Shawn Posted by

1502 Cigars is one of the new boutique lines that have came about recently from Global Premium Cigars. Recently the guys at Emilio Cigars (who gratiously gave me this cigar to try) picked up the 1502 lines under their wings for distribution. 1502 has two other lines besides the Ruby; The Black Gold and the Emerald. The Black Gold is the fuller of the lines. The Ruby being the medium body line. The Emerald is the milder of the three lines.

As Enrique SÃ¡nchez (Company owner) says “I like to start my day with an Emerald, then I enjoy a Ruby after lunch, and a Black Gold to end the night.”

Size: 6×50

Vitola: Toro (Box Pressed)

Wrapper: Equadorian Sumatra

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan from Jalapa Valley and EstelÃ­

Source: Sample

First Looks: The 1502 Ruby is a very unique looking cigar. We have all seen a closed or shaggy foot cigar. But this has a half closed foot, which is pretty interesting to the fact, I have never seen a cigar foot presented in this form. The wrapper comes around the foot and leaves just a tad bit of the filler showing. I think it would help with getting an even burn due the wrapper is getting toasted just as evenly as the filler tobacco.

Overall, it has a soft almost spongy feel to the cigar. A nice oily sheen on the Sumatra wrapper with a slight tooth. A few minimal veins run through the wrapper, but no major veins. The wrapper has a slightly sweet and woody aroma to it. The foot aroma has a nice cinnamon and slight peppery aroma.

Construction: The burn is pretty typical of most box pressed cigars. Its somewhat wavy, but not as bad as most box pressed cigars I’ve had; its easily managed to a decent burn line. Even though there was a slightly uneven burn, I never needed to touch it up, nor relight it. The ash was of a mainly white with some grey mixed in here & there. The first ash lasted about 3/4″ then fell into my lap and caught me way off guard! Each ash there after lasted well over an inch, not a tight ash, but it held. The draw was really nice; not too thick or too thin. It produced a fair amount of “idle” smoke that has a room note with a cedar aroma to it, but I didn’t find it too pleasing. The nice draw produced a good amount of drawed smoke. Its not the most I’ve ever had, but far from the least smoke I’ve ever drawn.

Flavor: First off, I got a good blast of white pepper, which quickly fades off to a nice peppery note. Soon after, a nice note of a muted Nestle Quik-like coco powder flavor comes into the flavor profile. Into the cigar some more, the flavor seems to mellow off to a medium strength creamy white pepper, coco, and a very faint sweetness.

About a third into the cigar, the pepper seems to ease off even more. And a malt chocolate flavor starts to take shape. Its not a bold flavor, but a nice flavor.

Around half way, I got some citrus flavors accompanied to the muted coco/malty notes. Working into the final third, a earthy flavor eased onto my palate. This is when I really started to enjoy the cigar. An easy mix of white pepper, some malty coco, and earth tones, in the final third, is the plateau I think of the cigar. Right towards the end, a nice amount of black pepper arose from the ashes with a slight undertone coco note. It wasn’t a bold pepper, but a nice medium strength pepper note. I was still not 100% off of my head cold, so I didn’t attempt a retrohale.

Final Thoughts: Overall it was a pretty good medium flavor and bodied cigar. I’m still on the fence on whether I would smoke it regularly though. Would I smoke it again? Yes, and recommend it to others who like a medium body smoke with this line of flavor profile. If I could have this cigar that was mainly like the final third, it would be a cigar I would smoke a good bit more often. I would like to try this cigar again and pair it with a citrus green tea or possibly a light beer. I don’t drink much light beer, so I’m guessing it will be with the green tea!

For more information on 1502 Cigars and Global Premium Cigars:

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