungent damp... forest flavor that I can only sum up as the smell/taste of the air in the woods after a rain on a warm day. Yeah, "Forest Flavor" is a little easier to say. The flavor is intense and the power is hovering around a medium. After the first 1/2", the spicy component is dialed back a bit, but now instead of being present only on the initial draw, it appears, disappears, then reappears on the finish along with a hefty leather note. The chalky texture to the smoke also dissipates quite a bit towards the beginning of the second third.

Second 1/3:

The flavor intensity and power of the cigar have hit its stride and we are well into the medium-full level for both. The draw shows JUST enough resistance to slow down my already slow smoking habits so I could really appreciate what I was into at the moment. Instead of the damp, leathery spice of the first third, the flavor has changed over to a combination of leather, dry cedar and molasses with a very long finish that tastes exactly like a cup of coffee whose beans were roasted just a LITTLE too long. Its not unpleasant, and it adds to the character of the cigar.

Last 1/3:

Exactly the same as the middle except there is less leather and more dry cedar. Same long finish.

Overall:

As much as I favor smaller ring gauge and shorter cigars, there will always be a place in my arsenal for a big double corona. The only time I seem to smoke them is during the spring and at the tail end of fall due to NJ summers being incredibly unpleasant. If I am going to smoke outside for two hours plus, I'd much rather have the option to just throw a jacket on than have to take all my clothes off to be comfortable outside... that didn't sound right.

As for the cigar, it had everything I look for. Great flavor, not overly complex that I have to be examining it with a microscope while my friends attempt to have a conversation with me, and very easy to smoke. The ONLY problem I had with it was a little tar accumulation which I attribute to a small punch diameter and smoking it a little too fast in the second third. This was easily remedied by using a bigger punch. All in all I can totally see a box purchase in the future, but not until I have 100 or so petite coronas to fill in the cracks between boxes in my humidor.

[Hash]

Thank you for the review,RAG, is a very good cigar.

[winelover]

Thank you for the review. I'd always wondered about the RAG and your pics and flavour descriptions have really helped.