Vitola: Robusto- 4.5” x 50 ring gauge
- MSRP $7.50
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Back in March, I took a look at the Wynwood Hills Mayhem. At the time I wasn’t sure I was going to review the other two, but I did decide to do so, if only to see how they stood up against each other in my review setting.
In doing some research on this cigar, I found that at least a couple cigar news sites had listed the Unhinged as having an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and the Deranged having a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro. However, other sites show the Unhinged as the Maduro and the Deranged as Sumatra…and my eyes do, too. It makes me wonder if there was some confusion before the cigars came out since the wrong info was put into a graphic provided by the CLE Cigars. Oddly, neither of the sites I saw the graphic on had issued a correction.
The Unhinged uses Dominican and Honduran fillers and binder, along with the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. It is available in a single Robusto size, which are available nationwide. I got info for this section from Cigar Aficionado’s story on the release. I purchased this review stick at Burns Tobacconist and have smoked at least a couple other samples before this review.
Prelight
The outward appearance is the same as the Mayhem…a nice red and gold band along with a tissue paper sheath that protects the bottom part of the cigar, has the name of the cigar for easy identification, and makes room for the barcode. CLE is the first company I’ve seen use this kind of packaging for their cigars and it really does blend the best of both worlds: providing cellophane-free cigars that look very attractive on the shelf, while still giving us barcoding from the factory.
Under the sheath the Unhinged is a dark chocolate brown color with a slightly oily feel to it and an aroma of chocolate and cedar. The foot of the stick had a mix of sweet hay, natural tobacco and muted wood notes.
I went with my trusty Xikar Xi cutter, clipped the head and got a very good draw. Cold flavors were of earth, wood, fudge brownie, and red pepper.
Flavor
After firing up, the Wynwood Hills Unhinged began with lemon zest, bread, hay, unsweetened cocoa powder and red pepper flake. I kept puffing and got some cedar mixed into with all that, as well, and a retrohale full of earthiness and strong black pepper. As I got deep into the first third, the citrus notes were less tart and more sweet, the pepper toned done a bit, while notes off bread and cocoa powder continued steadily.
Getting into the second third, the cedar and pepper notes morphed into a cinnamon spiciness, laying over the mild sweetness and cocoa powder. The body was medium-to-full.
Chocolate notes moved up to the primary role in the final third, with cinnamon right behind. There was a still a touch of citrus riding low along with earthiness.
Construction
I had a great draw, very even burn line and solid ash.
Value
Very good cigar experience for a very good price.
Conclusions
The Wynwood Hills Unhinged was a very nice short smoke, appropriate for those times when you want something with some strength in a 45 minute or so format. I enjoyed the complexity with the changes from spicy to sweet, with Dominican bread and Honduran earth notes playing around under the surface.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
