Bolivar Belicosos Finos POL MAR 11

[Guest Robo]

The individual cigars from this box that I've had from the past were quite young. I found them to be boring and not very flavourful, so I forgot about these. With this box's 4th birthday I decided to give it another chance. This particular cigar had a badly cracked foot about 3/4 of an inch long.

First third:

Starts off with lots of flavour of white pepper, leather and a grassy flavour I would describe as hay. There is a little cream. Very complex and flavourful, a big difference from the one's I've tried in the past. Once I get past the cracked portion the cigar changes. The flavours mute somewhat and the smoke turns thick, creamy and luscious. This is a strong cigar and my head starts to buzz. Full bodied and creamy, the white pepper and leather pick up and the hay turns into earth. Lots of leather now, the earthy flavour I would describe as somewhat mossy, with white pepper spice in the background. The white pepper turns into black pepper as the cigar turns distinctly spicy. I'm very happy with the way this is going! More leather, the earth turns herbaceous and the black pepper is still there. There's a wonderful spicy, herby aftertaste that lasts.

Second third:

The leather is relentless with spicy thyme and cream. More leather and mossy earth is back. The earthiness comes to the forefront now, leather and spice are still there. Herbaceous earth, black pepper, leather dies down a bit and hints of coffee start to come through. Full bodied and thick smoke with a looong, flavourful aftertaste. The smoke sticks to the palate delivering copious amounts of earth, leather and pepper. This is great Cuban tobacco. Strong and flavourful with thick luscious smoke and long flavourful aftertaste. More earth, leather, pepper and coffee. Another herf delivers moss, spice and leather.

Final third:

I give the cigar a quick purge. Lots of earth, more spice and leather. The leather picks up again and the spice tails off. Leather starts to dominate with earth and spice still there. All of a sudden, spice makes a big return with leather and earth still there. More leather and spice with earth now tailing off into the background. Another herf delivers leather and spice. The cigar strength picks up again as my head starts buzzing. This is thoroughly satisfying! Spice and leather start to dominate with little earth. The dance between leather and spice captivates me with each flavour taking turns dominating with each successive herf. At the very end earth shows up again as if to say "don't forget about me".

Final thoughts:

Wow! I really enjoyed this smoke. Strong, complex and flavourful with thick, creamy smoke and a loooong aftertaste. This cigar did not stop, it delivered earth, leather and spice all the way though. I really liked the way the different flavours took turns dominating. I especially liked the way the earthy flavours turned from hints of hay to to moss, then thyme with earth dominating the second third. The leather was flavourful and lasted throughout the entirety of the cigar. The leather started strong, then gave way to earth only to finish strong again. The spice got gradually stronger from white pepper to black pepper and coming on strong in the final third.

94/100

[cottierm]

Nice review Rob, thanks!

[CoCigarSmoker]

Great review man!

[Optic101]

Great review and good to hear they turned out this way. Congrats!

[JPS72]

Thanks for the review.

[PuroDan]

Very solid review of my favorite cigar of all time. Pure Cuban strength/flavor/complexity. Can't go wrong with any Boli, but the BF being king. One of the most complex cigars in the world IMHO. Spot on review. Nice job

[Guest Robo]

Nice review Rob, thanks!

Thanks Michel. Nice to hear from you!

Rob

[brownpeter335]

Nice review! Very well written. Bolivar Belicosos Finos is a very interesting cigar.

[JohnS]

Thanks for a thorough review, Rob. I especially enjoyed your detailed descriptions for such an iconic cigar!