Ave Maria Ark of the Covenant Cigar Review

Winter has halted my cigar smoking because I don't smoke in the house and it has kept me from doing so in my backyard or front porch. I'm not a big fan of cigar lounges because of the extra incurred cost or minimum required purchases, in most cases. I rather just not smoke. It's the first week where temperatures have reached 90(F) degrees here in New York City and summer has not even officially began.

I was pondering as I sat back with my cheeseburger pairing in hand and re-thought of why I smoke cigars knowing of all the terrible damage it can do to my body. Let's put it this way, reiterating from past comments: I am not a habitual smoker, I enjoy it and it has helped me hone in on varying taste.

The first cigar I pulled out of my humidor after 8 months of not smoking anything is the vitola size: Ark of the Covenant, an Ave Maria.

Vitola: Gordo (4.5" x 60RG)

Price: $4 stick

Wrapper: Ecuador (Habana)

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Aged in Humidor: 9 months

Appearance and Construction:

The band is the most impressive and one can be lured in by that marketing aspect of it.

The cigar looks like every other Habano wrapper toned cigar I have smoked:caramel brown. It is constructed smooth with no veins and no blemishes. It seems I have aged it well for 9 months. I don't feel any dampness or softness or dry areas. The cap is even with the body, nothing coming apart. I aged it in the cellophane wrapping. I toast it evenly with my Ave Maria torch.

Draw: Not tight, not loose, right in the middle

Aroma: Medium to Strong, average, stronger if brought 4" to nose

Ash: Not very nice looking with irregular tone, freckly grey and black

Fumes: Only when lit initially or relighting, it produces an even stream for the first third and begins to fade after

Burn: Uneven and inconsistent, but only by a little. Maybe it was my sticks but the wrapper burnt uneven and though it did not go out it got almost to that point where I had to torch it up again and again

Boldness: Medium to slightly above mid-range
Harshness: Two short "considerable" points throughout the entire cigar
Strength: Medium
Complexity: Not very much so

Tasting Notes:

The scent that it emits out of the hole on the foot while the cigar is still in the clear cellophane cover is of tobacco leaf, one would say barnyard like. The cold draw is similar with a tea note. On lighting, it produces notes of brownie and raisin.

1 cm in: charcoal, it is reminding me of grilled meat. With the charcoal note, is a hint of bitterness but not in a bad way.

1 inch in: like it's original light, at this point a retrohale like a slightly over baked brownie note.

The first third consists of neutral to medium dark brownie like tasting profile. In the range of change I could also detect a hint of similar to a raisin cookie note along side the brownie like tasting profile. Seeing that this is not a very long cigar, only at 4.5", somewhere at the end of the first third, I began removing the band and that's when the first of the ash dropped.

The second third had a bit of harsh bitterness but lasted only a few seconds. Overall, same as the first third but also detected a tiny bit of spice in between the first and second third. In it's changing profile, I also detected notes of: dark oak, another wood-like profile, a very distinctive cigar tobacco from that region and a raisin in the mix.

By the final third, like most cigars, it began to mellow out. Many of those tasting notes went away and profile at this point became neutral. It retained it's medium boldness, though. It's the best part, not getting so much brownie, but the profile is still there and it's turning into what a decent cigar should be. I didn't nub this cigar, I only smoked to a little under two inches left because I had to go but I didn't want to, I had to drop it. It took about an hour and thirty minutes, if I had finished it, I would guess a little short of two hours.

My opinion is that since the Ave Maria Ark of the Covenant only had two points in the entire cigar with slightly harsh bitterness and the questionable coming and going of those raisin-like notes which is a profile of preference (I can go either way of liking or disliking that raisin-like note), I give it a liking in my book, though I can't give this a 90+ rating. I've enjoyed far better and this wasn't the first of the Ark of the Covenant. So I am not rating this 87 cigar based on one smoke. I have a few more so we shall see. The band is gives this smoke an example of where the cover is better than the reading material.