Smoked: Baccarat Candela Rothschild

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Baccarat Candela Rothschild features Honduran filler with a Mexican binder and a Connecticut Shade Candela wrapper. I’m not into infused or flavored cigars, but I have wondered for some time about the taste and aroma of candelas. After searching for a solid 15 minutes online, all I could find available was the Baccarat Rothschild so I’ll put up with the sweet, tipped cigar for this foray into the world of green wrappers.

Flavors that jump out after torching the foot – fresh cut grass, hay, earth, serious leather – if you could smoke a saddle, it might taste like this, forest floor moss, bread, and herbal tea notes. Now I’m searching for flavors I’m accustomed to tasting, but can’t find – like wood, nuts, coffee, chocolate, cream. They’re all missing in action. As I imagined it would be, this is a mild bodied cigar. And the sweet tip is only a distraction for the first few minutes of the smoke. The leathery taste intensifies during the final third. Oddly enough, it’s not unpleasant. It’s an interesting note.

The draw was a little tight, but manageable. Smoke output was quite good. The burn line was wavy, needed several touchups, but the wrapper remained intact. I did scorch it a bit on one touchup, but no harm, no foul.

The candela is quite unique in appearance and taste. Despite the minimal flavor lineup and the absence of typical flavors, I like this cigar. BTW: I pronounce Baccarat as they would in a James Bond movie, although I rarely hear it pronounced that way even by tobacconists.