Quintero Brevas TEB Mar 04

[wdh]

» Bright Sunny Day today (what a surprise ....we are running out of

» water in our city (dams at 19%) and could be the first modern city in the

» Western world to run dry).

Sorry to hear about the parched land....I'll stop whining about the long, dark, cold and WET winter we've had here in the Pacific Northwest - wish we could swap some of our mutual abundances :cool:

Several years ago Seattle was almost the first modern city in the West to run dry... toward the end of one of the wettest winters on record, some moron with the Army Corps of Engineers let almost all of the water out of a main reservoirs up in the Cascade mountains and we had to ration water all summer...there was nothing green anywhere but our city politicians were happier than pigs in mud with such a nice crisis to manage.

Bill

[PigFish]

I was thinking of your comment about how Ken looks on an unmade bed and I am getting a bit nauseated!!!

[JulietasRomeo]

As much as I love the Hand Rolleds, I love these Brevas. Great cheap smoke. I'm working on a box of MAY04's. MMMMM Good!!!!

[El Presidente]

I don't always review Cohiba, Trinidad, Partagas and Montecristo......that is what a tosser would do :-)

Bright Sunny Day today (what a surprise ....we are running out of water in our city (dams at 19%) and could be the first modern city in the Western world to run dry). Government planning at its best. Yes...we are in a drought but no-one in Government saw the need to build any water infrastucture (dams/desalination plants/re-cycling plants etc) in the last 10 years.....even though we have welcomed 1000,000 new residents to the state. Enough of my rant.

Quintero Brevas are an old fishing favourite before I decided to move to Partagas Connoisseur No 3's as my companion to throwing a line. In the humidor this morning I came across an open box of this Quintero which to me has always been by far the best in a solid if not stellar line of machine made hand finished cigars.

Construction was OK. Well filled, 2nd rate wrapper resembling ken dressed or an unmade bed.

Smell at cold was sweet leather. Very nice. Clipped the cap and the draw was excellent. No distinct flavour on the lips or tongue pre lighting.

Gently lit the foot to find super mild flat flavours of nothing in particular except for dry grass and cheap arse tobacco. It reminded me very much of a Guantanamera which is to cigars what decaf is to coffee. I drew two to three times to make sure the Quintero was lit....it was but it was like a rabbit caught in headlights or a husband caught in bed with his mistress......going nowhere fast and very little short term prospects.

Half an inch in and this cigar was destined for the three metre pitch off the top deck of czar house. Cigars quake in their boxes at such an inglorious exit from this world.....destined to be collected by the local less fortunates to be made into cheap roll your own cigarettes (I have always suspected Ken would join them one day albeit he would be the only one who could discern between the better Cohiba stubbs and the lesser marques ;-) )

But....as in those detestable medical programs....just as I visualised the perfect loop for the pitch.....there was the slightest sign of life ....beep....beep....BEEP....BEEP....BEEEP! Yes! Quintero Brevas was stirring to life. From Light to no-body....we are now Medium -Full Body with a delicious Chicory/Licorice note. Now there is white pepper spice through the nose and a more importantly a personality!

What a revival. The greatest comeback since Lazarus. Into the midpoint and this is now a very good cigar. SImple in flavours but they are well defined: Leather, Licorice, Chicory. Medium-full bodied, decent burn and holding its own against cigars double the price. No bitterness to speak of, no dirty flavours, no confusion. Very distinct clean flavours.

The Brevas continued in its core profile right to the very end. It is not a complex cigar by any means but it delivered in its final three quarters everything that I expected of it and far more. Yesterday I had a La Gloria Cubana MO 3 which I pitched off the deck followed by a HDM Dieux which followed the same fate (both were seconds stock which had been damaged so no review as it would have been unfair). The Quintero Breva (at least this example) was superior in all respects.

I have put a dozen back in my Fishing Travel Humidor to at least share space with my Connie 3's.

87/100 4/6 smokerings

(It would have been an 88 if the first half inch performed)