TX Duo - Atabey Ritos 2023

[Çnote]

Atabey! Tres controversial. 

I've had the 'pleasure' of smoking these for years. I'm trying to go into this with a open mind. It helps I basically got these for free, or at least what I would usually pay for a cigar. 

6 1/8 x55

Big woody creamy start. Tannic like black tea. Smooths out a little. Tons of pepper, black and red. 

My mind isn't open. My thoughts are about how this tastes like I described a HdM to an NC blender and they did their best. I'm also sipping a sweet-for-me coffee and split a honeycake for breakfast, so I'm not doing it any favors.

About an inch in, the pepper is white. The burn is clean. It's cigaring along nicely. I thought I was smoking slow, but I have a cone so I'm slowing down as much as I can...

Getting into the 2nd 3rd, there's a touch of baking spices and almost burnt sugar. For a couple inches it's quite reminiscent of Rico Seco, even with a bit of citrus twang, or is that just my imagination? I realize my habit of pre-ashing to avoid messes is helping this burn too hot.

3rd 3rd the creaminess gets richer into the condensed milk zone. The pepper has faded entirely into the background and the citrus zest is still there. After a couple inches, this all falls apart and it becomes high quality yet basic NC Connie, a little cream, a little rough, a little leather and spice. I commit to see this through and the nub immediately raises temp and the bitterness takes over. I set it down and let it cool in hopes of redemption, but it's just burning leaves, toasted tobacco, and bitter tar.

6/10, heavily weighted and biased.

These are expensive, but in light of HSA, maybe these are worthwhile? I really have problems reaching above $18-20 when there's so much out there in retail and 2ndary at $12-15 and even <$10. This vitola MSRPs at $36. I enjoyed the Fuente KingT more at roughly 1/3 the price, and a N6 is bang on 1/3. The packaging is phenomenal tho, if you can snag an empty box you have a wonderful desktop humidor and the jars are tres chic. It scratches the itch, but disappointing.

@Capn_Jackson thoughts?

[JoeyBones777]

It is hard to justify the price for most of Selected Tobacco cigars. They are decent but for $900+ for a box there are plenty other NC that are better. I'd rather grab a cab of 50 Warped Cloud Hopper, a box of Illusione Epernay and a bundle of N6 for the same price as a box of Atabey. I know I can enjoy them fresh and they seemingly get better with age. Even if Atabey were great, 100 very good to great cigars with variety in flavor profile and smoke time or 25 great cigars same flavor profile and smoke time is an easy decision to make for me.

[Capn_Jackson]

And now, my side of the story…

Smooth, light mocha-brown wrapper, firm pack with just a little give.

Cold draw is pretty much hay, with a little bit of dried berry. Great resistance on the draw, just right for me. Opening light has more hay, a little honey, and no heat. Very CC-style light-up, but not as rich.

As things get going, some baking spices show up, but mild and behind notes of coffee and nuts. Eventually some crème brûlée appears, and roasted hazelnuts. Very smooth smoke, just slightly oily mouthfeel, but occasionally a little dry. Strength seems around medium so far. Burn line is excellent! Ash is firm and doesn’t come off easily. Heading towards the second third, I knock it off out of paranoia. Wearing shorts today, and don’t wanna feel the burn!

A little mineral quality does come into play, a little like salted caramel, before the end of the first third. Gone after a few mins.

The second act, I notice a pretty abrupt change, some citrus or light Cointreau, over almonds and light- to medium-roast coffee. Also, around the midpoint I get some forest floor… just a little funky mushroom in the mix. There is also either some coconut crème, or maybe citrus creme, hard to nail down. It doesn’t last long. The finish is all roasted sweet corn.

Before the last third, the burn does get a little wavy, with one peninsula. After a touchup, everything returns to stride.

The last third turns up the crème brûlée/caramel, and more corn, but getting a little bitter as I go along. No dried fruits here, but maybe a touch of mushroom still hanging around. A little bit of leather as well. Near the nub, everything is dominated by some overly bitter cocoa. I leave a little over an inch for the angels.

This was about a two hour smoke for me. Really enjoyed it up until the end. I expected a little more out of it before turning bitter, but nice, quality stick! 90/100

[Capn_Jackson]

@Çnote interesting! Looks like we got some of the same things going, but mine did not begin with pepper. Didn’t notice much heat at all, as a matter of fact. We both pulled out some citrus in the mid-third, too. Sounds like you noticed more bitterness than I did at the end. To me, it was a little like bittersweet cocoa, but with the bitter turned up and the sweet down. Wasn’t too offensive, but I did put it down sooner than I wanted. Really enjoyed it, though!

[Capn_Jackson]

2 hours ago, JoeyBones777 said:

It is hard to justify the price for most of Selected Tobacco cigars. They are decent but for $900+ for a box there are plenty other NC that are better. I'd rather grab a cab of 50 Warped Cloud Hopper, a box of Illusione Epernay and a bundle of N6 for the same price as a box of Atabey. I know I can enjoy them fresh and they seemingly get better with age. Even if Atabey were great, 100 very good to great cigars with variety in flavor profile and smoke time or 25 great cigars same flavor profile and smoke time is an easy decision to make for me.

Have to agree with you, especially on Epernay and N6! The Atabey was good but the cost, to me, is not justifiable.

[hawkeye5050]

18 hours ago, JoeyBones777 said:

It is hard to justify the price for most of Selected Tobacco cigars. 

Have you tried Bandolero? They are lower priced than all other ST products but still excellent.

[JoeyBones777]

2 hours ago, hawkeye5050 said:

Have you tried Bandolero? They are lower priced than all other ST products but still excellent.

That is why I said "most" and not all. I'm aware of Bandolero but haven't tried them yet. I'll have to check them out.