Partagas PSP2 (SVF DIC 05)

[CoryOllis]

Partagas PSP2 (SVF DIC 05)

I don't write many reviews so I tend to do it when I'm impressed with a cigar. I know this tends to skew towards mostly favorable reviews but I'm too old to change now. ;-) I was impressed with the performance and the impact this cigar had on me. Awe is too trite an term to describe my reaction after smoking it.

Dumbfounded with awe? :-P

Size: 6 1/8 X 52 ring

Shape: Pyramid

Feel: firm and silky

Appearance: brown with slight veins - tapered ala pyramid

Pre-light: perfect draw, good bunching, promising spicy taste

Light/Cut: half-inch guillotine, lightly toast foot

1st Third: Starts with a decent amount of smoke with a rich, spicy, and familiar flavor of Partagas. The flavor is toasty caramel with nuts. Sounds like a candy bar and tastes like it, too! Body is medium, flavor is very distinct, and finish is light so far. Spice starts to assert itself before long. The ash is dark gray and firm and holds for the whole third easily. So far very tasty and much like other Partagas.

Second Third: There is some leather background now and more spice and flavor in general. The flavor really starts coming on in this third. Sometimes I get some vanilla and other times a bit of cocoa. I'm starting to feel the strength, too. Decent amount of nicotine and a really nice high. It's interesting how the high of some cigars is more than just the sum of its Vitamin N! The finish is now much better and quite sweet, too. This third I'm getting much more out of it than the last PSP2 I smoked.

Last Third: Flavor, body, and strength are building nicely into this third. Draw starts to constrict a bit so I trim a bit of the cap to open it up again. Much better. The aroma is much like the taste and I find myself inhaling more than usual. Very sweet and salubrious. The high is really quite nice as I smoke this baby to the nub. The flavor is more subdued toward the end but very tasty nevertheless. The finish remains sweet to about the one inch mark.

Conclusion: The complexity of this cigar is subtle. It doesn't drastically change from the same basic toasty/nutty/leather, Partagas flavor profile. But little, spicy notes pop up now and then. The flavor does build throughout, though. What separates this from other Partagas I've smoked is a combination of these little side notes of flavor and the exquisite high I'm getting! Very enjoyable, indeed.

It is a slow burning cigar lasting well over an hour. This baby has plenty to keep me interested right to the half inch mark where I stab it with a jeweler's screwdriver and play with it some more. This Cigar is at least as good as any Cuban I've had to date. It will be interesting to see what happens to this crop after another year of aging!

Summary:

Construction: 10/10

Draw: 10/10

Burn: 9/10

Flavor 10/10

Complexity: 9/10

Finish: 9/10

Value 10/10

Handmade start with 30

Total: 97/100

Now I know what all the fuss is about because I never got anything quite like this from a non-Cuban. This Cubannoob is impressed!

[SmokinLightning]

Nice review!

I may just have to go home and fire one of these up!

[Colt45]

Thanks for the review. I've smoked a couple over the past month or so. I feel they

are coming around, but agree that they still need time to develop.

[El Presidente]

Nice review

I am hankering to fire one up now...but too cold andwindy outside......just need to cause a Saturday afternoon diversion at home.......I can feel the alarm at work going off....and my immediate attendance required. A 50 minute Pirimide Trip

[GoSteelers]

Great review .. one of my favorite smokes so far.

didn't get this part though, is there another definition??

sa·lu·bri·ous /səˈlubriəs/ [suh-loo-bree-uhs]

–adjective- favorable to or promoting health; healthful: salubrious air.

[smokum]

» Decent amount of nicotine and a really nice

» high. It's interesting how the high of some cigars is more than just the

» sum of its Vitamin N! Very sweet and salubrious. The high is

» really quite nice as I smoke this baby to the nub. » What separates this from other Partagas I've smoked is

» a combination of these little side notes of flavor and the exquisite high

» I'm getting!

Umm...I think we can give him some slack...as you read thru you will notice a common theme !!! :-D

[Colt45]

» didn't get this part though, is there another definition??

»

Salubrious: pleasant, agreeable, pleasing, enjoyable, pleasurable, nice, delightful

[mailman]

yeah, after i smoked my first Psp2 i was hooked also. one of my faves.

matter of fact i got my dad a box for fathers day, hoping he'll like them too.:-D

[GoSteelers]

» Salubrious: pleasant, agreeable, pleasing, enjoyable, pleasurable, nice,

» delightful

Cool , didn't see that definition anywhere all I found pertained to health and wellness.

Was't giving any grief just wasn't sure how it fit.

[Colt45]

» Was't giving any grief just wasn't sure how it fit.

Of course not - just adding to the definition :-)

[CoryOllis]

» » Salubrious: pleasant, agreeable, pleasing, enjoyable, pleasurable, nice,

» » delightful

»

» Cool , didn't see that definition anywhere all I found pertained to health

» and wellness.

»

» Was't giving any grief just wasn't sure how it fit.

I think it's good to offer questions and criticisms and I've gotten past feeling insecure about it. In fact, sometimes it does annoy me a bit when folks are a bit thin-skinned.

I like the word. Some words seem to sound like what they mean. Salubrious rolls off your tongue like smoke, good whiskey, and labia - those "tulip lips o luskus delph" whose "silken measures try to gauge

the inside sweetness of your cave" :-P - Procol Harem

Words can be a hoot!

Also, I think how a cigar makes you feel is part of the experience and, in the case of this cigar, I was sent, obviouisly! :-D

[Ken Gargett]

half your luck. i had one a few nights back and, while it was okay, i was far less impressed than yourself. have had a few pyramides lately and was putting together a collective review. mine will not fare so well.

[CoryOllis]

» half your luck. i had one a few nights back and, while it was okay, i was

» far less impressed than yourself. have had a few pyramides lately and was

» putting together a collective review. mine will not fare so well.

Sorry to hear that. The one I tried about 6 months ago from a different box was not anything like this one. I was disappointed as I was expecting it to be at least as tasty as the PSD4. I don't even know the date on the previous one as it was a gift at a herf.

I am always grateful when I have a good cigar because I now know it doesn't always work out that way!

I also bought a box of Monte Edmundos from '05 that were better than average. '05 may have been a slightly better year in general. Does anyone know the skinny on that?

[Ken Gargett]

most of the edmundos i've had have been excellent and i couldn't work out why so many bagged them. then had one in havana start of year that was diabolically poor. my first box was from the very early days (04 or 05?).

[shrink]

Thanks for the review, Cory. Along with other Partagas fanciers, I eagerly awaited the issue of this Piramide in January 2005. My experience has been that the first charge of any new cigar is superior, so I pre-ordered and got a few boxes of ENE and FEB 05. I hope to hold a couple of these boxes for the long haul.

Naturally, I smoked a few during those first few months. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but my first impression was that this was no PSD4 in sheep's clothing. It was more medium bodied, with less peppery spice, but with it's own unique, and distinctly Partagas, flavor profile. IMO, the P2 wasn't really worth smoking until it was about a year old, and it has steadily improved since then. My ENE05's are simply superb now. They are beginning to show signs of the fermented sweetness that aged Partagas are famous for.

I've smoked more recent 2005 and 2006 examples, and I have concluded that the P2 suffers from the same inconsistency as does the Monte 2 and other mass-produced cigars. Still, I was pleased to find the early 2006 issues to be nearly as good, if not even more approachable "fresh" than were the originals, probably because of the more aged tobaccos that had come into general use in 2006.

The P2 remains my favorite, go-to Piramide. It's a rich, but easy-smoking cigar. In retrospect, I'm glad that it was blended with more balance than the D4. After all, if I want strong, I always have some aged D4's and the amazing 2006 898V's. I have to admit that the 2006 Monte 2 has made an impressive come back, and is nipping at the heels of the P2. But since I favor the Partagas profile, I doubt that it will ever replace The King.

[jqmunro]

I love these cigars. It's a great addition to the line-up, well deserving of the partagas name.