Graycliff’s new John Howard Graysmith blend was launched back in July at the IPCPR convention and started shipping in August.
The cigar is available in two vitolas; the Cannon (parejo) 7 x 60 and the Buccaneer (torpedo), also a 7 x 60.
The cigar’s blend is comprised of an Ecuador wrapper, a binder from Costa Rica and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras. The cigars are hand rolled in the Entubado style.
For this review, I received a 5 pack of the Cannon vitola from Graycliff. The packaging was very nice. The box reminded me of a book and upon opening the cover, there is a parchment paper on the left side with a detailed story about John Howard Graysmith.
The cigars have a very simple pirate head for a band that is loosely attached with a small strip of cellophane tape.
The Cannon is an impressive stick that has some heft and a solid feel. The triple cap is nicely done and the Ecuadoran wrapper is medium brown in color and has some dark striations.
The wrapper has a cedar scent while from the shag foot there is a sweet, raisin aroma.
The pre-light draw was very easy and I picked up on more of the raisin flavor that I found from sniffing the foot.
I clipped the cap, then toasted and lit the shag foot. The half inch of shag tobacco burned quickly, reaching the wrapper leaf in under a minute. The ash was very flakey as you would imagine from the unrestricted shag tobacco.
Once the shag foot burned away, there was a good transition to the wrapper leaf, no touch up was required and the burn line started off very evenly.
During the first third, the cigar’s ash was firm and gray in color. There was a good burn line with a thin carbon ring. The flavors I picked up on had raisin highlights on a bed of solid tobacco with the occasional peppery spice on exhale.
The ash dropped off at 1 ½ inches and the burn remained very even.
The cigar has a very uniform flavor profile throughout the smoke. Going into the final third, there is a medium amount of pepper on the exhale. The base flavor is mostly woody tobacco with some bitterness on the finish.
While this vitola is not one that I generally prefer, I felt it was a good smoke and enjoyed the samples I tried for this review.
