All Star Blends

[mm12]

I was smoking a Partagas Short this afternoon and it occurred to me that these have an amazing blend. The earth, chocolate, spice, creaminess, fruitiness all come together and make for an excellent balance of flavors. The blenders got them just right. It's an all-star in the world of Habanos. I was thinking how great it would be to have a Partagas Short blend in a corona gorda or a robusto, or a churchill. While the Partgas Short is clearly a Partagas, it is not just merely a Partagas. It has a distinctive blend all it's own, and I'm fairly confident that if it were rolled in any random size, and given to me blind, I'd be able to pick out the specific blend (there are very few cigars I can say this about).

One of the things that irks me about how HSA handles new/special releases, is that they seem to want to reinvent the wheel every single time. Each new cigar gets its own unique blend. Why not add some additional sizes to some of the all-time great blends?

A couple of current production cigars that come to mind for me are the Hoyo de Dieux and the Sir Winston.

From the past, RA 898s come to mind, and upon reflexion, I don't really care if RA 898s are brought back. I just want the blend brought back. If they want to roll it as a petit corona or a corona gorda or whatever, it's fine with me. I just want that particular flavor profile in a non-offensive sized cigar.

I imagine the upfront costs of developing new cigars would plummet if they stuck to using classic discontinued blends. If a particular cigar is highly regarded, but doesn't sell, maybe it would be best to just transfer the blend to something generic like a PC or robusto instead of doing away with it entirely. Maybe for the next H. Upmann EL, they could roll some belicosos with a Sir Winston blend.

What cigar blends make your all star team?

[shrink]

From the past, RA 898s come to mind, and upon reflexion, I don't really care if RA 898s are brought back. I just want the blend brought back. If they want to roll it as a petit corona or a corona gorda or whatever.

In this regard, I have found the RASCC to have a blend that is reminiscent of the RA 898. But I have often wondered, that if the exact same tobaccos are rolled into a significantly different length or ring size, would the flavor be different? For example, I assume that the Partagas Serie du Connoisseur Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are made from the same blend of tobaccos, but each has a different profile depending on the length.

[Colt45]

Why not add some additional sizes to some of the all-time great blends?

I think they can try to emulate, but perhaps not duplicate a blend when the jump in size is big enough. Imagine going from a minuto to a corona gorda,

churchill, or robusto - they'd have to add tobacco to fill the extra ring size. They try to balance it out, but it wouldn't be exactly the same blend.

Then there is the something like the Partagas Serie Du Connaisseur line, which to me tasted pretty similar across the three - ring gauges of 38, 38, 35 -

very close. Again, imagine trying to duplicate the flavor of the PSdC 3 in a churchill - perhaps they could, and maybe easily - I don't know.

But it's hard for me to believe they could duplicate completely the intensity of delivery without forfeiting the balance. Perhaps they should first try to keep

the blend consistency from one box of shorts to the next

[mm12]

Colt,

I think you're definitely right with regard to large jumps, but I feel like a 38 could easily become a 42, a 40 or 42 could become 46 or 47, 46 or 47 to 50 or 52, etc. without much of change. Use more or less leaf as needed, but with the exact same proportions. Also, if they were willing to experiment a bit, I think the blenders could coax the exact same flavor profile out of a large ring guage jump if they just tinkered with the recipe a bit.

Personally I think the Serie du Connaisuer each has their own (related) blend. I haven't smoked hundreds of them or anything, but I detect flavors in each that isn't present in others. In the 1 I get a lot of milk coffee that I don't see in the 2 or the 3. In the 2 I get a burnt sugar cane sweetness that I don't get in the others, and in the 3 I get a spicy cherry flavor that I don't find in the 1 or 2.

[bigfunkyg]

I would give my left ******** to have the same flavour profile in a corona gorda as in the Partagas Short.

I have smoked many a P2 but the flavour profile is drastically difference. The P2 / D4 have a sweet spice (I always think of Red Bell Peppers when I smoke a P2). The short has much more earthy spicyness that almost makes a perfect cigar.

[dB69]

I was smoking a Partagas Short this afternoon and it occurred to me that these have an amazing blend......

I truly agree with you mm12.

My mouth and nose tell me that Pshorts have very closely the same blend as Pcoronas. The only problem with Pshort is that it is sometimes too short. Pcorona corrects that problem, but there is still a very big problem because HSA doesn't produce Pcoronas anymore. They definitely should! These two cigars are among the brightest stars in the cigarsky.

[perfectform]

Give me the Partagas Salomone blend in a CG and I will be happy.

[coneatty]

mm12...it's funny. I am outside in front of my heater smoking a shorty. I was just thinking a very similar thought to your post...."if only they could put the shorty blend into even a petit corona format" but then, that would be the end of my P short purchases. So maybe they just don't want to cannibalize their tried and true top sellers. Who knows what the hell they're thinking. Yesterday I smoked a Rafael Gonzalez CE -- absolutely delicious -- and I think they are being discontinued. oh well.

[mbrody]

You guys must be onto something that I think has to do with the 1/2 corona size, or the way they just blend that size...I don't know, but I find that in general, the 1/2 corona and minuto are one of my top sizes in terms of flavor and satisfaction.

...Boli CJ, Siglo I, Dip5...the list can continue.

Each one is spectacular and I generally enjoy them more than their larger brethren. Maybe it is mind over matter because I know it is going to end quick...Anyway, take a Sig I for example. That is my favorite in the Sig line. It's a little bomb of a smoke. I find the Boli CJ a little cracker too.

In the end, like you, I want these exact blends in a longer size too!