October Blind Tasting

[sluggo819]

I'm assuming your guess was correct?

[pnutbutrsangwich]

This petit corona exhibit some weird shade variations around the veins of the cigar. The wrapper appeared to be very thin and the cigar was packed full. Unfortunately, there were two small tears in the wrapper, big enough that the binder showed through, clearly.

I clipped the cigar and it drew perfectly. I didn't get any significant flavors on the prelight draw. It had some resistance in getting lit, perhaps due to the very tight pack, but it burned nice and evenly once it got going.

The initial flavors were a buttery smoothness, similar to that which is the hallmark of the RyJ Churchill. This slightly sweet, slightly salty, creamy taste continued for about the first inch and a half. It was very tasty and somewhat unique. At about the second inch, the butter faded to smooth, slightly spicy toasted tobacco with some mild woody tones that continued through to the end of the smoke. The smoke was voluminous and fairly rich, very tasty. The slight spiciness continues and picked up some somewhat muted cherry flavors. When the cigar burned down to the second tear, which was at approximately the 2 inches remaining mark, the wrapper exploded. I was very disappointed as this cigar had been very enjoyable to that point.

I have no idea what this cigar is. If I were forced to make a guess, I would say that it was an RyJ PC, simply because of the similarity to the Churchill. I've never had one, though so this is an uneducated opinion.

Thanks to Rob and Lisa for letting me in on this. It was fun and I can't wait to find out what the mystery cigar is.

[El Presidente]

From the outset I would like to thank everyone for their reviews of this great little Petit Corona.

In the main, our tasters found it to be a rich flvoured cigar with complexity which is exactly how I found it and why I wanted to use it as the sample in last months review.

It is a Feb 06 cigar and an excellent example of what is being produced in 2006....great, medium to full bodied complex cigars the likes of which we have not seen for a long time. For a nice change they are smoking well straight out of the box due in no small part because of the use of three year old Ligero, two year old seco an 1 year old volado. Now, the policy of Tabacuba has always been to use this aged blending in their cigars. I can tell you that it has not been happening as many factory visits over the past 5 years has seen 18 month old ligero in the blends (and sometimes younger) as confirmed by inspection of the bale markings. This is the first year in many that they are achieving what their objectives have always been.

Welcome to the Cohiba Siglo II (FEB 06).

[Sir Diggamus]

Wow! I am suprised. Now I cant wait to get my hands on some of those tasty tubed sticks!!

[MarkM]

Great job on the reviews guys and an awesome job Rob setting this up, it looked like a blast.

I have a box that should be here this week, I can't wait to get my grubby hands on them.

[Professor Twain]

Rob, this was a lot of fun. Thanks for your generosity in letting us all participate in this.

I will definitely be looking to pick up some 06 Cohibas after trying this. The intensity of flavor was so strong that they have huge potential.

Hope you will run an 06 Cohiba Special! I want some Exquisitos.

[Moglman]

I am surprised as well. If I thought I was smoking a young Cohiba, I would've expected a hayfield, but Rob's explanation is great. I have to pay better attention to the reviews. I'll be picking up a few.

[n-tron]

Certainly a surprise to me! For some reason, it didn't taste to me like the Cohiba flavor profile at all (though I usually don't smoke the Siglo line). I was struck by the smoothness for such a young cigar, so I'm quite happy about the production improvements. This Siglo II would be a great choice for those who want to smoke their cigar purchases right away.

Thanks again Rob for opening my eyes!

[pnutbutrsangwich]

Definitely shocked me. I didn't think I was smoking a Cohiba at all! Then again, I've never had a SigII so THFWIW.

Thanks again to all the FOH folks for putting this together. It was a lot of fun!:-)

[shrink]

I copied this from another post, but it is on topic:

The '06 Siglo II is a very, very impressive smoke. Right out of the gate, it grabs your attention with its full-bodied strength and depth of flavor... rare for a young Cohiba. Like smoking a honeyed creme brulee, dusted with cinnamon, cocoa, and white pepper. An ethereal twang finishes it off. The last third was marred by whiffs of ammonia, but that only reminded me just how much development there is in store. Really, it didn't diminish the pure satisfaction, and massive potential, that I experience in this cigar. With age, a real classic.

[Trevor2118]

Looks like its time to retire the Aged Box List :-D

[sluggo819]

Beautiful looking Mareva. I've been dying to fire this baby up since the day it came in. As per Rob's suggestion, I let it sit for a couple of weeks to acclimate. Unfortunately, October in NY is when everybody gets their first cold. Having a 5 year old in kindergarten, it is inevitable that everyone in my house gets sick. I'm sure all you parents out there can relate to this. Being the hardcore cigar buff that I am, I continue to smoke even though I have a slight cold. Well, now this of course turns into a wonderful sinus infection. Smoking is out of the question for a while. Regardless, I swore I would smoke this baby and post a review before the end of the month. To top it off, we've had 50mph winds here for about a week. Not very cigar friendly. So with the winds calmed down on a beautiful sunny fall day, I gave myself two shots of Nasonex in each nostril, grabbed the tasting cigar and away we go.

It's a very good looking petit corona. Light in color with a silky wrapper. Firm, no soft spots, well constructed.

Pre-light aroma is heavenly. I could have smelled this all day. It was honey-vanilla like the other's said, and I picked up a slight apricot sensation with some minor spice thrown in.

Upon lighting, the draw had just the right amount of firmness, and the cigar produced a wonderful amount of smoke. It smoked about as perfect as you could want. The ash had the usual tight light grey color. Although, in the first third, the ash had a very unusual curved upright bend to it. I guess the cigar was quite happy to be with me.:-D Lol! The cigar burned perfectly all the way down to my fingertips. It never tunneled, and it never went out, and it burned my fingers. What more could you ask for?

The first third wasn't very complex. A slight woodiness and a touch of harshness. As the cigar made it's way towards the second third it really began to open up giving me a good impression of the cigar's character.

The main flavors I got from the cigar during the middle portion were slightly earthy, with predominantly coffee,cocoa, and leather flavors. Some mild spice also. I didn't sense much creaminess, nor did I pick up much sweetness.

However, when the cigar got into the last third, the sweetness started to kick in. I picked up on some mild fruit, but thinking back, it was probably closer to sweet cedary flavor. It got stronger as it went on, but never burned hot, nor was it every really harsh. Any harshness that was present I think had to do with the cigar's age. I just think this cigar might be fairly young, and would benefit quite a bit with proper aging.

Overall, this cigar was really good. Not great, but really good. It was a pretty straight forward cigar with mainly coffee, leather, and cocoa, and a sweet cedary core. Would I buy it? Definitely. But I wouldn't pay Cohiba price for it.

As far as my guess as to what cigar this may be? Well, I haven't smoked every mareva out there, and I consider myself and intermediate because although I've been smoking for around 12 years, I've only been smoking Habanos exculsively for around a year.

Let me guess what I don't think it is. I would say no to Romeo. A little too full flavored for that. I've been smoking a lot of Boli-pc's lately and I don't think this is as rich. I've also been smoking Diplo #4's and this doesn't taste like it. I consider myself an Upmann *****, so I would be really surpised if this was an Upmann and I didn't pick up on it. Nor do I think this would be a Monte. SLRpc- probably not. Punch? who knows? Possibly. PLPC-no way.

So, based on it's main attributes and more than anything else the color and texture of it's wrapper I'm going to say that this is an '06 Cohiba siglo II. I'm probably wrong, but then again, what do I know? I just like smoking cuban cigars.

I just want to say thanks to Rob for affording me this opportunity to give this really long winded review. I hope I didn't bore anybody.