A powerhouse, full-bodied Dominican?  Okay, Fuente has achieved that with their celebrated Opus X line.  But one by Partagas, that mild-mannered brand?  That's what the new Partagas Black line promises.

I thought I'd give it a whirl.  So I headed over to my local tobacconist and examined the line.  I picked up a fat toro, a 6.0 x 54 stick dubbed Magnifico, which set me back around six U.S. dollars.  (I've since noticed that the JR catalog is selling them at $70 for a box of 20, making the per-stick price a reasonable $3.50, if you're inclined to purchase tobacco in that manner.  I frown on that, since the cigars lose precious moisture and are exposed to extreme temperature conditions during the shipment process.)

The appearance of this cigar made it seem imposing, almost threatening.  Dark, almost black, its oil-saturated wrapper was slightly veiny but had a nicely-fabricated cap.  The cigar felt heavy and solid.  The smell of the unlit cigar was uncharacteristic of a maduro (as Partagas calls it), even of an oscuro (as I might dub this wrapper).  Not a ripe, sweet tobacco aroma.  It literally smells dark!  Like baker's chocolate.

The lightup produced voluminous clouds of hefty, tangy, earthy tones.  My wife remarked that the initial aroma was powerful, "smooth and leathery."  The draw was light and easy -- too easy perhaps?

The flavor was very dry, woody and pungent.  The Partagas Black instantly differentiated itself from every other cigar I have ever smoked.  This was no ordinary maduro, neither was it a run-of-the-mill powerhouse cigar.  Not that it was tremenously better than any other, but certainly not inferior to the best of them; it was ... well, different.  More serious, perhaps, than even the most serious I've had.  This is not a complex cigar, and not a luscious cigar.  This is a serious cigar.  A little bit one-dimensional, this smoke could stand a little more complexity.  But if you want a strong cigar, you can't beat this one.

I loved it, despite its power.  It was a thrill, perhaps one akin to getting behind the wheel of a Dodge Viper (with its raw, unbridled power) rather than driving a refined, high-tech Ferrari.  Whereas both are intensely powerful, the Viper is just as much fun, but in a very different way.

At twenty minutes I tapped off an inch and a half of dark, gray, compact ash.  The flavor was smoothing itself out now; no longer as powerful, it resembled, not a Viper, but perhaps a Corvette or an Audi TT coupe.  Slightly more refined, less raw.  After half an hour the Partagas Black was finally developing some maduro flavor.  However, this was subdued and hidden behind all that horsepower.  I could see that complexity was there, but that, perhaps, a certain amount of aging would be required to bring it out.  In fact, after thirty-five minutes -- just before the halfway point -- I was beginning to sense some complexity: wood, cedar, ripe tobacco, and some dry cocoa.  This cocoa was evident on the finish more than in the smoke itself.

After forty-five minutes I tapped off another inch and a half of ash.  The cigar was burning perfectly.  After an hour and ten minutes only a one-and-three-quarter-inch stub remained.  It was only at this point that the first hint of harshness emerged; it was only evident on the finish, and was not totally objectionable.  I finally abandoned the cigar as a 3/4" stub after one and a half hours of smoking.  The stick was still thrilling but was too short to continue.  In the last five minutes I sensed some effect of nicotine.