San Martin Liberator

Made by Tabacalera Del Oriente, the San Martin Liberator is billed as a Peruvian puro. One of my favorite Gurkha's, the Grand Age, and the RyJ Reserve Maduro both had some Peruvian tobacco in the fillers, so how bad could it be? My great friend and SC brother Ray copped this at IPCPR, and passed it onto me.

The wrapper on the Liberator is fugly. It's a mottled brown, brindle color that would look great on a pit bull, and has veins that a heroin addict would die for. The draw is nice and easy.

The flavor starts out earthy, with a mild nut mixed in. A nice leathery finish creeps in as the first inch burns away. So far, it's turning out to be an alright smoke.

The burn is a little wobbly, but my torch has stayed in my pocket so far. The ash is also decently solid.

There's a hay-like flavor that's been building, and it's starting to get "mouthful of grass" tasting. Thank goodness for the coffee I'm drinking along with the cigar. I'm an inch and a half into the cigar, and tempted to just let it go out.

Halfway through the cigar, the flavor has turned to mostly hay with a little leather. The original earthiness is still in the background, but I've never been crazy about hay-flavored cigars. It reminds me of the Sherpa I smoked earlier this year.

I'm getting to the point where I'm seriously thinking of grocery shopping, which usually doesn't speak well of the cigar I'm smoking. When my coffee is finished, so am I.

I guess that there's a good reason why we don't see many Peruvian puros: The world already has enough yard 'gars.