Arandoza White Label
Sunday, June 15th, 2014I’ll be digging into the stuff sent to me soon, but for now, I’m trying to get through cigars I’ve bought locally. The Arandoza White Label is something I stumbled upon at Ed’s shop recently. There isn’t a lot of information out there on this brand, but no matter, what counts is the experience. Let’s get to it.
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder & Filler: Nicaragua
Size: Robusto 5 x 52
Price: 6 to $7.00
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
This was a nicely constructed cigar. It was evenly rolled and packed. The wrapper glistened in the light, and had a woody and earthy smell. The draw had slight resistance, and the pre-light flavor was woody and earthy.
There was plenty of smoke volume. The burn line got wacky from time to time, but I never had to correct it. The ash was flowery, and held for about an inch.
Flavor:
The first third opened up with pepper. It wasn’t over the top, but it had that undeniable Nicaraguan zing. Up next was wood, sweetness, and an associated sweet bitterness.
Pepper calmed down in the second third, but it didn’t go away by any means. It was matched with wood and bitter sweetness. Earthiness and coffee lingered in the background. The smoke feel became crisp.
The last third kept the same basic flavors, they just differed in degrees of strength. Sometimes wood was the dominant flavor, and other times, bitter sweetness was at the front. A few times, that strong pepper was the only flavor.
Conclusion:
This was a good, eventful, medium to full bodied cigar. The cigar snob in me liked the fancy double bands and pretty wrapper. The price wasn’t bad either. If you’re a mild smoker, use caution on passing too much smoke through the nose. That pepper could get you.