Saint Luis Rey Reserva Especial Rothchilde Cigars

This is a gorgeous cigar- beautifully made, with a great pre-light aroma and very reasonably priced. I was looking forward to an enjoyable smoke. It lit well and the burn was good; spicy right from the start, with few subleties of flavor. The burn continued adequately, but I had to keep turning it to keep it even. The flavor failed to develop, and it kept threatening to go out on me. If I put it down for more than a minute, I had to draw hard to get it going again.
I was sure that that the dominant pepper taste at the beginning would develop into more complex flavors deeper into the smoke, but it stayed exactly the same throughout the smoke. It stayed consistently on the strong side of medium, rarely harsh, but not very interesting.