Cigar Review - Villager Talanga

Val here,

Since we got a lot of wonderful cigars from the Lone Star Cigar Bash, we are trying to review several of them as we go along this summer.

One of the first that we smoked was the Villager Talanga.

Wrapper: Talanga (Connecticut seed) Honduras
Binder: Jalapa (Seco Habana) Nicaragua
Filler: a blend of 3 Nicaraguan tobaccos



In looking at it, though there were a couple soft spots, the cigar appeared to be fairly well rolled and had a light, pleasant scent. The pre-light draw reminded me of cream and tea.

At first light, I got flavors of cream and spices, and something that was reminding me of white pepper or the taste you get at the tip of your tongue when you smoke something containing heather.

The cigar burned really cleanly, did not need much in the way of a touch up.

The second third of the cigar increased in spice, but not a pepper spice, something that reminded me of cardamom at the back of my tongue. It reminded me oddly of a chai latte.

Towards the last third the cream flavor mostly disappears and the astringent bitterness of the Connecticut wrapper comes to the fore. There are flavors that remind me more of tea and tannins, with an increased in perfume-notes, giving an almost wine-like taste to the cigar.

I was surprised at how cool-burning it was, I did not feel any heat until the cherry was quite close to my fingers.

Overall, I enjoyed this cigar, and it has a definite place in my morning cigar lineup. I was drinking this with coffee, but I remarked to Thomas that I thought it would be very good with either a chai latte or with some yerba mate tea with cream and honey.