Ashton VSG

I decided that my first sample of Ashton would be a cigar from the VSG series as the Fuente Family seems to be particularly proud of this one. Advertised as powerful, complex, and rich, it sounded like one I would enjoy.

Ashton VSG's wrapper is what draws the most attention. It's grown in a naturally cloudy region of Ecuador (as opposed to artificially cloudy?) which serves as a shading factor, similar to the Connecticut shade wrapper growing conditions. The filtered sunlight leads to a particularly bolder tasting leaf.

The filler of the cigar is made with a variety of Dominican tobaccos that have been aged 4-5 years which would theoretically lead to those more complex tastes.

I purchased an "illusion" (Ashton has some weird names for their cigar sizes including wizard, and sorcerer) for $12. It measures 7 inches long with a 44 ring.

The stick has a rugged look to it. There are several noticeable veins and a few too many imperfections. It almost seems like it was constructed this way on purpose as all the cigars in the store looked this way, but I don't particularly like it. Still, the medium brown color is uniform throughout and the cigar is nicely pliable which makes me feel more optimistic.

The cigar cuts very nicely and lights surprisingly well for its size. I enjoy the toast particularly on this one as it releases a very nice tobacco scent before I even go to puff on it.

The draw is well balanced with a full smoke although the texture of the smoke, while creamy, is still a little biting.

This cigar is certainly full bodied from the get go. The smoke starts off with a dark cream texture and bold peppery flavors. There seem to be some faint wood notes as well but the pepper is dominating the first part here.

The cigar seems to be burning just fine with a light ash gray. It stays on for about.....OH NO!!!

We have a serious problem here. Half of the wrapper literally just popped loose and unraveled. I have never seen that happen so quickly before. It was as if the wrapper was too tight and finally just snapped. I managed to carefully peel off the damaged areas and save half the cigar, but I am obviously not pleased right now.

The second part of the cigar lifts my spirits a little. The tastes transition nicely to a mixture of dark chocolate and coffee. A strong nicotine presence emerges here but not enough to actually overpower the smoke.

Unfortunately, these pleasant flavors do not last long at all. In fact, within a matter of minutes, they are all but gone. Replacing them are strong but very simple earthy tastes. The creamy texture of the smoke has also diminished. All of this seemingly happening at once leaves the cigar tasting flat. The draw has also gotten noticeably tighter although the smoke is still full. I keep waiting for another transition of flavors that never comes.

As I get to the last part of the stick, everything just goes to Hell. The cigar starts to burn very unevenly leaving me with nothing but a smoky burning flavor and biting smoke. I can't even finish it.

One of the most important things a cigar smoker should learn early on is that high prices do not necessarily translate into high quality. I'm pretty sure Ashton just made my point. While the cigar was certainly bold and full bodied as I had been expecting, I was very disappointed with the lack of complexity that I had been promised. Putting aside the unraveling wrapper and the horrible burn at the finish line, both which might have been the result of unluckily getting a dud, I really didn't find anything much enjoyable about this cigar that would have justified handing over $12. Plus, when it comes to things like unraveling wrappers, I don't like giving expensive cigars the benefit of the doubt. The draw was nice for the most part, and the brief chocolate flavors were enjoyable. But all things considered, this cigar dug itself into a hole that 2 minutes of enjoyable smoking certainly wasn't going to get itself out of. All I hear about is how much people love Ashton. I don't care. I'm not going back.

Overall Rating: 59