Project 805 Ventura Cigar Company

 Project 805 is named for the area code of Ventura County, California,

Weight 0.48 oz

Wrapper: Corojo Shade

Binder: Dominican Olor

Filler: Dominican Blend and Andullo tobacco

http://venturacigar.com/brands/project805

 Project 805 cigar sizes available.

Robusto (805R) 5.00”x 50

Toro (805T) 6.00” x 50

Figurado (805F) 6.25” x 52

Churchill (805C) 7.00” x 50

Country of Origin: Dominican Republic

Olor ( O lor)

Olor is a variety of Dominican cigar tobacco, which has large leaves and is commonly used for filler and binder. Olor tobaccos can have a distinctly dry flavor, or drying effect on the mouth.

Olor is also the Spanish term for odor, scent, perfume or fragrance

Andullo ( An doo Yo)

Andullo is a fragrant tobacco that makes use of a unique fermentation process.

The tobacco is tightly packed into palm frond boots. The photo below shows a small palm frond boot the boots used to make the Andullo tobacco are very long 6 feet or longer..

Palm frond boots are stuffed with tobacco then tied into a tight roll with rope. Once the tobacco is wrapped in the palm frond boot it is hung and given 2 years to ferment. The fermentation process in the palm boot is what generates a tightly bound roll of tobacco that is five inches in diameter and six to eight feet in length. When fermentation is finally complete, the resulting product is a leathery, dark, aromatic, earthy sweet all-natural tobacco leaf.

Here is a You Tube video that shows how the Andullo tobacco is cured. The actual curing of the Andullo tobacco is in the last ¼ of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NYIq3_Wm5c

 

This video was posted to You Tube by Pedro Guzman. Check out his You Tube channel.

Project 805

Ventura Cigar Company

The cigar smoked for this review was a robusto (805R) 5.00”x 50

The Project 805 cigar is handsomely rugged looking toothy cigar that was very firm between the fingers with no soft spots. The seams are fairly tight with no gaps.

The cap on the Project 805 cigar is expertly crafted.

As you can see from this photo the Project 805 cigar has a triple cap.

The Foot of the Project 805 cigar shows the great skill in the fabrication of this fine cigar.

The cap cut beautifully leaving a clean cut without any ragged edges.

The foot toasted evenly from edge to edge. And the Project 805 cigar lit on the first try.

The first puff of this cigar was peppery with a strong espresso flavor coming through. All of the flavors were on the front of my tongue. There was a background of sweet licorice on my tongue, that maybe coming from the Andullo tobacco. There was also a little dryness in the smoke.

The second third flavors are black pepper, strong espresso and a musty forest floor taste, with a slight sweet licorice on the tongue. The sweet licorice remains on the tongue between puffs. This has been a pleasant smoke to this point.

The lingering sweet licorice is in the oil. The Project 805 cigar is a very unique and tasty smoke.

The flavors have blended together, the black pepper is still there, but it has reduced some. The espresso has remained the keynote in the flavor profile and the oil being deposited still has that sweet licorice between puffs. I do not taste any sweetness in the smoke only afterwards in my mouth. The Andullo tobacco definitely adds a unique flavor. It is not unpleasant Just something unexpected. I would like to have a bit of the Andullo tobacco to smoke in a small pipe just to get a clear taste of this tobacco.

Pic Last third

The last third of this smoke has remained constant in its presentation of flavors. The oil has picked up some. Near the end of the smoke the pepper has dropped off a bit. The Flavors are now smooth and creamy. The extra oil in the smoke has leveled off the flavors in this cigar to a nice even taste.

Pic end

Henry and Susan owners of the Kings’ Humidor of Sebastian, Florida asked me to review the Project 805 cigar and I am glade that they did. Thank you Henry and Susan

http://www.thekingshumidor.com/

The Project 805 cigar has been a unique and enjoyable smoking experience. I had fun researching the Andullo tobacco fermentation process.

I was in Dominican Republic just a couple of months ago and I wish I had known about the Andullo tobacco at that time. I would have picked up some just to experiment with. I understand that in parts of the Dominican Republic the Andullo tobacco is ground into a powder and smoked.

 I recommend you give this unique cigar a test drive, I will be smoking more of the Project 805 cigars.

Thanks again Henry and Susan.

Enjoy.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

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