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| S & S Foreplay |
The S & S Foreplay marks the first release by a new company called S & S Cigars. Back in May, we posted a press release on the launch of this company. S & S was started by Bill and Brad Stephens. The Foreplay has recently been launched at the Stephens’ retail shops in Mississippi as well as their online store, Bill’s Cigar World. Recently, I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the Foreplay. Overall I found this cigar to be a good cigar and provides a nice starting point for this new company.
The blend was developed by G.C. Puffs. Many may know G.C. from his online cigar review site, GCPuffs.com. G.C. also is the Vice President of Internet Sales and Marketing for Bill’s Cigar World. He also was involved in making the blend of the Foreplay. For this cigar, he teamed up with the David Insignares and Jorge Gil, owners of J & D Cigars to make their blend.
Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Foreplay cigar and see what this cigar brings to the table:
Blend Profile
The Foreplay consists of a Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan tobaccos.
Wrapper: Habano Sun Grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitolas Available
The Foreplay has been launched in four frontmarks. The company is not disclosing the dimensions at this time.
Robusto
Toro
Torpedo
Gran Toro
Appearance
For this experience of the S & S Foreplay, I opted to go with the Toro vitola. The Foreplay Toro’s Habano wrapper was medium brown with a slight cinnamon tint to it. There was a slight amount of oil on the surface of the wrapper. There were some visible wrapper seams as well as some visible veins.
The band features a red, chrome, black, and blue design to it. There is a black diamond on the front of the band surrounded by chrome trim. Across the black diamond is the text “FOREPLAY” in dark blue font. At the top of the diamond is a silver diamond with the name S & S. There remainder of the and has chrome, black, rose, and red adornments. The bottom of the band is red with the text “HAND MADE” and “NICARAGUA” in chrome font.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
Prior to lighting up the Foreplay, I went with my usual choice of a straight cut. Once the cap was clipped, I proceeded with the pre-light draw. The dry draw delivered notes of wood, cedar spice, and citrus. Overall I was quite pleased with the pre-light draw of the Foreplay. At this point I was ready to light up this cigar and see what the smoking phase would deliver.
Flavor Profile
The start to the Foreplay delivered some notes of nut, cedar spice, and some background citrus. I found the spice to be more pepper-like on the retro-hale as opposed to the cedar spice I was getting on the tongue. As the Foreplay moved through the first third, the nut flavors became primary. At the same point, I also picked up a nutmeg flavor in the background.
By the midway point of the Foreplay, the cedar spice took a slight edge over the nut flavors. The citrus and nutmeg notes were background notes.
In the last third, I found the cedar spice really picked up. This made the end of the Foreplay very spicy. Toward the end, I noticed the Foreplay exhibited some harshness. The resulting nub was cool in temperature and firm to the touch.
Burn and Draw
From a burn standpoint, the Foreplay performed well. The burn line exhibited a slight jaggedness early on, but there was no danger of the burn canoeing or tunneling. The resulting ash was a light gray with some darker streaks. The ash itself was on the firm side and was not prone to flaking or flowering. The burn rate and burn temperature.
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| Burn of the S & S Foreplay |
I found the draw on the Foreplay to perform very well. It wasn’t a loose draw, but there was no tightness either. Overall, this made the Foreplay a low maintenance cigar to smoke.
Strength and Body
From a nicotine standpoint, I did not find the Foreplay to be an overpowering cigar, but it still delivers a nice kick. I found the Foreplay had just enough strength to be considered a medium to full strength smoke in my book. As for the flavors, I found some nice depth to them. I assessed the Foreplay to be a medium to full-bodied smoke. Overall I found that the Foreplay exhibited excellent balance between the strength and body with neither attribute overshadowing the other.
Final Thoughts
I’ve smoked several cigars made by J & D Cigars and have found them to be very good cigars. The cigar that J & D is making for S & S is no exception. This was a very good cigar. The flavor profile does a real nice job at providing some harmony and synergy between the various different flavor notes (i.e nut, cedar spice, nutmeg, citrus). This is a cigar I would recommend to either a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. While the strength might be a little more for a novice to handle, this is a nice cigar to graduate to. As for myself, I can see myself floating to these from time to time. It’s definitely a cigar I’d recommend trying one.
Summary
Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: 2.5 – Try One
Score: 88
References
Price: $143.95 (Box of 20)
Source: Samples provided by S & S Cigars
Stogie Geeks Podcast: n/a
Stogie Feed: n/a
* Cigars for this assessment was provided by S & S Cigars. The samples were received in order to provide feedback. Cigar Coop is appreciative for the samples, but in no way does this influence this write-up.
