WoodWorking Sessions: A.C.E Prime Pichardo Clasico Natural

I’ve mentioned in a previous Woodworking Sessions review about the whiskey barrel guitar I am building for Whiskey & Whitetails. In the last Woodworking Sessions review I was working on getting the lid boards glued up for the body. I have since gotten the body glued together, rough cut, and some epoxy on it to level it out before final routing. I have also received the whiskey barrel staves I am going to attempt to use to make the neck. First step is going to be to level out the cupping on one side and crowning on the other. 

To accompany me while I work on these staves is the A.C.E Prime Pichardo Clasico Natural. What can I say about A.C.E Prime and the Pichardo Factory? I’ve enjoyed everything I have encountered from this group. For that reason, I did not hesitate to grab one of these as soon as I came across one. 

Country of Origin: Nicaragua 

Factory: Tabacalera Pichardo

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sungrown Habano

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Vitola: 6 ½ x 50 Toro

Price: $9.50 MSRP

Release Date: March 2021 

Company Website: www.aceprime.com

This Pichardo Clasico has a super clean wrapper with few veins and invisible seams. The cigar is fairly lightweight and has a slightly spongy pack. I typically love gray, but not really the gray and silver against this wrapper shade. I don’t mind the band design though and actually like it in other schemes. It smells of slight hay and a cinnamon sugar like pastry. The cold draw goes with the smell and really reminds me of warm cinnamon sugar in a pinwheel. It is super tasty. First light is medium-full body with full flavors still matching the prelight flavors with lots of sugary sweetness, baking spices, bread, and a bit of pepper and earth. The draw is the perfect resistance level. The retrohale shows a vegetal earthiness and a brown sugary sweetness. About an inch in and the sweetness is dialing back a touch and the bread is becoming more prominent. The ash drops near the end of the first third. The body is up to full to match the flavor and the performance has been great. Into the second third it’s still showing bread, baking spices, some earth, and pepper with more subtle sweetness. There’s a bit of wood coming in now. The wrapper split a bit but shouldn’t be an issue. Approaching halfway the sweetness is more of a brown sugar sweetness and still fairly subtle. Nearing the end of the second third the sweetness is ramping back up. It’s syrupy sweet, some wood, baking spices, pepper, and a bit of earth. A slight touch up is required going into the final third. Nearing the band the draw flavors have seen a bit of char join the wood. The retrohale is getting pepperier and sweeter. The cigar went out on me mid band point. I thought it was possibly me, but a ½” after the relight it started going out again. The flavors aren’t impacted too much except the wood is more tannic and the pepper is a bit harsh on the palate. However, there is still some sweetness. The cigar ends at about an hour and 30 minutes. Even with the relights the cigar avoided any harshness and concluded with a bit of tannic wood, pepper, and general sweetness. 

Overall Experience

The overall profile of this cigar was pretty consistent throughout and did not deliver much in the way of big transitions, which I typically enjoy. However, what this cigar did, it did very well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The reason I like transitions is because oftentimes when a cigar delivers the same profile for an extended period of time it can get lost on me. The flavors start to meld together and the profile gets muddled and redundant. What this Pichardo Clasico managed to do was continuously present the flavors in a distinct manner and maintained a balance of flavors. It may be unfair, even, to say it didn’t transition. Though transitions are usually marked by more drastic changes, this cigar shifted the focus of the profile to different flavor components multiple times throughout the course of the smoke. Anyhow - I’m rambling - try the cigar yourself at Small Batch Cigars and let me know what you think! 

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Feel free to reach out to me with questions, concerns, criticisms, or just to talk at @guitarsandcigarsfarm on Instagram, or via email at trevor@whiskeyandwhitetails.com.


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