Having reached the Number 9 spot on Cigar Aficionado’s top 25 list for 2011, it’s only a matter of time before I got around to this newly popular Stoagie, purchased at SJ’s Cigars in Philadelphia.

The first thing I noticed after lighting this up was the really tight, white ash (har har har) it leaves. Pretty impressive as the ash doesn’t flake off at all.

The taste to this is pretty gentle in the mouth with the smoke not being hot at all. The slightly tight draw is smooth, carrying an overall smoky wood and dryness with it. As noted in CA’s review, there is a saltiness to this, as well as a rich dark creamy cocoa taste. More of the salt and cocoa is noticeable from retrohaling. It leaves behind a caramel like sweetness in the mouth. There’s a light pepper tinge overall, but it’s far from overbearing and not spicy.

The aroma is excellent; the smoke is a bit hot to the nose after a long inhale, and delivers a rich dark aroma of dry wood, sweet caramel or cocoa. A unique tobacco quality exists in the blend, though subtle.

This is a good cigar, it’s quite mellow for its name and more on the rich, darker side of the spectrum and very enjoyable. I would not purchase a box of these, it’s too pricey and not that unique, but a 5 pack is definitely in the future.