At the risk of sounding like an ‘infused’ cigar idiot, I think some people already believe I am, I’m posting yet another review of an ACID cigar. There is a madness to my method, ehhrr, something like that. Anyway, I’m on a mission to try the entire ACID line and since many of my other current non-infused favorites like the Partagas Black Label and the CAO MX2 aren’t yet listed I’m just going to go through the ACID list and take the grief.

So here we go with the latest edition of ‘not all infused cigars suck’, although in the case of today’s entry that may just be the case.

The Cigar

The ACID Ming is a 6 x 60 Toro with an African Cameroon wrapper and Nicaraguan and Dominican filler. This massive cigar comes individually wrapped in Spanish cedar and like all ACID sticks is hand rolled in the Drew Estate factory in Esteli Nicaragua. The Ming is infused with over 140 botanicals that consist of essential oils from flowers and herbs. Not surprisingly the Ming is described as having floral and spice notes. Given the size of this stick it should also not be surprising that it has a long burn time, around two hours.

The Brand

As I’ve mentioned in my other ACID reviews Drew Estates was founded in 1995 by fraternity brothers Jonathan Sann (aka Jonathan Drew) and Marvin Samel. The business started out as a retail shop in the World Trade Center Mall. The co-founders decided to start their own line in reaction to the cult popularity of Lars Tetens, which are considered inferior cigars by many. Their goal was to create an infused cigar, they don’t call them ‘flavored,’ made with superior tobacco. The infusion process uses secret blends of Asian herbs and botanical essential oils to impart exotic background flavors without overwhelming the flavor of the tobacco itself. Today they own an estate in the cigar capital of Esteli Nicaragua, home of such renowned makers as Perdomo and CAO among others.

My Experience

I’ve actually smoked two ACID Mings at this point. I say this because I was thoroughly unimpressed with the first one I smoked and wondered if possibly I had just been unlucky enough to have purchased a poorly stored cigar. But no, I was right the first time it is the cigar itself and not the specific stick that was the problem. I had heard and read all kinds of comments about how the Ming was one of the richest and most complex of the ACID line. All the hype made me believe this might rival my favorite ACID Five. What I found was a very dry smoking cigar with not much flavor. It wasn’t harsh at all, but then again it wasn’t quite smooth either. The problem was I felt like I could have been smoking any machine rolled, low end supermarket stick. And given that both sticks I smoked drew very poorly it wouldn’t be a leap of faith to question whether these had been hand rolled. In reality I know they were but they certainly didn’t show the craftsmanship that the Fives or Ones show. In point of fact the second stick which I just smoked this past Friday caused me to give up 1/3 of the way through and switch to an Ashton. Now Ashton’s are not exactly bold flavored but compared to the Ming it tasted wonderful.

Whatever spice and floral notes were billed did not appear so I’ll just describe the flavor as fairly tasteless. As for pairing, why bother, short of water almost anything will overwhelm this cigar.

Price

I paid around $8 for each stick and I’ve seen them advertised for between $69.95 to $74.95 for a box of 10.


Recommended: No

Cigar Name: ACID Ming
Cigar Rating: Don''t bother
Price per cigar ($US): 7 - $8