E.P. Carillo New Wave Connecticut Stellas (5 1/8x42)

What is that you say? You don't care much for Connecticut wrapped cigars? They usually tend to be flavorless air-balls that are entirely too mild for you? In most cases I would agree that the Connecticut shade wrapper denotes a stick milder than I would care for. Well here is a Connecticut wrapped little gem that is not too mild, and far from flavorless. The New Wave Connecticut has an attractive Ecuadorean Connecticut wrapper that houses a Nicaraguan binder and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The wrapper had a few small veins but nothing that should hamper burn. the wrapper had a barnyard and manure aroma and the foot smelled of barnyard and earth. It was firm to the pinch with a bit of give in a few spots but nothing serious. I clipped the cap with my scissors and found the cold draw to be just a bit on the firm side of perfect with mild earthiness.  The Initial third opened up with notes of roasted nuts and caramel with a slightly sweet caramel-like finish. There was a just enough black pepper spice to compliment the sweetness, especially on the retrohale. The smoke has a creamy texture and the body is on the milder side of mild-medium. The second third offered up some nice coffee notes and a faint earthiness as the body stepped up to a solid mild-medium. The sweetness and the spice both faded just a bit in the second third as it became even more creamy. In the final third there were subtle notes of leather and cocoa that joined the party but were muted and demanded your attention to pick them out. Most of the spice disappeared in the final third leaving the creaminess of the flavors to shine in the spotlight. The burn was a tad wavy but required no corrections. The medium gray, salt and pepper ash was a bit flaky but held for about 2 inches at a time. This was a nice change of pace for me, I like to keep some variety going so as not to get stuck in a full bodied rut. The New Wave Connecticut has enough body, flavor, and complexity to keep even a veteran herfer happy. With that said, it's a great smoke for the cigar newbie or a seasoned smoker. This was the first of E.P. Carillo's offerings I have tried and I look forward to trying some of the others. This stick was a gift from @Cigar_G on twitter (http://twitter.com/Cigar_G) as part of one of his many cigar contests. If you are on twitter, you should look him up. He is a entertaining BOTL and always has some kind of contest or giveaway going on. I saw these at Cigarstix.com for 89.99 for a box of 20 (Stellas size), bringing per unit price to around 4.50 per stick if you buy a box ( Link HERE). Burn time was about an hour and fifteen minutes. More information about E.P. Carillo can be found at www.epcarillo.com and you can find them in the twitterverse at http://twitter.com/EPCarillo