Partagas Serie D No. 4 POU AGO 13: Review

[Laynard]

In my naïveté, I bought this 10ct. blind. I think I lucked out, as so far they have been dang good. Seeing as it is its first birthday, I figured I'd light one up and write a review.

The construction appears great: no soft spots, beautiful cap, and solidly packed foot. The wrapper has a nice cedary scent to it.

I use a punch and the cold draw seems good to go, so I set flame to it and begin smoking. However, this may not be as relaxing as I would hope as the temperature is pushing 100*F (37*C) and the gusts of wind are like standing in front of a giant's hair dryer.

I get some peppery cedar at the onset, with backing notes of dried fruit. The smoke is thick and creamy and the draw is right where I like it. The burn is not as perfect as one would like, but given this young cigar's age, it is somewhat acceptable. I begin to pick up notes of earth as the burn continues, which also seems to correct itself a bit.

The flavors do seem a bit muted from what I remember from previous encounters with the PSD4. But, they are nice: pepper, cedar, cream, earth, and as I enter the second third, some dusty baking spice I just can't put my finger on.

This dusty spice grows in strength, especially through retrohaling. But, other than that, I am still just tasty earthy wood, as the pepper has waned a bit. At the halfway point, I do taste some grassiness coming through, the earthiness increases, and the burn is back to being nearly horrible.

Again, the burn valiantly corrects itself, but the trade off is that the flavors become bitter. There is a hint of cream and nice earth, but the grassiness is acrid. I fight on hoping it gets better.

Luckily, the flavors do get better, almost mimicking the flavors at the beginning - peppery wood - but stronger this time. The bitterness has left and the cigar is actually getting sweeter, with some earth and cream. At this point, the burn rebels again.

I smoke until my fingers burn, and the taste is pure, charred wood. This cigar was not pure bliss, which echoes what I have heard others say about PSD4s as of late. There seems to be inconsistencies even within the box. It was far from a horrible cigar (I smoke a lot of NCs, so I know what horrible cigars taste like), but I was a bit disappointed. I am not a big numbers guy as far as reviews go, but this one would probably be somewhere in the high 80s given the off burn, and period of harsh flavors. I do have hope for the rest in the box (5 at this point). I think I may let them sit for a few months at least before giving them another shot. Hopefully that let's things settle a bit.

[Rye]

Nice review. Too bad you got an off experience.

[Laynard]

Thanks Rye. That's the perfect way to say it...it was "off." Not bad, but definitely not "on."

[CigarEnthusiast]

Great review brother. A pleasure to read as always and I hope you win!

Wish I had a PSD4, but I got so many other sticks to try!

[stigmata]

just give it a while to settle

i have the POU 13 theyre great but some sticks dont burn well . cigars are humidity blasted in cuba for their journey ahead with distributers.

ive had a smiliar thing with some of the POU boxes but other stiicks from the same box have been wonderful.

They need some downtime sometimes so the moisture content stabilises in the box/ stick and you get a much more even burn which allows your smokers experience to be more pleasurable.

But from my experience thePartagas D4 POU boxes have been magic.

Question : how long have you had the box in your possession.

Under a year old .. i wont judge the box and then only if ive had the box with me for 3 months.

These things get frequent fliers points for all their transportation form one place to the next and being so young give them a chance.

Its expensive .. but ive always found to have a few boxes going and if a box needs down time.. allow it to have down time and grab something else.

sounds like your box is going to be just fine.

Partagas D 4 have been consistent with their blends... the problem ive found over the years is construction..Yours looks fine.

Some have smoked unbelievably well with a muted cold scent...

2013 was a good year from my experience .. especially with the POU boxes.

Give it another 6 months and try the next one.

[Laynard]

just give it a while to settle

i have the POU 13 theyre great but some sticks dont burn well . cigars are humidity blasted in cuba for their journey ahead with distributers.

ive had a smiliar thing with some of the POU boxes but other stiicks from the same box have been wonderful.

They need some downtime sometimes so the moisture content stabilises in the box/ stick and you get a much more even burn which allows your smokers experience to be more pleasurable.

But from my experience thePartagas D4 POU boxes have been magic.

Question : how long have you had the box in your possession.

Under a year old .. i wont judge the box and then only if ive had the box with me for 3 months.

These things get frequent fliers points for all their transportation form one place to the next and being so young give them a chance.

Its expensive .. but ive always found to have a few boxes going and if a box needs down time.. allow it to have down time and grab something else.

sounds like your box is going to be just fine.

Partagas D 4 have been consistent with their blends... the problem ive found over the years is construction..Yours looks fine.

Some have smoked unbelievably well with a muted cold scent...

2013 was a good year from my experience .. especially with the POU boxes.

Give it another 6 months and try the next one.

Thanks for the reply. I have had great sticks from this box, so this one being off was where the disappointment came from. It just wasn't as amazing as I remember the others being.

I've had it in my possession for about three months, and it was at 65%, then dry boxed this one for a little over 18 hours. I agree that the construction looks fine, the odd burn is probably attributed to youth, and I think they may be better stored closer to 60%. The rest are definitely going to wait a bit. I count my blessings my vendor sent me POU when I bought blind. Maybe I need to get another box and get that settling too.

[Optic101]

Give them some time and try again during a better weather condition.

If too hot, too windy in my expierience both me and the cigar can't relax which results often in an "off" expierience.

[PapaDisco]

Give them some time and try again during a better weather condition.

If too hot, too windy in my expierience both me and the cigar can't relax which results often in an "off" expierience.

I see something similar in my travels, but usually it's heat and humidity that I experience. Cigars that are fantastic, all comfortably settled in, back in San Francisco struggle to burn properly and pick up a lot of sharpness when I take them to SE Asia. Exceptions have been two of the larger ring stogies; the Siglo VI (which seems to be bullet proof no matter where I take it) and the Partagas Series E #2 (which seems a bit under filled to me, but that's what saves it in a blast of high humidity I think).

The biggest effects I see when exposing a cigar to a blast of heat and humidity, are the pickup in harsh/bitter flavors, and an uneven burn between wrapper and filler; both of which make sense as the the cigar absorbs the moisture unevenly (or at different speeds). I wonder what the reverse effect would be upon exposing a cigar to the dry

Anyway, I don't really understand the 'science' of settling cigars, but I do buy the 'voodoo' of it. I'm not sure of how you'd get a cigar prepped for smoking in the blistering desert environment of summertime Tracy though!

[Laynard]

Anyway, I don't really understand the 'science' of settling cigars, but I do buy the 'voodoo' of it. I'm not sure of how you'd get a cigar prepped for smoking in the blistering desert environment of summertime Tracy though!

The ambient rH was around 20%, so that could have created uneven moisture in the cigar as well. I wouldn't call it a desert, though...maybe more of savannah type environment. With this drought, I half expect the whole place to go up in flames any day. I think October or November will me much kinder to cigar smoking.

[Laynard]

And, thanks for all the input everyone. I'm relatively new to cigars in general (about 1 year) and more so to CCs, so I appreciate all the words of wisdom.

[stigmata]

Cigars also can develop differently from each other even from the same box.

When theyre putting boxes together they colour match them the best they can also size.

Youll regularly see slight differences in size in boxes.Theyre hand rolled dont forget.

Whilst that means they should all be behaving the same way because theyre from the same box they might not be exactly from exactly the same litter anyway.

Were often very impatient and want things NOW.. we all have abit of 'Veronica Salt Syndrome' going on.

But Cubans you need to wait on.. they dont wait on you. Though they are getting much better.and theyre easier to smoke fresh than ten years ago.

You still need to be patient sometimes.

I sometimes have some going through a dormant phase whilst others are awake and kicking...

Nobody cares about the birth pains .. everybody wants to see the baby.

If your construction is fine... your2013 POU PSD4 with some time will most likely be fine,.. be patient.I doubt you have a dud box.. the question will be is Partagas D4 to YOUR specific taste?

[Optic101]

I see something similar in my travels, but usually it's heat and humidity that I experience. Cigars that are fantastic, all comfortably settled in, back in San Francisco struggle to burn properly and pick up a lot of sharpness when I take them to SE Asia. Exceptions have been two of the larger ring stogies; the Siglo VI (which seems to be bullet proof no matter where I take it) and the Partagas Series E #2 (which seems a bit under filled to me, but that's what saves it in a blast of high humidity I think).

Similar experience here.

As we have all year round RH of 60-80% (not counting the extreme peaks).

What works best for me is to store the one I plan to smoke over the next few month at around 65% and room temp.

Keep them there at least for 4-6 weeks.

The cigars with a looser draw are smoking far better (in average).

[subport]

Nice review.

I bought psd4 blind 2 yrs ago last time. Turned out good, at least HQ box. Still not cracked open though cuz Im smoking a '11 box.

Thx for your time.

[Dozerhead]

Here along the Texas gulfcoast it gets pretty warm and humid in the Summer. It is not uncommon to have temps above 90 degress with humidity above 90 percent. I tend to have issues with longer cigars during this time of year with the wrappers splitting. I know some would argue the that the time to smoke a cigar in humid conditions is not long enough to negatively affect the cigar, but my experiences have shown otherwise. Keep in mind that humidity is 'relative'. At 90 degress and humidity at 85%, for example, the moisture content is far higher than say 70 degrees with the same humidity reading.

[Cisco]

Thanks for the review! I have POU 13 as well but I have not touched them. It's nice to have some feedback on them. It has also been my experience that gusty conditions can often contribute to burn issues.

I really like PSD4s but I do find them highly variable. I certainly recall these cigars being much better flavour wise from 1998-2002 but that may just be my deteriorating palate. . I've often wondered if there was a blend change at some point due to their popularity. They are certainly not as strong as I remember them.

[stigmata]

both the 898s and the d4s are not as strong as earlier....( fresh)

i think habanos make cigars today that are more ready to go from the word go

i have d4s from 5 or 6 years ago... i think the blend is pretty much true to those.

i think what is happening is we are smoking cigars earlier and habanos recognise this and have assisted us with havng cigars ready to smoke ROTT....

but more or less the blends are true

if u can keep your hands off the D4 it will be a great smoke in 3 to 4 years

the difference is its still great ROTT... and yeah some are languishing behind others in some kind of smoking evolution.

ive got maybe 12 boxes from oct 2012 through to sept 2013 mostly POU most 10 count boxes and a srinkle of 25s.

ive smoked one two or three from each one of them.. and basically theyre all similar at some point.

all except for a couple have been pretty good in construction

i have no doubts that they will be fantastic in 2 more years as they have been very good already

i can see how theyre moving up

i reckon D4s have been great in 2013....

ive had to many boxes that suggest theyre relaiable.

Trinidads? Thats another matter all together...

i tried a couple of boxes and stopped buying those.

Too many duds per box

[actzz541]

great review, I have two 2013 boxes set back that I need to get in to shortly.

[Ramrod918]

Good review, D4s one of my favs!

[mikek]

Good review! Now I'm in the desert,dureing summer all I smoke is caronas and petite caronas,with A slight breeze they can actualy crack right in your hand.I also have A few left with that box code,I'll hold off untill fall.

Thanx Again

[tjohn7]

Great review! Hopefully the rest of the box exceeds your expectations!

[gr8eman]

I had a similar experience with recent D4s. The construction is great but the flavors are muted, for whatever reason. I think after 2 years they will be perect. It's hard to wait!

[tjohn7]

I had a similar experience with recent D4s. The construction is great but the flavors are muted, for whatever reason. I think after 2 years they will be perect. It's hard to wait!

I'm trying a young one (NOV 13) out tonight. Hopefully the flavors shine, otherwise like you said they're getting a nice two year rest

[leoan]

Nice quick review, thanks!

[Geo17pip]

Nice review! Havent had one in a few years. How are the 2014 PSD4's smoking? Anyone have any experience with them yet?