Bolivar Belicoso Finos POS MAR 06

[Tampa1257]

Rob,

Thanks for taking one for the team. I am concerned about the flavor inconsistency and hope that one day you will be able to review a BBF that does speak out and say "WOW" this is what a Bolivar Belicoso is all about. Personally, the last BBF's that did that for me were a few boxes of 2001's which unfortunately are all gone from my humidor.

Any idea when the Ramón Allones Belicoso Fino will be available for other than the UK market?

[shrink]

Any idea when the Ramón Allones Belicoso Fino will be available for other than the UK market?

Whatever the answer, it can't come soon enough for me. This is an astonishingly good cigar.

BTW, in the first pic, Ken appears to be sneezing. Gesundheit! The '06 Monte 2 is nothing to sneeze at!

[El Presidente]

» Rob,

»

» Thanks for taking one for the team. I am concerned about the flavor

» inconsistency and hope that one day you will be able to review a BBF that

» does speak out and say "WOW" this is what a Bolivar Belicoso is all about.

» Personally, the last BBF's that did that for me were a few boxes of 2001's

» which unfortunately are all gone from my humidor.

»

» Any idea when the Ramón Allones Belicoso Fino will be available for other

» than the UK market?

Tampa I don't have a definitive answer but I would think 2008 would be the earliest year possible.

[sluggo819]

I guess we now know what the POS box code on this cigar stands for.

[greenpimp]

The past few years the Bolivar marca has been flushed down the shitter, IMO. The last great box from any Bolivar vitola I had was from very early 04. Even the 06 BRC I 've had and enjoyed taste more like a RASS than anything. Bolivars with no earthiness.! That's messed up.

The BBF was the first cigar that ever TRULY blew me away. Electric, with a truffle-like earthiness. Now I have two boxes mostly full and so far disappointing.

Personally I think that the Spanish have absolutely no love for Simon Bolivar and that the demise of Bolivar was inevitable. Course I often believe in conspiracies. This one may be subconscious but it seems true.

Ken looks like some engineering dork explaining his doctoral dissertation while laughing at his own non-jokes. Pretty great pics.:-D

[greenpimp]

double damn post.:-|

[Jimmy2]

Ken looks like he is constipated.

[jqmunro]

» The past few years the Bolivar marca has been flushed down the shitter,

» IMO. The last great box from any Bolivar vitola I had was from very early

» 04. Even the 06 BRC I 've had and enjoyed taste more like a RASS than

» anything. Bolivars with no earthiness.! That's messed up.

I recently tried a BCG from my POS MAY 06 CAB that was quite earthy, with fantastic potential... maybe I was just lucky :-D

[El Presidente]

» I recently tried a BCG from my POS MAY 06 CAB that was quite earthy, with

» fantastic potential... maybe I was just lucky :-D

I have had excellent Bolivar Corona Gigantes and Inmensas from this year and late 05. I have also had some excellent Bolivar Royal Corona from early 06...just not recently.

If I were to hazard a guess, low production Boli's are more consistent than High production Boli's. Very disappointed in the BBF of this review. Also disappointed in the BRC I reviewed the same day but still have not posted. They could have been the same cigar.

It is almost as if someone couldn't give a toss in relation to these cigars (the ones I tasted). There are exceptions but how is one to find them without tasting them? I mean, look at the BBF in the photo...it looked great, perfect construction....just tasted crap. Very disappointing.

[jqmunro]

I haven't tried recent production BBF, but have heard elsewhere that they have been highly inconsistent... no where near where they were a few years ago.

[El Presidente]

I haven't had a lot of luck with BBF this year. Far too many I have had have been ho hum excluding one 06 example about a month ago which was very tasty. I forgot about them over the past few weeks until a good mate asked me to locate a great box. Having sifted through our BBF stocks I came across a half dozen superb looking boxes of the same code and decided to try one.

Construction and wrapper were flawless

This POS MAR 06 Held a lot of promise. Dank forest floor nose at cold.

Clipped the foot to reveal another perfect draw. This cigar was perfectly rolled....no hard or soft spots.

From the outset the BBF was full bodied and slightly acrid which was to be expected. I waited for it to settle down and chatted to Smithy while he was trying a San Cristobal La Fuerza.

Well well well, Ken Gargett also dropped in for a free cigar. He was in one of those funny moods of his and I have no idea what he was thinking of when I took this photo.

or this one

Well Ken chugged into his 2006 P2 which he thoroughly enjoyed (and no doubt will review later as a cigar he purchased somewhere in Spain ;-) )

Back to the BBF.

The first third was disappointing. Full Bodied but all Balsawood, cedar and not much else. I was waiting for that wet forest floor to arrive but it dropped me like a stripper who new I was out of money.

The second third was no improvement on the first. Dirty taste of cardboard...still fullbodied but absolutely nothing there. I felt like pitching it but persisted.

The final third improved slightly with leather and earth notes but nowhere near enough to save the cigar. There was still an overiding balsawood note which I don't like. The body was full which was its only saving grace as to any semblance of a respectable future.

Blend inconsistency is the final frontier for habanos s.a. They must solve this problem as if I had a great FEB 06 BBF last month, why can't I have a great Mar 06 BBF this month? Construction is almost a non issue any more. Solve the inconsistency problem and we will all be happy campers.

82/100

2 of 6 Smokerings.

...and a thumbs down.