MAY Blind Tasting Cigar Revealed

[Fatshotbud]

» Rob & Lisa,

»

» I have to now eat my words, after checking my PO BOX on the way home there

» it was. Will look forward to smoking the little guy, the size of it will

» take me a month to smoke.

»

» Ross...

»

»

»

» » Ross.

» »

» » Lise sent them out. Just pop in mate ;-)

ONE???

Ok maybe a tad late again:-(

I will make it one of these days...............

BUD:-D

[connoiseur29]

Churchill size, milk chocolate wrapper, oily with traces of bloom. Supple to the touch. Not over filled. Woody/tobacco prelight aroma. Nice even burn to begin with. An orange peel opening taste.

The flavors slowly progressed from cedar to orange peel to cocoa with interspersed flavor packets of cedar. About a quarter of the way the orange peel took over and a cedar flavor made a guest appearance every few minutes. The draw was perfect, not too tight, not too loose. The burn progressed neatly and sharply until about the halfway point and then developed a small run that self corrected. The orange peel taste morphed to a sweet citrus character and the cocoa and cedar returned about ¾ of the way through. Sweet and sour flavors abounded, and it was quite tasty. The smoke was rich, but not too copious. The ash on this cigar would have never won the longest ash contest by any measure, but the taste was so sweet and tangy that ash or no ash, the quality was superb. A cool breeze was rushing around and the burn kept progressing razor sharp until I had another small run that self corrected a couple of minutes later. As I approached the ¾ mark, the sweet citrus and cocoa reverted to orange peel and then spicy orange peel and cocoa with a hint of tea, but not overly spicy. It was just enough to be pleasant. The cedar and the cocoa returned along with the orange peel at the end with just the slightest touch of cream. The cigar burned my fingers because there was no way in hell I was going to put it down until I was forced to. Even then, about an hour and forty five minutes later, all that was left was, a great deal of ash and a pleasant taste on my palate and a memorable smoke meant to be enjoyed by myself and hopefully any one else who either has these or will obtain these in the near future. My uneducated guess is a Bolivar Churchill. It was a classy smoke. I believe it belongs in the top ten. My score was

92-3. Age would make this a firecracker.

[El Presidente]

:love:

If Smithy sent out the wrong cigar...I am going to kill him. I don't think the monthly taster was mean't to be this good

[effinwill]

I love reading these blind tasting threads - not sure why. Keep up the good work gents!

[skid11]

One cigar doesn't make a review but here goes.................................

APPEARANCE & CONSTRUCTION

This Julieta size, ring gauge 47 was colarado in colour and slightly eneven to the touch it was very firm & tight towards the cap. large veins made it a bit ugly ( Woman may like them long firm and veiny but it's not the best trait in a cigar IMHO) The cap was well constructed as was the overall cigar. The unlit aroma a bit green and farm-yardish 11/15

FLAVOUR & SMOKING CHARACTERISTICS

Good burn* with volumes of smoke............. They way I like em! The lit aroma distinctly cuban and developed into a very flavoursome cigar. The first third had an expresso, leather earthy taste which improved as it got down into the second third with hints of spice. *The tight construction near the cap did prove to be a problem and several attempts to keep the damn thing alight spoilt the overall enjoyment. 44/50

OVERALL IMPRESSION

Like a said one cigar doesn't make a review and it's only logical that you'll get a dodgy cigar every now and then. Having said that this was a good cigar and enough complexicity to have me wanting to try another.

33/35

TOTAL 88/100

One that I haven't tried before and the medium flavour would have guessing at a Cohiba Esplendido ??

El Pres thanks for the oppurtunity to be included:-D . Being invovled in the review process really stops and makes you think about the cigar you are smoking:-D :-D

[connoiseur29]

The rest of the tasters seem to be taking a while and I'm getting that impatient twitch associated with smoking something really good and not knowing what it is.

Hurry up you blokes. Get your tastebuds together and let us know your expert opinions. Some of us are going through withdrawal, an extremely unpleasant feeling.

[argon345]

» The rest of the tasters seem to be taking a while and I'm getting that

» impatient twitch associated with smoking something really good and not

» knowing what it is.

»

» Hurry up you blokes. Get your tastebuds together and let us know your

» expert opinions. Some of us are going through withdrawal, an extremely

» unpleasant feeling.

I apologize, as I’m one of those slackers...I've had it resting in my humi for about a week now and will get to it either Sunday or Monday, I promise!!!

[Ginseng]

Nice reviews, gentlemen. I can't wait to hear what it turns out to be. :-D

Wilkey

[Havana Joe]

I'm on the edge of my seat as well.

[Roy R. Frush]

» Nice reviews, gentlemen. I can't wait to hear what it turns out to be. :-D

»

»

» Wilkey

I'll spare you a painful review and just give you my educated guess: '98 Punch Churchill!

[strayvector]

I finally had the chance to smoke this cigar, so here goes.

A good friend of mine stopped by this afternoon to smoke a cigar or two, but since neither of us had breakfast we decided to go have some dim sum prior to smoking. We had some awesome food and with our stomachs ready, we proceeded to our local smoke shop.

Appearance and construction:

This churchill was a mottled medium colorado brown with a beautiful silky sheen to it. The roundness of the cigar reveals the cigar to have come from a cabinet. There is moderate veining with a well done triple cap. Excellently constructed, it had a firm feel and no hard or soft spots.

The nose of the cigar gave a nice slight barnyard smell with a tinge of citrus aroma. Hard to explain, but it had a slight sour smell that was not at all unpleasant. The cap came off cleanly, exposing a nice little dimple. The prelight draw exposed a clean and firm draw and an earthy tone. Upon toasting the foot, a burnt toast with a slight coffee aroma emerged.

Smoking Notes:

Lighting the cigar was very quick with an even burn. The cigar had an excellent firm draw that produced a beautiful smoke with a nice bluish tint to it. My first draw revealed a very clean mild tobacco taste. As a matter of fact, for the first quarter of the cigar, all I could taste was the very clean tobacco taste. It was very smooth and balanced, but lacked any flavor nuances. Some would say that it was boring, but to me the clean and smooth flavor was very pleasing.

A quarter of the way down, the cigar developed a slight earthiness to it with subtle anise undertones. It continued to be a light bodied smoke with little strength to it. Exhaling through the nose produced no discomfort or burn of the nasal passages and highlighted the anise undertone of the cigar. About halfway through the burn became a little uneven and required a slight correction with the torch. Also, more flavors developed, but in a very subtle way. The anise undertone morphed towards cinnamon and the earthiness gave way to a dry woody tone. These flavors stayed for quite a while until about an inch and half to the finish.

At the halfway point the cigar became markedly stronger, developing into a medium bodied smoke. A very pleasant flavor that I can only describe as stewed spinach developed and the dry wood tone gave way to wet hay and leather notes. I suspect that this had a lot to do with the build up of humidity as the cigar progressed. At the one inch mark, the cigar gave a very slight spiciness that culminated in that tingly sensation to the lips. The ending of the cigar was very pleasant and I enjoyed the ending so much that I smoked it to the point where I could no longer hold it without burning my fingers.

Asessment:

Overall the burn of the cigar was good, requiring two touchups to correct some unevenness. The flavors were enjoyable, but very subtle. To some this cigar may be too boring, but for me the subtlety and balance of the cigar was very enjoyable. It is definitely a not "in-your-face" cigar. The cigar was very smooth all the way down to the nub, never developing any bitterness. The faults that I find in this cigar are that the flavors took too long to develop and the finish was very short. Overall, I would give this cigar a 90. I'm not sure how old this cigar was, but perhaps it had mellowed out too much.

Difficult to guess what this smoke was because it reminded me a lot of the lightness and subtlety of a Hoyo de Monterey Churchill, but it developed into the finish of a good Punch Punch. Left to my own device, I would have guessed Hoyo de Monterey Churchill. Elliot has made a guess that it is an aged Punch Churchill, but since I've never smoke one, I can't confirm his guess. The cigar did not have the strength or bite of other Punch vitolas that I've tried; however, with the Punch Punch flavors at the end, Elliot could very well be right with his guess and the age of the cigar was responsible for mellowing the strength.

Thanks for letting me participate, Rob. I look forward to next one.

[Ken Gargett]

Bloody hell! What he said!

Impressive review.

Must say I swayed between a mature Punch or a mature Hoyo Churchill and finally bent the way of the former. I must confess to an impending senior’s moment - if I don’t confess, Rob will no doubt dob. Smoked this at the humidor on the way to the big game. When Rob handed it to me, my first thought was DC, though granted an undersized one (much like Rob’s fish). I had, in my haste to head up to Brizzy grabbed what I intended to be a SLR DC but was not looking and picked up the SLR Churchill instead. So when I put it down next to the mystery cigar, my pea-sized brain went all DC. I just assumed that Rob was giving us all different sized cigars again.

Anyway, the fact that Rob was pouring pinot down my throat as fast as he could, despite his alleged aversion to it, meant that the notes were, shall we say, not in the exemplary form that I would like to think of as my usual standard. In fact, it was all up top.

Good construction with an attractive mid brown silky wrapper. Burnt slowly and well throughout. Flavours were subtle and mild and this was one very easy cigar to smoke. Couple of recent experiences are swinging me more and more to the aged side of preference. Good dense smoke, a little spice, mild leather overtones, persistent flavours. I think this is just about the best of all the mysteries cigars rob has offered. I have had a few Punch Churchills before and the similarities eventually took me away from the Hoyo. Top smoke. 90-91.

[argon345]

Wow, now that will be a tough review to follow!!!

Now I know I promised a review by Monday and well now its Thursday but I wanted to give my palette a few days to recover from a party I had over the holiday weekend where I smoked a good 10-15 cigars...So now all excuses aside here goes...

Prelight construction:

Length and gauge suggest a Churchill with a medium brown veiny wrapper that is spongy to the touch. Over all nice and round with a perfect triple cap. Smell is of tobacco and coca (I agree with the farmy like smell given in previous notes)

Inital light:

Cap was cut easy revealing a nice clean smoking surface!!! Initial light revealed a smooth tobacco flavor with a bit of a woody/grassy flavor.

Smoking notes:

The initial flavor gave way to firm woody/grassy flavor with hints of citrus and perhaps even a bit of a cocoa. The burn was flawless needing no corrections from start to finish. The ash held firm for at least two inches at which point I had to get up and avoid a caterpillar repelling down from the tree above. About half way down the citrus flavor became more persistent and continued until about 3/4 at which point a more earthy tobacco combined with wood/grass flavor took over (and perhaps a bit more cocoa). This continued on until the end.

All in all this was a fantastic smoke with a beautifully smooth draw and ample aromatic smoke!! I will have to give this smoke at least a 90-92. Now if I had to guess what it is I might say a Quai d'Orsay Imperiales due to its smoothness but from the woody flavor I would have to go with a RyJ Churchill. This is a bit off from any previous guesses but I have not had the pleasure to try a Punch or Hoyo Churchill....

Thanks Rob for a chance to be a part of this and I do apologize for taking my sweet arse time on this!!!

Cheers!!!

[Guest boss hogg]

I just received mine and will give it a couple of days to stabilize from the 12,000 mile voyage from Australia.

[El Presidente]

;-) » I just received mine and will give it a couple of days to stabilize from

» the 12,000 mile voyage from Australia.

Come on BOSS....post your review and I will reveal the cigar tomorrow

[connoiseur29]

drum roll please.......................

[Guest boss hogg]

sorry, Prez, been feverishly preparing for a trip and hope to carve out some time this afternoon to torch it.

Don't let my delay delay your unveiling of the cigar. I will still submit a brutally honest review whatever it is!!!!

[Well Armed]

» ;-) » I just received mine and will give it a couple of days to stabilize

» from

» » the 12,000 mile voyage from Australia.

»

» Come on BOSS....post your review and I will reveal the cigar tomorrow

Tell us what it was and Boss can post his review without reading all the way down to the bottom....can you tell I am impatient?

[Roy R. Frush]

» Tell us what it was and Boss can post his review without reading all the

» way down to the bottom....can you tell I am impatient?

You need not wait for El Prez, as I've already posted the identity. The oracle has spoken...

[shrink]

You need not wait for El Prez, as I've already posted the identity. The oracle has spoken...

Or the smart ass hath broken wind... I don't know how you found out. You obviously cheated. I still don't believe it. Didn't taste anything like a Punch to me.

[strayvector]

» You need not wait for El Prez, as I've already posted the identity. The

» oracle has spoken...

»

» Or the smart ass hath broken wind... I don't know how you found out. You

» obviously cheated. I still don't believe it. Didn't taste anything like a

» Punch to me.

Elliot's a good detective. Incidentally though, the prez revealed the mistery cigar a few days ago on another forum. Shows where his priorities are.:-D Good post though, prez.

edited for grammatical error and insert smiley

[connoiseur29]

no complaints here. the cigar tasted so good. 98 was a good year.

[Roy R. Frush]

» You need not wait for El Prez, as I've already posted the identity. The

» oracle has spoken...

»

» Or the smart ass hath broken wind... I don't know how you found out. You

» obviously cheated. I still don't believe it. Didn't taste anything like a

» Punch to me.

Bob,

Several points:

1. I am indeed a smart ass.

2. I did break wind.

3. Of course you couldn't know how I identified the cigar correctly.

4. It wasn't exactly cheating, but I did have some inside information. On a recent overnight trip to Brisbane, Rob and I sat down over lunch and a cigar. After his ninth martini, he slipped up and revealed the May tasting subject to me. (There were some other shocking things he revealed, but I will not discuss them here...)

5. I believe you that you don't believe it.

6. The reason your specimen didn't taste like a Punch was because during that same visit to Czar, I paid Smithy to substitute your sample with an '03 Monarch--but it was not A/T. In order to remove the box press, I had him hold the cigar in his armpit for several hours before sending it out...

7. Go back to point one.

8. Please take this in the light-hearted spirit it was intended.:-P

Regards,

Elliot

[Guest boss hogg]

I noted several progessions in the cigar, so I chose to use yet another stinkin AmEx Delta Sky Miles credit card offer envelope to mark the points. It was a beautiful moonlit 18C night in Northern Virginia I washed it down with some 23-year Ron Zacapa rum from Guatemala.

For the first 2cm/12 minutes, it was somewhat one dimensional. Cedary, with sweet overtones. Smooth and elegant.

From this point forward, it gained intensity, definitely revealing the unique Cuban "tang" and citrus flavors.

After 30 minutes, after a brief pause in the session, I had to relight.

After 50 minutes, the citrus flavors became less pronounced.

A very nice cigar indeed, and thank you Rob for including me on this one!

The size and appearance had me guessing RJ Churchill, but the citrus flavors say Punch.

[shrink]

6. The reason your specimen didn't taste like a Punch was because during that same visit to Czar, I paid Smithy to substitute your sample with an '03 Monarch--but it was not A/T. In order to remove the box press, I had him hold the cigar in his armpit for several hours before sending it out...

Well, at least that explains the musty quality.