Trinidad Reyes - Unknown date- TVR weekend review contest

[steelcity]

I figure I’ll give this a whirl for my first review contest. I had an easy day of work lined up today and I was planning on taking a smaller stick with me this morning for a little job site C&C. I was actually eyeing up one of two Trinidad Reyes I had purchased from another vendor before coming across FOH. I opened up the FOH site early this morning and saw Rob posted this TVR contest up so it was meant to be, obviously. These Reyes have been in my humidor for about 2 months now. I purchased them along with a few other pairs of other brands to try out after reading that they were supposed to have some chocolate notes.

I found a local coffee place this week that sourced their beans directly from their farm in Costa Rica. I was searching for some good coffee after finishing my bag that I brought back from the Dominican Republic. I bought a bag of medium roast and had them grind it for home use. This is some good stuff and definitely provides you with some giddy-up. 

I get to my job site at 7am and hold our tailgate meeting. The guys have their orders and now it’s C&C time. I use my Cuban Crafters cutter and test the draw. The draw was very easy but not too easy to be a wind tunnel. First notes were light chocolate and leather. Pretty smooth going. The ash held up great on the 1/3. Entering the 2/3, the chocolate notes disappear and it’s all leather. This continues but now the burn starts getting squirrelly on me. I touch it up but the problems persist. End of the 2/3 and it’s still all leather. The burn issue finally sorts itself out, or so I thought. In the 3/3 this thing won’t stay light. I get it going again and after a few minutes it dies. I do this 3 times and finally gave up on it. 

Overall I was disappointed in the Reyes. The burn issue was one thing but I did not find the chocolate notes that I was hoping for. On to the next. Have a good weekend!

 

[NSXCIGAR]

Sorry this one wasn't to your liking. I'm not sure that I would really categorize the Reyes or any Trini for that matter as being strong in the chocolate department. The terms I hear most frequently to describe Trini are "doughnuts & coffee" or "cookie dough". I think marcas like VR, Partagas (non-Serie models) and even some Monte might lean a bit more towards chocolate than Trini. To me, VR is about the most chocolate marca available. If that's what your looking for I'd suggest picking some up. I've had the most success with the Unicos.

I will say that I've rarely if ever had a bad Reyes. They are very consistent for me and I like them a lot and purchase them on a fairly regular basis when the price is right (normally they're a touch high in price and I generally opt for the SC El Principe).

[steelcity]

I’ve found chocolate in Monte PEs, VR Famoso, and Olivia V Melanio. I also picked up a couple VR Unico sticks as you mentioned above, from the same vendor. I believe I posted it up in the Daily Smoke thread a few weeks ago. That one also had some burn issues and there was a bunch of pepper to it. 

What I do know is there is a big difference between the sticks I bought from that other vendor and the ones I have now been getting from El Presidente. Even the clearance stock that I’ve purchased through Rob looks better than the others. So in Rob I trust!

[Fugu]

Fully sharing NSX's sentiments.

A lovely stick, one of my current favourites. Sorry that yours was a disappointment. An overly open draw never bodes well for the things to come. Thanks for your review!

 

[TheMonk]

Shame about your experience, I quite like the Reyes!