Lovely 2021 Montecristo Joyitas. Anyone else find these to exceed expectations?

[alephilmac]

I just enjoyed a freshly arrived and surprisingly flavorful Joyita. I wasn't expecting to find this small cigar so appealing, but I certainly found that it had all the characteristics of the larger Montecristos (reduced in impact/evolution of course), in a 35min smoke during an outdoor cooking session. Bright and flavorful, with notes of cacao, cinnamon, and burnt cream. Will definitely be returning to this soon. 

[NSXCIGAR]

Joyitas have been destroyed by constant reports of draw problems over the years. People are just scared to death of them. But no one has ever criticized their flavor. When they have good construction they tend to deliver. 

[Fugu]

1 hour ago, alephilmac said:

I just enjoyed a freshly arrived and surprisingly flavorful Joyita. I wasn't expecting to find this small cigar so appealing, but I certainly found that it had all the characteristics of the larger Montecristo's (reduced in impact/evolution of course), in a 35min smoke during an outdoor cooking session. Bright and flavorful, with notes of cacao, cinnamon, and burnt cream. Will definitely be returning to this soon. 

I know of three members of this forum who openly admit being fond of them - that’s you, @Bijan and myself obviously 😂

[Bijan]

5 minutes ago, Fugu said:

I know of three members of this forum who openly admit being fond of them - that’s you, @Bijan and myself obviously 😂

They're also very popular with any very casual/occasional cigar smokers I have over.

[JohnS]

57 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Joyitas have been destroyed by constant reports of draw problems over the years. People are just scared to death of them. But no one has ever criticized their flavor. When they have good construction they tend to deliver. 

Sadly true. I don't doubt their ability to deliver in flavour, but like my experiences with the slightly larger ring-gauged common-named Small Panatelas of recent times, El Rey del Mundo Demi Tasses and Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo du Maires, it can be greatly frustrating to smoke cigars like these when they have construction problems because there's not much leeway when things go wrong.

[El Presidente]

You can't knock the flavour at all. You just have to pretend that they are boxes of 16-18 

[alephilmac]

1 hour ago, El Presidente said:

You can't knock the flavour at all. You just have to pretend that they are boxes of 16-18 

 

At the price, that's a tough pill to swallow :_)

[alephilmac]

3 hours ago, Fugu said:

I know of three members of this forum who openly admit being fond of them - that’s you, @Bijan and myself obviously 😂

Ha, well I'm glad I'm in good company then!

[NSXCIGAR]

2 minutes ago, alephilmac said:

At the price, that's a tough pill to swallow :_)

And hence you have the answer as to why they are effectively left out of the conversation. 

3 hours ago, JohnS said:

it can be greatly frustrating to smoke cigars like these when they have construction problems because there's not much leeway when things go wrong.

Indeed. You'd have to have some serious skill to try and go at a 26 RG with a PerfecDraw. 

Interestingly I never seem to hear about draw problems with the other Laguito No. 3 Cohiba Panetelas...

[Bijan]

1 hour ago, NSXCIGAR said:

And hence you have the answer as to why they are effectively left out of the conversation. 

Yes, I got them right before cigarmageddon, at 2 boxes for around $180. Though to be fair you can still get them for just over $100 a box.

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, Bijan said:

Yes, I got them right before cigarmageddon, at 2 boxes for around $180. Though to be fair you can still get them for just over $100 a box.

Yes, the nominal price isn't bad at all but once you do Rob's calculation you're looking at about $150 a box effectively. 

[MisterCigar]

For such a small format, it delivers a lot of flavor.

This format should have a high maturity potential.

[alephilmac]

On 1/10/2023 at 10:56 PM, NSXCIGAR said:

Yes, the nominal price isn't bad at all but once you do Rob's calculation you're looking at about $150 a box effectively. 

I have been lucky with the 2021 box I've been smoking from (the origin point of this post). 1 somewhat plugged cigar out of 12 so far and the flavors have been exceptional on the other 11. I just got in a box of 2022 and am looking forward to comparing them, before trying to put a couple other boxes away to sit.

[NSXCIGAR]

1 hour ago, alephilmac said:

I have been lucky with the 2021 box I've been smoking from (the origin point of this post). 1 somewhat plugged cigar out of 12 so far and the flavors have been exceptional on the other 11. I just got in a box of 2022 and am looking forward to comparing them, before trying to put a couple other boxes away to sit.

I was going to pick up a box in Cuba last month and then I looked at the price. $170! 

They can be found cheaper on the gray market so maybe at some point in my life I'll pick up a box. I've yet to see singles in Cuba. 

[alephilmac]

13 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I was going to pick up a box in Cuba last month and then I looked at the price. $170! 

They can be found cheaper on the gray market so maybe at some point in my life I'll pick up a box. I've yet to see singles in Cuba. 

Haha. Yes, that's a bit steep at the moment, even if the entire box is guaranteed to smoke well.

[Michael303]

So do we think the quality issues are just inherent with a cigar of this ring gauge or are these exceptionally bad even for the size?

[El Presidente]

2 minutes ago, Michael303 said:

So do we think the quality issues are just inherent with a cigar of this ring gauge or are these exceptionally bad even for the size?

super tough to roll. experienced hands only and they need exceptional "feel/touch/connection". 

[MrBirdman]

8 minutes ago, Michael303 said:

So do we think the quality issues are just inherent with a cigar of this ring gauge or are these exceptionally bad even for the size?

Montecristo is generally more prone to quality issues than the other large marcas (less a problem with recent production). The ring gauge gives you less room for error - that’s where your QC is supposed to come in. But those letters aren’t in the Spanish alphabet HSA uses.

A major downside to panatelas is that you can’t use a perfect draw to salvage them. 

[Michael303]

3 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

super tough to roll. experienced hands only and they need exceptional "feel/touch/connection". 

This makes sense.  My experience with smaller ring gauge NCs is the draw suffers more frequently too which is a shame.

1 minute ago, MrBirdman said:

Montecristo is generally more prone to quality issues than the other large marcas. The ring gauge gives you less room for error but that’s where your QC is supposed to come in. But those letters aren’t in the Spanish alphabet HSA uses.

 

Haha. Thanks for the feedback.

[Fugu]

Bash them as much as you may, I’ll always be loyal to my little Joyitas. 😅

In all seriousness, the format is not only less forgiving to the roller, it’s at least as much less forgiving to the smoker. Not always the fault of the cigar. It’s a piece of art demanding a bit of understanding.

Now back to my regularly scheduled program. 😁

[alephilmac]

I'll follow your program any day. I enjoyed one this morning and will be diving into the January 22 box I newly acquired, tomorrow morning. Hoping for more of the same from the new ones. They look somewhat darker, but overall construction looks to be excellent again.

Cheers!

[SingleBarrel]

I love these. Been burning through mine recently because of the weather. I have 2018’s, always delicious.

[Paladin865]

The only one I smoke was a fantastic cigar. Very flavorful 

[alephilmac]

Hoping these stay off/low on people's rankings, but I must say, having now tried samples from three new boxes, the quality has been very high, with only a couple of minor exceptions. I have also sent them out with CC smoking friends (who prefer larger cigars). Multiple positive reviews coming back so far. May stop sharing them now. Ha!

[aulrone]

I saw these on sale for $99, but are these not just simple cigarillos? Are they really worth the price of $4 each?