Papas Fritas (FFSDec24)

[eaglebear29]

Papas Fritas by Drew Estate (115x44)

Cold draw and smell: sweet cola

Initial light up: sweet cola 

First third slow roasted tobacco with the main tone being sweet cola. 

2nd third has gotten darker with a little bit of coffee note turning into chocolate. Darker yet getting creamier with cola still being the main tone sticking out.

Ash just fell after going into the second third a little can’t really see with the camera shit but it was toothy. These have been in the humidor for a 18 months.

Last third is interchanging from coffee and cocoa with cola being at the forefront. Hints of sweet chocolate mousse has popped up. 

Not as nub worthy as my CCs but still good will still smoke the rest in the pipe. 

Smoke time 1h 30m

65%RH

91/100

[garbandz]

 Hints of sweet chocolate moose have popped up. Love me some chocolate moose.

[KCCubano]

Great review! There are big Moose up in Alaska but never heard of anyone eating chocolate covered moose meat! How are the Papas Fritas at 18 mo compared to a fresh stick? 

[mikejh]

Had the Nasty Fritas recently, unique savory flavors, would like to see how they age, will definitely get some more.

[eaglebear29]

5 hours ago, garbandz said:

 Hints of sweet chocolate mousse has popped up. Love me some chocolate mousse.

Yeah I’m hoping as these mellow out more they only get better, and would love it if that’s more at the forefront flavor wise. They’ve only gotten better and sweeter with less harshness.

4 hours ago, KCCubano said:

Great review! There are big Moose up in Alaska but never heard of anyone eating chocolate covered moose meat! How are the Papas Fritas at 18 mo compared to a fresh stick? 

Haha thank you. They’ve gotten better since I first got them as I moved to CC’s a little over a year ago the NW’s were changing more on my pallet being a little more harsh. 

The harshness around the edges has mellowed out and they’ve gotten more flavor and I smoke them really slow too. Especially on the final 3rd, if these continue to get better I’d definitely get some boxes of 25 to get that chocolate moose flavor. Great price too for a nice short smoke. I’ll continue revisit every 3-6months.

I can see these being 93-94 if they improve more or who know maybe even a 95-96.

4 hours ago, mikejh said:

Had the Nasty Fritas recently, unique savory flavors, would like to see how they age, will definitely get some more.

Yeah it really is unique and savory. Definitely one of my favorite go to sticks when I started all of this. Still have a ton resting. Revisited that one 6 months ago and it’s only gotten better. Mellowed out adding more flavor. Will try again soon. Highly recommend getting a box and letting it take a long nap. 

[VeguerosMAN]

Sweet cola sounds awesome.

[eaglebear29]

7 hours ago, VeguerosMAN said:

Sweet cola sounds awesome.

It really is. I’ve paired it with cola as well and it’s phenomenal. Though to make sure it wasn’t the drink, the first few and the last few I’ve had I didn’t pair it with anything.

Great sticks.

[Li Bai]

We talked about Liga Privada cigars in another thread a couple weeks ago, I thought I'd share for those who don't know (I would want to know):

 

"I've been working on the distribution process in France for some reason and funnily enough, I've found out something about that a few days ago.

 

Distributors here have to ask the manufacturer to disclose what's used for making its cigars and then disclose the list themselves to the ANSES ( Agence Nationale de la Securité Sanitaire which would translate to Sanitary safety national agency) before being able to sell them to tabacs (our B&Ms) and look what I found:

Logista (which is Drew Estate's distributor for France) did state that "mineral oil" is found in the three Liga Privada N°09 sold in France (as an "humectant"). You can also see that in the Bauhaus Line it's said to be used as a "renforçateur d'arômes et/ou du goût" (flavour and/or taste enhancer) along with....white vinegar 🧐 "

Papas Fritas aren't listed because they're not available in France but it's reasonable to assume they do use the same mineral oil on those, fwiw.

[CaptainQuintero]

4 hours ago, Li Bai said:

We talked about Liga Privada cigars in another thread a couple weeks ago, I thought I'd share for those who don't know (I would want to know):

 

"I've been working on the distribution process in France for some reason and funnily enough, I've found out something about that a few days ago.

 

Distributors here have to ask the manufacturer to disclose what's used for making its cigars and then disclose the list themselves to the ANSES ( Agence Nationale de la Securité Sanitaire which would translate to Sanitary safety national agency) before being able to sell them to tabacs (our B&Ms) and look what I found:

Logista (which is Drew Estate's distributor for France) did state that "mineral oil" is found in the three Liga Privada N°09 sold in France (as an "humectant"). You can also see that in the Bauhaus Line it's said to be used as a "renforçateur d'arômes et/ou du goût" (flavour and/or taste enhancer) along with....white vinegar 🧐 "

Papas Fritas aren't listed because they're not available in France but it's reasonable to assume they do use the same mineral oil on those, fwiw.

 I think it's not a huge surprise but I'd assumed it was more the traditional natural additives used (Betume?) etc in their products, but it's a bit of a shock so see mineral oil etc

[Li Bai]

5 minutes ago, CaptainQuintero said:

 I think it's not a huge surprise but I'd assumed it was more the traditional natural additives used (Betume?) etc in their products, but it's a bit of a shock so see mineral oil etc

I've had their Flying Pig a few years ago and quite enjoyed it but something seemed odd, now I know why 🧐

I'm a bit annoyed by that mineral oil but I must say the white vinegar used for the Bauhaus Line will make me question every DE cigar I come across in the future 😅

[VeguerosMAN]

I have always heard stalk-cut con. wrappers are naturally oily.  You could see the oils forming on the wrapper when you are smoking a liga.

[VeguerosMAN]

6 hours ago, Li Bai said:

We talked about Liga Privada cigars in another thread a couple weeks ago, I thought I'd share for those who don't know (I would want to know):

 

"I've been working on the distribution process in France for some reason and funnily enough, I've found out something about that a few days ago.

 

Distributors here have to ask the manufacturer to disclose what's used for making its cigars and then disclose the list themselves to the ANSES ( Agence Nationale de la Securité Sanitaire which would translate to Sanitary safety national agency) before being able to sell them to tabacs (our B&Ms) and look what I found:

Logista (which is Drew Estate's distributor for France) did state that "mineral oil" is found in the three Liga Privada N°09 sold in France (as an "humectant"). You can also see that in the Bauhaus Line it's said to be used as a "renforçateur d'arômes et/ou du goût" (flavour and/or taste enhancer) along with....white vinegar 🧐 "

Papas Fritas aren't listed because they're not available in France but it's reasonable to assume they do use the same mineral oil on those, fwiw.

Is it possible that "mineral oil" could come from the soil?  Who knows, perhaps other cigar companies use "flavor enhancers", like the Single/scotch industry with artificial colorings.  It would be interesting to see what they would find in other cigar companies' ingredients to see whether DE is the only one that's guilty of tempering the flavor. 

[Li Bai]

7 minutes ago, VeguerosMAN said:

Is it possible that "mineral oil" could come from the soil?  Who knows, perhaps other cigar companies use "flavor enhancers", like the Single/scotch industry with artificial colorings.  It would be interesting to see what they would find in other cigar companies' ingredients to see whether DE is the only one that's guilty of tempering the flavor. 

If it came from the soil they wouldn't have to disclose it. Here is the original sheet from l'ANSES if you want to have a look:

Composition_FR_Tabac.xlsx

Unfortunately lots of NCs are not distributed in France, I haven't found another case in the sheet but feel free to share if you find one 👍

For the record, this list states what the distributors have disclosed about their cigars (they can't be sold otherwise), not what the ANSES have found in their own analysis, there's another list for that but it's been unavailable for a while now...

[eaglebear29]

It definitely makes me more skeptical now. I was busy yesterday but went down a little rabbit hole. I found Steve Saka explaining it online 11 years ago, when he was head. It’s quite the read and goes into a couple pages. Makes me wonder if they changed things when he parted ways to DT&T. He’s addressing many questions here for how they at least used to be.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cigars/s/eskmUsH4BM

https://www.reddit.com/r/cigars/s/DgD7rvWpvB

[smokeyjoe01]

This review gives me hope (thank you!) that I might enjoy the Papa Freitas tin of 5 that I haven’t reached for yet.

[Li Bai]

6 hours ago, eaglebear29 said:

It definitely makes me more skeptical now. I was busy yesterday but went down a little rabbit hole. I found Steve Saka explaining it online 11 years ago, when he was head. It’s quite the read and goes into a couple pages. Makes me wonder if they changed things when he parted ways to DT&T. He’s addressing many questions here for how they at least used to be.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cigars/s/eskmUsH4BM

https://www.reddit.com/r/cigars/s/DgD7rvWpvB

I can't access reddit but @Cigar Surgeon posted a response Steve Saka gave some 12 years ago in the other thread, can someone send screenshots of those reddit threads ?

[eaglebear29]

13 hours ago, Li Bai said:

I can't access reddit but @Cigar Surgeon posted a response Steve Saka gave some 12 years ago in the other thread, can someone send screenshots of those reddit threads ?

Yeah send me the link to the other thread you guys are talking about with @Cigar Surgeon is it the same one or similar? 

[Li Bai]

Thanks a lot @eaglebear29 , it is the answer @Cigar Surgeon posted in the other topic. My English is still a bit weak but it seems Mr Saka doesn't actually deny using mineral oil.

I'm not here to kill the fun btw, I just wanted to share because at the end of the day mineral oil comes from oil (or charcoal) and I personally don't want any of that near my cigars 🧐

[KCCubano]

9 hours ago, Li Bai said:

Thanks a lot @eaglebear29 , it is the answer @Cigar Surgeon posted in the other topic. My English is still a bit weak but it seems Mr Saka doesn't actually deny using mineral oil.

I'm not here to kill the fun btw, I just wanted to share because at the end of the day mineral oil comes from oil (or charcoal) and I personally don't want any of that near my cigars 🧐

I would not want to inhale mineral oil into the lungs. That's reserved for other forms of entertainment!

[Cigar Surgeon]

5 hours ago, eaglebear29 said:

Yeah send me the link to the other thread you guys are talking about with @Cigar Surgeon is it the same one or similar? 

That's the one!

On 12/23/2024 at 5:55 AM, VeguerosMAN said:

Is it possible that "mineral oil" could come from the soil?  Who knows, perhaps other cigar companies use "flavor enhancers", like the Single/scotch industry with artificial colorings.  It would be interesting to see what they would find in other cigar companies' ingredients to see whether DE is the only one that's guilty of tempering the flavor. 

There was another brand in the spreadsheet @Li Bai shared that listed mineral oil as well.  The official explanation in the disclosure is a humectant which is intended to maintain moisture levels. If it was in the soil I don't believe you would have to disclose it but I'm not an import surgeon.

[Li Bai]

3 hours ago, Cigar Surgeon said:

There was another brand in the spreadsheet @Li Bai shared that listed mineral oil as well.

Nice catch, do you remember which one? It's the Toscano Ambasciatore iirc but I'm not quite sure 🤔

[Cigar Surgeon]

3 hours ago, Li Bai said:

Nice catch, do you remember which one? It's the Toscano Ambasciatore iirc but I'm not quite sure 🤔

Apparently I'm imagining things. I reduced the rows to cigars only and can't find another brand example from the list that has anything other than tobacco and the cellophane ingredients.

[JohnnyO]

NC cigars for years have used mineral oil. Saka can say its for this or that. The reality is it makes the cigar look darker/oilier and possibly give a more "aged" look. You can turn a natural wrapper into a maduro in seconds. Also the cooking or "sweating" has similar effects. That is just an accelerated form in the fermentation process. John