BLIND TASTING CIGAR NUMBER 1 REVEAL 2019

[First Lady]

Hi everyone

The first cigar of the 2019 FOH International Blind tasting is ............................  H UPMANN NO 2 - BRE DIC 18

For those of you who didn't get your pick in don't give up you have 4 more cigars to pick

Next pick for Cigar 2 and 3 are due October 25th , I will start a thread for each cigar 

Until the next time ? 

Lisa

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 (prior to the next round of winners being announced). This will keep the admin process nice and easy...says I ....who will have no part of the admin process

 

BLIND TASTING 2019. Cigar Number 1.pdf

[Arctic Dude]

Yippee...I can now do no worse than my 1/5 from last year!! ???

[BeerPimp]

Man I should have went with my first instinct.   The lighter wrapper threw me off.  I will say that it was very enjoyable cigar.  My plan is to get a perfect imperfect 0/5.  HAH.

[Thirds]

I actually tasted the cigar and I’ve never been able to taste Upmann!  I’m totally floored. 

[MD Puffer]

Ding.  Got it.  I don't have much hope for some of the others though...

[nKostyan]

The decisive thing for me was the low strength, when choosing between H.Upmann and Diplomaticos

[MountainMilG]

And it will only get harder ...

[Islandboy]

I’m totally surprised by the result...which doesn’t surprise me one bit. 

[mwaller]

I was sure it was Partagas...?

[Skypilot]

0-1  but a damn fine smoke. 

[Raskol]

Mine tasted drift wood all the way...somethings not right 

[Islandboy]

The funny thing is, not only am I a fanboy of the vitola, but the HU 2 is my favorite. Smoking through a box of BRE Mar 18 now, with another marinating. Based on what I tasted, HU 2 would have been my last pick. I got none of that familiar earthy, baking spices and sweet taste. I’m totally second-guessing my taste buds now. The next 4 are gonna be a crapshoot. 

[Meklown]

1 hour ago, mwaller said:

I was sure it was Partagas...?

Me too! I have a box of upmann 2s I'm working through right now and #1 didn't taste anything like it at all ?

[Tstew75]

Worst HUP I've had in a long time ?

[RDB]

I thought Partagas too. What do I know!? 

This is fun, and I strongly suspect it’s going to be humbling.

 

[ianperrymccarthy]

Feeling slightly better seeing that there were so many other partagas/diplo guesses, I kept waffling between the two. Didn’t see HU coming at all. If nothing else this just reminds me how much I don’t enjoy young Upmanns. 

[tigger]

 

? 

I've smoked a number of boxes of HU No.2  over my lifetime. It's a cigar I really enjoy.

I really enjoyed this one too...but it tasted nothing like an HU No. 2 to me. It was all sourdough/sour cream and savory spice.

C'est la guerre...

Congrats to those who got it right!

[inter4alia]

I've never smoked an HU 2 so not surprising I whiffed on this guess. 

[lovethehaze]

I have only smoked a few HU2’s from the store and they were much better. As I said in my 2 cents when I smoked it all I got was ammonia. Makes me think twice about buying more honestly. 
but i guess I only have up to go as I shot and missed here. 
congrats to those who got it right. 

[RDB]

1 hour ago, tigger said:

It was all sourdough/sour cream and savory spice.

Exactly what I tasted. With some vegetal sweetness, but not bakery sweetness and no nuttiness that I could see. Body was only under to medium, which threw me a bit, but I thought it might have a bit of age.

[wineguy]

9 hours ago, MD Puffer said:

Ding.  Got it.  I don't have much hope for some of the others though...

+1

[GavLew79]

7 hours ago, Islandboy said:

The funny thing is, not only am I a fanboy of the vitola, but the HU 2 is my favorite. Smoking through a box of BRE Mar 18 now, with another marinating. Based on what I tasted, HU 2 would have been my last pick. I got none of that familiar earthy, baking spices and sweet taste. I’m totally second-guessing my taste buds now. The next 4 are gonna be a crapshoot. 

Don't second guess yourself mate. Some in the community believe "Marca DNA" is a myth. On empirical evidence alone, I'm starting to become a believer.

Now I don't know how the factories work and I've never been to Cuba. However, knowing that individual factories roll for several Marcas and hearing the stories about 'Cuba being Cuba'; is it really possible that they have the supply chain logistics in place today to say "you're rolling Upmann No. 2s today. Here's X leaves of volado from this farm, and y leaves of seco from this farm, and... And they must taste like all the ones Juan made last week/month/year and they must taste like the ones Ernesto is making two rows behind you"???

Sounds like piffle to me. 

Anyway, I was torn between Party P2 and Dip2, only because I had a hint of green bell pepper and I've read on here that that is a characteristic of a P2. But, more than that it tasted like my box of Diplomaticos No. 2 from 2015. So that's what I went for. Stupidly, because that isn't an indicator of what it is. 

All I can say is that it was a bloody good cigar and I have many more just like it...in a yellow box labelled Diplomaticos No. 2. 

...and there will be many more like it in boxes of P2 and VR Unicos all over the world. There will also be many *unlike* it in many boxes of H.Upmann No. 2 across the world as well as many like it. 

[nKostyan]

This cigar did not have the DNA of H. Upmann, but the woody-spicy (gingerbread spicy, not peppery) profile is suitable for HUp and Diplo.

As a control cigar I smoked later HUp Magnum 46 ABO Jul 17 and Diplo no.2 LGR Sep 18.

I must confess that I have never smoked HUp no.2 previously

 

[prodigy]

I am almost done with a box of hu2, and that would have been my last choice for this cigar. At least #1 had flavors to choose from. #2 for me was probably the least flavorful smoke I've ever had.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[PrairieSmoke]

My initial guess was the HU2 but it moved into pepper and spice which shifted my guess to the P2. I smoked an HU 2 immediately after I smoked the blind cigar and they were so different I landed on the P2. ?