Was somewhat loosely rolled at both head and foot,and a bit squishy. Wrapper broke hear he head during routine handling prior to smoking and I had to handle it gently to prevent unwrapping. A closed head on something with such a small ring gauge might be a bad idea, and upon inspection I could think of no way to cut it without cutting the entire cap off and likely seeing the entire thing unrolling. It is about the same circumfrence as my cigar punch, so that wasn’t an option. So I ended cutting the entire cap off trying to cut the head(the other option being to light the cap and smoke it backward. Perhaps I should have smoked it backward, as I immediately got to experience the joy os smoking a cigarillo that was coming unwrapped. I did have to re-light it twice, despite frequent draws. The draw was very easy and it burned fast. No real flavor, niether pleasant or otherwise. Incredibly neutral. The impression I get it that leaves The retrohale was mostly just the heat of the smoke. The ~15 minute estimated smoke time in the description is accurate in my experience. There was relatively little smoke off of the end of the cigar, but a rather large volume on each draw. I’m a fairly new smoker, so perhaps my palette is not sufficiently developed to pick up on the flavors other reviewers say they are picking up on. Overall, I did not find the very mild and mellow smoke objectionable at all and my only real complaints are the issues I noted with the construction. If it weren’t for these issues (which could well be a one-off QC issue for all I know) and they’d foregone the cap, it would be a nearly perfect break-time choice. The overall mellow flavor and what seems to be to be overall very good leaf quality at this price-point, combined with my hopes that these construction issues will prove to be a one-off make me prone to try this smoke again. It might well be that these simply don’t do well when you purchase only one and it is is able to jostle around a bit during shipping. Even if these construction issues prove common, I can accept it if I consistently get this smooth and mellow a smoke (sans any acridness or sourness, unlike most other cigarillos I’ve tried at comparable pricepoints). Might just have to light the head and smoke it backwards if I can’t find a smaller cigar punch. Definitely gonna give these a second try. Would give 5 stars if it hadn’t been for construction issues, as these are definitely the smoothest and most enjoyable little cigars I’ve had at anything near this price point. If the next batch don’t have these issues, I’ll be looking to update my review and update my rating accordingly.
