Man O' War Ruination

[CigarProp]

Tonight I decided to light up the Man O' War Ruination.

I was concerned that the War Horse 6.5 x 64 would be a little cumbersome to smoke, but being a perfecto helped
the cigar feel not so cartoonishly large.

It's not the cigar you expect when you hear it was blended by A.J. Fernandez,
right from the start, you get a blast of red chili pepper on the back of your tongue and throat.
Maybe it's just me, but the wrapper on this cigar feels thick.
Have you ever sat in a nice leather chair in a lounge and you marveled at how thick and opulent the leather is?
That's what this wrapper reminds me of.

I wanted to wait until I was close to the end of the first third to decide what to pair this cigar with because the spice was
so intense, I didn't want the cigar to wash out my cocktail.
Now if you know me, you may be reading this and laughing because you already know that I only drink Bacardi and Diet Coke, but what some people may not realize that I do like to drink all Bacardi Rums, and I do like to mix them.
I've developed a weird ability to be able to pair any cigar with any Bacardi after only smoking the cigar for a few minutes.
I always start with a base of at least one ounce of Bacardi Silver and I either add more Bacardi Silver, or start to blend one or
more Bacardi's from there.

This cigar is spicy, plain, and simple, and it needed something spicy yet smooth to compliment it so in addition to the one ounce of
Bacardi Silver, I added one ounce of Bacardi Black to ramp up the spice of the drink, and then I added 1 ounce of Bacardi 4 year to
mellow out the drink. And wow, what a perfect combination!
The cigar brings out a peanut butter smoothness in the cocktail, and the cocktail mellows out the spice in the cigar just enough to bring out the wet earth and the cocoa.

I was pleasantly surprised by the end of the second third. I thought for sure I would be on the floor begging for some candy to help me continue on.
The natural tobacco sweetness combined with a woody note has transformed this cigar into something almost unrecognizable from its start.

Going into the final third it occurred to me that the size of the cigar was never a hassle.
I'm not one to smoke large ring gauge cigars, but this one never felt really large.
As I stated at the beginning, I think being a perfecto helped.

The cigar wraps up with a pleasant nuttiness and earthiness.

Everything about this cigar screams scary. From the size, the name, and that initial blast of spice.
But this cigar can't be further from scary. If you haven't tried a Man O' War Ruination yet, I encourage you to seek one out today.

FYI, this is the first time I've ever written about a cigar, I hope I did a good job.

[KevinI]

Nice synopsis! I've been on a big MOW kick over the past few weeks - I sometimes forget how good basically all of their blends are.

[CigarProp]

Thank you very much! 

The cigar surprised me quite a bit. 

[MatthewFolger]

Man O' War cigars have been some of the most consistent I have smoked over the years and I always keep a good amount of them in my humidor.  Ruination is definitely a good medium-full with nice subtleties and complexity.  I also love the Damnation and the Side Projects Phalanx. 

[CigarProp]

I will be looking more into them after having such a great experience with this one!

[Mitchy_Maduro]

Man o' Wars are pretty good, I dunno if I've had the ruination though. Maybe I should change that...