February blind tasting: Post Here

[genevapics]

DATE: March 4 & 5, 2006

TIME: 10:30 pm (March 4th); 6:30 pm (March 5th)

LOCATION: Outside on the family deck

TEMPERATURE: 43 degrees and falling/slight wind

I received the Mystery Cigar back on Valentines Day and let it rest in the humidor for a few weeks. Upon inspection, I found the cigar to be a beautiful chestnut brown color. The wrapper was smooth and somewhat oily. Upon measurement, I determined that it was a 48 Ring and 5 1/2 inches in length.

PRE-DRAW:

After clipping the cigar, the draw was nice and easy. Unfortunately, I did not find any flavors coming through that would lend an indication of what this cigar had in store for me. I put a match to her and voila, we were off!

FIRST 1/3:

The first first thing I noticed was that this cigar did not provide me with copious amounts of smoke. As much as I tried, I just could not draw the volume of smoke that I thought I should from this size cigar. As far as taste... very little if any. Some tabacco and earth. After about 15 minutes of smoking and the temperature dropping, I decided to put the cigar down and come back to it on Sunday.

SECOND 1/3:

Day two and things appeared to have changed for the better, at least that is what I thought. After relighting the cigar, the first thing I noticed was the large volume of smoke I was able to draw into my mouth. The burn was razor straight. After 10 minutes or so, I had a nice ash hanging at the end of my cigar. Unfortunately, I still was not able to get much taste out of this cigar. What flavors I did find were the subtle hints of tabacco, some earthiness, but not much more. No hints of salty or sweet.

FINAL 1/3:

Cigar continued to burn evenly with plenty of smoke. As far as taste, I still was not able to detect much of anything. Again, there were subtle hints of tabacco and earth.

CONCLUSION:

This is a well constructed cigar; smooth and somewhat oily. It has a nice even burn that provides a nice ash. This cigar also provides you with nice mouthfuls of smoke. The taste profile is that of subtle hints of tabacco and earth. This profile remains constant throughout the cigar. It is not a strong cigar at all. If I were to rate its strength, I would say it is a 2/5. One final note: the aftertaste on this cigar was nominal; waking up the following morning and I had no idea I had smoked a cigar the night before.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend buying a box of these. I would however recommend picking up a few samples and trying them for yourself. While I will put this cigar on the bottom of my list, I will definitely pick up a 3-pack somewhere down the road and give it a second chance.

Construction: 25/25

Wrapper: 25/25

Draw: 20/25

Taste: 10/25

Total Score: 80/100

And the Mystery Cigar was... From what I can tell, there are only two cigars currently being produced in this size: the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial LE 2004 & the San Cristobal de la H. La Fuerza . Since I do not believe El Prez gave us Limited Editions, I am going to say this cigar is the La Fuerza.

[El Presidente]

It was a San Cristobal La Fuerza :-D

OK I had to check with Smithy as I have the shakes as I come off my Mojito Haze.

Some of you nailed the flavours down to a T. It is a ubiquitous cigar as it can be all Molasses and coffee or rather bland.

Box date was NOV 03.

Well done gentlemen

[waldo]

» It was a San Cristobal La Fuerza :-D

»

» OK I had to check with Smithy as I have the shakes as I come off my Mojito

» Haze.

»

» Some of you nailed the flavours down to a T. It is a ubiquitous cigar as

» it can be all Molasses and coffee or rather bland.

»

» Box date was NOV 03.

»

» Well done gentlemen

And I had to get the flat one.:-P

[josie67]

Well I know what I am ordering next ;-)

[genevapics]

Was the molasses taste/flavor really that pronounced? Not so much as far as sweetness, but just that taste. I have heard several folks here talk about honey and cream flavors in certain cigars. I have yet to run across anything that remotely comes close to that sort of taste.

My cigar was rather muted. Sad part about it was I was really looking forward to enjoying it and wanting to like it. I was really disapointed. Happy for the chance to review a cigar, mind you, but disapointed nevertheless.:-|

[Ginseng]

Well,

Looks like I'm bringing up the rear this time. I've slacked and the cold weather and recurrent sinus infections have not helped either. But I'm healthy and it was 75F today so tally-ho!

Prelight:

A beautiful rosado mahogany wrapper, silky and resilient. A few veins but totally in keeping with the powerful proportions of this cigar. Prelight was sort of barnyardy and moderate tobacco.

Lightup and Early Stage:

Lightup was uneventful. Initial aroma was dappled with pepperiness and tangy tobacco. Smoke volume was full and the draw was perfectly fine. Once the burn stabilized, I started to get more peppery notes and a rich earthy tobacco. Sweet wood was a predominant flavor in this cigar. The aroma was amazing light and floral, just completely unexpected based on the medium-full body of this cigar and the richness of the flavor. I just loved the aroma in the air...it was quite unique and entrancing. Burn wandered a bit but was generally not problematic.

Late Stage and Finish:

Great smoke volume and good draw remained consistent. Great sweet wood (I guess the guys were calling this molasses) overlaid on earthy tobacco was the rule. Toward the last 1/3, I started getting a strange savory flavor that I can only describe as "meaty" Sounds atrocious but was quite unusual and delicious. I was just enjoying this cigar a great deal. Again, a totally incongruent but wonderful, light, sweet aroma. The cigar stayed civilized until the last inch then became nuttier and a bit harsh. But wow, getting there was a blast.

Conclusion:

What a fantastic cigar. There is no way this could be mistaken for any other marca, the flavors are just that distinctive. I can see now why some say SCdLH is a love em or hate em marca. In my book, this is most definitely a "love em"

Thanks to Rob for letting me experience this cigar. Of course you must have known that once I'd tried this, I'd have to put a box up. Bastard. :-D ;-)

Lastly, please accept my apologies for the tardiness of this review.

Wilkey