Cusano Habano LXI Sun Grown Robusto (5x50)

It has been an absolute mad house at work lately. We have four new-hires that are in training and not able to help carry much of the work load. That means the "vets" are having to work twice as hard to make sure the work gets done, leaving very little time for a cigar lately. I found this in the bottom of the humidor and had almost forgot where I had gotten it from. I picked this up on my last order from Famous Smoke Shop in a sampler pack. The wrapper smelled of cocoa powder and sweet cedar and the foot was a more powerful cocoa. There were a couple of decent size veins but nothing too big. It was firm with no soft spots or wrapper blemishes. I couldn't find a whole lot about this on the Cusano website. Really all they had to say about it is that it is double wrapped ("Double the wrapper, double the taste"). The two wrappers were stated as being Habano Ecuadorean and Dominican. The dual wrapper houses a dominican binder and a mix of Dominican ligero. The website said it was to be a medium-full body and full flavor. The LXI on the wrapper is a roman numeral for 61, which is one of the co-owners of cusanos birth year. I clipped the cap with my scissors and tested the draw, which I found to be just a bit on the firm side with notes of cocoa and sweet cedar. It was no problem getting it lit with my favorite single flame torch. Despite the firm draw it did produce ample amounts of smoke. The first third opened up with a spicy sweet cedar core and notes of coffee. I also noticed a hint of cherry especially on a really slow retrohale. The burn was even through the first third and produced a rather flaky light gray ash. In the second third the cherry notes faded considerably as notes of orange zest and coffee came in to the mix. The ash held to about 2 inches before giving way and falling into my lap. I saw it coming with the ash being as flaky as it was but couldn't anticipate when it would fall (don't you hate that). In the final third the cherry and orange zest completely faded away. The spicy sweet cedar that had been prominent throughout the burn was still in the forefront with a hint of coffee and, what tasted to me, like nutmeg. Through the first half of the cigar the finish was of sweet cedar and a hint of cherry. In the second half the finish reminded me of the aftertaste of amaretto, almost like the aftertaste left by tiramisu. The burn did require a couple of corrections in the second half of the cigar but was nothing too major. Honestly I didn't see this ever reaching medium-full. it started out more on the mild-medium side and finished at a solid medium body. It was decently complex and full of flavor. I wouldn't complain about receiving another one of these in a sampler or even sticking a 5 pack in the humidor. It was a nice change of pace from my usual preference of more full bodied smokes. You can find more information at www.cusanocigars.com. Price on these, in this size, is about 5.75 per stick