Blind Reviews

Cigar #3 from Bob

Eyeballing cigar number 3 it appears to be about 5.25" x 50 ring, robusto sized stick. I just finished smoking this stick which I started to smoke on my back porch but shortly moved to a seat in the garage to avoid the slight breeze. It being be late September, and my favorite season, autumn, I paired the cigar with an Otter Creek Oktoberfest Autumn Ale (which is delicious by the way)- which did nothing to change the fact that it was 90 today and 70 and muggy tonight- much to my chagrin (sp?). Anyway...

Appearance/Construction:
This stick had a silky, milk chocolate brown wrapper of almost identical hue to the brown beer bottle i was drinking from. It lacked any tooth with just a couple minor veins. It had a perfect, symmetric and large triple cap that was affixed loosely to the sides of the cigar. From mere appearance I already had an inkling to what kind of cigar i thought it was. Afraid that a zikar snip might fray or pull the loose cap, i used my zikar punch instead which worked beautifully and the cap remained in tact and presented no problems through the whole smoke.

Prelight Draw/Taste:
The draw is PERFECT. I knew I'd be in for billows of smoke, and it had just the right resistance on the pull. The cigar/wrapper presented very little to almost know prelight taste on the lips, with only a bit of spice on the lips and a slight hint of wood.

1st Third:
I lit the cigar with wooden matches, my preffered tool as of late, and it lit a bit difficultly. Once going the burn was rock solid and straight until just past the last third. Indeed the draw was perfect and produced volumes of smooth, cool smoke with only a slight bit of bite on the nose which quickly subsided. Never again after the first few puffs did this stick present any spice. The first third sat solidly at medium body, and despite the large quantity of smoke it produced, the mouthfeel of the smoke was light and whispy. Steady flavors of dry earth and leather continued and just as the ash fell at the 1/3rd mark, I picked up an interesting yet brief taste of cocoa, but not the chocolately kind but a more dry, not sweet at all type of dry cocoa powder kind similar to what might be used for baking or that nestle's mix kind.

2nd Third:
The cocoa is gone with earthy flavors becoming more intense and the leather giving way to more of a woody flavor. The body is picking up to the fuller side of medium and the smoke much heavier. The smoke is still remarkably dry, enjoyably so, and remains cool and balanced. The burn is still perfect and the ash a beautiful light grey shell with dark tones beneath. The earth and woody flavor continue through as the ash falls again nearly perfect at the 2/3rds mark.

Final Third:
The smoke begins to pick up some heat but only enough warrant mention in relation to the remarkably cool smoke of earlier. Earth and wood gain intensity and it seemed i began to pick up a slight hint of black coffee in the back, perhaps only due to a slight bitterness as i near the end of the cigar. At this point the burn, which had remained perfect, began to stray a bit but nothing requiring attention or touch up, just a slight angle to it. The body again picked up in the last third, as is often customary and a bit of bite returned to the nose. I smoke the cigar to the nub before it met a slow demise of extinguishing itself in the middle of my driveway.

Conclusion:
I'm sort of torn on this cigar. On one hand, the draw, billowing, smooth, cool smoke, with balanced, smooth flavors of earth leather and wood were fantastic. On the other hand, i usually prefer a more full bodied smoke and these flavors while quite enjoyable, were not extremely intense. This lack of intensity is one I would normally welcome, if they came with added complexity and nuances normally associated with an older, well aged cigar. However there was little complexity and the flavors were pretty straightforward, save the regrettably brief note of cocoa. The dry, and amply cool billows of smoke and balance were great though.

My rating: A firm 7.5/10

My guess(es): My initial guess from appearance and the first third of the smoke was this has to be a Montecristo Edmundo, but i began to second guess this a i continued to smoke it. My second guess would be a Vegas Robaina Famoso, however this is purely speculation as I have not previously smoked a VR but that i have heard other reviews and tasting notes that seem similar to what i experienced with this stick. Either way I'd also guess the cigar had a few years of age on it, maybe an 05 or 04?

Regardless, this stick was very enjoyable and my thanks to Bob for the opportunity spend an hour relaxing with it.

ps. sorry for the absurdly lengthy review, its the first formal one i've done/written and perhaps i overkilled it, lol
 
Robert,
Glad you enjoyed the new flavor nuances!


I'm lagging behind on my reviews Kev, don't be sore!!
 
Blind Cigar #1 from Dave (Phisherman)

I just put my son to bed, and my wife is working the graveyard shift at the ER. What better time than now to grab this huge cigar out of the humidor.

Pre light
A beautiful cap that comes off easily with my Xikar. This is a long cigar, probably a Churchill, with a dark brown and oily wrapper. There are just a couple of prominent veins. The pre0-light aromas are of earthy tobacco and cedar.

1 Third
The cigar starts off with a slightly firm draw and yields bittersweet chocolate flavors. There are also salty and tangy notes. I’m about two inches into the cigar and am picking up some toasted almond flavors as well.

2 Third
The burn is even, and the ash is holding well. The flavor profile is mianly of toasted almonds and leather. I’m detecting a little bit of harshness.

Last third
The cigar got harsher into the last part. The leather and coffee flavors predominated. The aftertaste is floral and fruity in nature. The burn was excellent.

Overall impression:
A medium- to full-bodied cigar with a nice blending of flavors. The construction and burn were excellent. This cigar was enjoyable but harsh towards the end.

Rating:
4/6 smoke rings (a good cigar)
Possibly a Punch, HDM, or RYJ Churchill?
 
Pretty good guesses, it was an 01 punch churchill.



Cigar #3 from Barco

Belicoso about 5x52; dark brown with no viens. Kinda tight on the prelight draw; the aroma is all tobacco.

1st third; Dark flavors but not real up front; kinda subtle. Dark roasted coffee and nuts. The draw was ok. It kinda tasted like a maduro NC to me. A little on the tannic side. This is a full bodied cigar though; no mistaking that.

2nd third, flavours stay the same but become a little more muted. The darkness of the stick is coming more prominent. Burn needs a little touch up but the draw stays fine.

Last third, tastes the same as the second third but gets a little hot tasting and bitter. Draw is still fine. I am getting flashes of dark chocolate hear and there but nothing that jumps out.


Overall impression The dark flavors were pretty nice but I woul dhave like them to not be so muted. The burn was ok. Wiht some age this cigar might show better but right now this is a 3 out of 6

My guess; 06 Boli Belicosa Fina
 
Ok, the other night i torched Cigar #4 from Bobberrific...

This stick was in the 4" x 50 range, short robusto size with a light tan and minimally veined wrapper, great construction and again a free and fantastic draw that billowed smoke the whole way through, good twang to this stick

it started out very cedary and a bit harsh but settled down nicely, through the middle of the stick the cedar subsided but was still there, but with a light nut and light coffee note...

these flavors continued through the last third with added intensity and increasing creaminess, never really getting hot toward the end, throughout the cigar the finish was dry and woody, but did show a bit of tannicyness (word?)...

i really enjoyed this cigar and it reminded me a bit of a larger party short that i have been having lately as my morning smoke...the stick was on the lighter side of medium...i completely bombed on my guesses last time around but given there are not many sticks in this size and it was reminiscent of one i've had before, my guess is a HDM Petite Robusto

upon the cigars completion, i proceeded to watch the sox destroy the indians :rock:

my thanks again to bob for this stick...
 
Doh! wrong again!! :lol: thought for sure i had this one right :banghead:
 
Barcochris said:
phisherman said:
My guess; 06 Boli Belicosa Fina


To short to be a Belicoso Fino



05 RyJ Petit Pyramide El

Wow, I would not have guessed that, but at least I was close with the maduro thing. An EL never came to mind.
 
Just finished Cigar #1 from Bobberific.....a corona gorda, maybe almost 6" long 44-46 gauge, a fairly dark blotchy wrapper, prelight this stick tasted and smelled of leather and earth and there was certainly a reason for that...

the first third started pretty harsh, strong earthy flavors with a distinct bitterness but openned with yet again a perfect draw and billows of rich heavy smoke

started to settle down in the middle with more pronounced leather and a slight chocolate trying to show through but just not there yet, the earth in this cigar was just overwhelming...still some bitter on the finish

last third through finish brought more deep earthy flavors and very creamy smoke, the bitterness gave way some but was replace with a fair amount of heat on the finish, again just completely overwhelmed with earth and leather...

this cigar overall was ok, at times it showed great promise when it would seem some complexity was enroute with some chocolate nuance mixed with earth and leather, hinting at some improved balance, other times it tasted like i just buried my face into a wet pool of mud...

overall, at this point i have to only rate this stick a shakey 7, with the caveat that i think some substantial sleep time could really open this stick up, showing promise...

ps. the previous stick i reviewed i forget to rate, which turned out to be a monte petite edmundo, i would give an 8...

thanks again bob
 
well, thats the first plpc i've had, like i said it did have moments where i thought to myself, "okay, this is gonna get VERY good" but then it would just sit back into the muddled albeit rich earth and bite on the finish again...maybe some more time, maybe just a bit wet, my humi's been a lil higher than i prefer for a couple weeks (~67/68rh), or maybe just a fluke, we all know how these isoms can be sometimes in the consistency department :roll:
 
My favorite of all time. So good when they are on. I had one with my Dad last week and he blown out of the water (FYI, he used to manage a cigar shop).
 
phisherman said:
My favorite of all time. So good when they are on. I had one with my Dad last week and he blown out of the water (FYI, he used to manage a cigar shop).

I got to disagree on this one. I think you need 4 years at least for it to show some flavor. I have had so many more ok or as Matt said muted ones than one that made me say DAMN!. I would go to other PC's first. That being said I am not giving up on them.
 
Barcochris said:
phisherman said:
My favorite of all time. So good when they are on. I had one with my Dad last week and he blown out of the water (FYI, he used to manage a cigar shop).

I got to disagree on this one. I think you need 4 years at least for it to show some flavor. I have had so many more ok or as Matt said muted ones than one that made me say DAMN!. I would go to other PC's first. That being said I am not giving up on them.

Unfortunately ( :D ), I have to agree with Chris on this one. The 03's are just now coming into their own. That's not to say you can't smoke younger ones, but you won't get the full enjoyment out of them. Just like RASS, they smoke well now, but you never see 5-year RASS (which are heavenly) because everybody smokes them so soon.
 
Cigar #2
cedar to milk chocolate in color; nice rosado wrapper. No viens. 5 1/2 inches long to 6 an about a 52 ring. Prelight draw is tight, and there is a small crack in the wrapper at the head of the cigar. No real dsitinguishing pre light aroma, draw is too tight.

I had to fight with the cigar the whole way through. The crack moved up the cigar as I took a toothpick to the cut and tried to loosen the tobacco a little. I had to cut off another 1 1/2 inches in order to get it to draw peorperly. When it was drawing good it was medium in body with a great whole mouth feel. The flavors were very smooth, with cedar vanilla and light spice witha finish of velvet. Unfortunatley I was not able to get it to smoke great for too long. I had drawn on the cigar too much and it became bitter with about 2 to 3 inches left.

2 out of 6, a real disapointment. I had high hopes for this stick, but the draw and crack problems really made it a chore to smoke. If I did not have the draw problems I am sure it would have been a high 4 to a 5.

My guess, PSP2.
 
Wow this is one of my favorite cigars in the humidor.


01 Upmann #2




Dave I am sorry that you had a tought time with this one , it really is a great cigar.
 
Barcochris said:
Wow this is one of my favorite cigars in the humidor.


01 Upmann #2




Dave I am sorry that you had a tought time with this one , it really is a great cigar.

I think it would be too, if i didn't have to fight with it.