San Cristobal Principe

[DrAlejandro]

Note: Just smoked one of these so I thought I would post a review I posted on another forum a while back... let me know what you guys think :-)

Inspired by brother idesign's call to arms and a seemingly peaked intrest in the SCDLH marca i've been noticing, Ive decided to light up a Principe from my box purchase a couple of months ago. The box is mid 05, can't remember the month exactly because I threw away the box but that should be good enough.

Appearance/Construction: 7/10

Chocalate brown, slightly streaky wrapper with minimal veins. Fairly smooth texture and firm to the touch. Not the most attractively done triple cap but took a punch well and held tight throughout the hour plus smoke.

Flavor: 18/20

This cigar started out quick and very powerfull from the first draw. Strong chocolate and expresso grounds with considerable spice, almost overpowering, a fact I attribute to its youth. Into the first inch and the smoke smoothed out and mellowed considerably, almost like the lull after a crescendo in a classical music piece. Spice and coffe ground notes subsided and gave way to a silky smooth, mouth coating leathery flavor along with some cream and still some chocolate that I found to be very pleasant. Getting into the last third and its picking up a bit again, chocolate is more pronounced along with a markedly cedary finish. All in all a very tasty cigar that will only smooth out its rough edges and become more enjoyable to smoke in the future. Great flavors, thick creamy smoke, and tastes that fade in and out and constantly keep you on your toes makes this little guy a must try.

Smoking Characteristics: 7/10

Cigar lit easily and produced plenty of smoke for as small a cigar as it is. Salt and pepper ash was a bit crooked but stayed on for an inch and a half before promptly depositing itself in my lap. One problem I did notice about this cigar was that the burn was not completely on the money. It was slightly crooked, causing me to touch it up ever so slightly a couple of times. Draw was possibley a bit on the loose side, forcing me to take extra care to not pull too hard and scorch the tobbaco on this short vitola.

Price: 4/5

This cigar, at the price they can be found, is really a bargain. It seems as if more and more people are finding this out as many vendors are often out of stock.

36 x 4.5 = 8 x 10 = 80%

Overall I was impressed with this little guy. I had smoked a couple out of this box prematurely and had been a bit disapointed with them, but it seems as if some time in the humi recovering from their long journey has really done them some good. If the rest of the vitolas in this line are smoking as well as this one, we really have a winner on our hands. I look forward to aging this box and testing them out as they go along, as well as trying some of its bigger brothers. All in all I liked this cigar a lot, tons of smoke and great flavor in a size thats not intimidating and takes just the right amount of time to smoke.

[Tampa1257]

Strong chocolate and espresso grounds with considerable spice, silky smooth, mouth coating leathery flavor along with some cream and some chocolate. Great flavors, thick creamy smoke.

Thats all that really needed to be said. The SCDH El Principe as well as all the other vitolas in the marca have a very unique molasses type of rich sweetness in my opinion.

Nice review

[Curt]

» Strong chocolate and espresso grounds with considerable spice, silky

» smooth, mouth coating leathery flavor along with some cream and some

» chocolate. Great flavors, thick creamy smoke.

»

» Thats all that really needed to be said. The SCDH El Principe as well as

» all the other vitolas in the marca have a very unique molasses type of

» rich sweetness in my opinion.

»

» Nice review

Yup. Review is on the mark. One of my morning coffee cigars because of these characteristics(if my wife has left me any):-D

[naga5]

well done.

one great little smoke!

rick

[bassman]

Try to hold on to some for a few years. My 01s are excellent.

[Professor Twain]

I have smoked about three of these from a March 06 box. They have lots of flavor but still seem to me to have some of the harshness of youth, I want to let them age a bit and see how they do. I have really enjoyed other aged San Cristobal I have had, including some 03 La Puntas.

[herfkid]

One of these guys from 03 was my "break the rut" smoke a few weekends ago. Where "rut" = "first cigar in 11 months"

Was a tasty way to start up again!