Asylum 10 review by Don José
Hey team, Don José here back with another review.
Today we have the
Asylum 10
If this is your first time here, my reviews rate each cigar on 10 factors and each factor gets a rating out of 10 giving me an overall out of 100. The 10 factors are: Construction, Draw, Burn, Flavour, 1/3 overall, 2/3 overall, 3/3 overall, Journey (how well it flows), Complexity & Value for money.
Overview
The Asylum 10 Anniversary cigar is a limited-edition smoke crafted to celebrate ten years of premium cigar-making excellence by Christian Eiroa's Asylum Cigars. The line began with the Asylum 7 in 2017 and last year we had the 'April Fools' 9x90 for Asylum 9.
The details of what the blend actually is, is kept pretty hush hush... But we know it is a Nica maduro wrapper and Honduran binder and filler. There are rumours of the use of a "rare ligero leaf from the Trojes region"
Details:
Brand: Asylum
Size: 7x70
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Honduran
About the wrapper.
Well... not much to tell is there.. seeing as we don't know what it is..
let's get into the review.
First thoughts
Its huge.. but feels like an actual cigar, where the 9x90 was so large it felt like a gimmick.
That said, the NINE got 88 points from me, and most of its pitfalls were due its size.. so I'm quite interested to see where this sits.
Cold draw gives me natural tobacco and cedar.
Construction
Construction is great, amazing really for its size. But thats Asylum for you, they really have mastered the large ring gauge.
Burn & Draw Burn and draw are both great too, Unlike the NINE this is much more 'smokeable' and produces a massive amount of smoke.
Flavour & Complexity Flavour wise, its fairly consistent, Earth, tobacco, spice and pepper. Complexity isn't its strong point.
Strength 85% - Medium - full
Enjoyment / Journey Its a rainy Sunday and I have a 3+ hr cigar... so things are in this sticks favour here. But the journey is good.. not outstanding. Its a fairly 'similar' smoke, start to finish, I think for its size, it would be nice to have a bit more complexity and variety going on.
Overall This is a strong step up on the previous releases for me, a very large, yet very smokable cigar that has good flavour and strength. Well worth a try.
I rate this cigar 90 points!
A look at the numbers.
Construction -- 10/10
Burn -- 10/10
Draw -- 10/10
Flavour -- 9/10
Complexity -- 7/10
First 1/3 -- 9/10
Second 1/3 -- 9/10
Third 1/3 -- 9/10
Journey -- 8/10
Value -- 9/10
About the author
Joe Murdie aka Don José has been reviewing cigars in New Zealand for over 10 years now, originally as a writer for NZBlokes, a mens magazine.
Outside of Cigars Joe is an international award winning film-maker based in Wānaka, OTA.
