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Motivated by @HoyoFan's thread on NC alternatives that the CC smoker might find palatable, I decided to order an assortment of the sticks recommended here and elsewhere and see what I like. Looking at all these sticks, I realize this will quickly get out of hand and I need a way to keep track of my thoughts on each to help me figure out what to try in the future. Motivated by @JohnS's smoking diaries, I will try posting my notes in this thread. These aren't full reviews. Instead they are a summary of my impressions and a rating using the system below. - No thank you. Wouldn't smoke it again. + Decent, but don't need to smoke it again. ++ Great. Would smoke it again. +++ Wow! A superlative experience in some way List of (+++) rankings so far: Buffalo Ten CT Perdomo Habano Bourbon Barrel-Aged (BBA) CT Gordo Perdomo Double Aged Vintage Connecticut Robusto (very similar to the BBA CT) Warped Maestro del Tiempo 5205 Atabey Divinos (reminiscent of HdM Epi. 2) Illusione Fume D'Amour Lagunas Rojas KSG Lonsdale (reminiscent of Monte No. 1) Caldwell Pacific Standard Double Robusto Casdagil D'Boiss DB-52 Casdagli Club Maerva Spalato II El Rey del Mundo Rectangulares Natural MOFOH Spada Gorda Freud Superego Lonsdale CAO BX3 Robusto (retrohale is reminiscent of Bolivar and SCdlH) La Flor Dominicana Lancero Cameroon RoMa Craft Intemperance BA XXI Vanity Cavalier Geneve Viso Jalapa Lancero

Eh the contest has sparked my interest in popping my review cherry 🤩 I hope I don't get minus points as this is a review of a NC cigar but it is a special cigar for me as this was my first cigar that I ever had back in the late 90's - the Butera Fumo Dolce. I had walked into a cigar store who's name I can remember but it was at the corner of the Flat Iron Building in Wicker Park Chicago. The smell was intoxicating and walking into a cigar store for the first time was really intimidating but the gentlemen who helped was very cool but also seemed quite sophisticated to the young 20 year old I was back then. I asked for a recommendation as a cigar beginner and after a quick thought he brought the current hottest "boutique" cigar - the Butera Fumo Dolce. He described it as a delicious mild cigar perfect for me. I remember lighting it for the first time and honestly I didn't light it completely fearing that I would ruin the cigar (the product of reading too many Cigar Aficionado magazines lol!) but what I was left with was a very savory, creamy and buttery taste in my mouth (yeah insert your jokes here lol). Anyway, I vividly recall my thoughts then that if this is what cigars are all about then I am all in! Decades later, I am back to searching for that particular experience by trying as many "creamy" cigars that I can find. I was speaking to Billy at Jack Schwartz here in Chicago about my "quest for the cream" and reminded me about the Butera cigar. He also recalled how buttery they were though his palate has switched to the other side of the menu. I agreed and decided to pick up a few online as there are no retailers in Chicago that had the Butera in-stock even Iwan Ries had no stock. (still here?) So here is my review with pics. Just to note I just picked up a S.T. Dupont Ligne 2 to try my hand with a soft flame (and the famous "ping") to avoid over burning the cigar but guess what - that is just what I did over burned the foot but anyway another learning experience for me. Without further ado here is my review with some pics. 1st: Nice smooth wrapper A very nice sweet bready pre-draw Upon lighting the cigar - I get the savory, buttery and toasty flavors that I was looking for As this is a mild cigar - the retrohale is very easy and produced a slightly musty, earthy, mushroom flavor to the mix 2nd: After a bit the cigar turns into a herbal tea with the savory feeling coming back intermittently There is a copious amount of smoke coming from this smaller guy The is ash is pure white The retrohale strengthens the savoriness as well as adding a hit of raisins 3rd I begin smoking a little too fast and it has introduced some pepper and leather so I slow my row a little. the cigar has begun to acquire a nutty flavor almost I would pistachio After a bit the bitterness of smoking this last 3rd too quickly and so I put the cigar to rest. All in all - a very pleasurable cigar which I will return to smoke again! I would rate this 3/5! Thanks for reading!

You can go on the company's website for more info on this cigar found here: Highclere Castle Senetjer - Foundation Cigar Co. (foundationcigarcompany.com), especially if you want to see some of the packaging pics. This is a review of a single stick I bought, although I did purchase a box as well... simply haven't opened it yet. This is a 6 and 3/4" by 52 Perfecto, with a Habano Ecuador 7th Priming wrapper, Brazilian Mata Fina binder and undisclosed filler, aged 3 years. Normal retail in the USA is $31 although I am sure if I bought this in NY it would cost at least $50. So is this cigar worth the price? First of all, this was a great cigar from beginning to end, very well balanced and very smooth. A solid medium, although there was subtle complexity in the flavor profile, especially between transitions. It is a solid cigar, with no blemishes on the wrapper. Felt very solid to the touch without much "give". Draw just a tad tight when first lit, but that is due to the perfecto shape. Once gone past that first little part, the draw opened up and was as perfect as it gets. The burn was excellent, requiring no touch ups during the smoke time of approximately an hour and a half. Paired with water as I just wanted to taste the cigar on its own merit. Pre-smoke, the wrapper just had a light cedar smell to it. I am used to a lot of my cigars having a very earthy smell to them, so I noticed this difference right away. The first third starts very light flavor wise, with just a hint of spice and chocolate. Maybe a little bit of black pepper in the initial few puffs but that went away very fast. Slowly the Brazilian Mata Fina starts to take over introducing some of the unique flavors you can find with that type of Tabacco. The second third is where this cigar shines in my opinion and grows into its own. The spice goes away almost completely, and now you get more of the chocolate, coffee, earth and some citrus notes. I am not the best at discerning some of the intricacies of the flavor profiles, but the combination of what was there was balanced almost to perfection and I simply did not want it to end. Going into the final third, the citrus goes away with coffee notes becoming more prevalent. At no point however was there any bitterness or leather. The construction of the cigar was great and it held up very well. The smoke itself was creamy and the aroma was a mix of cedar and frankincense. The last however may have been simply because I was in church all last week for the Greek Orthodox easter/holy week and the memory of that smell is still fresh in my brain As a comparison to a lot of the Cuban cigars I enjoy and that I associate with floral smell and flavor notes, this cigar has none of those. This is not stated as a negative, but just a difference. Although undisclosed, the filler seemed to be a blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco, but then again who knows. The star of this cigar is the Brazilian binder. It brings all the flavors together and is what makes the cigar in my opinion. Is this cigar worth the price tag? If this was a regular production cigar, I would say that it comes close but no. That is still better however than the Opus X or the Andalusian Bull, both of which I like but think should be priced at half of what they retail. When you take into account however the "rarity" of this cigar and the unique packaging I would say then that it is worth it. Buying a box of these was an impulsive buy for me. However, it combined a few elements that made it so. The tie-in to Ancient Egypt although has nothing to do with how the cigar performs, the shape (always a sucker for perfectos), and the blender, whose cigars I have always liked and keep in my humidor. My biggest fear was that I was over-hyping this cigar prior to smoking it, but I am glad that it lived up to my expectations.

Today I pulled this Tatuaje La Mission L'atelier 1959 out of the humidor. It was recommended to me by a fellow BOTL. I found light spice along with some salty undertones, and cedar. The burn was perfect throughout, no touchups required. Definitely would be another one I'd grab in the future.

As some of you may be aware I've been in cigar media for a long time now. The site I currently produce content for, Developing Palates, is doing the Top 25 non-Cuban cigars of 2021 show tonight. We stream on Facebook, so if you're interested in watching and participating along it'd be great to have you tune in. Otherwise we'll be uploading the video to YouTube tomorrow'ish. https://www.facebook.com/events/2067338606775317 Edit: Forgot the times. 6pm PST / 7pm MST / 9 pm EST. Here's the YouTube: