A couple of Diesels

I'm a little late with my post, it should have been posted last month, but we had a swarm of sickness hit our household. Appearantly either my son's school or my daughter's daycare had an outbreak of roto virus. My son had the unfortunate luck to get sick with it twice instead of just once. He was sick from the first day of our family vacation until we got home. We eventually ended up in the E.R. getting some I.V. fluids and having some test ran to make sure it wasn't appendicitis. We are now 100% well, for now anyway, and back to life as usual.

Last month's Big Sexy Cigar Club shipment from StogieBoys was a Diesel Shorty Ltd. and a Diesel Unlimited D7. If you're not familiar with the Diesel line, it is the product of master blender A.J. Fernandez. I would try to list all the blends and brands that A.J. has had his hands on but that list would be HUGE. I have had a few of the Unholy Cocktail cigars from the Diesel line and found them to be very tasty, so lets see if these two follow suite.

Diesel Unlimited D7

The Diesel Unlimited D7 is a churchill size cigar (7x58) with dark chocolaty brown wrapper. I found a firm to the squeeze body with little give, and only light veins. The body offered very light notes of molasses and some barnyard. The foot offered the sae molasses notes but with more gusto and some cocoa. I clipped the cap and found a surprisingly easy draw, considering how tightly rolled the cigar felt on initial inspection, with notes of mildly sweet molasses. I used my handy torch to get the foot toasted and get things underway.

The initial third opens rich tobacco notes with hints of toasted nuts. The finish is long and toasty with a fair amount of peppery spice on the retrohale that lingers on the palate. At about 1/2" into the burn the peppery spice doe calm a bit as the flavors start to become more defined. This cigar isn't a palate buster but it does have a bit more body and oomph than I was expecting. It has started out of the gate full flavor and full body and I don't expect it to mellow a whole lot. Before the first third ends, there are notes of dark chocolate and very faint hints of coffee starting to emerge.

The second third sees the spice calm a tad more as some caramel-like notes begin to pop in on ocassion. The dark chocolate and coffee notes that were starting to work into the mix as the first third ended have gained depth and developed nicely. The dark chocolate and coffee have pushed most of the toasted notes out of the profile. They continue to develop and are in full swing as the second third draws to an end.

The final third brings some earthy tones to the party but not much else of a change to the profile. I have to be honest, I wasn't upset by the lack of change in the final third. This cigar wasn't overpowering or harsh but does have a nice full body. Overall I would say this was a great smoke. The Construction was great and burn was perfect with no correctons needed. The ash held to over and inch before falling each time and was a dark grey color. If you haven't had any of the Diesel line, I would say get atleast one of each blend because they are worth giving a try.

Diesel Shorty Ltd.

The Diesel Shorty Ltd. is a 4.5x60 power house. The Connecticut broadleaf wrapper houses a Nicaraguan binder and filler blend comprised of tobaccos from the Jalapa, Condega, and Esteli regions of Nicaragua. The wrapper is very dark brown with minimal veins and nearly invisible seams. The body is firm with only minor give and offers only faint notes of cocoa. The foot offered only the smell of rich tobacco. I clipped the cap and found somewhat sweet grassy notes inside of a near perfect draw.

The initial half opens with a ton of toasty notes with hints of dark chocolate laced in. The finish is long and has the same toasty tone. There is a fair amount of spice, especially on the retrohale, and a tingle that radiates from the tongue to the back of the throat. The body is on the medium-full end of full and there isn't a stitch of harshness to be found.

At around the halfway mark notes of leather emerge and develop quickly. The toasty notes have faded into the background as notes of espresso join the dark chocolate and leather. The lack of different flavors is offest by the way they present themselves. They dance around your palate in a well choreographed dance just for you. The Shorty Ltd. is right on par with the rest of the Diesel line. It has flavor by the bucket load with a full body and smooth delivery. The construction was great and burn only required one small correction (it probably would have corrected itself but I'm retentive about such things). A.J. Fernandez certainly knows what he's doing in the blending room.

The fine folks at StogieBoys have both of these Diesel blends in stock and ready for your smoking pleasure.

The Unlimited in the D7 (churchill) size can be had in boxes of 20 for right at 90 bucks, making it a great value for the taste to cost ratio.

The Shorty Ltd can be had as a single for around 5.00 or in a box of 24 for just under 100.00. The shorty is only available in the 4.5x60 size. This one also offers a great taste to cost ratio and a pleasure to burn.