The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Paul Stulac Red Screaming Sun - Toro (6 x 52) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-11-25

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Average (2)

The Connecticut Broadleaf used here has an old, worn leather look to it. The warm, milk-chocolate brown color has a lot of variation and lightness around the veins, while the texture has a velvety soft feel to it. There’s a light sheen, but I wouldn’t call this oily. The seams are highly visible with some edge lift, and the triple cap is wrinkled and uneven. It’s not bad-looking, it just looks like somebody carried a naked cigar in their pocket all day. My inner designer hates that they took a highly detailed image and shrunk it down way too much on the bands, losing a lot of the fine lines on the final printout and making them look a bit cheaper.​

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Good (3)

The draw is tight, but opens up to the perfect resistance about a quarter of an inch in. The burn is fairly even, but very wavy with a lot of ripples in the burn line. The ash is a nearly white, light gray with more widely spaced striations. The biggest gripe is that the ash is messy, with a lot of feathering resulting in many small flakes lifting and falling off. By the second third, the burn line had settled in nicely, flattening out. Flakiness aside, the ash holds well overall, only needing to be gently rolled off for a relight in the second third.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Baking cocoa, coffee, earth, cinnamon, pepper, salt, and a super creamy finish just explode right out of the gate. This blend wastes absolutely no time bringing robust flavor. There’s a light barnyard quality to the earth, but it’s mostly rich dark chocolate and coffee at the forefront. The combination of spice and salt adds a lot of flavor and really awakens the tongue. The creaminess is the star of the show, however. Rich, thick, coating the mouth like a spoonful of marshmallow fluff, but oh-so-buttery. It’s exactly like when you’re melting marshmallows and butter together for Rice Krispies treats and sneak a spoonful of that liquid gold. Don’t judge, just embrace your inner fatty and try it sometime!

With the second third, there’s some light nuttiness and bits of smoked wood creeping in. The dark chocolate and espresso combo is driving, but the cinnamon and pepper are still adding extra flavor and a nice hint of tingle. This blend is totally on point if you love a creamy mocha flavor—and honestly, who doesn’t love a rich mocha? The spice levels intensify and fall, while charred cedar and a dry, musty earth creep in and out. But those dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and espresso flavors just roll on. The sweetness is interesting. There are bits of black cherry, but also a little honey and citrus. It’s hard to pin down, but it’s great and cuts nicely on the finish.

There are no real changes heading into the final third, just a beautiful blend that remains incredibly enjoyable. But the creaminess and overall smoothness of the smoke… it’s just 🤌🏻

Overall Experience (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Other than a few minor quibbles with the initial draw and messy ash on the burn, this was an absolute stunner of a blend. This was a great introduction to the Paul Stulac line and definitely one to check out if you love rich, creamy mocha flavors. I can’t stress it enough, but the buttery creaminess and smoothness of this blend are the absolute icing on the cake.

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.