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El Septimo Short Dream Topaz - Diamond Series 

Cigar Review & Rating | 17 March 2016 | 

Posted by Jeandré Hartman of Cigar Affection  

 

 

One amazing experience about smoking an El Septimo cigar is that you taste flavours that you've never tasted before in any other cigar. While smoking this cigar I encountered many different and delicate nuances. I could have written volumes that would have been too exhaustive to read, so instead I decided it will be best to describe it in increments of 0.5cm (1/5 inch) and only mention the major flavours that I encountered.

The cigar I am reviewing for this review is the El Septimo Short Dream Topaz from their Diamond Series. It has a ring size of 60 and is 103cm in length.

The cigar is rolled to perfection and the wrapper leaf is dark and shiny in it’s oily pride. It's worthy to note that all their tobacco is aged at least for 5 years.

One of the drawbacks of these very fine cigars is their cost. They are amongst some of the most expensive cigars in the world. Luckily they offer great value in the field of aroma, flavour and construction.

Enough niceties for now, let’s get this girl fired up!

Each cigar has a closed semi pigtail foot. There are different beliefs and opinions about how to light a closed footed cigar, but I always light it as is - that is with the closed foot.

This specific example started off extremely toasty and I can say with a fair degree of certainty that this could easily have been the toastiest flavour experience I have ever tasted. I am sure that the additional wrapper leaf of the closed foot contributes to this since the toastiness subsides after a short while.

From about 0.5cm a solid tobacco taste emerges. It is extremely flavourful and slightly sweet and is reminiscent of pipe tobacco. 

My journey continues and at 1cm I encounter a combined flavour so complex that I struggle to identify it and the best I can do is to refer to it as a creamy, buttery, oaky wood with a hint of salty leather. 

Somewhere between the 1cm and 1.5cm mark a faint hint of nougaty sweetness on my mid palate combined with a salty cedary aroma makes a surprising appearance.

1.5cm into the cigar the sweetness dissipates and morphs into savoury tobacco.

At 2cm the cigar is now completely transformed into salty, leathery tobacco. Exactly what I appreciate the most in a cigar. Brilliant! 

Every draw tells a story that can win a Man Booker or Pulitzer prize for excellence ins smoking literature.

I encounter a christmasy fruitcake sweetness at the 2.5cm mark. Although the flavour is faint it is utterly impressive.

The complexity subsides into a gentle smooth and medium bodied tobacco flavour at 3cm. It's a pleasant and welcome break to allow you to contemplate and appreciate the earlier complexity. 

It must be noted here that this cigar is not a quick smoke even though it only has a length of 103mm.

At 3.5cm I encounter white pepper spiciness.

Halfway into the second third (at about 5cm) a fairly potent flavour of sage makes a unannounced appearance and pulls of a gentle ladylike disappearing act, never to be heard of again. This is simply beautiful. I fail to understand how a blender can create a cigar this complex with the utter brilliance and absolute perfection that is El Septimo cigars. I wish every cigar that I smoke could be this good...

Approaching the end of second third the leather returns combined with smokey tobacco. Note that this is a different tobacco flavour profile compared to the tobacco I mentioned earlier in this review. It is darker and dare I say stronger than earlier. The additional strength is not from heat since I only draw 2-3 times per minute. This is a pure full bodied cigar. 

Into the final third a musky tobacco flavour that I have never encountered before enters the already crowded banquet hall of flavour profiles.

The final third of this cigar produced no additional or exciting flavours compared to the first half of the cigar. It remained in the area of smokey tobacco. Sadly, Not much more to say here... 

This cigar is not simply a cigar you smoke just for the sake of smoking. El Septimo cigars require time and appreciation of every single draw.  It baffles my mind to think that El Septimo achieved this level of greatness in only 10 years.  It takes other tobacco houses decades to achieve quality of a comparative standard and most companies never reach a level even close to what El Septimo has achieved so far.

 

To truly appreciate this cigar you only draw it once every 20-30 seconds. Again, I emphasise that this is a cigar to savour and it will only be appreciated by a cigar smoker who places a high value on only smoking the best cigars in the world.

Would I recommend it? A thousand times yes, but not if you are new to cigar smoking and not if you prefer “lighter” cigars. This is a cigar for someone that has walked a mile or 2 in the shoes of a cigar smoker.

My advice - Smoke it alone because it is too good to share.  Enjoy it with your drink of choice whilst listening to some classical music. 

It will be an experience of a lifetime!

 

Bravo!

Humidor Premium Select

 

 

Featuring Cigar: El Septimo Short Dream Topaz - Diamond Series

Country of origin: Costa Rica

Wrapper: Costa Rican

Binder: Costa Rican

Filler: Costa Rican

Size: 103mm / 4 Inches

Ring Gauge: 60  

Availability: Full Production

Smoking Time: 1hour, 25mins.

Review weather notes: Indoors

 

Cigars are reviewed on appearance (20 points), quality of construction (20 points), 

flavour/taste (40 points) and an overall satisfaction rating (20 points). 

Total points: 100 Maximum.

 

Review & Rating by Jeandré Hartman

Email: info@CigarAffection.com

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