A Tale of two cigars: A double review

[godpheonix]

i had a great idea the other day of taking 2 different cigars but roughly the same size( corona ), one aged and the other relately fresh. i picked the HDM Regalos LE 2007 for the aged stick and a not quite 2 years old fresh Punch punch punch. heeeeeeere we go!

i started off with the Regalos. right off the bat i got a blast of spice and then some chocolate notes along with a hint of cherry sweetness. the spice remained for quite sometime before settling a bit. the thing that surprised me was for and LE from 2007, this cigar looks like it still as years to go! about half way the chocolate notes became more pronounced and darker as the cherry subsided a bit and the spice remained there in the background somewhat toned down but still present. balanced, no harsh notes and the burn was good as you'd expect from an 8 year old cigar. oddly though, at this point the cigar went out just over the mid point! i thought what a good place to light up the punch punch! which i did!

as the punch burned through the first few mill's i noticed a real contrast compared to the Regalos, you could really tell it was younger tobacco having just come off from smoking the aged HDM. a really profound fresh fruity taste became present and the thought suddenly occured to me that these 2 cigars are quite different indeed! the freshness of the punch was really a welcomed changed to my taste buds after the heavy dark coco notes of the Regalos. after about 2 inches of the punch the fruity notes subsided and introduced nice cedar notes along with a bit of a floral character. the burn was good and it became clear to me at this point that there really is a big difference in the fresh cigars of today compared to a few years ago. this punch was lovely and had no harshness, it was in fact ready to smoke and we can't really say that about punch punch a decade ago. at least i can't from my experience.

as i got to the mid point on the punch, i decided to steer my eyes back towards the Regalos and relight the aged beauty! it did so without any issues and was back too form straight away! those heavy dark coco notes with just the right amount of that cherry like sweetness to balance it out became more intense as i got down to the last third...still delicious in its own way! at the same point, the punch was getting heavier on the cedar notes and still giving a good amount of that freshness in floral notes, that fruity aspect as just about gone totally now. it was like the perfect combination of cigars, changing from one to the other, those heavy dark notes of the HDM balanced out by the young fresh notes of the punch off my palate.

it remained this way until both cigars had to be put down with about a inch to go. quite a nice evening if i do say so myself! my drink of choice to accompany the cigars was a glass of Glendronach 15 years revival single malt.

on a last note, those who have gottin rid of their HDM Regalos stock or just plain did'nt get any, since i'm aware that many people didn't favor them when they came on the market, might just regret doing so. and for those who have them, i say lucky you...i think your in for a real treat, for years to come!!!

hope you enjoyed the review.

Steve