Quorum Classic

So I have to apologize yet again for my slacker-ness as Tony pointed out earlier this week. Life has not stopped being crazy and it’s not stopping anytime soon. I was out in Vancouver for a wedding last week. Next week I will be down in San Francisco and the following week I will be out in Florida. Racking up the air miles! So I may not get to squeeze in another review for a bit.

Regardless of that, I spent some time working from home this week and took advantage of the great weather to sit outside and scribble down a review for your reading pleasure. Today’s cigar is going to be the Quorum Classic in the Churchill Vitola. The Quorum’s are made by none other than JC Newman and there are a few varieties in the same namespace, this one is simply known as the “Classic”

Now the Quorum Classic is budget friendly bundle cigar that is also handmade. It’s marketed towards people seeking handmade quality and a very affordable price point, and they don’t disappoint on that with Churchill sized sticks selling for less than $1.50 each! Most of the construction of this cigar is from Nicaraguan leaves with only the wrapper coming from Ecuador.

Now there are always a lot of negative thoughts that come to mind with many of the bundle cigars out there. I came into these with an open mind and actually did no research on them before I lit up my first few (more on that later). So let’s jump right in, the weather is awesome and I’m ready to spark this baby up!

Cigar: Quorum Classic
Drink: Victoria Teas and Coffees Snickerdoodle Coffee
Vitola: Churchill (7 x 48)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Ecuadoria
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: ~$1.50 each
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Quorum has a very rough exterior with some medium sized veins running through it, also has a bit of toothiness
• The double cap has a clean finish to it
• The foot appears to be fairly well packed
• From cap to foot the whole cigar has a nice little squish to it
• Cut was pretty easy but I’m left with a pretty tight draw even after 2 cuts, hopefully that clears up
• The draw never really opened up but it wasn’t overly snug either

Burn:
• Toasting was pretty easy and even, got the foot glowing nicely with no effort
• Right off the bat though I’m getting a wavy burn, hoping that will correct itself
• Although it has stayed wavy through the first half it has been somewhat under control and has not required any touch ups at all
• Burned down right to the end with no touch ups needed at all, pretty impressive for a stick at this price point
• It never did get quite razor sharp or pretty but that didn’t bother me as long as I didn’t need to touch it up

Smoke & Ash:
• Due to the tight draw it’s requiring a little extra effort to get some smoke out and it’s still not that full
• Ash so far is keeping clean, getting a tad flaky but nothing too worrying
• It still doesn’t look too sturdy to me so I tapped it off just before an inch
• The colors of the ash are mostly light grey with some dark grey accents
• Resting smoke is almost non-existent here, very light
• All of the ashes ended up being about the same, slight short of an inch and looking kind of weak but still clean

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a definite barnyard type of aroma
• From the foot I’m picking up more barnyard aromas, a bunch of cedar and just small touches of spice
• Pre-light draw gives more cedar and barnyard flavors
• Initial flavors are mostly of dry wood and some subtle spices so far
• An inch in and the flavors are mostly unchanged
• Getting some nutty flavors in the mix now, adding a nice new dimension
• Not too eventful until I passed the midway mark and now I’m getting some light coffee notes
• So far the whole cigar has been pretty mild with almost no bite on the retrohale and a bit of a dry finish
• The coffee ramped up a bit into the last third adding a nice layer to the flavors

Final Thoughts:
Coming into a cigar and knowing it’s price does create some expectations. If it’s expensive, you expect a lot, if it’s cheap, you’re a little more forgiving. When I lit up my first Quorum Classic I didn’t look into what the price was, I knew it was budget friendly but I didn’t know they were below $1.50! Needless to say, my notes from my first few sticks were about the same on flavors but I was a little harsh on overall satisfaction. Reason being is that the cigar didn’t change up a whole lot. The flavors were enjoyable and other than a little bit of dryness there was nothing off-putting here either. Maybe it’s just the vitola is too long for the flavor profile for me? But on the otherhand, this would make a perfect cigar to take into the yard when you’re cutting the grass or something. So all-in-all I was pretty happy with these cigars but I may opt for a Toro or Robusto size if I got to purchase some more, you definitely can’t go wrong for the price point though!

Pairings:
My wife and I found Victoria Teas and Coffees a long time ago during one of our trips down to Niagara-on-the-lake, a cute little town surrounded by wineries not far from the tourist trap of Niagara Falls. They have an incredible selection of Loose Leaf and Bagged Teas and whole variety of coffees ranging in country, strength, type and then of course the flavored stuff (Here’s the website link, they do ship if you wanted to try some of their stuff). Their flavored coffees are amazing and there’s always a new one around for the season. The Snickerdoodle flavor is a staple and next to Cinnamon Bun is probably my favorite. In case you don’t know what Snickerdoodle is, it’s a common cookie recipe and very tasty(It’s NOT a type of dog! 😉 ). This coffee was a great pairing since it added some cinnamon and baking type spices to the mix and complimented the cigar flavors quite well.