Viaje Summerfest Robusto

Ok, so I took plenty of pictures for this review, but forgot to take them off of my camera when I formatted the sd card....I figured I might as well post the review anyway, sorry about the lack of pictures. I would do another review but I am taking off for Nicaragua tomorrow so I won't have a chance (and I don't have another one of these to smoke). I will return next week with a full report about my Cigar Safari with Jonathan Drew and crew in Esteli!

There is a full on blizzard raging outside, so I figured smoking something called a Summerfest would be a fine choice for such a nasty night! (I did this review last Tuesday during the storm) The Viaje Summerfest Robusto was supposedly made on accident. Last year Andre from Viaje released the Summerfest in a shaggy footed Torpedo as well as the accidentally made Robusto in a much smaller quantity. There were 150 boxes of the torpedo released and only 50 boxes of this Robusto. I couldn't find a lot of information about the blend other than it has a Cafe Rosado wrapper. I am guessing that the tobacco is from Nicaragua like the rest of the Viaje line. Also, it seems the bands put on these were printed in the wrong color compared to the actual Summerfest release. 

This robusto isn't one of the more attractive cigars I have seen. The wrapper is on the rough side with some larger veins and and has a pretty standard brown coloring to it with just a hint of red. The cigar feels evenly rolled and has a nice triple cap applied to the head. After a quick and clean cut the predraw shows some cedar and strait tobacco flavors. The draw is close to perfect. The Summerfest starts out with a little pepper, some leather and exotic spice. The opening is fairly mellow and very inviting. There is a dense woody core flavor here but it doesn't overwhelm all the other present flavors. The burn is slow and even so far and the ash dropped at just over an inch. 

At the halfway point the flavors have remained pretty much the same except that the woody flavor has become sweeter. The smoke is smooth but a little dry and I would say this is a medium bodied cigar at this point. Entering the last third the burn needed a slight touch up and the finish just keeps getting dryer. 

Overall the Viaje Summerfest Robusto was a decent cigar, I wouldn't call it a favorite though. The dryness from the halfway point on down was a little unappealing.  I enjoyed the flavors during the first third the most. I heard these were pretty spicy but I didn't really get any of that, mostly just the woody flavor and exotic spices. The woody flavor was very prominent towards the end, overpowering most of the other flavors. Viaje's cigars seem to be really hit or miss with me. I haven't had any of the standard lines, mostly just these limited edition/seasonal cigars. (seems like there is a new one every week with this company!) I am not sure the price point on this particular cigar as I was gifted this one from a friend and I couldn't find the price online. As far as I know this will be one of those releases from Viaje that will be done every season in a different vitola, so I would expect to see another summerfest this year. I would probably try another but after smoking this one it isn't a cigar I will chase after like some other limited editions.