Punch and Draw review a JM’s Dominican Sumatra belicoso which they received at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival.

Draw: Mmmm, slipping this from the cellophane… the scent is… very elephant pen. Very ureic. I’m going to change that to, “Very fermented.” There’s also some floral, not so much a particular flower scent as pollen, and maybe a touch of mint?

Punch: Nice, mottled, dark wrapper with some prominent veins. Mine has a medium draw with a faint sweetness.

D: Agreed; some very prominent veins. I’d call it “rugged construction”. There’s nothing haphazard or sloppy about it, but the course texture of the wrapper, it’s flat-finish, the vivid veins, makes this JM’s Dominican Sumatra appear as something that ought to go 4x4-ing across an African savanna. My draw is a little more toward medium, but given that this is a torpedo tip, I may simply not have cut it as wide open. I notice straw and a hint of sweetness. The other elements of the bouquet do not come through the draw. For many, that would be a grateful thing.

P: First puffs give a mild radish flavor along with a touch of lemon, and some white pepper on the finish.

D: Very nice! You’ve come along way in your taste-analysis! I agree. There’s a little, mild radish bite on the edges of my tongue on the attack, a hint of lemony goodness, which for me rolls into light toasted marshmallow, or maybe carrot. That’s in the middle, and it rolls toward the finish, where there’s a hint of char…to me, it tastes like light brown gravy…but it’s very subtle. I’m focusing on the browning aspect of the cracklin’s that make the gravy.

P: Why, thank you. And may I say that you have lovely curly hair?

D: I’d rather hear that from our adoring fans. So, yes, you may, thanks!

P: Oh, and your taste buds must be on LSD — brown gravy cracklins? At about an inch-and-a-half in there is still that lemony freshness on the attack and a very slight cedar has moved in. But the peppery finish has diminished substantially. Otherwise, I’m not getting a lot of depth out of this.

D: I think I’d agree. I’d note that my ash held on for a good inch-and-a-half. At this point, the flavor is a very clean lemon radish with little differentiation. I’m enjoying mine with a Modelo Especial. The cigar brings out the fruitiness of the beverage.

P: Almost to the halfway point and I’ll note that the burn has been great and the few irregularities have been self correcting. Whoa!!

D: Yeah, Whoa!! About at the midpoint….

P: …the flavor turned suddenly to cedar!

D: …and then just as fast, it switched to hardwood!

P: Yeah! Wild! I’m purging mine, and stoking it a bit to get it back into gear after it had idled a bit. We’ll see if that makes any difference. By way of an official description of this cigar, about all that JM’s website says is “This cigar is hand rolled from well aged Cuban seed tobacco leaves, grown in the rich soils of the Dominican Republic, then wrapped carefully with beautiful Sumatran wrapper.”

D: I’m trying to determine what JM’s means, exactly, when they say “Sumatran”. The wrapper is Sumatran. But is it a specific Sumatran variety? Or one of many other varieties that happened to grow on the island of Sumatra? One thing, the filler is sure to be Dominican-grown cuban-seed tobacco.

P: Cedar is back.

D: Yes it is. It’s still not a strong cedar. Nothing about this cigar’s flavor is strong. Many of the reviews I’m finding support the notion that this is an incredibly built, but incredibly mild cigar. Particularly at Famous Smoke Shop, there’s a great review from Alex in Russia – not Moscow – who says it’s one of his favorite smokes!

P: With three fat fingers to go, nearly all of this JM’s Dominican Sumatra has become mushy and it just went out.

D: I just had the same experience. I purge-stoked it back to life. The flavor after that is of pepper and radish, hot radish and it carries through from attack to finish, and aftertaste on the roof of my mouth. Now, at the ending, the strength of the flavor begins to grow a bit.

P: After it cooled down and firmed up I relit it and am at the point which you just described. But I’m having trouble keeping it lit, and when it is lit the smoke is pretty warm, so I’m calling it done.

D: At about three-quarter-inch left to the tip, and an inch of ash clinging on, there’s still some flavor worth tasting, but I’m fighting finger-room and physical heat. Still, I’m going to take this one as far down as I can.

Burn it or Spurn it?

P: Not bad. Light it up. It has mild-medium body with moderate flavor depth and medium strength. At $2.50 a stick you can imagine that it’s no (insert name of a high priced/highly rated cigar here). But if I were looking for a box of budget knockabout cigars to have on hand for no special occasion, JM’s Dominican Sumatra could well be it.

D: Agreed. Burn it! This is your knockabout cigar (jinx, you owe me a Coke™); a premium value smoke. It is one that can pair nicely with another food or beverage where the cigar doesn’t need to have the focus. There’s not a lot about this cigar to make me run to it, but there’s absolutely nothing to make me run away. I’m eager to try others in the JM’s Dominican line; maybe I’ll grab a handful for anytime smoking.