2025 FOH International Blind Tasting Competition Review Thread.

[chasy]

I really didn't like Cigar 1 - hoping it wasn't a RASS as I'm aging several boxes.

[Shakey]

20 hours ago, mwaller said:

Oh the audacity....😂

I'll post all my tasting notes later, but the two funny things I've written down during tasting are: 

1. "I hate it. I don't think it's a Monte Open but I'm considering guessing Monte Open to register exactly how much I dislike it." 

2. "Hamlet was right, all these tasting notes are BS, there is only mild, medium, and full. I'm buying a lifetime supply of JL #2s and calling it a day." 

[chasy]

Cuba should just sell one cigar with different bands. No one would know and there would much higher margin.

[BlueWS]

Just smoked, well tried to smoke Cigar #1. What a disgusting mess. Is that a Jan 2025 box date!? OMG that was one of the worst cigars I've ever had in my life. THANKS ROB! GREAT CONTEST!!🤣 Is this what they mean from Farm to Table? I might have to try and figure these out through other means. Holy shit that was one gross ammonia 💣. I knew it as soon as I lit it too. My sweaty feet smell better than that cigar! I could tell it was a Cuban though: poorly constructed, full of stems, and a flavorless wrapper except for the ammonia! If I get hospitalized over this do I get a refund!?!? I have a bad feeling about cigars 2,3,& 4. I'm going to give Lisa those days off. I'm not even going to email my submissions. 😁

[wjs]

Must have been a bad day for #1 as I really struggled with it as well. Heavily restricted draw, low smoke output - had to work hard to keep it lit. Only one way to go from here.

[Wlu1988]

I started in sequence with cigar number 1. As others have said, my first thought was the interesting box pressed shape with a slightly tight draw.

Cold draw has some bitter tannin quality with some notes of dried fruits (maybe apricots). Experienced some white pepper spice and continued bitterness as I finished up the first third. Lovely light grey ash with a wavy effect to the eye remains in tact after a quick but meticulous touch up to the burn. No other burn issues were noted after this one touch up. 

Second third picks up a considerable amount of strength and tight draw is no longer an issue (maybe due to adjustment of expectations or smoking pace). Started to get some bitter espresso / cocoa nibs elements coming through as the ample smoke rests chalky on the tongue and teeth. 

Had an especially good retrohale at the half way point but the associated tasting note left my mind as quick as it came in - this was when wife and kids started throwing the frisbee in the backyard which was a welcome distraction to the welcome distraction of smoking a cigar. this thing is picking up strength and I find myself swishing some ice water to keep the palate fresh. With the guessing element, this felt like a bit of a homework assignment during this smoke, but I am honing in between my two top guesses. 

Final third burned hot but retained the increased medium to full strength that started creeping in at the half way point. The last third burned pretty hot but still enjoyable.

I think I have this one nailed, maybe a 50/50 shot… who am I kidding, I’m way off… this is FUN!

Looking forward to cigars 2-5 with a lot more sprinkled in between for “Research” purposes.

Cheers to all.

[Bijan]

My notes on cigar #1:

Leather, pepper, fruit leather, fruit apple, tobacco, smoke/ash

More fruit towards the end, but still tobacco smoky

I think I know what it is, we'll see...

[LordAnubis]

I love the contrasts of reviews. One says best cigar ever. One says worse than sweaty feet 😂 I’ve got one last cigar to smoke. I think 5 will be hardest of the lot. 

[Duxnutz]

Cigar 1:

I agree with Mus, definitely a wooden dowel from a hardware store. Maybe one that’s rolled around on a tray at the bottom of a tool box. She’s dark, vein-y and not much to look at. 
Not much on the cold draw, time for something to poke at it with. 

First third: Not much. Muted. 

Second third: Smell off the foot is pleasant. Grab another implement to attack the head of the cigar. Little more flavor now, possibly vegetal, maybe cedar, maybe a hint of fruit? Maybe I just am imagining things. 

Last third:

Went to get warmer clothes. It’s Memorial weekend and I’m shivering. Weird weather. My blunt force trauma has done a number on the wrapper but I’ve talked myself down a path of what I think it is. In reality it could be anything. I hope it’s not a Cohiba. 

Draw has opened up a bit and body with it. It could really be anything.

[BlueWS]

Cigar #2 was worlds apart from Cigar #1!

[LordAnubis]

Last one. 
 

Number 5 is not giving me much at all. Just tobacco flavours. Mine is clearly longer and thinner than the previous 4 leadin me to guess hermoso 4 vitola. Has decent box press which leads me away from Connie 1. Nothing wrong with the cigar just gave me nothing but a decent uneventful smoke. 

I’ll be the first to post my guesses so here they are. I’m as sure as a Bitcoin bro promoting the new shitcoin that has just 20x-ed. 
 

Cigar 1 - Partagas D4

Cigar 2 - Bolivar RC

Cigar 3 - Hoyo Epicure 2

Cigar 4 - RyJ wide churchill

Cigar 5 - SLR Regios

Of all the cigars I like the first half of cigar 2 the best. And found myself liking the second half of cigar 3 quite a bit. Cigar 4 was least favourite with the exception of the wooden dowel that was cigar 1. 

Anyway. Look forward to getting them all wrong. My Allah be with you all 👍🏽

[Bijan]

1 hour ago, LordAnubis said:

Anyway. Look forward to getting them all wrong. My Allah be with you all 👍🏽

I've only smoked 1 and 2 so far, but I feel safe saying you've got them all wrong. 😋 

I'll try to follow your example though and post my guesses once I've smoked them all.

[Superhans]

Cigar 3:

Rough looking stick. Absolute wind tunnel.

1/3 Light. Citrus on the tip of the tongue. Faintest touch of spice. Not my favourite so far. 

2/3 No change from the first third. Awful taste, awful burn.

3/3 Ever so slight improvement in taste but not enough to stop me ditching it with an inch and a half to go. Had I not been reviewing it would have been a lot sooner.

Verdict - dud.

Cigars 1 and 2 were solid 9/10 smokes. Cigar 3 not for me. Maybe a Epi 2 as light in body but I've always enjoyed those hoyos and this I did not. Perhaps a Short Churchill but it's not a cigar I can ever recall trying.

[Bendover]

Having smoked all five cigars I am inclined to lean towards RyJ in terms of flavour profile for cigar 1. 

Look forward to the results! 

[Boxer31]

Smoked #1 yesterday afternoon. Tried not to read any reviews but too late for that. Not the prettiest cigar, not a lot of oil on wrapper. After smelling aroma for a bit, it’s familiar so I already start thinking I know. A little lighter in color than I like in this line - maybe it might be bitter. Decide to take it slow, no rush.  Start off with sweet tobacco, some cedar/wood and then the fruit sweetness- liken to raisins. I know what this is - prob means way off!  Did not really change much and that worked. Decent burn until past the last third wrapper split but it stayed consistent. Overall pretty enjoyable even though I thought was not going to be a fan due to lighter wrapper. 

I liked it better when we also had to guess if it was aged as well. At least we had a 50% chance of getting something correct!  Although think it ended up just allowing for more incorrect answers. 

[BlueWS]

Got to Cigar #3 today! It was nice up until the halfway point and then I had to chuck it. New rule for my 3rd year of smoking Cubans: I refuse to punish myself finishing cigars that aren't mature. I've smoked a lot of young Cuban cigars in the last three years and Cigar #3 started to show it's lack of age early. It seems unmistakable to me what Cigars 2 and 3 are. All 3 cigars smoked really well for me. There was a little bit of a sheen on the wrapper of Cigar 3 and I was enjoying it for a while until it started to go south. All 3 had good draws (mine have been resting for 5 weeks), but Cigar #2 was pretty loose. As Boxer said above, it would be fun to know the age and I hope that is declared in the results. I'd say Cigar #3 is just over a year old and It had just enough age for me to get the prominent note (something I was concerned about after Cigar #1). Cigar #1 was such an ammonia bomb and so off-putting I had to toss it. Kudos to you guys who've smoked these to the nub. I actually woke up sick in the middle of the night after Cigar #1. I'm interested to find out next week what that POS cigar is. If that's a RASS a field mouse must have shit in mine.

[Edicion]

Cigar #2

Paired with a sweet, iced milk coffee.

Cold draw: darker shade wrapper is almost pungent with Musty, bitter cedar, barnyard, earthy notes. Draw is easy and open.

First puffs: immediate twang like a sharp, fruity freshness followed by a spicy kick of pepper, and spices. Medium body.

1st third: rich and engaging. Alternates between Sweet, aromatic, peppery and that Twang and sour or bitter notes. Still medium bodied.

2nd third: adding some complexity with savory, buttery nuances and toasted maybe bready notes? Flavors keep rotating consistently between sweet, rich, bitter, and fruity notes (pepper almost gone) and that bready butter. Body remains medium, nothing less.

Final 3rd: flavors keep on going, blending and settling into a balanced medium aromatic profile. Spices still there but no pepper lingers.

Overall: a lovely cigar with a dual side of aroma and sweetness but also some sour or bitter notes. I call the fruity aspects twang which was a core note adding some freshness and complexity. Medium body mostly, nothing less than that.

I noticed that burning it hotter brought out richer flavors, but it also shortened the smoking time to around 60 minutes, much quicker than my usual 90+ minutes for a Robusto.

Very good pairing with that coffee.

Final score 91-92

Do I know what it is? no idea. But I don't think I have this one though. I will probably go and get the one I am thinking of it could be from a shop to compare.

[El Presidente]

Get your votes in for CIgar Number 1 by this Sunday 

[joeypots]

#1, hard as a rock and heavy but the draw is ok if a little tight. Flavor is good but this cigar is young and would certainly be better smoked in a year or so. I am not a robusto aficionado and smoke few fresh Cuban cigars so I will struggle with all five. I know enough to know that cigars are notoriously difficult to identify and this contest will humble most of us. 

[HuffnPuffff]

Cigar 2 was an absolutely cracker for me - super creamy and enjoyable. I loved it and think I know what it is.

Blind 1 & 2 have been superb for me - loved them both.




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[DaBoot]

Cigar #1, 

Not that bad. My notes are light cedar and leather. A great sweetness of sugar was forward on 1st third and 2nd third. This cigar screams bolivar all the way. Gunna say it was a BRC…Humbly.

 

[SUP8333]

Cigar #1 I hate it I'll never buy it 

[chasy]

1 hour ago, SUP8333 said:

Cigar #1 I hate it I'll never buy it 

Cigar #1 I hate it I probably own several boxes of it

[EMC12]

Cigar 1

Appearance:

Rustic, ugly even. Two tone wrapper. 

Slight box press.

1st third:

Good draw. Tons of smoke. 

No flavor thru one inch - none, air. 

I’m terrible at retro, but I give it a go and it brings just a little leather. 

Hint of sweet wood and then it’s gone.

2nd third:

Thankfully, it opens up

Sweet leather

Earth - sweet, musty

More sweet wood that lasts now

Nutty, creamy on the retro

Final third:

Musty earth

Leather

Woody retro - rich sweetness at edges

 

I’m glad I stuck with this, it turned into a pretty good stick and a flavor profile I enjoy. If I hadn’t been taking notes, I would have given up and done some yardwork. 

I’ll give it 86 overall, last half 88. 

[griller]

Smoked #1 this afternoon & I'm mixed on the experience. Paired it with unsweet tea. First off, the good:

--Perfect draw, was able to pull a nice amount of smoke

--Appearance was enticing with a medium dark brown wrapper, no cracks at the feet or other cosmetic imperfections

Now with the rest of the evaluation:

--1st third exhibited a lot of the same flavor profiles mentioned by other here. Sweet wood, some fruit, and mild to medium body. Easy retrohale but none of the flavors stood out as remarkable or distinctive. I'd go so far to call it bland, which isn't normally the case when I light up a Cuban Robusto.

--2nd third pretty much the same as previous but now I started to exhibit some youth. Some white pepper/spiciness crept in, too. Even with this negative (to me) change in flavor profile, I'd still say my overall impression is this is a young, bland cigar. Burn issues started to creep up, too. Required a few touch ups from my torch in order to ensure an even burn.

--Final third went south quickly. The youth took over & the flavors became more acrid. Over time, I've become less tolerant to "power thru" and finish a cigar if the flavors aren't there and I'm fighting issues related to draw, poor burn/construction, etc. So, after about 45 minutes I tossed it even though there were probably another 15 minutes that could have been smoked. 

--Overall: This one fell in the solidly "average" category for me. If this were the 1st cigar from a purchased box, I'd cuss myself a bit & bury it in my humidor for a few years with the hope that they will turn into something more memorable & complex. As far as what it is, the flavor profile isn't too familiar to me so I'll be guessing BRC or RASS but who knows LOL...