Revealing Cigar Number two of the FOH 2016 Blind Tasting

[El Presidente]

I feel your pain

Cigar number two you would have thought to be relatively easy. However the cigar does share many of the same charachteristics as the Boli Beli and the Sancho Panza Beli.

Welcome to the Romeo y Julieta Belicoso OPG NOV 14

Well done to those who picked it It was not the easiest to do so.

Please post your Review for Cigar Number 3 on this thread by June 5th. Do not disclose your pick but rather e-mail it to [email protected] before the cutoff date.

For those who nailed cigar number two!

A $25 credit for any cigar you pick right to be used on a box (or sampler) purchase over $125 (USD/AUD) from the carts or 24:24 stock. This must be used within 20 days of the winners of that round being announced. It can not be applied to orders you have already made. To make it easy, you have until the end of May.

I look forward to your reviews on Cigar number 3!

[JohnS]

Congratulations to everyone who picked the RyJ Belicoso! Good luck to RickHendeson, DrunkenMonkey and Lant63 for Cigar No.3!

[GavLew79]

God damnit! I had "tastes like a Short Churchill" as one of my notes but plumped for the BBF!

[TypicalSituation]

Wow, would have never guessed that. Had never smoked one before but I found absolutely zero similarities between it and the exy no 4s, short Churchill, and Churchill I've been smoking lately. Definitely an eye opening experience!

[Lant63]

Never smoked this cigar other than this time. I love the SCDH profile as well as bolivar and knew it wasn't those. Had to smoke my first Sancho Panza Belicoso too in order to rule it out.

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[Yagermeister]

Wow, would have never guessed that. Had never smoked one before but I found absolutely zero similarities between it and the exy no 4s, short Churchill, and Churchill I've been smoking lately. Definitely an eye opening experience!

My thoughts exactly!

[Fumadoro]

I actually got a lot of RyJ flavors from this cigar, albeit a fuller body, but that's what made me pick them. I'm happy to say that I am no longer batting a career .000 and am now a scorching .125! Haha

[wabashcr]

Not even close. Looking forward to #3.

[NSXCIGAR]

Whoa. Got absolutely no RyJ flavors out of this. I thought I had it pegged for a BBF. It certainly had earth and that Boli leather. A bit muddled overall but RyJ wasn't even an option on this one for me.

I had a RyJ Beli earlier this year that tasted nothing like this one. Plenty of people got it right so it possibly was just an off stick.

Oh well. Not a cigar I would buy myself.

[archosaur]

Lucky guess for me. The only one I truly felt confident ruling out was the La Punta, based on recent experiences with that cigar.

But I'll happily take the credit!

[zeedubbya]

Whoa. Got absolutely no RyJ flavors out of this. I thought I had it pegged for a BBF. It certainly had earth and that Boli leather. A bit muddled overall but RyJ wasn't even an option on this one for me.

I had a RyJ Beli earlier this year that tasted nothing like this one. Plenty of people got it right so it possibly was just an off stick.

Oh well. Not a cigar I would buy myself.

I did not get RYJ flavors out of this cigar as well. I've probably had the RYJ Beli half a dozen times and I don't recall it being like this. RYJ to me is always chocolate and cherries. Acknowledgement of how difficult it is to do blind tasting. I did enjoy this cigar so I'll be likely looking for a box, but wow. What an eye opener. Chocolate biscuit anyone! Still laugh everytime ayepat post!

[dflan82]

Whoa. Got absolutely no RyJ flavors out of this. I thought I had it pegged for a BBF. It certainly had earth and that Boli leather. A bit muddled overall but RyJ wasn't even an option on this one for me.

I had a RyJ Beli earlier this year that tasted nothing like this one. Plenty of people got it right so it possibly was just an off stick.

Oh well. Not a cigar I would buy myself.

I did not get RYJ flavors out of this cigar as well. I've probably had the RYJ Beli half a dozen times and I don't recall it being like this. RYJ to me is always chocolate and cherries. Acknowledgement of how difficult it is to do blind tasting. I did enjoy this cigar so I'll be likely looking for a box, but wow. What an eye opener. Chocolate biscuit anyone! Still laugh everytime ayepat post!

I also guessed BBF (although the chart above has me listed as SP Beli). I busted my wrapper, but thought that I had a shot given the strong leather profile my cigar had. The RyJ Beli that I had a couple weeks ago was excellent and had hints of cherry throughout. Maybe it was my wrapper issue, maybe it was an off stick, maybe I stink at this blind tasting

[skalls]

I discounted the RYJ bc it didn't have an ounce of Rosado shade or anything that I'd assume would be from that. Ah well. 3 more to go.

[foursite12]

Been smoking a lot of RyJ PC lately and this Beli just clanged out, "Ding, Ding, Ding!" almost immediately. If you liked this cigar, and haven't had the RyJ PC, give it a go. The Ex 4 and Churchill do not share the same flavor profile at all in my opinion.

[DropTopDee]

If I can prove that I guessed cigar 1 correctly before the deadline (forgot to email Lisa) can I get credit? Lol

First two were easy for me and it's funny how some of the vets are having trouble

[zeedubbya]

If I can prove that I guessed cigar 1 correctly before the deadline (forgot to email Lisa) can I get credit? Lol

First two were easy for me and it's funny how some of the vets are having trouble

It's obviously because they're too busy detecting the nuances of the Opens...

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=126910&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1

[PointFivePast]

Finally got one right!

Prez is right - there are definitely some similarities with the BBF and SP Belicoso. I actually put in my notes that this one "tastes like a muted BBF". There were definitely some wood notes (of the drift variety?) that made me think Sancho Panza. Ended up pulling an Exhibicion No. 4 from the humidor to smoke and that confirmed it for me. There is an herbal note similar to garrigue in wine that was very noticable in both for me. Cherry was slightly present but quite minimal.

Overall, this was quite a challenge even with only a few regular production belicosos to choose from.

[PigFish]

... another great day for the theory of Cuban cigar taste profiles!!! -LOL

-Piggy

[Fumadoro]

Last year I posted some extra stats including the number of participants choosing each cigar in the comments. Would anyone like to see that again this year? I could also post a composite score for participants that have participated in both this year's and last year's blind tastings at the end of the series. If anyone has any interesting statistics they would like to see, let me know and I can work them out!

[PigFish]

Last year I posted some extra stats including the number of participants choosing each cigar in the comments. Would anyone like to see that again this year? I could also post a composite score for participants that have participated in both this year's and last year's blind tastings at the end of the series. If anyone has any interesting statistics they would like to see, let me know and I can work them out!

I don't like to make work for anyone, but I would love to see that data. I am a data hog and you can send me results (if you don't mind) to [email protected].

Thanks! -Ray

[Fumadoro]

I don't like to make work for anyone, but I would love to see that data. I am a data hog and you can send me results (if you don't mind) to [email protected].

Thanks! -Ray

I can absolutely send you the raw data that I have compiled so far. I just want to compile last year's and this year's data on one sheet for a composite score before I send it off to you. I'll post breakdowns for each blind cigar shortly.

[Fumadoro]

Since I was remiss in posting the breakdown for blind cigar #1, I will do that here with cigar #2.

Blind Cigar #1 – Saint Luis Rey Serie A

Punch Punch ……………... 20 (27.78%)

Saint Luis Rey Serie A…… 19 (26.39%)

No Response …………….. 10 (13.89%)

Romeo y Julieta Ex. No. 3 .. 7 (9.27%)

Juan Lopez Sel. No. 1 ……. 6 (8.33%)

HdM Epi. No. 1 ……………. 3 (4.17%)

H. Upmann Mag. 46 …….... 3 (4.17%)

QdO Coronas …………….... 2 (2.78%)

VR Familiar ……………….... 1 (1.39%)

Partagas Super Partagas .... 1 (1.39%)

As you can see, the correct answer was not our most guessed, but not by much. I’m also impressed that over ¼ of us were able to guess this cigar with relatively many possible selections in the coronas gordas vitola.

Blind Cigar #2 – Romeo y Julieta Belicosos

Sancho Panza Belicosos ... 22 (30.56%)

Romeo y Julieta Belicosos .18 (25.00%)

No Response ……………... 11 (15.28%)

San Cristobal La Punta ….. 10 (13.89%)

Bolivar BF …………………... 9 (12.50%)

Montecristo No.2 …………... 1 (1.39%)

H. Upmann No. 2 …………... 1 (1.39%)

Again, the correct answer was not the top choice, and with only 4 options in the Campanas vitola and ¼ of us guessing the correct cigar, we could have done just as well throwing darts blindfolded. Haha!

[Nrengle]

I did this as a total shot in the dark. The one thing that made me lean to RyJ was that Rob keeps talking about them and having them on 24:24.

[DrunkenMonkey]

I might as well have been throwing darts, especially with the SLR (which is one I've smoked a lot of, but honestly I had very low confidence in my choice). It's a testament to Ray's theories regarding consistency that I am at 2-0, while many people with so much more experience and better palates are not.

Now I'm off to practice my darts for No. 3.

[JoeyGunz]

I said it would be an RyJ Beli just because I'd never smoked one and don't know many that have for a yard stick ahha