Herbert Spencer

Appearance: Rather than being a typical stick with a band, the folks over at Jake Wyatt decided to use a lighter leaf to do a little decorative wrapping on each end of the stick, when paired with the simple black and white band, it leaves for a very attractive, classy looking cigar. Now let's light it up! First third, hello black pepper! It's the first flavor to grace the tongue, and is one that's growing on me. With the black pepper comes a bold earthiness with a hint of wood. Their description mentions cedar, I'd call that accurate. The retrohale on this one is superb, a wonderful blend of pepper, earthiness, and cedar. It's incredibly well balanced and smooth. The smoke is even and fair. Second third, Ooh! An exciting twist! Kicked off the second third with a retrohale and got a clear semi-sweet chocolate smell and taste. It's not over powering, it's not like a flavored cigar, just a tasting note that I saw in the description and didn't believe (I've never actually tasted fruit or chocolate in a non-flavored cigar, so that was delightful(. As the chocolate slowly develops into a richer, dark chocolate, the cedar, pepper, and earthy flavors blend in beautifully. It's almost intoxicating, and this stick actually brings a beautiful light buzz, one which came on suddenly and caught me off guard, but not in a bad way. The final third.... we're transitioning from a medium to a medium-full flavor, the chocolate and earthy cedar are playing peek-a-boo with each puff. One puff is a clear chocolate taste, the next is earth, pepper, and wood. The complexity of this stick is mind boggling, I don't know what to expect with each draw. Retrohaling doesn't effect the complexity, I got strong chocolate on one draw, with cedar, pepper, earthiness gently blending into the background. On the next draw, the roles are reversed. The ash has absolutely been hanging on for a while as well. This cigar was named for the English philosopher who coined the phrase, "Survival of the fittest", he was also one of the first supporters of Darwins theory of evolution. So, that is the PERFECT name for this cigar! More than most, this cigar absolutely evolves with a peek-a-boo flavor profile in the final third, bold flavors that absolutely fall on the medium-full end of the spectrum. Generally, I'm not a fan of full flavored, but this stick was so smooth and complex, it kept me on my toes and kept a profile that was bold but not overpowering. The "Survival of the fittest" part absolutely comes in, because how could you not love a cigar that jumps through hoops to keep you satisfied (and entertained)? Absolutely delightful to smoke. It was a little powerful for my taste, but that was carefully camouflaged by the fact that it was so complex! Definitely a new favorite! I'm giving the Herbert Spencer from Jake Wyatt Cigar Co. a strong 93! If you like complexity, flavors of chocolate, wood, earth, and pepper, and very smooth draws, you should absolutely try it!