Staff Review: Viaje Zombie Green
Introduction:
With today’s review, we will be taking look at Viaje Zombie Green. When I think about the all-time great Viaje releases, Zombie Green is certainly on the Mount Rushmore with its delicious blend of tobaccos and one-of-a-kind design.
Feel free to skim the quick hits for an overview or jump into any section below to find the full details of Viaje Zombie Green. And away we go!
The Quick Hits:
- One of two blends from the “core” Zombie line with the other being Zombie Red
- In Viaje-lore it represents the story of people transitioning to zombies after exposure to the radiation of the WMD releases
- Main tasting notes of milk chocolate, cinnamon, and black pepper
- Recommended for: fans of Foundation El Gueguense, HVC Pan Caliente, Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaraguan
The Build:
Viaje Zombie Green has a pretty long history of limited releases, but the newest iteration comes with undisclosed blend details. Historically speaking, Zombie Green featured a Nicaraguan Criollo wrapper, with a Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Although I don’t know the exact details of the newest Zombie Green, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cigar’s core components were the same as they have always been, but with some more minor tweaks in the filler blend.
The Look:
Zombie Green was one of those cigars that really opened my eyes to what a premium cigar could look like. At the time I picked up my first Zombie Green, I was used to the traditional Cuban-esque cigar bands with the traditional red and gold – not that there is anything wrong with this, some of these large national brands are absolute classics in the industry.
The Viaje Zombie Green band is nothing overly complicated or complex, but it does represent the idea and story behind the cigar really effectively. An almost lime green “ZOMBIE” emblazons the otherwise black band in a font that reminds me of something I would see from a 1980’s horror film.
The box follows this same simple approach – a green “ZOMBIE” that reads horizontally on the right side of the top of the box, as well as a black “ZOMBIE” which stands out on the black box due to their different treatments.
All in all, Viaje Zombie Green is as simple as they come, but instills a feeling that is very consistent with the story of the cigar.
The Experience:
As much as I love the look of Viaje Zombie Green, I am happy to say that my experience smoking it was the best part of the cigar.
Starting off with big notes of cinnamon and milk chocolate, Viaje Zombie was much sweeter than I originally remember. The cigar itself looks somewhat menacing upon first glance – a relatively dark wrapper with the darkness of the band might have you thinking that this blend is pretty full-bodied. But to my delight, the first third was just a touch under the medium to full-bodied range and was delightfully zesty and spicy which complemented the natural sweetness really well.
Moving into the second third, the notes of milk chocolate faded and were replaced by a cereal-like sweetness – when this combined with the cinnamon that was consistent from the first third, it reminded me a bit of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. At this point, Zombie was burning evenly, with an almost perfect draw, and I was pleased to see that the strength moved to medium to full-bodied which was a good complement to the sweetness up front.
To me, the final third is really where Zombie Green reached its apex. The cereal-like sweetness was still in the forefront, with background notes of pistachios, and cedar, and had a finish that was characterized by a moderate amount of spice and orange zest. Continuing with the trend, construction overall was fantastic, and the medium to full-bodied strength in the last half of the cigar really helped pull everything together.
When I smoked Viaje Zombie Green for the first time about 7 years ago, I was unbelievably impressed and completely invested in the brand from that point forward. Fast forward to now, after I have smoked Viaje Zombie Green countless times over the years, I am more impressed with this blend then I have ever been.
The Value:
As you all know, I’m a sucker for cool branding, and a sucker for limited edition releases, and a sucker for Viaje, so something like Viaje Zombie Green is right up my alley. But if you take all of this away, hypothetically speaking, the blend is more than good enough that I would still smoke it whenever I got the chance. $11.80 is a more than reasonable price for a limited-edition blend from Viaje, especially considering how good the cigar actually is.
Final Thoughts:
There is not a single cigar smoker that I would not feel comfortable recommending Viaje Zombie Green to. In fact, I might even recommend it to non-cigar smokers (this is how much I love this blend). On that note, anybody who is reading this far into the review should head on over and buy a box of Viaje Zombie Green before they are gone for who knows how long.
Be sure to leave a comment to let us know if you like Viaje Zombie Green as much as we do.
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