Ashton Estate Sun Grown (ESG) 22 Year Salute
Wrapper: Dominican
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Made In: Dominican Republic
Size: 22 Year Salute – 6×52 Torpedo
Price: $24.40
The Story: To celebrate twenty consecutive years of increased sales and overall growth, Robert Levin and Carlos Fuente Jr. have teamed up to create the Ashton Estate Sun Grown, or ESG for short. Such a special occasion called for a very special cigar. The ESG uses a unique Dominican wrapper grown on the Chateau de la Fuente farm in the Dominican Republic. This wrapper has never been used on any other cigar. The blend is the creation of Carlos Fuente Jr. who is a master blender and has created the most sought after cigars in the world.
Appearance & Construction: The Ashton ESG is a gorgeous looking cigar with a beautiful medium brown colored wrapper that exhibits a very fine tooth. There are virtually no veins in this torpedo and the roll is flawless. The band is very intricately done and has plenty of gold accents.
Smoking Characteristics: Once I opened up the cigar enough it drew nicely. But the first cut did not produce a good enough draw so I clipped it down a bit more with my Xikar and voila! The burn was off from the get go because of a horrible light on my behalf. I used a soft flame lighter, which I rarely do and didn’t quite get it lit evenly in the beginning, hence the burn suffered. I take all responsibility for the bad burn of this cigar however the ash is a different story. The ash is a nice white gray color but flowered in areas and flaked off everywhere. By the time the cigar concluded I had a nice mess going on; my laptop, and my jacket had ash all over. The body of this cigar is medium.
Flavor: The Ashton VSG has a nice woodsy core with notes of orange peel, cinnamon, nuts, and leather. The flavors of this cigar are extremely smooth and are balanced to perfection. The second third was much of the same complex flavors but with a bit more body. In the final third the body amped up even more and the leatheriness was more pronounced.
Final Thoughts: Throughout the cigar I could not help comparing it to and Fuente Fuente Opus X. The flavor profile is similar however I think I prefer the ESG over the Opus. The flavors were much more smooth, more balanced, and it had a bit more complexity to it. This cigar is a winner but for $25, you better believe these will only be for special occasions.
Worth a Shot: Yes
Buy Again: Yes, for special occasions only
Enjoyablity: High
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