MARCH Tasting Cigar Results...Post here.

[El Presidente]

I will start off this month as I enjoyed the cigar while sitting on the deck with Lisa and Smithy yesterday afteroon.

Colorado coloured Churchill. Minimal veins and very firm to the touch. Smithy pulled this one aside from the batch we sent out for tasters as there were concerns that in may have been plugged.

At cold, the cigar exhibited a sweet herbal aroma. It certainly had charachter.

Cuban cut the end and while the initial draw was tightish, a small massage along the length of the stick opened it up nicely.

Upon lighting it settled into stride almost immediately and immediately I commented to Smithy a flavour I had not had for many many years.

"Smithy, remember when we were kids and we use to mix sugar in our cold milk when we came home from school?....well this cigar tastes exactly like that."

Superb. Milk, cream and sugar dominated he first two thirds of the cigar. Not just wafting notes of flavour, but rather definitive...couldn't be mistaken for anything else...flavour.

Tthe draw ended up being perfect as was the burn. Body of the cigar was light to medium slowly building but as it built the flavours diminished. The last quarter to one third became a little tatty and confused which means that it could use longer away in the humidor...but what an opening 2/3rds.

If the opening 2/3rds continued I would have given the cigar a 95. As it is I will give it a 90.

Once the other reviewers have posted, I will let you know what it was ;-)

[Havana Joe]

Gee Prez: After reading your review, I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what this smoke is. I can't wait to read how other people review this smoke ....

[tey]

yes do tell

[Colt45]

I'm afraid I'll have to disqualify my result - here's my tale:

This was a nice looking churchill. Though it was slightly shorter than 7", and

seemed a bit thinner, I think it would be considered normal variation.

A nice, creamy coffee colored wrapper, smooth, light veining, and a light sheen.

The draw started out tight, and unfortunately grew worse. I used a skewer, but

to no avail. This had caused the wrapper to crack a bit, which compounded the

problem.

I was about to give up, but decided to operate - I cut about an inch and a half

off the head with my sak scissors (these things are sharp! a straight, clean cut)

This helped the draw, but now I was dealing with the unravelling wrapper.

I was able to smoke it another inch or so, but by this time I'd worked it a bit too

hard, and ended up having to ditch it.

It seemed to have some real flavor to offer. What I did get was sense of mince,

though not deep or heavy. There was some nice, light spice on the lips. Again,

my initial impression was that this was going to be a good one. I'm looking

forward to reading everyone's reviews, and finding out what this was.

Much thanks to the Czar Crew !!

[cybermadhatter]

Thank you ROB & LISA for the mystery smoke!

Smoked it in my apartment in Queens, N.Y., late on Thursday night.

Windows open.

watching TV drinking a Dogfish Ale India Brown Ale.

Prelight:

A lonsdale of chocolate brown color, with a slight box press.

Rolled nicely.

Not a strong smell.

It clipped perfectly.

Upon lighting I was met with pungent sidestream smoke

The flavor started out tangy, with grassy and vegetal elements.

It became less pronounced as it smoked.

The draw was medium, and it could have been a little looser.

It burned well with light grey ash.

The predominant flavor was sweetness with cashew undertones.

Towards the end, part of the head started to unravel.

Overall, it exhibited dark sweet flavors of cocoa beans, with a hint of coffee, and a sweet woody character, coupled with a solid core of Earthiness.

I do believe I KNOW what this cigar is.

Should I post a guess or wait for others to post their review???

OKAY, my Guess: A Partagas 8-9-8 Unvarnish

Thanks,.......

STEVEN

»

»

» This was a nice looking churchill. Though it was slightly shorter than 7",

» and

» seemed a bit thinner, I think it would be considered normal variation.

» A nice, creamy coffee colored wrapper, smooth, light veining, and a light

» sheen.

»

» The draw started out tight, and unfortunately grew worse. I used a skewer,

» but

» to no avail. ......

»

» Much thanks to the Czar Crew !!

[Ken Gargett]

» I'm afraid I'll have to disqualify my result - here's my tale:

»

» This was a nice looking churchill. Though it was slightly shorter than 7",

» and

» seemed a bit thinner, I think it would be considered normal variation.

» A nice, creamy coffee colored wrapper, smooth, light veining, and a light

» sheen.

»

» The draw started out tight, and unfortunately grew worse. I used a skewer,

» but

» to no avail. This had caused the wrapper to crack a bit, which compounded

» the

» problem.

»

» I was about to give up, but decided to operate - I cut about an inch and a

» half

» off the head with my sak scissors (these things are sharp! a straight,

» clean cut)

» This helped the draw, but now I was dealing with the unravelling wrapper.

»

» I was able to smoke it another inch or so, but by this time I'd worked it

» a bit too

» hard, and ended up having to ditch it.

»

» It seemed to have some real flavor to offer. What I did get was sense of

» mince,

» though not deep or heavy. There was some nice, light spice on the lips.

» Again,

» my initial impression was that this was going to be a good one. I'm

» looking

» forward to reading everyone's reviews, and finding out what this was.

»

» Much thanks to the Czar Crew !!

sounds like rob is up to his old tricks and giving us all different cigars!

[habanablue]

I enjoyed this cigar on the back deck after the week from hell and damn enjoyed it.

Beautiful wrapper, not overly veiny and which cut smoothly. I have not had a cigar taste like this for a long time and made it all the more enjoyable, erasing the cares of the week.

Strong sweet flavour of nuts and coffee in the first instances that I could not get enough of. The draw and burn were perfect and only required a few touch ups wiht the lighter later in the piece.

Taste evolved towards the second half and I picked up stonger flavours of cinnamon/coffee.

A great smoke indeed that started the weekend off on the right note!

91

[pizzabob]

»

» If the opening 2/3rds continued I would have given the cigar a 95. As it

» is I will give it a 90.

»

» Once the other reviewers have posted, I will let you know what it was ;-)

Holly ****, I have not read ANY of the other reviews yet, but I want a box...NOW!

...side note Mr. Prez, those aged VR's got sampled last night :-P & what a great batch THAT was! thank you immensly, I will get a review up after the next one.

[Roy R. Frush]

» I will start off this month as I enjoyed the cigar while sitting on the

» deck with Lisa and Smithy yesterday afteroon.

»

»

» Colorado coloured Churchill. Minimal veins and very firm to the touch.

» Smithy pulled this one aside from the batch we sent out for tasters as

» there were concerns that in may have been plugged.

»

» At cold, the cigar exhibited a sweet herbal aroma. It certainly had

» charachter.

»

» Cuban cut the end and while the initial draw was tightish, a small massage

» along the length of the stick opened it up nicely.

»

» Upon lighting it settled into stride almost immediately and immediately I

» commented to Smithy a flavour I had not had for many many years.

»

» "Smithy, remember when we were kids and we use to mix sugar in our cold

» milk when we came home from school?....well this cigar tastes exactly like

» that."

»

» Superb. Milk, cream and sugar dominated he first two thirds of the cigar.

» Not just wafting notes of flavour, but rather definitive...couldn't be

» mistaken for anything else...flavour.

»

» Tthe draw ended up being perfect as was the burn. Body of the cigar was

» light to medium slowly building but as it built the flavours diminished.

» The last quarter to one third became a little tatty and confused which

» means that it could use longer away in the humidor...but what an opening

» 2/3rds.

»

» If the opening 2/3rds continued I would have given the cigar a 95. As it

» is I will give it a 90.

»

» Once the other reviewers have posted, I will let you know what it was ;-)

My experience was very similar to Rob's, albeit a little more specific.

I found this Julieta 2 to be expertly constructed, with a beautiful fine colorado wrapper. Pre-light, the draw felt spot on. Upon lighting, the milk, cream and sugar flavors were unmistakable. This was no ordinary milk, however. This was the flavor of the sort of milk only produced by a boutique dairy, such as Mappahonset Farms, in upstate New York. Dairies with more than fifty cows cannot produce such an elegantly flavored milk, which this cigar exhibited in spades. The cream flavor could be more precisely described as a fine mascarpone. And rather than sugar, the sweet notes were more like sucralose, also known as Splenda. Despite the sweetness, there were clearly far fewer calories in this flavor than in regular sugar. There was a wonderful background flavor of coffee, which developed from a nice decaf Colombian for the first third, to a regular dark roast for the middle third, to Javan in the final third. The last third became very out of balance, and I was not able to finish it. The cigar burned very straight until I put it down.

My guess: A young LGC Tainos.

[Ken Gargett]

now that the thread is back, i'll repost here (it really was missing - no twilight zone music - just ask lisa).

Reasonably attractive Churchill with a slightly veiny, dried appearance. Slight sandpapery feel - enough to reserve judgement. Seemed to have just a hint of box press to it. Felt good, construction seemed fine and when up and running, proved so. Good slow burn and a reasonably even one as will. So all good so far. There was a slight raggedness mid way but nothing to disturb things to any extent.

Opened with some very attractive floral and spice notes with a hint of earth and lots of creamy coffee character. Very enjoyable. Actually had it when dropped in to see Rob so he was enjoying me stumbling around trying to identify it. Had it with a PX sherry and that worked very well. About mid way through, started to detect a little bitterness and with a third to go, this had grown considerably. With about a 1/4 to go, it had got to the stage that I found the thing utterly unpleasant and I did not finish it. Great shame after such a promising start. If it started around a promising 92, by then end I found it so bitter and unpleasant that an overall score of 82 was the best I could do.

Think I have tried it once or twice before, and knowing how much Rob likes the producer concerned, it might be playing the man and not the ball but I’m going La Gloria Cubana Taino.

Later at home, I pulled out the bible (MRN) to see what he thought, assuming that was it (all this rather irrelevant if I am wrong). Fascinating stuff. He is a fan and also found the mild and floral characters but he talks of the huge concentration of congeners, the ‘ingredients’ for the long term development, noting it one of the heaviest he has ever encountered and warning that this is a 20 year proposition and not to be touched for at least five (granted he does seem to think it cigacide to touch any stick within the first five years). If I had any, certainly wouldn’t be doing that. I guess what I saw as a negative, he sees as crucial to its long term development. Must say curiosity has been raised and I would like to put a few away to see if that is so. I’d be worried that those bitter flavours may increase but I guess time will tell.

[smk819]

Colorado colored Churchill, very few veins and firn to the touch.

Xikar cut was very clean, and prelight draw was firm but not in anyway plugged. There was a rich tobacco taste.

Torch lit with the first few draws having no distinguishable taste. Then came a sweet sugary taste for the first third. I did not taste milk as others did, but sugary sweet. At the end of the first third my two pair of aces and fives lost to some donk who filled his inside straight on the river and the taste changed to coffee and cocoa.

This taste stayed for the middle third of the cigar and was positively scromtous. The last third of the cigar fell apart, but the cards treated me better when I won a rather large pot when my jack/nine suited filled to a jacks full of nines.

I agree if the whole cigar continued as the first 2/3s I would buy a bunch. One thing that I would have made the cigar more enjoyable would have been if the smoke volume was greater. It was not skimpy, but not voluminous. I would rate the cigar 87/100. Higher if the last third was anything like the first two thirds.

My totaly uninformed guess is a LGC Tainos.

Thanks again Rob and Lisa for the chance to participate.

[habanohal]

My turn now.

Today I thought it was gonna be warm and sunny, so pushed work back and went golfing with a longtime friend. My bad, 45 degrees and very windy. SO I wanted to get the fullest out of the cigar, so made it the first one of the day ( round).

A nice looking Churchhill with a light brown wrapper. By looking at the foot, it looked as a very tight rolled cigar. So clipped it and I was right for the prelight draw was almost not there. But still can taste some fruity qualities without lighting it.

I lit the bad boy up and immediate citrus taste. Not a whole bunch of smoke, but enough to get the flavor. Very strong, sweet fruity flavors. Almost the way that Fruity Pebbles Cereal tast like. It pretty much stayed with those flavors till half way when I could taste more of a tobacco flavor mixed with the citrus.

Tough draw thouh. The kind that makes your cheeks hurt. A very even burn, since I was on the golfcourse. Ash was a darker grey which didnt want to hold on for very long.

The sad part is with about 2.5 inches left of the cigar, I had to throw it out. It was getting hot to the point that it was burning the skin off the inside of my lip. SO couldnt risk the blastful whole in the lip so soon in the day, for skin was already starting to peel. ( ewwwwwww)

If to rate this cigar, would say 89 according to the CA scale. Tough draw and toward the end , it did seem to explode somewhat.

Tasted like a LGC profile which would lead me to say the Tainos.

If it is, Woohoo!!! I just recieved a box from Prez and I know what to look forward to. ( minus the tight draw)

Again I half to say thankyou to the Czar team for includeing me for the taste test! ;-) ;-)

[jaxstraww]

Where is reviewer number 8? Hurry up and post you bastard. Oh its me:-P I'll be back in a bit. Baseball is on.........:-D

[jaxstraww]

» Where is reviewer number 8? Hurry up and post you bastard. Oh its me:-P

» I'll be back in a bit. Baseball is on.........:-D

Here we go......

Tester: Jaxstraww

Wrapper Color:Brown

Construction: Fair

Draw: Perfect

Burn: Even

Smoke: Medium on burn/Heavy on exhale

Aroma: Faint

Ash Color: Dark Gray

Ash Structure: Solid

Strength: Medium

Comments: I’m a straightforward reviewer. Meaning I have never been able to pull out the nuances many seasoned reviewers can. I can however tell you in layman’s speak if it’s a good cigar or not. If it’s a pain in the ass to work with or a smoke that you can get lost in. Now on to the comments. There was a small hole at the cap on predraw. But after hearing of draw problems I was grateful that I was getting air from a small hole. I worked at a cigar shop and we would be able to smell the bundles of hand rolled to try and pull out aged cigars. The best way to describe is when you smell the foot of fifty cigars young’ens smell almost mossy while older cigars smell more earthy. This cigar was in between from what I could pick up. Not mossy but not that deep earthy tobacco smell. I’m hoping we have a late 04 to mid 05 cigar. I could be off from a mile but let’s hope not. Draw was perfect. Kept the cigar exposed at 65% in the cooler as soon as it arrived. Burn was razor sharp and like the review above it started to fall apart towards the final two inches. Ash held very tight at over an inch and maybe even more if I allowed it. I picked up a very woody taste to the cigar. For the size I expected to need a nap afterwards but did not. Not a mild cigar by any stretch but more on the medium to full in terms of bodiness. I can’t stress enough that I had no draw problems at all. I would ask the others that had draw problems how much time they let it rest and at what RH. I suspect many use the 70% rule. I would say if you purchase this cigar after we are told what it is that you keep it on the drier side.

Final Rating: 6.8 out of 10 (Would have been higher if it had held together at the end.)

Guess: San Cristobol El Morro

Rob & Lisa thank you for letting a rookie into the action. Much appreciated.

[Havana Joe]

Great Review, Buddy, but I wouldn't say that you are a rookie by any means...

[habanohal]

MIne are kept between 3 levels. %64-%67 RH at 65 degrees. Never thought of the San Cristobol. But those to me are a more deeper, earthty , chocolate flavor , with a bit of cherry.

[jaxstraww]

Rob what say you on the cigar??

[Hunter]

Great reviews guys. Unfortunately I won't be able to participate as planned. My wife and I were away this week and today, when I went to the post office, the postmaster informed me that a package had been returned. I wasn't expecting anything else and believe it was the tasty stick reviewed above. So, El Prez I apologize and take responsibility for the return. Mental note: when away from home ALLWAYS have the postmaster hold the mail. Damn it, I was looking forward to this!

[El Presidente]

Just waiting on one more but regardless I will diclose the cigar tomorrow :-D

[Jimmy2]

San Cristobol El Morro is the cigar i can guarantee it trust me ...

[jaxstraww]

» Just waiting on one more but regardless I will diclose the cigar tomorrow

» :-D

[El Presidente]

Well most nailed the flavours perfectly. The ragged last third was the disappointing note to an overall very enjoyable cigar. This surprised me somewhat given the cigar was from 2001. It definateley needed another 12-24 months to even out the back end.

If you are a sweet tooth, this is one cigar to put on your list. The flavour profile is consistent box to box.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to ....La Gloria Cubano Tainos JUN 2001

[smk819]

» Well most nailed the flavours perfectly. The ragged last third was the

» disappointing note to an overall very enjoyable cigar. This surprised me

» somewhat given the cigar was from 2001. It definateley needed

» another 12-24 months to even out the back end.

»

» If you are a sweet tooth, this is one cigar to put on your list. The

» flavour profile is consistent box to box.

»

» It is my pleasure to introduce you to ....La Gloria Cubano Tainos JUN

» 2001

First one I got right, I will admit to lucky guess. If the last third held up I would buy them all. The first 2/3rds were heaven

[dysfunctional]

Damm.... was a little late as my computer crashed at home so I could not post my testing.

Anyway the cigar was a churchill with a slight box press....Initial nose made me think of a SLR or RyJ Churchill.

Draw was a little firm but managable.

Initial flavour was a slittle peppery/spicy but that could have been remnants of my lunch ?? Was a little creamy in the beginning.

Burn was razor sharp..... detected herbal notes and a little nutty hint. Woody overall....whilst the flavours were there, they wern't overwhelming but subtle.... a complex cigar that i thought was a early LG Tainos.

Pity the last third was a little flat.......otherwise a great cigar.....

[jay8354]

March Mystery Cigar review

Firstly, I would like to thank all the people at Czar for the opportunity to partake in the Blind Tastings. Secondly, I would like to apologise for being late by a few hours on the review posting.

Anyway, onwards with the belated posting.

When I first got the cigar, there were writing on the bag, something akin to “Taster” but I am thinking they are tricking me and really mean “Tosser”.

Did I do something to offend either the El Prez or worst The First Lady!!! Unless, it was Smithy who wrote this and he was trying to scribble “Toaster”.

Anyhow, the cigar is of excellent quality, though slighty pressed (could be from box press or the fact my postman forced it into my mailbox) The cigar is around – length – 7 inches (just shy) and has a ring gauge of 47 (using a ring gauge diagram).

Having got the MRN book to check, I have to conclude that this is a Churchill (since not a lot of cigar conform to the measurements). I have a few ideas of what it might be but want to ensure what it is from the aroma and taste of the cigar.

Excellent aroma from initial inspection, no veins, tan wrapper. From the sniff of the foot, load of rich tobacco with light touches of cocoa.

Punched the cigar and pre-light draw was a little tight. Lit the cigar and on first draw was very creamy. For me it is almost like evaporated milk plus sugar or something like a tiramisu. This continued all to the way to the halfway point where it got stronger, more of an espresso and dark chocolate tones.

With 1/3 of the way, it was getting almighty powerful. So much so that I was getting a head spin from the bitterness. Had to let it go at that point on, which was a pity.

I really enjoyed the cigar upto the halfway point, though it was very very creamy. Almost like smoking liquid pure cream with lashings of honey. As it picked up, it was still very good, just did not enjoy the head spin from the bitterness in the last third.

Though reading that it was a 2001 LGC Tainos, I would think that it would need more than another 2 years before it finally settles out.

Once again, thank you CC for the opportunity and apologies for the late review.