The Nubbit brothers ruminate over the Bodega Reunion Digestivo, a cigar blended to finish a meal.

Punch: This Bodega Reunion Digestivo is the companion to the Reunion Aperitivo. The later is intended to be part of a pre dinning social experience, while this one is for socializing after. Two of the Bodega Premium Blends (BPB) owners describe the reunion concept in this interview they gave us at the 2014 IPCPR show.

You can read our review of the Aperitivo here. Having just finished a Sunday lunch of roast with potatoes and carrots, I figure this would be a good time to have the after-meal Digestivo.

Draw: Mmm. The aroma as I’m slipping this from the sleeve is mildly piquant. It smells like a fresh green pepper. There’s a little elephant pen, and straw, but mostly this garden-fresh scent. Earthy and peppery. I observe what looks like mold on the leaves exposed at the foot. This appears to me as grayish areas among the filler leaf. On exploration with a fingernail, these appear instead to be maduro – or some other aging process – leaves. Or, maybe it looks like a burnt leaf. Anyway, I’m convinced its NOT mold.

P: This one is a 5” x 54 ring gauge double robusto. The wrapper is of Mexican origin, from San Andreas. It has a proprietary binder, and the filler is from Jalapa and Esteli. You described the wrapper aroma well, Draw. I find the foot has some plum. The cold draw is pleasant with a complex fruitiness.

D: Thank you, Punch-brother. Mine has a very coarse-textured wrapper, suggesting sandpaper. It’s a light maduro in color, and has a slightly green tint. As with other wrappers of similar treatment, the seams are visible as are veins, but only one is prominent. Double-cap with no construction faults. The stick is almost spongy. Cold-draw is also suggestive of gardens and fresh green pepper. The draw is slightly tight. A light toasting raises…toast.

P: After warming up I’d say the flavors are melon rind, smoky hardwood and a very mild eucalyptus — it goes without saying that this is a highly complex profile, starting off at a medium flavor intensity.

D: Initial flavor: peas, from the pod, from the plant. There’s also toasted wheat bread… and vinyl swimming accessory. You know the flavor; don’t kid me. I, apparently, over-toasted my wrapper, so I have an ugly split where I guess I burned through just a bit. The initial draw seemed much tighter than the cold draw, but after a few tokes it has opened up slightly to what it was.

P: Last night was the last Cigar Dinner for the year for the Phoenix Cigar Club. We meet pretty much monthly during the winter months, while it is comfortable to be on a restaurant patio to smoke. From now until October it could be a bit too warm. We had a good showing of about 25 of us, six of which for whom this was their first cigar dinner with us. A good time was had by all. This one was hosted by Jill Hoffman of Hoffman sales — a large cigar distributor in this region, and she featured E. P. Carrillo by providing two sticks for each attendee as well as some miscellaneous swag which went to those holding winning tickets.

D: Wow! That sounds like a great event! Kudos to the founder and president of the Phoenix Cigar Club [link website and facebook page], Peter Hudson on another fine event …that I’m unable to attend. Sounds like a great time, and no one lost their head.

P: Speaking of losing one’s head, I just took a puff, and the cap popped off, and started unraveling. I was able to lick it back into place, preventing an unraveling incident. First third flavors are mostly the same – slightly more blended. It is a rich, what I call serious profile.

D: First third for me tastes very much the same. The vinyl flavor is probably what Punch calls melon rind: a bland, almost artificial sweetness.

P: Approaching the middle I’m noticing a citrus brightness which has the effect of opening up the flavor – a real nice shift.

Last week I finished the book The Martian By Andy Weir. A great sci-fi story about a member of an exploration team who gets stranded on Mars. Pure man-against-nature as he manages to survive for over a year while waiting for a rescue mission to return for him. Highly recommended. I could see this being made into a movie, if they could decide what to leave out to keep it short enough without losing any of the uncertainty, tension and drama.

D: My tension and drama is currently vested in this cigar. The green pepper is becoming a stronger flavor. It is still a fresh pepper taste. The vinyl has turned into chamois properly on the middle of the draw, with “shoe leather” on the finish and aftertaste. In fact, there is an overall blending toward shoe polish. Still a good smoke! Smoke output is good, as is ash retention. I note that my ash is covered in little white dots.

P: In the last third that brightness has fallen off and taken a lot of the interest of the flavor profile with it. The flavors have blended to a tamer, yet medium-plus intensity.

D: I still have that brightness on the attack, but the leather and shoe polish have grown to encroach on the attack and otherwise dominate the flavor. A gentle purge helps refine the flavors slightly, but overall my experience is more intense, if anything. This is at the two-finger length. Still, the ash clings well; it’s a little wooly, and yellows (actually, oranges) significantly about a half-inch from the burn line.

Burn it or Spurn it?

Punch: This Bodega Reunion Digestivo is surely a burner. Starting off quite complex and with a medium flavour strength it progressed through a couple of distinct transitions. It opened up in the middle with some citrus, and homogenized toward the end while increasing a bit in flavour intensity. It held my interest throughout and was a pleasant smoke overall. The construction and burn have been great (with the exception of the cap coming off) and needed no touch-ups.

How was it as a follow up to a big meal? I didn’t find any association between the cigar and my previously ingested mastication.

Draw: Were one to finish their meal with a sweet dessert, I think this has a sharpness which would be a good complement. Overall, yes, burn it! I didn’t see the transitions as distinct; for me the cigar progressed very gradually, and appreciatively. Complexity, mild-to-medium; intensity, mild-to-medium. Strength, mild. The burn was not always even, but it self-corrected except for once where I lost my patience. Burn quality was great, with a nice oily smoke and great ash. Not long-idling, but this is a cigar I found myself sipping often. I’m looking forward to my next one!