WRC - Mark Twain / Quintero Favoritos

[slowsmoke]

This one is a bit of a stretch, but I’m working with what I’ve got.  I’ll go Mark Twain, for being such an iconic American author, and for speaking so plainly about man’s various “redeeming petty vices.”

I googled around and came across a quote I hadn’t seen before:

“I know a good cigar better than you do, for I have had sixty years' experience. No, that is not what I mean; I mean I know a bad cigar better than anybody else. I judge by the price only; if it costs above 5 cents, I know it to be either foreign or half foreign and unsmokable.

"By me I have many boxes of Havana cigars, of all prices, from 20 cents apiece up to $1.66 apiece; I bought none of them; they were all presents; they are an accumulation of several years. I have never smoked one of them, and never shall. I work them off on the visitor. You shall have a chance when you come. “ - letter to L. M. Powers, November 9, 1905; quoted in The New York Times, March 26, 1911 (http://www.twainquotes.com/Cigars.html)

So while it appears Mr. Clemens wasn’t a fan of Habanos, he at least appreciated value smokes.  Cheap and cheerful

Along those lines, this morning I fired up the last cigar of my New to Cubans sampler, the Quintero Favorites.  I’m not gonna lie, this was the last one for a reason.  It was not a looker.  A big frog eye just below the cap, a couple cracks in the wrapper, and lumpy.  The wrapper did have a nice color.  I’ve gone neck deep into 24:24 since working my way through the sampler, but this one lingered in my humidor.

Well I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a gem.  The draw was absolutely perfect.  The burn was absolutely perfect.  Those two aspects alone are “rare as rocking horse poo” in my (admittedly limited) CC experience.  I sat in awe for minutes at a time as it burned like an incense stick.  It produced perfect rich puffs, never hot or bitter.

I won’t go into thirds or transitions because there weren’t any, but it was just one of the tastiest cigars I’ve ever had.  Perfect toasted cuban tobacco from beginning to end.  Some musty leather, malty vanilla, maybe even a little honey.  Light/medium, the perfect morning smoke.  My CC experience may be limited, but I know tasty cuban tobacco when I get it.

I don’t recall smoking time, but it did seem to burn quick, presumably the short filler.  And I ended up putting it out a little early, because I couldn’t bear to see it go south.  If I had another one that I knew were just as good, I would have fired it right up.

edit: wow those pics look a lot better than I remember!  The iphone works some magic when it wants to.

[BenW]

Great review! I'm going to have to pick some of these up.

[BJRPorter]

I’ve got a few of these taking space in my “work off on the visitor” desk top humidors. I guess it may be time to dig one up for a taste.

Thanks for the review.

[SwissPEP]

nice revieew

 

on a budget cigar

[MoeFOH]

Great stuff!