Kristoff Pistoff
I’ve been curious about this cigar since I first heard of it many years ago. The Pistoff Kristoff came up in conversation during a cigar event last month. The cigar is made with Nicaraguan filler, an Indonesian binder and a rustic toothy Mexican San Andres wrapper with a pigtail. The band is black with barely readable neon red lettering – akin to the Caldwell original One Night Stand cigar band.
Pigtails usually make me apprehensive and I grab the V-cutter, but this one was sufficient enough to tug and the cigar opened unscathed.
The initial flavors are an assault on the palate – charred oak, earthiness that’s more like dirt, even the pepper has a dirty taste to it , some spice, sweetness, and day old coffee. The flavors suddenly changed to a more enjoyable profile – still not very good but smokeable.
They’re still minimal but now identifiable as oak, earth (now musty), pepper, spice; cinnamon and dark roast coffee. Still nothing special going on here. The retrohale is peppery, toasty and notes of charred wood. This baby is full-bodied and full strength from ignition to burn out.
The construction was good – open draw, decent smoke output, and white ash that held stacked like a roll of nickels. The open draw and lack of any wrapper issues is a rare feat for me detaching a pigtail on a cigar.
If I hadn’t been distracted on a phone call during the first few minutes, I may have given up on it. Midway through the first third it transitioned albeit from nasty to a shade better than meh. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced that kind of sudden change. I guess you can call that a transition. There is no complexity to this cigar.
How do you rate and review this? Give it a 1 for the first third and a 2 overall. The only saving grace was the solid construction. I’m not Pistoff for trying this cigar but I wish I had my money back.
Comments
4 JeremyH131442
(11 months ago)Sorry to hear your experience was not as good as what I was blessed with.
I ordered 2-ten packs of the Maduro's to sample them for the first time. I let them rest about 8 weeks before I started to sample them. Then I went through them one a day for the next three weeks.
OF them all the GC is by far my Favorite with the Vengeance following and the Pistoff right behind and the Kristiana. The others were all decent smokers but these were the only ones that really made me start adding them to my Cart.
They all transitioned for me and I will be purchasing them again when they have the ten packs on sale again. Each time I put Kristoff into my Cart (3 different sites) I end up pulling the trigger on something else that was either something that was less costly, or something I'd been waiting to try.
100 Bear On The Air
(11 months ago)I do like the GC Signature series. I'll have to try the Kristiana sometime. Thanks for the feedback.
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