Cohiba Exquisito 18 (MRSCW#2)

[bishop532]

A few days ago I smoked an Exquisito, my first taste of this particular cigar. It’s pretty skinny, which I generally like. The wrapper was a beautiful golden brown color, and it had a fantastic spicy hay scent coming from it. The cold draw was like a spicy broth - a little hay and a touch of something sweet mixed in.

The 1st third was fairly similar to the cold draw; it was spicy and grassy, definitely tasty. The construction was great, which is something that’s always made me reconsider buying these in the past - I’ve heard a lot of bad things about plugged Exquisitos. At roughly $16-20+ per 5” x 33rg stick, it’s hard to roll the dice when half the things you’ve heard can be summed up as “oh the flavors are great, but it was so plugged it gave me a headache and I threw it out after 10 minutes”. This cigar’s draw was  in Goldilocks land - just right. 

The second third continued in a similar vein as the first, but with a nice touch of the Cohiba honey spicing up the spicy broth and hay flavors. To be clear, when I say spicy, there’s not a hint of black pepper, but it’s also not really baking spice. Maybe similar to the seasonings you’d find in a peri-peri restaurant? I’m not sure, exactly, but it was quite good. 

The final stage of the cigar didn’t evolve much besides to add a couple more flavors to what was already there. Spice, honey, grassy/hay flavors, and a touch of mocha coffee. There was never a wrong step in the construction. The burn stayed pretty sharp, and the draw was great throughout. 

To wrap up, I’d say I definitely enjoyed this cigar. It’s not terribly complex but it does have good flavors and the construction of this example at least was great. If it was half the price I’d smoke these all the time, but unfortunately it’s not half the price. 

Total Smoking Time: 49 minutes

Score:  90/100
 

[NapaNolan]

Wow, 49 minutes! I might need to get some of these.

[bishop532]

2 hours ago, NapaNolan said:

Wow, 49 minutes! I might need to get some of these.

I can smoke pretty slow sometimes. That said, it never needed a relight or anything so I guess it does burn pretty well. It’s just hard for me to justify the price. 

[Nevrknow]

My favorite winter smoke. And they don’t stink. According to my neighbors wife. 😁

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, bishop532 said:

If it was half the price I’d smoke these all the time,

When they were half the price I did smoke these all the time. I was really into them in the late 2000s when they were easily found at ~$170/box. 

[Ford2112]

I got a box of these for fishing so to read this is promising.

[NapaNolan]

17 minutes ago, bishop532 said:

I can smoke pretty slow sometimes. That said, it never needed a relight or anything so I guess it does burn pretty well. It’s just hard for me to justify the price. 

I'm a fairly slow smoker as well, I'm sure I'd get a similar time to you. I might try to throw a 5 pack onto an order but I doubt I'll be buying a box, although there are some deals right now for 5x5 packs.