A look at the EGO Red Perfecto from Felix Assouline Cigars, I saw a beautiful oily light brown Habano Criollo 98 wrapper in a very interesting box-press shape. Visible veins but smooth to the touch.
Dry oates and hay and cedar on the finish. Very smooth cold draw.
Lighting the foot of the Perfecto was easily done. The cigar accepted my Xikar Alume single flame lighter.
After a few puffs, there were immediate notes of a very light spice, cedar, earth, and hay.
As the foot burned, the burn line was just a little off but is very typical with the vitola. Soon after, a sweet chocolate note emerged leaving the spice behind.
The retro hale was a little peppery which was a little interesting since I only caught spice and not pepper during the regular puffs. I can’t leave out the sweet chocolate on the finish of the retrohale.
At this point, each puff was as awesome as the next. The notes of cedar, earth, and hay were still present along with the sweet chocolate. I kept thinking I was getting a little espresso but wasn’t exactly sure.
The burn line was razor sharp. The ash visibily looked strong and intact.
I was blown away by now. Pun intended!
Still an amazingly smooth draw. All of the season notes were present. The chocolate became a little bit sweeter but not overbearing.
Then burnline could have been drawn on with a pencil and a ruler it was so sharp.
The cigar still produced the same amount of smoke as it did during the 2nd third. This was a nub cigar for sure. I smoked this down to about just less than an inch and it still burned cool not too terrible hot to hold in my fingers. Had I brought a nub holder with me I would have kept going.
This was the quintessential premium cigar. What impressed me the most about it was the entire “performance”, if you will. The draw was extremely smooth through and throughout. After a few puffs in the first third, the burnline remained razor sharp–a great indication it was properly rolled. Although there were no drastic note changes, this cigar had an abundance of character in that the flavor was extremely pleasant.
The performance impressed me so much I wanted an encore. The experience made me want to light up another Felix Assouline cigar and see if it held up to this one.
Felix Assouline Cigars are extremely unique for a mutlitude of reasons. They are one of the only companies I know of that produce the majority, if not all of their cigars in Box-Pressed form.
One of his goals is to create the best premium cigars on the market. I am pretty convinced he is already there. If you check it posts and tags on social media, you’ll see a common theme–each person thoroughly enjoys the Felix Assouline cigar.
A super special thanks to my good friend Scott Hawkes for introducing me to Felix and d’Artagnan of Felix Assouline Cigars. If you haven’t heard of www.CigarHawk.com you need to check it out!
Also, I wanted to thank Felix and d’Artagnan for their partnership. We are very excited to carry these amazing cigars.