The Velvet Cigar

Posted By ironmeden on July 22, 2009

I’ve been really looking forward to the next few Felipe Gregorio cigars reviews, The Moroccan Series.

I enjoy finding a cigar that is unique and different, something that other cigar makers may not of thought out or sometimes won’t go outside the box and try. Maybe like a different size cigar or finding a part of the world that you may not think of when it comes to tobacco. My first examples would be the CAO Brazilia and Italia, they encompass tobacco from Brazil and Italy. Also what about Bravo Cigars with their Columbian Gold series with tobacco grown 100% in Columiba. I include also Rocky Patel, I think some of his workers were in my front yard planting Connecticut Seeds, those shades sure can get expansive, I hope they clean up afterwards.

The Moroccan Series

From what I’ve read it looks like Felipe Gregorio is going to have many different series of cigars that will include tobacco from different regions. The Moroccan Series includes tobacco grown in 4 distinct regions in or around Morocco. As the different tobacco added a different taste to the above cigars, I would also believe including tobacco from a region around the world and certainly in a different climate then the Caribbean would set these cigars apart from what you would find on your local cigar shoppe shelves.

Imilchil Malik 30/70

The Imilchil is a small town in central Morocco in the Atlas Mountains. The fields are located at an elevation of 2119 meters in the valley of Assif Melloul (White  River). The Tobacco grown at this altitude is very sweet. Thirty percent of this cigar has tobacco originating from this region. The other 70% blend of the cigar is made up of San Victor Olor tobacco from the Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic.

The cigar size for this review is the Malik which measures 7 x 48.

Each stick is wrapped in a cedar band which covers the lower half of the cigar. There are 2 bands on the cigar. The top larger band has color tones of white and a peach/pink color. Even if this is the best cigar in the world, I would of chose a different color band, but maybe the colors are native to this region and i’m sure a lot of research went into picking the colors…I would of picked a different color scheme. The second band right below the primary band has the inscription of  Felipe Gregorio.

The cigar has a softer feel rolling it through my fingers then the previous Felipe cigars I smoked. The wrapper is a lighter brown Connecticut wrapper.  The bottom half of the cigar feels slightly lumpy in places with a few green patches. Though they were faint, there were 3 separate areas of the wrapper that had this discoloration. Go to this website to learn a more about Green Patches.

I punched the head of the cigar and lit the cedar with my Colibri triple flame lighter. My first initial puffs were quite aromatic. There is a distinct floral flavor note at the start.

At the 1/4 mark of the cigar, I’m tasting a hint of fruit along the lines of cherry.  The cigar is quite smooth. Slight burning issue getting to the halfway point.

The halfway points sees the cigar lose a little of the fruit notes, though they are more subtle now. It is quite a smoky cigar, it gives of lots of plumes of smoke.

The 3/4 mark appears to have lost the fruit notes, though there is a complexity to the smoke. I am getting a hint of spice at this point. The tip of my tongue is catching the brunt of the spice. The uneven burn resolves itself at this point.

The Imilchil is sure an interesting experience. It starts off with a fruity tone, winds down in the middle and then ramps up the spicy tone at the end. It pretty much runs the gambit of flavors. The start of the cigar is certainly mild to medium in body, the end kicks it up to a medium to slightly full body cigar.

I enjoyed this cigar, but I had to think a bit about what to score it. I think maybe this size cigar doesn’t do the line justice and probably a smaller size would really showcase this cigars pull potential. I’m giving it a 3 out of 5 mostly for the slight wrapper discoloration, the burn and minimizing of flavor in the middle.

Share on Facebook

Categories: Cigar Indulgence, Dominican Republic
Tags: 30/70, Dominican Republic, felipe gregorio, imilchil, malik, the moroccan series