New RA vitola

[Carrie Nation]

Anyone see this?

 

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/cuban-ramon-allones-receives-new-size

 

[SmokeyGigi]

Yes they were available in Cuba during the festival, great smoke

[NSXCIGAR]

Snagged a couple boxes at the festival. Suprised they haven't been available yet. I know at least one LCDH had them in early Feb. 

My opinion is that they are a similar experience to the RAS in a larger format although not the same exact blend. Very pleasant and under medium but so far they've been fairly one-dimensional. I kind of get bored with them by the final third. But beautiful looking cigars and excellent construction.

[LizardGizmo]

I kind of get bored with them by the final third. But beautiful looking cigars and excellent construction.

This was my exact impression. I’ll take a RASS any day over this.

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, LizardGizmo said:

This was my exact impression. I’ll take a RASS any day over this.

 

I'm no fan of RASS but they definitely have more character than the RA3 at this point. The RAS and RAG have more complexity as well. So far I would say they missed the mark with this blend. 

Personally I was hoping for a stronger blend more in line with the RASCC or Perfectos ER. Definitely not the case. They've done so well with RA ERs I'm really surprised they kind of missed on this one. 

They are less than $10 in Cuba so as far as value it's pretty good but honestly I think most customs are going to be on par with these. 

The Monte WE and LGC Turquinos are both winners (and I hear the RG CdL is very good) so 3 out of 4 ain't bad I guess. 

[Salomones]

Smal Batch arrived Germany this week.

[LizardGizmo]

5 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I'm no fan of RASS but they definitely have more character than the RA3 at this point. The RAS and RAG have more complexity as well. So far I would say they missed the mark with this blend. 

The Monte WE and LGC Turquinos are both winners (and I hear the RG CdL is very good) so 3 out of 4 ain't bad I guess. 

RASS for me is a semi-weekly go-to. Regular rotation for sure. RAS has been consistently disappointing to my palette, and that's since launch. Young boxes, older boxes, just can't win with them. RASCC and RAG are much better, too, like you said.

Haven't had the MWE and just got a box for the podcast of LGC Turquinos, which I'm looking forward to doing. A few friends of mine who only smoke aged stuff can't stop talking about the Turquinos and great they are young.

All in all, it's nice to see a *reasonably* priced, reg. production new entry in the RA line. Maybe they'll improve with time.

[Carrie Nation]

Would any of you have pegged it for an RA if you smoked it without a band? 

[NSXCIGAR]

7 hours ago, Carrie Nation said:

Would any of you have pegged it for an RA if you smoked it without a band? 

It's definitely got RA DNA. As I said it's kind of a brother to the RAS. I've had RAS that are pretty darn close although I would prefer the RAS to these. 

I've also found that they really start out great the first half inch or so and then just kind of trail off into kind of an under medium generic CC. 

[NSXCIGAR]

10 hours ago, LizardGizmo said:

A few friends of mine who only smoke aged stuff can't stop talking about the Turquinos and great they are young.

Yes, I'm very pleased with the Turquinos. Straight down the middle LGC blend which is nice to have back in the portfolio. Great price too at $13. No real signs of youth and mine are ENE 23 boxes I believe. Not sure what the ceiling is on them but they're solid 92-93 pointers so far. I'm not sensing a ton of potential in them although LGC always ages well. I would say these are much more of a 3-5 year peak cigar which is fine by me.