Southern Draw 300 Hands Habano cigar review

11/18/2022

A charitable cigar meant to not only recognize the 300 hands that touch a cigar from seed to store, this one gives 25% of proceeds to the struggling Nicaraguan community that keep the industry running. 

Yes, another AJ Fernandez cigar with owner Robert Holt.  It's a Equadorian wrapper, Cameroon binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican filled cigar. Priced about $7.  Measuring it, it's about a 6.1 x 52.  Researching the web, I can't find a match.  I'm going to call it their Toro. 

Starts off pretty smooth with some slight sweetness and cedar and then quickly develops into a drier, pepper taste.  Draw is good and burning good. I might touch up the slightest uneven burn.  Picking up more red pepper tastes.

It's a cold night, about 38 now, but no wind and I've got a nice fire.  My eyes are watering from the dry heat and air.  But I'm not cold.  

Cigar has a good draw.  It's a bit dry and it's burning pretty fast.  15 min consumed the first third.  But it has many flavors on your palate.  It's a cigar you don't want to smoke fast, which  is not really my style.  I like a cigar that has clouds of creamy smoke that you can puff harder and harder until the flavor is just right.  This one is good with only mild puffs.  Puffing hard is a little too dry.  

It is Friday night, so maybe I just need another shot of 4 Rose bourbon to mellow it out.  I'll be back.  

30 minutes in and it is about half done. 

You can see it burns nice.  I think it's adding more body and adding more deoth of charred oak and molasses.  But faint.  Let's hope it builds.  

Check out this fire. That's some aged wood. 

The dryness is transitioning to more charred oak.  This is first of 3 I have of these.  Maybe it needs more aging to smooth out.  It been medium throughout but I think it can mellow out with age and keeps its body.  

Still has a bite to it.  Kind of has a fermented teas taste that would be a lot better if it would mellow out.  

Not bad, but just too much bite to it.  Need to revisit in like 6 months.  

Down to the last third and it is kind of bad now.   Only taste burnt tea leave taste now.  I think it has potential, but just not aged to its potential.  Not smooth.  I've had about a month or two, but needs many more months to mellow out.  I don't know. Some may like it.  I like a medium to full with mellow flavors. But this one is medium finishing with harsh strong, one dimensional  flavors.  

Maybe I got a bad one, I don't know.  Maybe mines a fake, as their website doesn't show they make one this size.  But for $7, you can buy some great cigars that blow this one away.  It makes me look forward to tomorrow night. I'm going to smoke a much better one.  

I got an hour in and I'm a little satisfied.  It was interesting until the end.  A bad finish pretty much ends my experience with this one.  Won't smoke again until I think it can age and charge.  

Overall: 86

Flavor 86, complexity 87, burn 90, experience 87, value 85.