Man O' War:Double Corona:Habano

I'm not a big fan of online retailers and that's what has me put me off from getting my hands on this Cigar International's exclusive. Another thing that has put me off was that it was an exclusive, I'm not a big fan of Online Retailers "own" blends. I'm fine about house made B&M cigars but I tend to think that O&R make their own blends for their own profit and don't really care for the quality of the smoke. But I got gifted this cigar and I just can't turn down a cigar. But so does this cigar support my assumptions about O&R quality or does it change my views?

SPECS-
Size- 6.5x52
Wrapper-Ecuadorian Habano
Binder-Nicaragua
Filler-Nicaragua
Price-Around $9 dollars
Cut-Punch/Guillotine
Smoke Time-1 hour
Drink-Coke

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-I'm impressed by the quality. The band is a nice paper with a grim and sinister helmet. The wrapper is very smooth to the touch and fragrant. The foot smells like a earthy hay and nicely packed. The cap was cut rather squishy but produced a perfect draw and no particular taste. So far this cigar is proving me wrong and I don't mind.

FIRST THIRD-The cigar opened up quite nicely. The first initial puffs were similar to a Macanudo 1968. Slightly more spicy and hits you more on the back of the throat. Its not as a refined flavor but its overall decent. The first initial tastes are of nuts, the nuts had a interesting cedar undertone and earth overtone. The finish was good and had a cereal grain similar to puffed corn, it reminded me of Hot Fries. The burn was slow and even, it completely contradicts my expectations.

SECOND THIRD-The spice gets very subdued and not as ruff. The smoke gets more even and refined. The earth that was present on the first third gets deeper and produces a almost sweet mocha. The smoke gets milder and the nut flavor comes and goes with no undertones. Not much to speak about this middle spot other than interesting and not to bad for a CI exclusive.

LAST THIRD-The best and most interesting third. The smoke just blooms up here and produced almost sweet flavors. Though there are no pronounced flavor the occasional hints of leather and nuts are welcomed. After this rather average profile the cigar gets darker and very off putting. As I was close to put the cigar out the flavor profile changed. Though the same flavors were there the way they got introduced was better than before. The nut came on earlier with a good sweetness and with a nutmeg finish. This made me smoke and enjoy the cigar a lot longer than I thought. A pretty decent cigar.

FINAL IMPRESSIONS-This is a decent cigar albeit it's a CI exclusive it changes the exclusive game for me a lot more. The flavors thought weren't as pronounced as I like but this makes for a decent smoke for doing any other things. The price is a bit high and for the expected shipping it'd but this stick well over $10 dollars a pop not worth that price tag, if it was $5 bucks cheaper it'd be good.

RATING-88
Buy it Again? Not Likely
Recommend It? Yes, its decent CI is usually doing special with this cigar that could make it more affordable and worth it.