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2015 Fundi. Was planning to do a review but got lost in the cigar. One of the best this year.

A beaitiful LUB MAY 14 Upmann 2 With a few of the Perth crew yesterday

RASCC night cap

Johnny-O

Oh well...I didn’t need that kidney anyway.

Seems like it was Reyes day today. ‘18 from our host. Had a couple after the normal rest when I got these and the nicotine kicked my ass! So I avoided them for a while. This one was fine, very good until the last 3rd then it got a little harsh.

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I’ve been in the mood for another Hoyo Maravillas lately, but it’s hard to carve out the 3 hours necessary to smoke it. Today Ieft work early, and the golf courses are closed on Mondays, so I guess this morning is the morning. 17 Esplendido

Sure I’ll smoke that Monte 3 I forgot in my glove compartment why not.

'15 H. Upmann Magnum 50 paired with a Southern Tier 2XStout. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

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Diplomáticos No.2 EML Ago 2014 I believe this is my 5th cigar from this box and thus far every cigar has been similar, yet a little different here and there. Some have been spicy, some have been strong in capsicum or bell pepper; this one was dominant in sourdough or 'bread' flavour. This was also the mildest of the cigars I've had from this box so far. The cigar still had a little capsicum or bell pepper and a hint of paprika spice, but the mild strength combined with the sourdough flavour really appealed to me. Again, I very much look forward to my next one.

Maybe my favorite CC of all time! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OSB JUL 09 Pacificos Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Smoking a CoRo on the way home from work. I’m on the hook all night with the hospital, so this will probably be the largest cigar I smoke tonight. Nothing worse than being a quarter of the way through a long smoke and getting called into an emergency and having to throw away most of a good cigar.

Oh yeah. BUP NOV 17 from our host.

A petit Edmundo for me yesterday. I’ve found these to be really consistent. I’m not really convinced by the orange juice combo though!

Finally a good draw! I got a couple of these in a singles order months ago (from another site) and this was the only one I could actually smoke. Tell me if I'm off base here, its profile is very similar to a Quintaro Favoritos but slightly more floral?

This weekend's theme prompted me to go deep into the dark recesses of my cabinet and pull out my last remaining box of Trini Robo X. It's been some time since I smoked the last as I'll likely not find more in future. At least not for under a princely sum. Decided since I was breaking into these I'd crack my last bottle of Santiago 11 to accompany. The cigar is perfectly constructed and sports a silky Colorado wrapper. Draw just to my preference, Not too snug and not too easy. Goldilocks. Graham cracker and hay on the pre-light. The cigar is rich and smooth on light. Slightly herbal, creamy, biscuit and vanilla bean. Medium bodied. Good smoke production. The rum is smooth and spicy, not too sweet. Hints of butterscotch, a little hot. Almost right up in my wheelhouse. Pacto Navio hits it dead on. Getting some nutmeg, a touch of salt. Spot on performance-wise. The rum is rich and strong, slightly astringent. Works well with the cigar. The combination rings me back to evenings on Hector's patio last April. The cigar finishes like a vanilla Oreo. Cream, vanilla, slightly sweet biscuit. From recent experience the Robusto T has hung in better at this age. Still a 90+ cigar. 90+ rum as well. Glad a handful of the Extras left. Hope I can find more of the 11 next time on island, though I'll definitely be bringing back a few bottles of Pacto Navio for sure. And out.....

HUPC hitting all the right places...

Started with the Maduro 1 and it was like a tent pole. Perfect draw made it passable, but it just wasn't that great of an experience and I gave up after about 30 minutes. Went to the El Principe and that burned beautifully. Wasn't as syrupy sweet as the first El Principe I had, but still was very good.

Sticking with a theme today. Quick after dinner smoke. Woof-Woof

It's about as done as it's gonna be...

EMS MAR 12- smooth operator

In the urban jungle, but that's nothing compared to most of your environments!

Monte 4 ATP JUN 18. These have been pretty good with lots of bitter chocolate, but occasionally get a tad ashy tasting. The last 1/3 was the best as some sweetness emerged that made them taste like a cafe mocha. Not as creamy as some I have had in the past, though.

Reyes ARS MAR 19 from our host. A BBF from 2001. An absolute treat

Bit rustic wrapper, but beautifully smoking nine year old Cedro de Luxe No.2! This has been a top-notch example of CdL2, how it's really meant to be. With exceptional complexity, with length and richness, way fuller than is always purported to be. Showing notes of nutmeg, an almond-nuttiness, new nappa leather, a pronounced stonefruit - more peach than cherry - framed in toasted-tobacco lushness (and no cedar to speak of). All in fine balance. But all these descriptors are hardly doing justice to the actual experience. I stick to it: This is an unjustifiedly neglected series. Granted, and as is currently being discussed in a parallel thread, you will regularly find traces of white mold under the cedar sleeve, quite like in tubos. But this is mostly from shipping out of Havana and long inactive. Folks, forget the showy CDH ripoff and do yourself a favour: get these, the No.3 or the No.1 (still to be found) before they are gone for good. Mind you, apart from the Monte 3 and QdOCC, this is the last Coronas still in production! And a very distinctive one!

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From s vacation a few weeks ago but finally organized my pictures. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

'Hiba Skinnies ?

So in the “Bands On or Off” thread, I guess you are going with, “On”?

It’s getting hot in Asia. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MEG MAY '17 Connie 1

So I had no plan to smoke this cigar for a few years. I have yet to smoke any cigar from 2018, especially the 4th quarter of 2018. However, there was quite the debate about fake singles at hotel libre. I have shopped at hotel libre many times. I have twice bought singles. Most recently some monty 80th. I bought some on the first day (well, all they had!). During the rest of my trip they never replenished that cigar. While a good cigar to test, I just got it a month ago and it needs some rest. I did take a picture of the cigar with a UV light. From that, we can only tell the band is real! Notice in the pictures below "MC" appears when hit with a black light. In the trip a year ago, I picked up some single La Trovas. This was more of an odd case. When I bought my allotment of singles (limiting customers to 5 only is a good sign they are not fakes) I would always see them replenished the next day (I stayed right next to Libre and went there every morning while waiting for everyone else to get up in the morning). It was like they had some big box of these somewhere and simply replenished what ever was taken. Given this odd behavior, and that a year has passed, I thought that this wood be a good example to test "fakes at hotel libre". If any cigar was going to be faked, this would be one of the most likely. Yes they had cohiba singles (including talismans) but nothing seemed to move like these la trovas. At 12.50 each, I can see why! FYI, aside from the partagas factory hiding some stash of these, no where else on the island had la trovas. But Libre seemed to have plenty, though no boxes. During transport, I damaged the wrapper of one really bad. So I decided to dissect it. Pictures below. You can see nothing but quality long filler. The smell was amazing. Very sad I damaged this cigar. Though with knowing now that I'm not smoking floor sweepings, I lit up one. Here are my notes: Starts: Cookie dough, straight out of the gate Velvety Cedar Nutty Some coffee No cream As it develops: Cream ramps up with the cedar dropping off. cookie dough, nutty, coffee and cream Velvety smoothness Finishes: Cedar returns as the cookie dough dies off. lots of nuts and cedar Lasted 1:40. It was an amazing cigar. So complex. Wasn't even slightly harsh, surprising given its age. 100% authentic. So can I definitely conclude that libre sells only real singles? No, of course. However, given that they were constantly refilling their one box on a cigar that is one of the top contenders for being fake, I fell pretty secure in buying more singles from them. Now I likely won't as transporting singles can be tricky. But I feel strongly that those that spread rumors about fakes at libre are just perpetuating a lie. I get the concern as they have the best singles on the island, so it is natural to question how this one store has them while the rest don't. I can also say that I have no issues in dealing with them. They seem to work in teams. 2 guys and another team of 2 women. Both teams are friendly and have written fracturas without question. Even for just a single box Now I go there often and I swear they smile as to say "Seriously, you again?!" so perhaps they are just nicer to me. So no, I'm not the definitive answer. I'm just saying that I've seen nothing odd and can say that I have successful bought real high in demand cigars that were 100% authentic.

Great looking PSP example from ARS AGO 18. These were darker just six months ago, but it’s still on the maduro side of colorado. Draw is loose though. Very interesting smoke. Initial flavours are a fruity dark chocolate. I don’t get prune, more a sort of deep orange flavour. Then a sudden ‘pop’ transition at the end of the first third: sweet, perfume flavours like lavender, roses, violets arrive. Like fancy Italian dark chocolate confectionary. I’m sucking the smoke back in to taste it. The burn is not great though. Uneven and doesn’t really want to stay lit. Needs smoking quite fast to keep everything warm and flavourful and ticking along. Thank god the body is not too strong, or I’d be whacked by the nicotine. As it is I still get buzzed. Those perfumed confectionary flavours hang on though. It’s really unlike anything else. Maybe the closest is a particularly good Punch Punch, but it’s even more exotic than that. Towards the end a dark roasted coffee flavour starts coming in, and I’ve had enough nicotine just before the band. Good stuff. Apart from the burn, it doesn’t feel too early. I have only one more of these, then a full box from ARS MAR 19. I wonder what will happen as they get older?

Been traveling all weekend. Didn’t have a chance to even check the forum until an hour ago, and this was after I’d already selected and lit a Mananitas for my evening smoke. The only one in my collection. That’s okay. It’s not one I’d probably keep in the rotation. Great draw pre-light. Nice sweet tobacco aroma at cold. Fired it up and got a familiar Cuban “twang” which always reminds me of a subtle IPA.... Subtle is good. I’m not a huge IPA fan.... This made great smoke throughout. Twang persisted. Notes of paprika spice throughout. Not much else going on. If I’d been working in the yard this would have been a fine accompaniment. No need to pay too much attention to fine flavor changes as they really weren’t there, but it was an easy smoking stick with a fine burn. 88/100

Fired up the Entretiempos to wrap up the TVQVRW weekend quadrumvirate. This from a 16 count tin I picked up two or three years back. No box code to be seen. Another petite robusto in a long line now, most RE. Well made, good draw on it. Fired up flawlessly. They are supposed to be designed to burn after all, though some don't. Quite tangy in the start. Citrus notes going in and some black pepper on the retrohale. First of these I smoked was blind and considered it was perhaps an NC. This one has mellowed out at this point. Paired with some Knob Creek Bourbon. Peppery enough in its own right. Don't know if it is me or the cigar, it is burning down pretty quickly. Not really harsh but a tad hot. Need to slow my roll I think. Flavors are a little difficult to pick up. It is my third today and the bourbon may overwhelm a bit. Still kicking some spice of its own though. Red pepper. Regardless it is relatively enjoyable. Price point is right. Thick flakey grey ash, drops easily. Not a bad smoke, just not much to write home about. These packed much more of a punch on receipt, mellowed out quite much now. Preferred them with the guts they initially possessed. Maybe the rest will come back around to something enjoyable with a little more time in the box. Finished a bit dry and papery. 79/100 Of the ones I smoked on the weekend, the VR Clasicos came out ahead. TRE following.

One of my favorites comes to an end. Should have stocked up on more. I was betting on going out strong. Started out with heavy sweat cedar. Cream built along with dark chocolate. Got some cuban twang which I don't experience much due to aging. Nuts came into play about an inch or so in. As it progressed, it became more creamy and chocolate. Nuttiness also really increased. as the cedar died a tad In all, I got a smoke time of 2:05. I smoked it to the numb, further than usually. Really wanted to enjoy it as long as I could. It was a great example of how great this cigar was. I got what I wanted, it went out strong, but that just made me sad because I will likely never get another swing at this cigar. Why oh why was this discontinued!

This came from a 24:24 cardboard pack a while back, and they arrived super wet, it took months for them to acclimatize. There is quite a range of wrapper colors in the box, today I picked one of the lighter ones. Paired with a Pliny the Elder beer, which never fails to impress. The wrapper smells of honey graham cracker. The cold draw is honey and grass. If I didn’t know better I’d swear it was a Cohiba. The draw is perfect. First puffs are unsalted peanut, and maybe some sunflower seed, very unique. Then the vegetal flavors come in, no Cohiba here, all Trinidad. As the first third continues, the vegetal flavors get stronger, almost becoming fresh green grass. Then I get some black tea. I’m getting all sorts of different flavors with every puff, and I can barely figure them out before something else comes along. Second third, a twangy sweetness lilts in and out, but never really becomes pronounced. The vegetal has become dry hay/straw, and it is getting stronger. The beer still brings out a little green vegetal on the finish. Final third, bitterness is stepping up, I might call it youth, but it’s not at all unpleasant, and not out of line with what I expect from Trinidad. There is a mild char, and some dark nutty flavors. Also some wood that for the life of me I can’t pinpoint. Overall, it was very enjoyable, have to give brownie points for a good draw and burn the whole way. On my backyard scale of Crap-Decent-Good-Very Good-Excellent, I’ll give it a Good. It was close to Very Good, with so many flavors, but they were all kind of jumbled up and not a very smooth or classy delivery. Perhaps a little more time down will help. @MigsG I think you got a few of these, have you tried them yet?

Sig II, RASCC, HUHC. I could smoke those HCs one after the other. Great cigar.

5 pack of Bushido

A little something arrived on my porch today....

Nice HQ box of Montecristo Edmundos arrived today. BUP NOV 18. Lovely smell...

This Vegas Robaina Clasicos Cervantes from November 1999 is packed with tobacco introducing a snug but workable draw. Wrapper is not as dark as I prefer for the VR range though still supple, silky with a bit of light sheen. They've been aging in my humidor since acquiring them from Gibraltar a few years back. Discontinued in 2012. Faint cocoa notes pre-light. First third is medium bodied, medium strength with dry cocoa powder, leather, hint of white pepper. Burn started out uneven but self-corrected. Razor sharp burn line and solid gray ash with nice striations. Approaching the mid-point about 40 minutes in. Smoke production is fairly light due to the snug draw though flavors have strengthened. Getting some tanginess, coffee. Leather and cream. 20 years have treated these well. The Clasicos finishes like a well-brewed mocha latte reaching a medium full strength at the end. 90 minute smoke time. Not a bad smoke from the dark years - 91/100, a nubber. About 1/3 of the box remains.

Smell in the cold: faint cedar. 1/3: cedar, spices, melted milk. It is felt that the cigar is vintage-there is acidity and aroma of the old dusty Cabinet / chest. It is felt that the taste has become impoverished over the years, it has become pure, but has lost its gastronomic sweetness. 2/3: add a little salt, a little woody bitterness and a hint of burnt sunflower seeds. The taste is rounded, the strength is a bit more, but it's still light to medium strength. Average body. 3/3: cigar gained maximum of its capabilities-average strength, average body. Taste woody-spicy, rounded. Conclusion: on the one hand it is not a bad cigar, on the other hand from the vintage I expected a more interesting taste. One thing always for vintage - the perfect ash. 3/5 stars P. S. Another else fun from this Cigar: I felt the whole evening until dinner - a nice long woody and nutty aftertaste.

Here is a PSP Trinidad Coloniales, fairly young at MUP ABR 18. Wrapper is a bit darker than the picture suggests, as it was taken in strong sunlight. Great looking construction, and punched cap gives a perfect draw. First inch was a bit underwhelming, not much flavour, and struggled to develop a nice burn. But then, for whatever reason, really good Trini flavours came out to play. Not very sweet, but with excellent exotic wood and spice complexity. A sense of richness too. These cigars get really funky in the last third, with all kinds of fatty, spicy animale flavours going on. There’s some echo of the LGC profile in this regard, and I really like it. Mid bodied, building to a bit over. I always find a decent Trinidad to be an interesting, satisfying smoke, and this measured up. Worth the premium.