LordAnubis Posted January 1, 2014 Posted January 1, 2014 Sitting around for new years, we had organised a DJ to come down from Bamako. As soon as we walked in the door we were met with sounds of Justin Bieber. We thought we'd give the DJ time to redeem himself, but then when he attempted to torture us with a Lady Gaga number, that guy had to go. Out came the HDD full of System of a Down, Rise Against, Prodigy, and good old ACDC and Pink Floyd. I rang the bell at the bar. This isn't the standard last drinks bell, no sir, not in Africa. This is the free round for everyone bell, except im the boss so it was me saying it's and open bar now felllas. As many free Soft Drinks as i can drink! Yay! With the ambiance sorted, we got stuck into the cigars, here's the tupperdor i keep on site. I immediately picked up my cigar for the night, the Ramon Allones Extra. Picked up this single from London, Ajay said i had to try it and who was i to argue? THe rest of the boys grabbed a half corona and after showing the newbies how to cut a cigar and how to light it, we all sat and puffed away the new year (ok it was still 19:30, but we all have work the next day starting at 05:00 so it wasn't going to be a midnight job... not for me anyway). The first few puffs of the Ramon goes straight into dark chocolate, a bit of cedar and maybe a hint of leather. It is, in one word, f@#$ing awesome! I am pairing it with a sprite, but i keep thinking how good it would be with a good strong creamy coffee. Unfortunately the words good coffee and any african country other than Kenya can never be in the same sentence. The topic of conversation ranges from me changing the work policy to zero tolerance (meaning everyone who comes to work has to blow 0.00 on the alcohol breathalyser, the old rule was 0.02) and after the boys had their menstrual cramping in unison we moved on to the joys of malaria and shitting your bed in the middle of the night and TB and all the other wonderful ailments that one contracts in this great continent. One of the boys has malaria at the moment, he's standing in the corner shivering. It's 34degrees (celcius, because that's the only real unit of measurement for temperature). Poor bastard, but we all laugh at him as an Australian does to a mate. Cigar has been pretty one dimensional, maybe i wasn't paying attention, but it has been a good journey. I would compare this to a HUpmann Mag 48. It's a corona size (but 44rg instead of 42) so it takes about an hour all up to get through. I can't help but sit there with the nub and smile to myself. Because I have a box of these sitting my OLH, and i can't wait till the day i try my next one.
KoreanCowboy Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 I loved this cigar and honestly, it's the first Cuban that I've had that I would gladly buy again. It was right up my flavor ally. Excellent story and review sir!
FLB03TT Posted January 11, 2014 Posted January 11, 2014 Can't comment on the RA Extra, but must say your story is fantastic. Makes me want to jump on the next flight to your great continent, sans vaccinations, and get a taste of the "real" Africa. All kidding aside, loved the recount of your N.Y. Eve celebration! Thanks for the chuckle!
headstand Posted January 12, 2014 Posted January 12, 2014 Have two of them in the travel humi for the cat-ski trip. Agree that they don't show a lot of complexity, but what is there is pretty tasty.
GnarlyEggs Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 Loved the one I smoked last weekend. Great chocolate and coffee flavors with cream.
Laxman Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Great story would love to make it out to Ajay's shop one of these days. Only try one a few weeks back and pitched it after the first third. Very rare that I toss a cigar and normally a huge fan of anything RA. Have a few more singles will have to revisit.
alawadi9 Posted February 15, 2014 Posted February 15, 2014 These are smoking absolutely amazing now... and imagine how they will be once they hit 10 years old!! I got 2 boxes resting away and I strongly encourage everyone to stock on them as they will be hard to come by within a couple of years
Laynard Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 I just got one from a BOTL here. May have to light it up this weekend. Thanks for the review.
Stogieninja Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Seemed like veryone was sort of trashing these early on... have they changed/developed or just different palates?
mk05 Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 No, these were received really well by most here, with a vocal minority who hated it, then with a couple years, the landscape flipped 180. Tasted like NC to me then, still does now. Doesn't mean it's not for everyone.
bogglor Posted March 1, 2014 Posted March 1, 2014 No, these were received really well by most here, with a vocal minority who hated it, then with a couple years, the landscape flipped 180. Tasted like NC to me then, still does now. Doesn't mean it's not for everyone. This isn't targeted at you in particular but rather in general - this is the chief complaint that I've heard about most that don't like the RA Extra - that it tastes like an NC stick. I've heard the same thing about most of the Cohiba Maduro 5 series as well. I have a couple that I got in trade and look forward to seeing if this holds true - but I'm not going to judge it on the merits of whether it tastes Cuban or Non-Cuban, just how it tastes overall. If someone handed it to you without a band on it, how would you judge it?
mk05 Posted March 1, 2014 Posted March 1, 2014 I would say that the cigar had way too much body and not enough flavor.
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