Butera Royal Vintage

The Butera Royal Vintage is a Dominican made cigar, has a Dominican binder and filler, and a Connecticut Shade wrapper. Internet searches say this stick has a mix of six different tobaccos, but I didn't find the mix. The wrapper is light tan, and was supple to the touch, not brittle at all. The version I smoked was a Capo Grande. It was long and thin, not typically my favorite sizing for a cigar. Price on this stick was just under $10. Olik found it to be one of his favorites, so I had to try it out.

On first lighting, I thought I was breathing through a straw. I literally received no flavor for the first 20 minutes of this cigar. I was a touch disappointed at this, but remembered that I just moved from a robust cigar to a mild. After the initial 20 minutes, it started to have a bit of a spicy flavor, but almost imperceptibly so. It was definitely a smooth, light smoke.

I didn't really get into the full flavor of this cigar until close to the end of it. I had literally been smoking on this for an hour before I felt like I was getting the promised flavors. It was smooth, woody, a little spicy, but I never noticed the creamy "buttery" flavor I was promised. I tried really hard to taste it, and thought for a second I did, but it was probably just peer pressure.

This thing burned like a champ. At no time did it run. I did, towards the end, even up the cherry, though I really wouldn't have needed to; I'm OCD like that, I guess. It was a well packed, and had a decent draw without being too easy. (I have moved to using a punch instead of my usual V-cutter. It offers me the protection from getting tobacco in my mouth, but seems to give me a better draw on the cigar. Plus, the punch is built into my lighter. How cool is that?!) At no time did I have to re-light, which is a pleasure.

My total smoke time for the Butera was almost 1.5 hours, considering of course I was there with two other people and jabbering about work and life. (But hey, that's half the fun, right?) Overall, this was a decent cigar, and a good choice for the beginning smoker, but I would probably not smoke this particular model again. It simply did not offer me the flavor profile I was looking for.

So to review:
Butera Royal Vintage
Size: Capo Grande
Cost: $10
Length of smoke: 90 minutes
Flavor: extremely light, imperceptibly spicy, supposedly creamy
TGT Rating: 6/10
Note: TGT ratings are completely subjective, as everybody has their own taste preferences. Smoke with caution, gusto, and an open mind.