Smoked: Caldwell 22 Minutes To Midnight San Andres Corona Extra

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Caldwell 22 Minutes To Midnight San Andres Corona Extra features Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco covered in a dark chocolate brown San Andres wrapper between smooth and very light sandpaper texture to the touch. It has a number of small veins and 2 predominant veins. The dark band on the San Andres reads “11:38” making it technically a Bellatto release with signature and Caldwell logo.

From the first puff you get a salvo of coffee, chocolate, spice, pepper, earth, and hay. An array of flavors are in the forefront followed by a transition to dark chocolate and espresso in addition to cedar and nuts. There’s a small core of dominant flavors on the palate, but they just flat work together superbly especially with the transitions of complimentary secondary notes – complex and balanced. The retrohale is slightly astringent with pepper and earthy leather aromas. There are occasional notes of mustiness on the palate and in the retrohale. It might also hint at a floral note. Not quite Davidoff-ish, but I like what it adds to the overall experience. The 22 Minutes San Andres is a medium-full bodied, medium strength cigar.

Kudos on the construction: perfect draw, grey & white ash that held up looking like a roll of stacked nickels, fell off at the one inch mark, a gyroscopically circular dead even burn line – like using a drafting compass. The smoke output is excellent. If I had been smoking indoors, it probably would have set off a smoke alarm. Smoking outside my mind raced to the lyrics of Charlie Daniels “Fire on the mountain. Run, boys, run!”

I have now smoked all 4 of the 22 Minutes to Midnight cigars. This series is a work of art. If I were British, I would be chuffed. As an American, I say “This is a damn fine cigar.”

BTW: I can’t help but wonder what Caldwell and Bellatto would have called the series if they were released before text messaging. In the age of the telegraph, their messages would have translated to calling the series “Dit-dit-dit-dot-dit-pause-dit-dot-dit.”