Agile Cigar Reviews replace what we termed “Assessment Updates”. The concept is the same, but the name is different. Agile Cigar Reviews use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or providing a score for a first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we look at the Viaje Zombie Antidote 2015 edition. This is a cigar where we assessed the Viaje Zombie Antidote 2014 version back in July 2014.
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| Viaje Zombie Antidote 2015 |
Wrapper: Not disclosed
Binder: Not disclosed
Filler: Not disclosed
Country of Origin: Not disclosed
Lonsdale: 6 1/4 x 44 (with tapered foot)
The Viaje Zombie Antidote was originally introduced back in 2014. There hasn’t been much information released about this cigar as Viaje Cigars’ founder Andre Farkas has kept much of the details under wraps. What we do know is that the Viaje Zombie Antidote is the longest and thinnest vitola of the line measuring 6 1/4 x 44. The cigar has made a return for 2015, but this time features a new band. This is something Farkas had said last year would happen with the subsequent Zombie Antidote releases.
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| Viaje Zombie Antidote 2014 |
The new bands are larger covering almost half of the cigar. These have more of a feel of a prescription label complete with a barcode.
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| Viaje Zombie Antidote 2015 Banding |
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| Viaje Zombie Antidote 2015 Banding |
While the band changed for the Viaje Zombie Antidote 2015, the unique prescription bottle packaging that was introduced in 2014 returns.
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| Viaje Antidote 2015 Packaging (Photo Credit: Viaje Cigars Facebook) |
As Farkas builds his lines, he often will tie different cigars into a theme. Farkas has explained there is a theme with these Zombie releases. The story goes that Viaje WMD (Weapon Mass Destruction) explodes. Because of radiation from the explosion, people end up mutating into “Zombies”. The Zombie Super Shot helps arm people for what Farkas calls the “Zombie Apocalypse”. The only way to cure the Zombies is with the Zombie Antidote.
With the Viaje Zombie Antidote 2015, I did find a less complex, but yet a more mature blend than the 2014 edition. The blend was highlighted by notes of wood, marshmallow and spices that were a combination of pepper and baker’s spice. I found the marshmallow notes to be dominant in the first third, and then diminish in the second third. By the last third, I found that while the spices took over, this cigar never became a pepper bomb. While I missed some of nuances of the 2014 edition of this cigar, ultimately the 2015 delivered better flavor.
While I found the cigar to remain medium strength and medium-bodied, both attributes seemed to have a little more depth with the Antidote 2015 versus to the Antidote 2014.
Overall I was quite pleased with this installment of the Viaje Zombie Antidote. While numerically this is the same score as the Zombie Antidote 2014, this can be attributed to changes in the scoring system introduced for 2015. In reality, I found the Zombie Antidote 2015 to be a better smoke, and it is now worthy of a box split.
Summary
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Excellent
Assessment: 3.5 – Box Split
Score: 91
References
Original Assessment: Viaje Zombie Antidote (2014)
News: Viaje Zombie Antidote 2015
Price: $8.95
Source: Purchased
Stogie Geeks Episode: Episode 136
Stogie Feed: Viaje Zombie Antidote (2014)
