четверг, 28 июня 2007 г.

Bolivar Coronas Gigantes

I am new to the Bolivar brand, I received a box of Coronas Gigantes a little while back and now I'm cracking into it. Nearly perfect construction, I am truly amazed that this cigar was made my human hands, a real work of art. I have never seen a cigar that was flawless in manufactur until now. The cigar has a nice box press with a fairly dark color, about the shade of milk chocolate. The cigar seems much longer that a churchill, there is a very slight taper which is visually enhanced while smoking.

The flavor on this cigar is right in your face, right away. The flavor is not spicy at all but is just a very well rounded smoke. I smoked a few in the last couple of days and I can say definitively that this is a cigar for the evening. Its richness is brought out by liquor. The flavor overall is very smooth and goes well with something to kick it up a notch. I had one after a spicy meal and the flavor is very soothing after a habenero salsa. I would not say this is my favorite cigar, but I will certainly keep a box of these on hand. I can't think of a more well rounded Cuban cigar, although this cigar is not especially exciting it is very high quality and is great when you just want a damn good Cuban.

P.S. The manufacturing is so good that the ring can be easily removed without any issues at all.

Romeo y Julieta Short Churchills

A relatively new cigar from RyJ, but being a bit fan of some of the others from the brand, I thought I'd give them a try. I started smoking some a little while back, I bought a 3 pack of tubos from my local shop. They were quite good, but they were also my first experience with the Robusto format, which smoke quite a bit different that the corona size range that I am used to. So I purchased a few boxes, mostly based on the merits of the flavor and overall experience.

Here is a review of the one I smoked last night.

I was on a dinner outing with my wifes company, after dinner I excused myself and found a quite place outside, carrying both a cup of coffee and a glass of cognac. Some cigars are quite well matched with either or both of these drinks. My experience yesterday tells me that this is not the case with these cigars. Coffee a resounding YES. The flavor is perfectly matched, bringing out more of the richness of these Robustos. These cigars are the perfect RyJ, not too big or small, not too miid or too strong, but just right. These cigars are a little young and have a slightly amonia flavor if smoked too quickly. The amonia taste is really brought out by the cognac, so I would steer clear of brandy or probably whisky as well while smoking this cigar.

After sitting for a while with my drink and my cigar, just after the first third, others start to come outside to enjoy the midnight sun, the first three men to come out mention how good it smells. This is something I don't often here while smoking cigars, as the taste of a cigar is largely the smell anyhow, of course I enjoy it, my wife also mentioned that she liked the smell of these. She even took a few puffs.

I wouldn't say this is the best cigar ever, but it is really fun to smoke. You can get through one in a bit over an hour if you draw big. A word of warning, don't draw too large on these near the end as you may burn you lips.

The manufacturing is excellent, presented in a box of 25 with a very attractive box press. I plan on smoking one box now and keeping the other box to age for a while. I would imagine that after 6 months or so, the slightly young taste will be gone leaving nothing but pure RyJ.

Inexpensive Cubans

Recently I began the search for an inexpensive cuban that I actually liked. The goal is a machine made cigar of decent size and quality that I can smoke every day, and especially 3 or 4 during a BBQ or other backyard event.

Here is a review of three I tried this week all are machine made and cost $1.50 - $3 a stick.

Quintero y Hermano - Nacionales. The manufacturing is actually pretty decent, no problems with unravelling, relatively even burn, good draw. You really need to smoke this slow otherwise it get BITTER as hell and tastes like burning pine. The first third has some flavor a little tobacco flavor and some coffee, the middle third starts to get a more pronounced flavor but quickly turns bitter like over cooked espresso. I smoke this one once after work with a beer and once in the evening after dinner with water, both times I had a relatively similar experience with these. Overall I don't think this cigar really tastes Cuban. I won't buy these again.

Ok decent try but not exactly what I am looking for, I would really wrather smoke 4 cohiba mini than one of these.

Lets move on to another brand.

Guantanamera - Decimos, Holy crap this is horrible cigar, it has no redeeming qualities of any kind. I had to smoke the entire pack to make sure I wasn't missing something. This cigar taste roughly like a cigarette or a cheap gas station cigar. The cigar burned OK and had an OK draw but all you get is smoke, no Cuban flavor at all. I definately will not buy this cigar ever again, I probably wouldn't even smoke it if was offered to me free, In fact I think you would need to pay me to smoke one of these. If you like the taste of burning leaves these are for you, but other than that stay away.

Ok I'm starting to get a little restless, may there is no such thing as a good cheap cuban or maybe they are so ellusive that you must know a guy who knows a guy to get ahold of them. One more try.

Jose Piedra - Cazadores, Back to basics with this cigar. The cigar is very well made, has an excellent draw and I swear if I didn't know better that it was hand made. A very direct flavor which starts almost immediately after lighting, this cigar has the quinisential cuban flavor, mostly tobbacco flavor with just a hint of spice and chocolate. It is not exactly lip smacking good, but the cigar leaves you very satisfied. I smoked 2 back to back on the first sitting to make sure I wasn't kidding myself. Second day I had a BBQ and smoked the other three while grilling and drinking. This cigar easily competes with some of the less expensive hand made cubans. I am definately going to be smoking these on a regular basis, this cigar just feels good to smoke. I recommend these to anyone looking for a good daily smoke with that cuban flavor.

Now that I have found at least one cheap cuban which I like to smoke, I will try more of that brand, keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of the line from JLP is just as good as the Cazadores.

See you in few days:

I'm heading out of town for a week and will not have internet access. I've requested that a couple people post some guest reviews while I'm gone so I hope you enjoy those. I've got three or four cigars I've been wanting to review that I'm taking with me so hopefully I'll have a couple new reviews for you when I get back.

Greatest Father's Day Present

My wife dropped this book, The Dangerous Book for Boys, in my lap after a trip to the bookstore yesterday. Simply put this book rocks and I wish I'd had it when I was a kid. It has everything from famous battles to building a tree house, to courting girls! Even if you don't have any boys still get this book. In fact I think I know what my brother and a few other friends will be getting for Christmas this year.

Smoke Notes: Ashton VSG Wizard

I plan to give the Ashton VSG another chance, but so far I'm not impressed. They are spicy and have nice flavor, but come across as kind of a one trick pony. I just can't see spending this much for a cigar that doesn't have some complexity. Maybe my taste was off last night so I'll try a couple more, but for the money if I want a peppery spice bomb I'll stick with a Partagas Black.

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