Ezra Zion JAMAIS Vu

Initial Thoughts

As I mentioned earlier, I hadn’t heard too much about this company or these cigars. I love trying new cigars and expanding my knowledge so tonight, I’m going to do just that.

After reading a bit more online and on Ezra Zion’s website, I found that this newer company has already boasted several accolades including ‘Best New Brand of 2012,’ ‘#1 Cigar of the Year,’ and ‘#1 Complete New Brand to the Industry.’ I’ll let you go on their site to see where these accolades came from but regardless (or as my favorite non-word I like, irregardless), that’s pretty impressive. Makes me think this (to me) otherwise unknown brand may quite well become one of my new favorites (not to be confused with my favorite non-word. Apparently I have a lot of favorites). As I was smoking this yesterday, they announced they were rebranding this Inception line as the Ezra Zion JAMAIS Vu. So the pictures we have for this review are of the ‘Inception’, but will be henceforth referred to as the Jamais Vu. They said they the blend won’t change just the name. Talk about good timing on our part eh?

Looks

Upon first gaze at this Ezra Zion JAMAIS Vu cigar, there’s a somewhat rugged but light leather brown wrapper staring back at me. It looks good; there are no veins and only a couple of soft spots but none worth noting (even though I kind of just did). The Corojo wrapper makes me think that it may be a mild cigar, but then again, all these tobaccos came from Nicaragua so I could definitely be wrong about that.

There’s a beautiful looking triple cap on the head and I picked up a tobacco and light cedar when I smelled the wrapper. On the foot, more cedar as well as a skotch of spice. Yes, skotch, pronounced: sk-ohh-tch. It’s a musician term that we use in sound check for shows. Maybe you want just a little more guitar in your monitor so you can hear it better so you ask the soundman for a ‘skotch’ more guitar. There are two bands on this cigar, one towards the head and another on the foot. The band at the foot is black and silver in color and simply has the word ‘Inception’ written across it, but will soon be re-banded and they haven’t released the artwork yet.. Just below that says ‘Primera Edicion.’

The band towards the head is also black and silver with some gray in it as well with a large ‘EZ’ seal right in the center. On either side of the seal looks like what you’d think are very large winged angels. Upon further looks, the angels are actually two silhouetted men that bare a striking resemblance to Alfred Hitchcock.

Function

I decided to use my vintage cutter tonight along with my torch lighter for a nice, even flame. After snipping the cap and placing in my mouth, I caught a very medium and balanced draw of mossy oak flavor on the cold draw. It’s an earthy, nature taste. As soon as I lit the foot, I got a small amount of gray smoke and immediately tasted that same sweet cedar as I smelled on the wrapper and the foot before it was torched.

Smoking

Ok, let me just say that I was uh-mazed by the evenness of the burn on this Ezra Zion JAMAIS Vu. The ash held on…like, forever. More on that later…first things first. The aroma produced by the actual smoke was incredibly enjoyable; it was a fresh, cedar, outdoors-y smell. There was also just a hint of potpourri smell in the smoke as well.

Nearing the end of the second third, the ash had grown and I was amazed that it held on for so long. I reached the halfway point of the stick and the ash wasn’t giving any sign of dropping. Ok, so now, I need to remove the band. Surely the ash will drop when I do this, right? Right? WRONG. In fact, I even tapped the ash just a bit and it tapped right back and said ‘I ain’t goin anywhere yet!’ It was like concrete. Wait, is there concrete in this blend? My wine was empty and I wanted more but I couldn’t get up and leave this ash. No sir.

Well into the final third was when the ash finally decided to depart. I had to touch up the remainder of this Ezra Zion JAMAIS Vu cigar ever so slightly after that but then it continued on just fine.

Flavor

Just after this Ezra Zion JAMAIS Vu caught the heat I got a sweet spice on my tongue and also a nice floral spiciness on the retrohale. The flavor was really well balanced. With each puff I took, it seemed like the spice got a little more, then a little more. I was surprised by how much the spice lingered in my mouth too.

Into the second third there was more of that floral taste in the actual draw and just a (ok, I’ll use it again) skotch of anise too. Flavor is extremely consistent so far; floral cedar with some spice. At this point I’d say it was medium bodied with a medium- full flavor. The overall flavor mellowed just a bit after the ash dropped but the cedar and spice remained throughout until I put down the nub (that’s what she said).

Is It An Every Day Smoke?

Yes. I really enjoyed this cigar.

Would I Buy A Box?

I would buy a box of these.

Where to Buy Ezra Zion Jamais Vu

Best Bourbon Pairings for the Ezra Zion Jamais Vu

Conclusion

I can’t say enough how well the burn was on this Ezra Zion JAMAIS Vu. Flavor-wise, there was just enough floral and cedar taste to balance out the early spice. With those flavor points, I’d say this would be a great cigar to have in the late morning with coffee. I’ll look forward to seeing what the Ezra Zion Cigar Company brings to us in the future. If the cigars they produce continue to be of this caliber, my prediction is that this company will make a serious mark in the cigar industry.