Bolivar Simone RE Canada circa 08 (2FRWM24)

[gormag38]

Picked up a couple of these sticks from another BOTL. I was truly interested in purchasing some Boli Tubos No.1 from him and he decided to throw in a couple of these to make it a fiver. Needless to say, I am glad that he did. 

1/3 

I went into this stick not really knowing what to expect. I had done very little research on it, but generally I heard people talking pretty highly of these REs. First few puffs and I could tell this was going to be a great stick. That old school boli earthiness was there in spades but in no way over powering what so ever. Some cedar comes in and out. I'd call it a solid medium. Sharp burn with an easy draw. 

2/3

As the photo shows, the ash missed the tray. Typical of me. 🙃 

I did have a little bit of a wonky burn issue. Honestly this was surprising as the first third burned flawlessly. I played around with the lighter and after about 10-15 minutes it seems to be corrected. The notes were muted until I got the burn going well again but the flavors are still amazing. All the previous flavors are still there and some light cream enters the party. 

3/3

Still a solid medium for strength, the intensity hasn't really picked up at all during this cigar. The cedar is a little more pronounced but surprisingly I'm getting some sweet notes on this end. Burnt sugar maybe? My palate is terrible so I couldn't be certain, but what I do know is that it is damn good. I smoke until there is about a half an inch left and then I leave it. 

93/100. I really really wanted to give this cigar a 95, because the flavors were so good. But the wonky burn in the 2/3 knocked it a couple points for me. When 15 minutes of a 85 minute burn time is spent trying to correct a burn and get the smoke going again it has to affect the score. But I would jump at the opportunity to purchase more of these sticks. I may even fork over the money to buy a cab on BR if it pops up. 

[Chitmo]

I was lucky enough to get a box of 25 of these in a collection I bought up recently. I didn’t have high expectations, mainly because I typically find that regionals are no better than regular production in terms of flavour and construction. In this particular case they are indeed a better than average CC in the flavour department. Of the 4 I’ve smoked I did experience similar burn issues to your experience though. 

[gormag38]

7 minutes ago, Chitmo said:

I was lucky enough to get a box of 25 of these in a collection I bought up recently.

Lucky duck. I call dibs if you ever part with them.😆

 

8 minutes ago, Chitmo said:

Of the 4 I’ve smoked I did experience similar burn issues to your experience though. 

That is indeed unfortunate. Could've been there was a bad bunch that got rolled around that time period. I guess they were originally in 50cabs but then they became dust collectors so they started breaking them into 25s. I wonder if the original 50 cabs had the same issue? 

[Chitmo]

7 hours ago, gormag38 said:

Lucky duck. I call dibs if you ever part with them.😆

That is indeed unfortunate. Could've been there was a bad bunch that got rolled around that time period. I guess they were originally in 50cabs but then they became dust collectors so they started breaking them into 25s. I wonder if the original 50 cabs had the same issue? 

Won’t be parting with any unfortunately, I’m a bit of an opportunist in the sense I stock up when I find a deal and never sell. I’d heard the same thing about the 50 cabs though, not sure how much truth there is to that. All rumour to the best of my knowledge. 

[gormag38]

7 hours ago, Chitmo said:

I’m a bit of an opportunist in the sense I stock up when I find a deal and never sell.

That is the way. Enjoy 'em in good health sir!

[Sandman]

I used to love these cigars. Actually bought one of my 50 cabs from right here at FOH. Rob described them as having a lavender taste, and that was true, they did when they were fresh. Was a unique blend. I don’t really taste it anymore though.

[Elvis]

Thanks for the review! I have a few 25 cabs in the humi. Always wanted a 50 but could never find one. When I first got them they seemed a little muted and I wasn’t super impressed. I gave them another try this year and I’m glad I waited. I don’t recall any burn issues though.

[gormag38]

16 hours ago, Elvis said:

I have a few 25 cabs in the humi.

Lucky duck indeed. I hope you enjoy them all in good health. 

16 hours ago, Elvis said:

I don’t recall any burn issues though.

That's good. Hopefully it was just a batch of 'em that had a bad buncher or something. 

16 hours ago, Sandman said:

Rob described them as having a lavender taste

That's super interesting, besides a little sweet note at the end of the stick I didn't pick up on any off that. Then again, 15 years may have muted the flavor. Have you noticed that at all recently? I've got one more single left and I'll certainly see if I can pick up any. 

16 hours ago, Sandman said:

actually bought one of my 50 cabs from right here at FOH.

Have you tried from both the 25 and 50 cabs? Curious if there was indeed no discernable difference. 

[Sandman]

2 hours ago, gormag38 said:

That's super interesting, besides a little sweet note at the end of the stick I didn't pick up on any off that. Then again, 15 years may have muted the flavor. Have you noticed that at all recently? I've got one more single left and I'll certainly see if I can pick up any. 

Have you tried from both the 25 and 50 cabs? Curious if there was indeed no discernable difference. 

Last one I smoked was last fall. I didn’t taste the lavender anymore either, although I smoke a lot and wondered if maybe my palate isn’t sensitive enough. It’s still a great cigar for sure. Some of those earlier Regionals aged well, most didn’t, at least in my opinion. Simones aged well. They still have some strength, nice backbone, still good complexity, and a blend you won’t find in another Bolivar. 

As far as 25 vs 50 I’ve heard different things. I had a couple 50 cabs and never bought a 25 count. If I remember correctly there were two releases of these. I believe the 50’s came out first, and then the next year the 25’s came. I think there was some speculation that maybe all the unsold 50 cabs were packaged into 25 counts, but I don’t believe that, but it might be possible. I also seem to remember folks saying that the 25’s weren’t as good as the 50’s. Same thing happened with the PL Magnificos when they were rereleased, they weren’t nearly as good as the originals. 

I might be getting some of this wrong, it’s been a long time, and I’ve killed a few brain cells since then. 😆 

I sold most of mine as I prefer fresher cigars nowadays, but still have a few. I might dig one out and smoke it soon and see what I think. 

[Rhinoww]

Been looking on and off for a Canada Re to smoke on Canada Day. Window may be closing on that thought in the next week or two this year again. Man, I gotta pay more attention to pay tribute to my dad’s roots. 

[KCCubano]

On 6/3/2024 at 4:05 PM, Sandman said:

I used to love these cigars. Actually bought one of my 50 cabs from right here at FOH. Rob described them as having a lavender taste, and that was true, they did when they were fresh. Was a unique blend. I don’t really taste it anymore though.

I bought a 50 Cab from here as well. Had a unique Boli profile for sure. 

[NSXCIGAR]

Always heard great things about this release. Seemed to get a lot of praise right out of the gate. Unfortunately it was Canadian so even then the prices were high. I think the 50 cabs were going for around $650 at the time which was pretty high. Always wanted to try one but never was able to. 

[Chitmo]

8 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Always heard great things about this release. Seemed to get a lot of praise right out of the gate. Unfortunately it was Canadian so even then the prices were high. I think the 50 cabs were going for around $650 at the time which was pretty high. Always wanted to try one but never was able to. 

Pretty low production too, at least the 25s are anyway. 

[Sandman]

6 hours ago, Chitmo said:

Pretty low production too, at least the 25s are anyway. 

50’s only had 600 made. Below is one of my boxes. They put the tag on the inside of the 50’s .

[gormag38]

6 hours ago, Chitmo said:

Pretty low production too, at least the 25s are anyway. 

 

6 hours ago, Sandman said:

50’s only had 600 made. Below is one of my boxes. They put the tag on the inside of the 50’s.

Do we think habanos ACTUALLY produced 600 50 cabs and 1200 25 cabs? Or did they just stop making the 50s and doubled the number on their 50 cabs to say 1200 on the 25 cabs? 🤔

Either way the numbers are pretty low imo. Great job to the both of you for still having a stash though. 

[NSXCIGAR]

5 hours ago, gormag38 said:

Do we think habanos ACTUALLY produced 600 50 cabs and 1200 25 cabs?

ER production could be much lower in those days as the program had yet to really catch on and be seen as premium. Many had numbers well below the standard 60,000-100,000 sticks we see today. For example the 2008 VR Marshall was only 15,000 sticks and ERDM Torpedos only 24,000. And just the year before the ERDM Vikingos was only 10,200 sticks! I'd wager the numbers on the Simones are accurate. 

[Chitmo]

11 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

ER production could be much lower in those days as the program had yet to really catch on and be seen as premium. Many had numbers well below the standard 60,000-100,000 sticks we see today. For example the 2008 VR Marshall was only 15,000 sticks and ERDM Torpedos only 24,000. And just the year before the ERDM Vikingos was only 10,200 sticks! I'd wager the numbers on the Simones are accurate. 

I have some of the Gorditos and Aniversarios as well, now I’m curious enough to go look at those too. 😆