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Hadassah: Hi everyone, welcome to another edition of Cigar Talk.
I'm Hadassah Hallman.
Shane: I'm Shane Ireland.
Hadassah: And we are smoking RoMa Craft's Neanderthal today.
Shane: The SGP specifically, which is the smaller, I think it's technically a Robusto
but almost a Rothschild size in the line.
Still quite a punch in the smaller format.
We're really excited to introduce RoMa Craft to our line up.
RoMa Craft being started by Skip Martin and Mike Rosales, so RoMa.
And the cool thing about what these guys are doing in my opinion is that industry standard,
even for like the boutique stuff, many, many brands are actually OEM manufactured by larger
cigar firms.
RoMa Craft is completely run by Skip and Mike Rosales, and they have their own factory in
Esteli, in Nicaragua that they run themselves.
So from start to finish, they have their hands on every part of the production and it produces
really, really good cigars that are also unique and bold and interesting, on the landscape
of the market right now.
Hadassah: Correct.
They don't really have I think, anything in their line up that is really on the lighter
side.
Shane: Yeah.
Hadassah: Everything is normally about pretty much mid to full bodied.
Shane: At least medium to full, yeah.
Hadassah: Yeah.
Shane: Yeah, exactly.
Hadassah: So, they do roll very, very good cigars that pack a punch.
Shane: The construction is great on all the ones that I've smoked so far.
I've been smoking them for a few years now.
And the Neanderthal, I mean the CroMagnon and the CroMagnon Aquitaine are kind of the
flagship lines, but the Neanderthal is sort of their most premium.
Hadassah: A specialty cigar.
Shane: Ready available, yeah, specialty cigar.
So anyway, it's a beautiful San Andrés wrapper, really dark.
US Connecticut Broadleaf binder.
Hadassah: Correct.
Shane: And then the filler is a most of different ligeros from Pennsylvania, Halopa.
Hadassah: Correct.
And it's got that double ligero that goes with that Maduro and the Mexican that kind
of blends together and that's really what gives it it's punch there.
Shane: It does have quite a punch, but the thing that I find most interesting is on paper,
this should be a real spice bomb.
And I actually don't think it's quite that in your face in terms of flavor.
Hadassah: I don't get any spice from it, like maybe a little bit on the back end?
But I get more leathery notes from this.
So yeah, it's not got that spiciness that I have seen from some San Andrés tobaccos.
Shane: Yeah, it's not a pepper bomb.
I mean, I think that I get, especially on the retrohale, maybe a little closer to the
halfway mark, maybe a bit of cayenne, maybe some sweet peppers?
But it's really creamy, like it produces a lot of smoke.
But overall, yeah, it's leathery, and earthy.
Hadassah: Yeah.
Shane: Even a little like, I don't know, vegetal.
Like there's a little bit of some green flavors?
And when I say green, I don't mean green tobacco.
Hadassah: Right, not that Candela but some kind of, okay.
Shane: I guess like vegetal is kind of like earthy.
It is creamy and there's just a tiny bit of sweetness.
But it does build in intensity, I think to about the point that we're at.
Hadassah: Right.
It's definitely picked up since we have litten it.
Shane: Yeah, it's building in intensity, but at the same time too, I think the majority
of the cigar smokes and tastes the same way, kind of till the end.
Hadassah: Now have you tried this cigar before?
Shane: I have, I've smoked a couple of these before.
Hadassah: Okay.
Shane: It's been a fairly regular smoke for me, whenever I've been able to get my hands
on them.
Hadassah: Okay, this is a first time for me, so I'm still trying to take it in a little
bit, but it is, this is an interesting cigar.
I will say when we punched them earlier, the flat cap on them was something that I'm not
used to seeing in cigars.
You normally have that bold kind of roundness where you cut the cap there, so that little
flat cap on that Neanderthal makes it really neat.
Shane: It is an interesting presentation.
And I also actually quite like, I'm a guy, I'm a punch guy anyway.
I like to punch a cigar.
Hadassah: Oh, yeah.
Shane: Especially a cigar this size, so it's really, really nice that it's so easy to punch.
And again, it's constructed really well, so I had no issues with the cap at all.
If you do cut it, I would recommend cutting as little of as possible.
Hadassah: For sure.
Shane: Because even if you just score around it, and take off the cap, it's cut perfectly
behind that already.
Hadassah: Exactly.
Yeah, so no need for much of a clip on that.
Shane: Yeah, no.
Hadassah: So I say we smoke these down Shane, kind of see what.
Shane: Check in in a minute?
Hadassah: Yeah, see what we get from it, and we'll let you folks know.
Shane: So now we're approaching the mid point I think.
You're a little further along than I am.
Hadassah: Oh yeah.
Shane: I will say that the burn on these so far has been great too.
Hadassah: Very nice.
Shane: I have had no touch ups and even at parts where something looked like I might
need to touch I up, it corrected itself pretty quickly.
Hadassah: Yeah, which is very nice, you don't have to keep coming back and babysitting it.
Shane: Yeah, yeah.
It's burning with a nice spontaneous sort of ... You can let it settle down a little
bit, but as soon as you start puffing on it again, you get plumes of smoke coming off
of it.
Hadassah: Oh gosh, yes.
One thing I do like with it, the white ash of it, is just like a very just fine, packed
white ash.
I'm going to-
Shane: It's firm.
Hadassah: Yeah, firm.
I'm trying to hold on to mine, kind of see how far along I can get, but so far, that's
very beautiful.
Shane: Now for me, the spice has faded a little bit.
I think this kind of like creamy, semi-sweetness that I'm guessing is due to the Connecticut
Broadleaf, sorry binder, and really you're also getting a lot more earth at this point.
Hadassah: Correct.
Shane: I don't think it's building in intensity much anymore, it's been pretty consistent
for the last, I don't know, however long, 20 minutes or so.
Hadassah: Yeah.
Shane: But the spice has mellowed out a little bit, it's become a little more well rounded,
but by no means monochromatic.
Hadassah: Correct, correct.
I'm starting to pick up that sweetness from that Connecticut now too, that's kind of hitting
into that middle area there.
I will say this is definitely a cigar you want to have with a full meal.
Shane: Yeah.
Hadassah: Probably.
Shane: Yeah, it might be a little early in the day right now to be smoking these without
anything in our stomachs.
Hadassah: Exactly.
Shane: But I'll tell you what, it's a great after dinner smoke.
Hadassah: Yes.
Shane: A digestif, you know.
Hadassah: I think with a nice stout beer or something, something after a nice full meal.
This cigar will definitely be on point for you.
Shane: I can see myself also enjoying this with like a glass of rye whiskey neat.
Or even a whiskey based cocktail, a Manhattan.
Hadassah: Yeah.
Shane: Or an Old Fashioned, or something like that, it would go really well with it.
Hadassah: Oh for sure.
Shane: But the other thing is, that I really enjoy about this, the draw has been immaculate
for the whole smoke, and I feel like I can give it as much or at little attention as
I want to, you know what I mean?
Hadassah: Correct, correct.
Shane: Like it's definitely ringing my bells, but it's not so complex that I feel like I
can't just smoke it and enjoy it.
Hadassah: Exactly.
I've been, because it's such a strong cigar, I have puffed it here and there, and come
back to it and yeah, it's got that same consistency and that same pull, which is very nice with
it.
Shane: And also, if you're short on time and you want to get a good *** for your buck,
this is a really, really good option.
Hadassah: Oh for sure.
Shane: I think again, what's kind of remarkable for me is that after the first, I don't know,
quarter inch or so, and the flavors got to a certain point, they've stayed pretty consistent
since then.
You're not getting any more or any less of what you were getting up front.
It's a consistent smoke the whole way through but that's fine, because it's a flavor pallet
that I really, I take to personally.
Hadassah: Yeah, with a cigar this strong, I like the intensity to stay consistent, where
it's at.
If it builded up any more at this point, I like you might have to put it out, but it's
at that point that it's just right.
Shane: Yeah, absolutely.
It's still extremely satisfying, still there's enough going on flavor wise to keep you interested,
but really, I'm just kind of in the zone right now.
You know?
Hadassah: Oh, yeah.
Shane: It's just a really, really nice combination of flavors.
The Broadleaf and the San Andrés, and all of the filler, the high quality filler that
goes into this.
Another thing too is, personally, I would stack this against cigars costing twice as
much.
Hadassah: Oh for sure.
Shane: You know what I mean?
And it holds it's own definitely.
Hadassah: For sure.
Shane: I really, really love what the RoMa Craft guys are doing, and I really appreciate
that they're taking an approach to it to make sure they have control the whole way through and
it shows, it shows in the cigars.
Hadassah: For sure.
Shane: The prices aren't bloated and the quality is extremely high.
Hadassah: Oh for sure.
This one retails, the Neanderthal, for $10.00 in store.
But it's certainly worth every bit of it.
I will say if you're a fan of something like the Drew Estates, if you like those Liga Privadas.
Shane: The Liga line, yeah.
Hadassah: If you like those T52s, those strong, full bodied cigars, this one would definitely
be one that you're going to want to try.
I say we smoke these down, Shane.
Shane: Finish them, yeah.
Hadassah: Finish them off.
We appreciate you guys joining us here for Cigar Talk today.
If you get a chance, definitely try some of the RoMa Craft line.
We've got the CroMagnons, we've got those Aquitaines.
Shane: The Aquitaine, yeah.
Hadassah: Those Intemperances as well.
Definitely come in and let us know in your comments what you think.
We appreciate you coming in with us today.
Bye folks.
Shane: Thanks everybody.