Cigar Review: Giacomo’s Cigars 102 M
About a month back we hosted our Straight Up & Toasted event, which featured Giacomo’s Cigars and this review will focus on the brand’s 102 M line. Giacomo’s, established in 2010 is based out of Tampa Bay, Florida and their cigars have found their way into many of the shops in the Tampa, Bradenton, and Sarasota, Florida areas. Giacomo’s uses a five-country blend in all their lines and is supplied and by the Oliva Tobacco company and rolled at the Llaneza factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.
Blend Specifics
Vitola: 6.5’ x 60 Box-pressed Perfecto
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Maduro
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Honduras
Appearance and Construction: The Giacomo’s 102 M has a semi-dark chocolate wrapper with a slight reddish tint. A very even and satin feel, with a slight tooth but is generally oilier to the touch, with an oily sheen. Very minimal veins, an even give and sponginess, this cigar has an exceptional construction and features a double cap and two presentation bands. The foot also shows an even and dense pack.
Smoke and Flavor Characteristics:
Cold Aromas: On the wrapper is a faint chocolate with a drier mineral undertone, and a faint cedar. Off the foot, much more chocolate and a hint of creamy coffee, and a slight white pepper. Refreshing and sweet! The cold draw opens to a fresh tobacco, a light and dry mineral, and the faintest hint of chocolate. 
First Third: The first pulls open to a slightly salty chocolate, a heavy mineral grit base and can also be felt in the back of the mouth and a decent amount of tobacco notes. The draw is open and effortless, with just the right amount of tension. A dark wood is also found in the aroma with a hint of leather to complement. Burn line isn’t razor sharp but is close and fairly even. Also to note, from the start there isn’t any presence of spice or pepper in the mouth or the nose. The body is medium to medium to full, flavor is building to medium to full and strength is medium with a decent amount of smoke output. Ash is a gray to dark gray with nice looking rings. The finish started off short and crisp but has since developed into a much longer and tongue coating kind of finish. The oils are definitely present on the tongue and lips. The dark wood is also developing into a deeper note with bitter pungent leather adding to the gritty mineral base. The ash fell off as one chunk at 1 inch. The finish is still quite clean even though it does last longer.
Second Third: As the second third draws on, the wood, leather, and mineral mix still hold the base and profile, with the flavors intensifying to a deeper presence. There is also the introduction of a hint of licorice. Burn line is still close to even, the ash is looking good, and the aroma is still pleasant wood and leather. The body is now at medium to full, flavor at medium to full and strength at medium to medium to full. The first band is quite easy to remove even though it is applied with the glob of glue. As the second third develops, the flavors stay pretty consistent but are fairly complex on the palate so consistency at this point is welcomed. Even with a tapered head this cigar smoke fairly cool, which is nice.
Final Third: As the final third begins, it picks up from second third, flavor wise, with another introduction. This time it’s a hint of clove and a bit of white pepper coming in on the retrohale. Removing the second band was done with little effort, just like the first. The finish also starts to leave a little tingle on the tongue, not really a pepper tingle but could also be attributed to the clove or white pepper. The profile tops out with the body at medium to full, the flavor at medium to full and the strength at medium to medium to full. The flavors hold true throughout with a base of dark wood, leather and mineral along the lines of rocky grit, and also a fairly dry smoke. The aroma holds up with a nice leather and wood mix. 
Final Thoughts
My first impressions with the Giacomo’s 102 M through the cold aromas and cold draws were that this would be a fairly sweet, almost dessert like smoke but working my way through, it proved to be quite the opposite, much more pungent, drier, and bitter woodiness. Which was a nice surprise and totally caught me off guard. This cigar has an exceptional feel to it, both in the mouth and in the hand. I would classify this as a semi-complex cigar, totally not one-dimensional but the complexity that is there tends to stick to a certain range of being on the drier and bitter side. Though these notes add up to a very pleasant experience and range from a deep rocky mineral as the overall base with the addition of a dark heavy wood and a musky leather. Throughout there are hints that also come into play but don’t really ever stay long and they are licorice, clove, and white pepper. There is also a bitter dark chocolate that can be found in hints throughout the session. A good anytime of day smoke but best savored as a before dinner cigar.
Smoking time was 1 hour and 45 minutes