Partagas Salomones

Description

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Partagás Salomones Review
I was lounging on the veranda of a teeny boutique resort scooped like icing along the coast of the Caribbean, this kind of place where humidity is something you can wrap around yourself like a hug, and salt air does things to your skin you didn’t know it needed. It was my quinceañera of marriage. My wife was opposite me at the table, and looked stunningly content in that flickering light; and we’d just finished this meal of largely grilled lobster, washed down with rations of vintage rum well excessive. They made me feel so proud.

Product Specifications

Not just because I’d somehow got a beautiful woman to stay interested in me for 15 years and counting, but because of the life we’d carved out. It was like I had finally lived long enough to have slowed down and actually tasted the air. I dipped into my travel humidor, the leather now squishy from years of trips just like this one. It wasn’t a place for a quick smoke. “That wasn’t for me, I didn’t want something I could finish before my cup of coffee got cold.

I wanted a commitment. I produced a log that in shape and size resembled a piece of heavy artillery as much as it did a cigar. It was thick, tapered at both ends and had that dark, oily sheen that lets you know it’s been lying in wait for a night just like this one. That smoke?

The
Partagás Salomones
. It’s a beast of a cigar, an LCDH (La Casa del Habano) exclusive that doesn’t just want your attention but, rather, it commands your full evening. I’ve smoked a lot of things in my life, but there’s something about holding that weighty Salomón in your hand and feeling like the king of your own private island. The Specs
Before I tell you how this thing worked, let’s get to the numbers.

This is not a cigar for the timid, nor for the temporally challenged. Feature
Details
Product Name
Partagás Salomones
Vitola de Galera
Salomón (Double Perfecto)
Wrapper/Binder/Filler
Vuelta Abajo, Cuba
Body
Full
First Impressions & Construction
You ever gaze at a cigar and wonder how the hell somebody rolled such a thing?

The Salomón shape — that double perfecto with a pointed head and nipple-like foot — is generally regarded as one of the most difficult vitolas to create. I’ve heard tales of the torcedores at the Partagás factory in Havana; they don’t let an amateur massage these. The Salomones are rolled by only the most skilled hands. When I stood there and held that thing on the balcony, I could feel that workmanship.

It was on the firm side, no soft spots in it, but with that slight “give” I just knew that draw was going to be spot on. The wrapper was a rich, chocolate brown color, which is what we would expect from the high-quality leaves that they pull out of the Vuelta Abajo area. I sniffed it before I picked up the cutter. I received a heavy hit of “the farm” — that quintessential Cuban barnyard aroma with a little bit of dry hay and the suggestion of baking spice.

It smelled like old-world Cuba. It smelled like history. I made a straight cut across the top of its head, just to produce an easy flow of hair without sacrificing that elegant taper. The pre-light draw was a little snug, which is what I would expect with a tapered foot, but the flavors were already jumping out: cocoa and some cedar.

PART 1 The First Third: The Slow Burn
The act of lighting a Salomón is in fact a ritual of its own.

You can’t just light the end and go. That little nipple foot, you have to be patient with. I toasting it a little with a single-jet flame, admiring the foot as it radiated with the mellow cherry creeping across. First few drags are always a little tight until the burn makes its way to the thickest section of the bulb, but jeezum those first flavors did not disappoint.

Spice and cedar just hit me right out of the gate. It wasn’t a hot spice, more like a friendly one. There’s a sort of woodiness in Partagás that you won’t get from any other place. It’s rugged but refined.

Once the burn got into above 57 ring gauge the smoke production just exploded. Soft, voluptuous white clouds began to circle overhead in fierce contrast with the air from the Caribbean that whirled up from below. It felt as if I was at last coming within the circle of the night. My wife was in the middle of a tale from our first trip together, and the cigar was setting the perfect tempo to her story.

The Second Third: The Beast’s Heart
Around the 40 minute mark, the Partagás Salomones began to change. The spice up at the front didn’t go away, but took a firm second place to a gorgeous nuttiness. I’m talking cashew rich and black espresso dark. This is when the full rich body of the cigar really starts to clench.

You can taste it in your chest — a firm, earthsome strength that says to you, “This tobacco was aged right.”
You know, I gotta say, the complexity is amazing on this one. One puff would be all cream and nuts, then the next would hit me with a sharp tang of citrus or a touch of leather. It kept me on my toes. Construction was perfect; I didn’t touch up the burn once despite some sea breeze trying to interfere.

The ash was a lighter grey shade and hung around for almost two inches before I knocked it off. Just seeing it burn made me proud. It’s a “show-off” cigar, there’s no other way to put it. The final third: The climax
By the time I reached the final third, we’d been sitting for more than an hour and a half.

The lobster was in the distant past, I was on my second rum. In this zone, many big cigars tend to turn bitter or uncomfortably hot to smoke, but the Salomones stayed surprisingly cool. The flavor profile changed again, entering the realm of much darker experiences.

I began to taste heavy cocoa, and a sweetness that brought burnt caramel to mind. The intensity ramped up, too. The spice came back, but it was a black pepper kick this time that mixed with the espresso base. It was a heavy-duty finish.

Look; I was down to the last few puffs of that Vuelta Abajo tobacco, and savoring it as it lasted. I smoked it until I was holding a nub between my fingers. I didn’t want it to end. It felt like the ideal exclamation point to an idyllic day.

The Pairing
And if you’re going to smoke a Partagás Salomones, don’t give it shit.

This cigar will absolutely run over most light beers or a soft white wine. I opted for a rich, aged Cuban rum: Havana Club 7 Year Old. The sugar from the Rum really toned down the spice of the cigar nicely. If you don’t drink, then maybe a double shot of espresso or a very dark roast coffee would be where I’d start.

You want something that has enough backbone to not be overwhelmed by all that 57 ring gauge power. Value and Usage
Now, let’s talk brass tacks. These are not cheap, and they can be hard to score. Being a La Casa del Habano exclusive, this on you’d typically have to hunt down or know the guy who knows the guy.

So they come in these beautiful 10-count boxes, and if you find one you buy it.

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