Initial Thoughts
This Bellaterra Double Deuce is the second cigar from Bellaterra that I’ve smoked. As I said in the review of the Black and Tan they are a Nashville brand and I’m always looking to try some local brands and see what they have to offer. I got this cigar the same night as the Black & Tan and after my attention was taken from the dual wrappers on the B&T, I immediately noticed this guy. The first thing that stood out to me was the band!
Looks
The band on the Bellaterra Double Deuce is a nice light tan color, but what really stands out is the etching on the outside edge… It’s baseball stitching, a nice dark crimson red stitching that blends is subtle yet very noticeable if you’re looking with a keen eye. The wrapper on this cigar is a dark Habano shade grown wrapper. There are very few veins on it, and the dark brown makes the oils glisten in my clip on desk lamp!
My favorite thing about this Bellaterra Double Deuce has to be the box press. I’m a huge fan of box pressed cigars. I love the way they sit in my mouth and the way they don’t roll around in my ashtray. It just makes it easier for me to sit and enjoy smoking. It’s the little things that count right? Yeah I thought so.
Function
I’ve already described the box press on this stick, but one can’t help but notice how subtle it is. I typically see box presses with more defined round edges. This cigar has more of a trunk press on it. The edges aren’t as define, but you can definitely tell the top and bottom are pressed. It reminds me a lot of the Headley Grange. The HG is pressed in a similar fashion to this Bellaterra Double Deuce or visa versa, which came first the chicken or the egg? Who cares right?
Time to slice off this triple cap and see what’s under the hood and how she draws! The draw is a little tight initially, I don’t think this will be a problem seeing as how many of the sticks that I’ve been smoking lately have the same issue and have turned out to be just fine. I do like to take note though, just incase it comes back to bite me. It’s for the sake of science you see. It seems to have passed all the other pre game drug test screenings so I think it’s time to let this cigar get out on the field and play the game! It’s almost Super Bowl Sunday so I’m getting amped up using all these metaphors! I hope you like them!
Smoking
After a proper toast, no, I didn’t raise a glass of champagne, I just made sure to burn the foot of the cigar with my butane torch. I want to make sure and get this puppy burning straight. So this Bellaterra Double Deuce came out burning nice and even. The draw was excellente and performing like I had hoped. I’m just sitting here enjoying this cigar when all of a sudden the second third came along and something went haywire with the wrapper. The heat started getting it to and the next thing I know the wrapper began to split a little. Unfortunately, I knew what was coming next…
Sure enough, the wrapper split even more and started to come unravelled. I managed it though, the burn started getting a little off line and I went to correct and set the loose part of the wrapper a flame. This was fine it got everything back in line, but man it was a site for sore eyes for a few minutes. This carried on for most of the second third, but it finally cut the crap once I started the final third for the home stretch.
During the final third of this Bellaterra Double Deuce, there was a fairly strong bitterness that had built up. I blame it on the fact that the wrapper had cracked and the fact I had taken the torch to it a couple of times. With that being said I decided it was time to ‘resuscitate’ this cigar. Now some of you may ask what that means, or some may have a different idea of what that means. To some it means to bring it back to life once the cigar has been dried out and you bring in some humidity to it. Well that’s not what I mean by ‘resuscitate’.
What I mean is, to hold a lighter to the end of the cigar and slowly blow out. And boy do I mean slow! What you’re doing is blowing out all the tar and nicotine build up from the cigar. This tends to build up throughout the course of smoking. It’s essentially acted as a filter and has a ton of buildup to it. So this little trick removes that build and burns it out. The end result is a nice clean smoke to finish out the cigar! Great trick eh? So after ‘resuscitating’ this cigar the final third finished great burning nice and even and clean!
Flavor
During the pre draw of this Bellaterra Double Deuce I wasn’t able to really pull out any flavors. I think it had some issue to do with the fact that the draw was tight. During the first third I picked up on quite a bit of nuttiness. The flavor wasn’t in your face, but it was a nice little finish of nuttiness which was pleasing to the palate. The nutty notes trailed off some and picked up a bit of spice. The retrohale brought in more vegetal notes to really round out the experience.
The second third started out the same, but that Nicaraguan flavor of spice and coffee started to appear as the nuttiness faded even more. The coffee notes combined with a nice creaminess that helped me battle through the difficult burn that I mentioned above. On the retrohale I began to nice a nice strong woody and oaky scent which was a nice combination to the coffee and creaminess picked up on the palate.
The Bellaterra Double Deuce stayed fairly consistent once I fought through the bitterness that came at the end of the second third. There was nice clear flavor to finish up the stick. Overall I’d say this was a medium to full body in strength and flavor. There was a good dose of nicotine, but not enough to really put you down for the count. It was a nicely blended cigar that offered some great complexity in terms of flavor.
Would I Buy It Again?
For sure! I could see myself enjoying this fairly often assuming the draw and burn issues weren’t a recurring issue.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
It certainly could be, as I said assuming the draw and burn aren’t an issue.
Would I Buy a Box?
Probably not, even though I enjoyed this cigar, I don’t think it’s box worthy for me. But if you try and it hits your palate just right then a box might be right up your alley!
Conclusion
Overall, I was impressed with this Bellaterra Double Deuce. I think it’s my favorite from the Bellaterra line. It’s a great well rounded cigar that offers a little something for every level of smoker. I think if you’re a newbie smoker you can certainly pick up some nice flavors. If you’re more of a budding aficionado I think you’ll be able to pick out quite a few complexities as well!
