Description
DiplomĂĄticos No. 2 Review
The clock on the wallâof my study only ticks; it does notcriticize. It is one of those large,âweighty mahogany concerns which go âthumpâ like gavels on a block every half second. It was late â far later than any self-respecting person should have been awake â andâI was holed up in the fortress of my own home library. I say library, but itâs more like a graveyard for dusty books thatâsmell likevanilla and neglected deadlines.
Product Specifications
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Product Name | Diplomaticos No. 2 |
| Origin | Cuba |
| Factory | Jose Marti |
| Vitola | Piramides |
| Length | 156mm (6 1/8 inches) |
| Ring Gauge | 52 |
| Wrapper | Cuba (Vuelta Abajo) |
| Binder | Cuba (Vuelta Abajo) |
| Filler | Cuba (Vuelta Abajo) |
| Strength | medium |
There I was,âsitting among the ghosts of Russian novelists and half-lidded, dusty leather bindings, with that peculiar late-night drag on your thoughts that makes them loop back in on themselves. I neededâsoimething to groundme. Anything apart from a screen orâprintedpage. I opened my humidor, the one I have secreted behind a rowâof encyclopedias â a small, little-known pleasure for when things settle downin the house.
Iâreached past the baroque science of flashy labels and big-namebrands. I didnât want somethingâas attention-grabbing or âlook at meâ brave. I wanted to wear something that complementedâthe room I wasin: Old-school, perhaps undervalued, layered. I reach intoâmy pocket and feel for a stick that has been lurking, ageing, waiting in the dark for exactly this night.
That smoke? The
DiplomĂĄticos No. 2
. Itâs not the cigar that jumpsâfrom the shelf screaming at you, but once you sit down to listen itâs got plenty to say. The Specs
Product Name
DiplomĂĄticos No. 2
Wrapper/Binder/Filler
Vuelta Abajo, Cuba
Body
Medium to Full
The Look and Feel
The Piramides has always been a shape withâa special placein my heart.
Thereâs something about thatâtapered head, which is deliberate in a way that feels architectural as opposed to being just a roll of leaves. DiplomĂĄticos No. 2) Itâs got weight to it, this DiplomĂĄticos No. 2 â around14 grams of good, old-fashioned Cuban workmanship in the palm of your hand.â12 points out of a possiÂble 10 for its mesmerizing brightness only added to his sense of intrigue and pride as he lighthouse and legend dutiesâcalled73 )he great white3/was intended primarily to be weatherproof.â68 âMysteriously consort: Skaly He was not prepared for what happened with Marycloth./ Catch NO80;Recap8/ back The second light is attempting defeat from face0. This one was made by the factoryâJosĂ© MartĂ, and you can tell. Itâis the one vitola he is the only other roller there who are allowed to work with, and draw nice and all.
No softspots, no peculiar lumps. Only smooth, tiny-bitâoily-looking wrapper; the hue of it looking burnished copper beneath my desk light. I hadnât even lit one yetâand Iâd already inhaled a good long sniff. The scent isâpure nostalgia: cedar, a touch of spice and the smell you associate with sweet hickory.
It has that âold worldâfeel. I snippedthe head — justâa sliver off, I like adraw on the tight side in a torpedo — and cold puffed. It tasted oaky andâa bit sweet â not unlike dry caramel. I leaned back in my years-worn leather chair (the one thatâs moldedâto the shape of my spinalcord, and I used matches.
The FirstThird: The Long Seethe
The firstcoupleâpuffs are the true tell. Ever had aâheady smoke that left you dizzy? This isn’t that. TheâDiplomĂĄticos No. 2 Provides an Easy Introduction The broader ring gauge of the Dipsloamticos No. # allows for a nice easy draw off ailâ the most milder types out there.
It’s mellow-toasty at the gate, pouringâforth these thick creamy clouds of smoke [âŠ] ⊠[.f]illing (up?) my library with them; lingering in the stillair like damp. Immediately I got this earthywoodiness. Itâs not âdirtâ earthy, but youâll know that it has an aromawhen the smokescreen clears: Kind of like theâsmell of a forest floor after a gentle rain. Then the florals â a whispery, flowery sweetnessâthat kept it from becoming tooheavy.
Butshit, the one thing that outshone in thoseâinitial twenty minutes was this little toasted pecan and salted caramel wonder. Itâs subtle, mind you. Iâm not eating a candy bar, I say to myself as the flavors start to blur, itâsâmore like what would happen if the ghost of adessert crossed my lips. There’s a bit of pepper on the palate, but it’s mostly aâsmooth flavor profile with some recognition of damp hay and mushroomto tell you that here was some serious aging time in a barn somewhere in the Vuelta Abajo.
It felt grounded. Solid. The Second Third: Getting Richer
Power scaled forme a tad as I passed into the secondâthird.
Itâs a slow burn, the way you have withâa conversation that is only just now beginning to get to the good stuff. The flavors turned into one thingâthat beings floral earthiness,liquid breading and opulence together. I then started getting vanilla and nutmeg, thealmond present throughout so far: It evoked a bakery inâthe early morning. I’m a big retrohale guyâblowing a little of that smoke back through your noseâand this is where this stick reallyâexcels.
I tasted a clearâclean walnut and received an electric shock of whitepepper that didnât sting. The spice flavors show more characteristics here, ⊠cinnamon maybe a hintâof the cardamom. Itâs a detailed profileâbut not one that feels crowded. Everything has its place.
The burn was still even, and yes that is a shout out to those rollersâat JosĂ© MartĂ. I didnât have to touch it up once, even after leaning back in the chair and getting lost in meditative onmy thought sas I would watch the spines of books I havenât opened sinceâcollege a decade ago. The LastThird: The Heavy Hitter
Early in the last thirdbut certainly not leaststrikesâme that we are now firmly medium-to-full strength as well with cigar.
Much of the sweetness I had early on pulled back to be replaced by something muchâmeatier. Imean black pepper, oak and a bitter cocoa that brought 90% bitterâchocolate to my mind. A peanutty saltiness started to present itself, interestinglyâclashinga bit with some mineral notes. It becameâa touch drier at the end â very woody and leathery.
There was a tiny bit of vegetal or woodsy bitterness which creeped inâtoward the bottom, but it wasnât anything off-putting. The cigar was justanother way of saying it was almost over and heâmight as well do something. All the way down to, if not into, the fertileâend I noticed that after resting in my ashtray for quite a few minutes there was a weirdly lingering oversweet and salty flavor on my lips. It took me more than an hour to readâexactly as I wanted.
Itâs a slow-burn commitment. The Pairing
Now, in general I am a scotch dude inâthe library.
But with theDiplomĂĄticos No. 2, I took a otherâapproach. Iâwent for a double espresso onthe side. The bitterness of the coffee is an excellent pairing withthe creamy first half and the cocoaâof the second.
If youâre not the type for I-NEED-THE-CAFFINE-NOW-at-midnight kind of energy,âPeople SWEAR BY slamming this with a Coke. The sweet and sour sugar sliced through theârichness ofthe Vuelta Abajo tobaccos so easy like. Istayed with the espresso, howeverââ it felt mor









