Graycliff Profesionale PG

Graycliff Profesionale PG is about as multi-national as it gets. The filler tobacco is from Nicaragua, Honduros and Brazil. The binder is Sumatran. On the high end sticks, Graycliff claims to use some of the rarest, finest tobacco available. It is rumored that Graycliff sneaks some Cuban tobacco in there as well. Fine by me - embargo or not. “If this be treason, make the most of it.” All of that tobacco is covered in an oily, fine sandpaper-ish, toothy Ecuador Sumatra wrapper with barely visible veins.

From the first puffs, it has a clearly unique taste. It’s smooth and silky yet dynamically flavorful. It’s creamy and buttery with mixed nuts and hints of forest floor moss, earthiness, spice, floral and vegetal notes. Wood, doughy bread and leather become more apparent a few minutes into the smoke. Then the wood unmasks itself. It’s cedar. The flavors are delicately balanced. It transitions quickly with different flavors coming at you in waves to become a smooth yet rich, complex cigar. It’s medium bodied and medium strength.

The cigar is solid to the touch with just enough give when squeezed. It stays solid start to finish with a near perfect open draw, gobs of thick white smoke, a burn line that’s plumb line even alignment, and white and grey speckled ash that holds tight – tapped off at over an inch.

There’s a Davidoff-ish flavor to the Graycliff Profesionale. It’s medium bodied, but smokes on the mild side of medium at times. The mossiness is like a minor league version of one of the signature Davidoff notes. I don’t mean to denigrate the cigar. When I say minor league, I’m talking like Triple-A International League. The taste is just a notch below the mossy notes in a Davidoff.

Graycliff gets a bad rap for some of their lower priced series. I’ve heard comments of “no taste” to “nothing special” to “meh-at best.” Before you write off the brand, try the Professionale. I think you’ll have a whole different take.

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