Partagas Dunhill Selección Suprema No.150

[BrooksW]

For those of you that don't know...

In the annals of cigar history, Dunhill is considered to have produced some of the best sticks of all time...

The cigars that Dunhill produced are legendary (including the Mojito, which I reviewed here), and it has been theorized that the reason the cigars were so good was that Dunhill was using superior tobacco in their blends...

What some people may not be aware of is that for a time, Dunhill blended their tobacco with other cigar manufactures in Cuba, and released these creations in joint ventures called "Selección Suprema", most notably El Rey del Mundo, H. Upmann, Hoyo de Monterrey, Montecristo, Partagás, Por Larrañaga, Ramón Allones and Romeo y Julieta...Wikipedia says it thustly:

In 1907, Alfred Dunhill opened his first tobacco shop on Duke Street, London. Before the Cuban Revolution, Dunhill had numerous distribution and marketing agreements with several Cuban cigar manufacturer, selling exclusive and hard to find brands such as Don Cándido and Dunhill's own Selección Suprema line, with various sizes from many famous cigar makers such as Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta.

After the Revolution, Dunhill's unique relationship with Cuban cigars would continue with the communist government's tobacco monopoly, Cubatabaco. Dunhill was given the exclusive rights to three different brands: Don Cándido, its own Don Alfredo, and La Flor del Punto, plus the numerous Selección Suprema sizes produced by the marques that had survived nationalization.

In 1967 the tobacco branch of Alfred Dunhill Ltd was sold off and became its own separate entity. In 1981 tobacco blending (of the Dunhill pipe tobaccos, at least) was transferred to Murrays, of Belfast. In 2005 it was transferred to Orlik of Denmark, renewing debate about blending/flavor changes in Dunhill's pipe tobaccos.

According to Cubatabaco records, all Dunhill Selección Suprema cigars of various brands and the 3 Dunhill Exclusive brands (Don Cándido, Don Alfredo, Flor del Punto) were discontinued in the year 1982. 1982 was the year the contract for the production of the Dunhill brand was started. (Dunhill cigars were not available for sale until mid to late 1984.)

In fact, here is a page from a 1959-60 Dunhill Catalogue that details them (you can find the original link here):

The only vitolas that Partagas is widely known to have worked on with Dunhill is the Partagás Dunhill Selección Suprema No. 151- a 4 7/8" x 34 small panetela, the No 153, the No. 154, and the No. 777 (as mentioned above)...but, there are always other cigars coming to light that are were not even known to exist...

The Partagas Dunhill Selección Suprema No.150 is one of these vitolas...from the information I was able to gather, only a few cabs have been found, but they were found intact and in perfect condition from family lockers at the Dunhill store...I was able to purchase a few of these, and waited until my birthday (March 25th) to smoke one to review...

As I said, the cigars that were found in this vitola were in cabs of 50, and below are photos...From what I have been able to gather, cigars in cabinets of 50 were typically (although, in true Cuban fashion, not always) unbanded, thus the lack of any ornamentation on these:

(photos courtasy of Allan Bush)

Enough of that, let's get down to business, shall we?

* Country of Origin: Cuba

* Wrapper: Cuba

* Binder: Cuba

* Filler: Cuba

* Size: 5 6/8 Inches

* Ring Gauge: 46

* Shape: Corona-ish

* Est. Price: Varies (but expect to pay at least $120-$200 each)

* Date Released: 1979

The Cigar itself has a fairly light brown wrapper, fairly dry to the touch, and nicely firm when squeezed...it is obviously well constructed, but it does feel just a bit light heft wise...The wrapper has a bit of a floral scent to it, with some spicy undertones...almost tea like?

It punches very easily, and there was a very nice amount of spice right off the bat (but no pepper) with a dominant flavor of cedar and just a hint of espresso...a very nice beginning...

The second third started out the same, but then took a Major turn...I have often heard reviewers mention "Jalapeno Peppers" when talking about the strength of a cigar, and always kinda hoped I would someday taste it in a smoke...well, this cigar had a STRONG note of Jalapeno pepper (again, more of a description of the strenth or heat, as opposed to the actual flavor, if that makes sense) for quite a bit of the 2nd third...It hit the back of my throat like a bomb, and while it was strong, it was NOT overwhelming...I could still taste the woodish note from earlier, and even picked up a new flavor of leather...

The last third calmed down quite a bit...the Jalapeno pepper dissipated into a nice background note, and I was left with the leather and cedar flavors...There also seemed to be more of a creamy, chocolate, sweetish undertone to the smoke, and it contrasted with the other flavors very nicely...a great end to a cigar...

Final Notes:

* This cigar had one of the longest and dryest finishes I have experienced in quite a while...

* The Draw and Burn were great, I did not have a problem with either for the entire cigar...

* This was a slow burning stick, and the final smoking time on this cigar was 1 hour and 20 minutes...

* There was quite a bit of smoke that came from this cigar, and it smelled as spicy as the cigar was...

The Bottom Line: Before I first smoked the cigars for this review (2 of them), I really had no idea what to expect...Would there be a more "Sweet" overtone (which is a Dunhill signature) that would overpower whatever other flavors were present? Well, I am happy to report that this cigar took the best that Partagas had to offer, and made it a MUCH more balanced (and therefore infinitely more enjoyable) cigar...It looked, tasted and smelled like a Partagas (jalapeno note notwithstanding), but this cigar succeeded in combining the best of both worlds (the "in your face spiciness" and flavor with the balance of the Dunhill)...Unfortunately, 99.9% of cigar lovers will never smoke one...

Final Score: 94

[BigSlick]

Fantastic review! Great to see you over here. TD

[dizedean]

Thanks for the great review.

DSS

[finecigar]

What an amazing review. Thank you so much for this contribution. I have had the luck to have smoked one of these but would not rate it as high as you did. Mine was probably a 91 at most- which is still fantastic, but not for the money spent on it. To sum it up, I will occasionally smoke and acquire ones like this but have found so much better hidden treasures in the regular production.

[maalouly]

Bravo! Loved the review and the photos.

[CIGARHead]

Great review and beautiful pics...thanks!

[fugwumpy]

Awesome review and background/history lesson. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[Buch0]

Exceptional review of an indeed rare cigar. Always a pleasure to see a bit of extended history being smoked and reviewed infront of you. Looking forward to future reviews.

[olotti]

Awesome review, loved the addition of the background info. I love when people share these specials cigars with the rest of us here, it gives me a chance to see these little bits of history that otherwise I would never have the chance to.

[mbrody]

Thanks so much for sharing. Great review, photos and information.

[Wil]

[laficion]

Hi Brooks, great to see your review here on FOH

Your tasting notes and profiles on the cigars you taste

are what cigar smoking is all about and your Photos are

some of the best I've ever seen, keep up the great job

OH, on a side note, HOW THE HELL CAN YOU EVER READ WHAT YOU WRITE

ON YOUR NOTE PAD ? I hope you have a translated version.

[Ellery]

Great review and wonderful pics. For someone who has only started smoking habanos a year ago, its nice to hear/read about rare cigars and their histories. Thank you

[MontrealRon]

Welcome to FOH, Brooks, and thank you so much for sharing this rare experience with us.

Your review is truly first-class, and brings this rare cigar to life.

I could almost taste it with you.

Bravo!

[Habana Mike]

Had the opportunity to smoke one of these from a cabinet last night - phenomenal smoke.

Didn't get Jalapeno but rich leather, wood and sweetness all around. A 100 pointer!