Roburt Burns De Luxe 1944

[Ken Gargett]

you are aware that this is the cigar that minismithy tried to convince me to smoke while you were out last week. a fair swap for a cask of red?

[shrink]

Repulsed and strangely attracted at the same time.

This is a fascinating phenomenon, celebrated in literature throughout the ages. It is what drew Beauty to the Beast, and why we are often transfixed by horror. Marvelous that you discovered it in something so mundane as a cigar...

[Minismithy]

» you are aware that this is the cigar that minismithy tried to convince me

» to smoke while you were out last week. a fair swap for a cask of red?

this is outrageous, i did nothing of the sort!

if it werent for me your aged cigars would still be all mixed up and disorganised... :-D

[brian1]

You are very welcome and great review, ...Amazing to think these cigars are from the World War II era.

[genevapics]

Two for 27¢! What a deal. Hey Prez, how about you have a roll back day... roll back all of your prices to 1944 prices.:-D

Nice find Brian. Interesting cigar.

[zuma]

» Two for 27¢! What a deal. Hey Prez, how about you have a roll back

» day... roll back all of your prices to 1944 prices.:-D

Awesome idea for an End-of-Financial year Clearance Sale!

Reality-check: A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, based on a comparison of 1944 real estate valuations in Western Australia and current 2007 valuations, would put the original price of the cigar somewhere between US$68 and US$150 in present day currency...

[Ginseng]

Wonderful review, Rob. Sounds like a unique experience indeed.

Wilkey

[Wiley]

See, you do important work after all! This is really great. Keep it up! :-D

[PorscheC4S]

» » Two for 27¢! What a deal. Hey Prez, how about you have a roll back

» » day... roll back all of your prices to 1944 prices.:-D

»

» Awesome idea for an End-of-Financial year Clearance Sale!

»

» Reality-check: A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, based on a

» comparison of 1944 real estate valuations in Western Australia and current

» 2007 valuations, would put the original price of the cigar somewhere

» between US$68 and US$150 in present day currency...

From measuringworth.com:

In 2005, $0.27 from 1944 is worth:

$3.00 using the Consumer Price Index

$2.50 using the GDP deflator

$5.71 using the value of consumer bundle

$5.37 using the unskilled wage

$6.87 using the nominal GDP per capita

$15.30 using the relative share of GDP

[zuma]

» » » Two for 27¢! What a deal. Hey Prez, how about you have a roll

» back

» » » day... roll back all of your prices to 1944 prices.:-D

» »

» » Awesome idea for an End-of-Financial year Clearance Sale!

» »

» » Reality-check: A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, based on a

» » comparison of 1944 real estate valuations in Western Australia and

» current

» » 2007 valuations, would put the original price of the cigar somewhere

» » between US$68 and US$150 in present day currency...

»

» From measuringworth.com:

»

» In 2005, $0.27 from 1944 is worth:

»

» $3.00 using the Consumer Price Index

» $2.50 using the GDP deflator

» $5.71 using the value of consumer bundle

» $5.37 using the unskilled wage

» $6.87 using the nominal GDP per capita

» $15.30 using the relative share of GDP

Strewth!!! Darn real estate 'round here's been a poser of recent... nevertheless, after havin' a cold look at my approach, it looks like a barrel of cack (a sophism)... thanx for the pointer to that interesting resource (measuringworth.com). Cheers.

[El Presidente]

» Repulsed and strangely attracted at the same time.

»

» This is a fascinating phenomenon, celebrated in literature throughout the

» ages. It is what drew Beauty to the Beast, and why we are often transfixed

» by horror. Marvelous that you discovered it in something so mundane as a

» cigar...

Shrink....all I can say is that I would make a lousy moth.

[stever]

Very nice review. Fun to read.

[El Presidente]

The immmense generosity of FOH members never ceases to astound me. A little over three weeks ago Brian1 shot me over a few cigars to review, the first of which I tried was the Robert Burns De Luxe 1944. This is a US made cigar with Cuban tobacco. To be honest I know nothing else about this cigar. From a cursory visual inspection I assume it is a classic inexpensive cigar from that time made from short filler tobacco.

When I smoke a vintage cigar, I like to google it up and see what was occuring around the time that cigar was rolled. Doing this always puts me in the rigt frame of mind. For those intersted I have listed the goings on in 1944 at the end of this review.

Brian....thankyou very much for the opportunity

The cigar looked in perfect condition. Supple to the touch, the cello wrapper was a golden stained yellow. Smell at cold was a funky over ripe orange. The aroma was similar to modern citrus flavoured cigars. I am intrigued from the get go.

I clipped the cap and tested the draw which was perfect. The tase on the lips was classic Cointreau. Intense over ripe orange rind. I have no idea where this cigar is going to take me. To be honest I found the distinct aroma a little offputting and strangely appealing. A little like wanting to run your hand quickly through an open flame when on camp.

Gently torched the foot.....oh so sweet in profile. The Cointreau comes through in spades...too much of a good thing...I think....but I find myself drawing slower and deeper wanting to extract every nuance of this very unique flavour. Mild bodied....just so sweet! If you can picture eating that orange that has been in your fruit bowl for a month....you have the flavour of this cigar nailed. There is also a slight creaminess but it is overwhelmed. Mild toasted tobacco note, little pepper soice through the nose. If I didn't know better (and I don't) I would swear to God that this cigar was flavoured. Repulsed and stragely attracted at the same time. Keep thinking how lucky I am to be taunted in such a manner.

After the first third the RB44 tones down the orange sweet edge. Still there in bucketloads but a grassy creaminess joins the mix. Now for the first time I can identify a Cuban link. Ken and I were in Havana a few years back at the LCDH in Miramar enjoying an aged rum and a La Gloria Cubana Medaille D'Or No 1. It also had a distinct Orange peel twang which reminds me so much of this cigar.

The burn on the RB44 is immaculate. Its flavour delivery in your face but one dimensional (orange/dry grass/cream). Body now increasing from Mild to just short of medium. The overly perfumed nature of this cigar in now going which makes for a much more enjoyable cigar. Plenty of white smoke. Now coming to enjoy this cigar a hell of a lot more.

Smoked the RB44 to the nub. The last half was quite a divine cigar. Yes it was one dimensional in its delivery of flavours but one could never ever call it boring. So different to any other Cuban cigar I have ever tasted. I will rank it a 90+ not because I could find no faults...it was perfumed, over sweet, unbalanced in its opening etc. I will rank it a 90+ because I will never forget it. In a world of far too many ho hum cigars it challenged me from the outset. It made me search my memory banks long and hard to find other cigar experiences I could correlate with. In short it provided a rare cigar experience.

Thankyou Brian for the opportunity

01/01/1944 - 1st feature-length foreign movie, African Journey, shown on TV, NYC

01/01/1944 - Army defeats Navy 10-7 in football "Arab Bowl," Oran, North Africa

01/01/1944 - Gen Clark replaces Gen Patton as commander of 7th Army

02/01/1944 - 1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol)

04/01/1944 - Ralph Bunche appointed 1st ***** official in US State Department

07/01/1944 - Air Force announces production of 1st US jet fighter, the Bell P-59

10/01/1944 - 1st mobile electric power plant delivered, Phila

10/01/1944 - British troops conquer Maungdaw, Burma

11/01/1944 - Crakow-Plaszow Concentration Camp established

12/01/1944 - Churchill and de Gaulle begin a 2-day wartime conference in Marrakesh

12/01/1944 - Failed resistance raid on distribution office of Borgerstraat Amsterd

14/01/1944 - Soviet army begins offensive at Oranienbaum/Wolchow

15/01/1944 - European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany

15/01/1944 - General Eisenhower arrives in England

15/01/1944 - Vught Concentration Camp puts 74 women in 1 cell, 10 die

16/01/1944 - Gen Eisenhower took command of Allied Invasion Force in London

17/01/1944 - Korvet Violet sinks U-641 in Atlantic Ocean

18/01/1944 - 1st Chinese naturalized US citizen since repeal of exclusion acts

20/01/1944 - RAF drops 2300 ton bombs on Berlin

21/01/1944 - 447 German bombers attack London

21/01/1944 - 649 British bombers attack Magdeburg

22/01/1944 - During World War II, Allied forces begin landing at Anzio Italy

23/01/1944 - Arnold Schoenberg's "Ode to Napoleon," premieres in NYC

23/01/1944 - Det Red Wings score 15 goals against NY Rangers and NHL record 37 points, also most consecutive goals and most lopsided game 15-0

24/01/1944 - Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy

27/01/1944 - Leningrad liberated from Germany in 880 days with 600,000 killed

27/01/1944 - Casey Stengel, manager of the Boston Braves since 1938, resigns Lou Perini, Guido Rugo, and Joseph Maney buy control of Boston Braves

28/01/1944 - 683 British bombers attack Berlin

28/01/1944 - Leonard Bernstein's "Jeremiah," premieres in Pittsburgh

28/01/1944 - U-271 and U-571 sunk off Ireland

29/01/1944 - 285 German bombers attack London

30/01/1944 - US invades Majuro, Marshall Islands

31/01/1944 - Operation-Overlord (D-Day) postponed until June

31/01/1944 - U-592 sunk off Ireland

31/01/1944 - US forces invade Kwajalein Atoll

01/02/1944 - Supreme Soviet enlarges soviet republics' autonomy

01/02/1944 - US 7th Infantry/25th Marine Division lands on Kwajalein/Roi/Namur

02/02/1944 - 4th US marine division conquerors Roi, Marshall Islands

02/02/1944 - Allied troops 1st set foot on Japanese territory

02/02/1944 - Baseball meets in NYC to discuss postwar action

02/02/1944 - Edward Chodorov's "Decision," premieres in NYC

04/02/1944 - Jean Anouilh's "Antigone," premieres in Paris

04/02/1944 - US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein

05/02/1944 - 358 RAF-bombers attack Stettin

07/02/1944 - Bing Crosby records "Swinging on a Star" for Decca Records

07/02/1944 - Germans launch counteroffensive at Anzio Italy

08/02/1944 - 1st black reporter accredited to White House, Harry McAlpin

08/02/1944 - U-762 sunk off Ireland

09/02/1944 - U-734/U-238 sunk off Ireland

10/02/1944 - Belgium resistance fighter/author Kamiel van Baelen arrested

10/02/1944 - U-666/U-545/U-283 sink off Ireland

11/02/1944 - German troops reconquer Aprilia Italy

11/02/1944 - U-424 sunk off Ireland

12/02/1944 - Wendell Wilkie ® enters presidential race

14/02/1944 - Anti-Japanese revolt on Java

14/02/1944 - Carl Wick publishes "Salmon Trolling for Commercial and Sport Fishing

15/02/1944 - 891 British bombers attack Berlin

15/02/1944 - Bombing and shooting at Monte Cassino convent Italy, begins

17/02/1944 - Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins; US victory on Feb 22

17/02/1944 - US begins night bombing of Truk

18/02/1944 - Maastricht resistance fighter JAJ Janssen arrested

18/02/1944 - Youngest baseball player, Cin Reds sign 15 year old Joe Nuxhall

19/02/1944 - 823 British bombers attack Berlin

19/02/1944 - U-264 sinks off Ireland

20/02/1944 - Batman and Robin comic strip premieres in newspapers

20/02/1944 - US takes Eniwetok Island

21/02/1944 - "War As It Happens" news show premieres on NBC TV (NYC only)

22/02/1944 - US 8th Air Force bombs Enschede, Arnhem and Nijmegen by mistake/800+ die

24/02/1944 - Argentina coup by Juan Peron minister of war

25/02/1944 - US 1st Army completes invasion plan

26/02/1944 - 1st female US navy captain, Sue Dauser of nurse corps, appointed

29/02/1944 - 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death

29/02/1944 - US troop land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands

01/03/1944 - Massive strikes in Northern Italian towns

01/03/1944 - U-358 sinks in Atlantic

02/03/1944 - 16th Academy Awards - "Casablanca," Jennifer Jones and Paul Lukas win

02/03/1944 - Fumes from locomotive stalled in a tunnel suffocates 521 in Italy

03/03/1944 - 1st performance of corporal Samuel Barber's 2nd Symphony

04/03/1944 - 1st US bombing of Berlin

04/03/1944 - Anti-Germany strikes in North Italy

05/03/1944 - 1st performance of Walter Piston's 2nd Symphony

06/03/1944 - USAF begins daylight bombing of Berlin

07/03/1944 - Japans begins offensive in Burma

08/03/1944 - US resumes bombing Berlin

11/03/1944 - Dutch resistance fighter Joop Westerweel arrested

13/03/1944 - USSR recognizes Italian Badoglio govt

15/03/1944 - Italian town of Cassino destroyed by Allied bombing

16/03/1944 - Vichy Internal minister Pucheu sentenced to death

17/03/1944 - Actor Charlton Heston weds Lydia Clarke

18/03/1944 - Nazi Germany occupies Hungary

18/03/1944 - 2,500 women trample guards and floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago Illinois dept store

19/03/1944 - Tippett's oratorium "Child of Our Time," premieres in London

20/03/1944 - Bus falls off bridge into Passaic River NJ, killing 16

20/03/1944 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy explodes

21/03/1944 - Gen Eisenhower postpones S France invasion until after Normandy

22/03/1944 - 600+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Berlin

23/03/1944 - Bomb assassination against Southern Tirol congregation in Rome, 33 die

23/03/1944 - Nicholas Alkemade falls 5,500 m without a parachute and lives

24/03/1944 - 76 Allied officers escape Stalag Luft 3 (Great Escape)

24/03/1944 - 811 British bombers attack Berlin

24/03/1944 - In occupied Rome, Nazis execute more than 300 civilians

25/03/1944 - Germany troop executes 335 residents of Rome

25/03/1944 - RAF Sgt Nickolas Alkemade survives a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute

26/03/1944 - 705 British bombers attack Essen

27/03/1944 - 1,000 Jews leave Drancy France for Auschwitz Concentration Camp

27/03/1944 - 2,000 Jews are murdered in Kaunas Lithuania

27/03/1944 - 40 Jewish policemen in Riga Latvia ghetto are shot by the gestapo

27/03/1944 - Children's Aktion-Nazis collect all the Jewish children of Lovno

28/03/1944 - 6th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Utah defeats Dartmouth 42-40

28/03/1944 - Astrid Lindgren sprains ankle and begins writing Pippi Longstocking

28/03/1944 - NBA rookie of the year in 1966, Rick Barry

30/03/1944 - 781 British bombers attack Neurenberg

31/03/1944 - Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars

01/04/1944 - German Abwehr ends England spiel, after 132 killed

01/04/1944 - Japanese troops conquer Jessami, East-India

02/04/1944 - CPI-leader Palmiro Togliatti returns to Italy

02/04/1944 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 8th Symphony, premieres in NY

02/04/1944 - Soviet Army marches into pro-German Romania

03/04/1944 - British dive bombers attack battle cruiser Tirpitz

03/04/1944 - Supreme Court (Smith v Allwright) "white primaries" unconstitutional

04/04/1944 - British troops capture Addis Ababa Ethiopia

04/04/1944 - De Gaulle forms new regime in exile, with communists

05/04/1944 - 140 Lancasters bomb airplane manufacturer in Toulouse

06/04/1944 - Jewish nursery at Izieu-Ain France overrun by Nazis

07/04/1944 - General Montgomery speaks to generals about invastion plan

09/04/1944 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientals Ecclesiae

10/04/1944 - "Patrolling the Ether" is shown on 3 TV stations simultaneously

10/04/1944 - Soviet forces liberate Odessa from Nazis

11/04/1944 - RAF bombs census bureau in The Hague

12/04/1944 - Lillian Hellman's "Searching Wind," premieres in NYC

13/04/1944 - SC rejects black suffrage

13/04/1944 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens sweep Chicago Blackhawks in 4 games

13/04/1944 - Transport nr 71 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany

14/04/1944 - 1st Jews transported from Athens arrive at Auschwitz

14/04/1944 - Freighter "Fort Stikene" explodes in Bombay India, killing 1,376

14/04/1944 - Gen Eisenhower becomes head commander of allied air fleet

14/04/1944 - Greek Colonel Venizelos forms govt

18/04/1944 - 48th Boston Marathon won by Gerard Cot‚ of Canada in 2:31:50.4

18/04/1944 - Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins' ballet premieres in NYC

19/04/1944 - Allied fleet attack Sabang Sumatra

20/04/1944 - Dutch Communist Party-resistance fighter John Postma sentence to death

20/04/1944 - NFL legalizes coaching from bench

21/04/1944 - NFL Chic Cardinals and Pitts Steelers merge (dissolves on Dec 3)

22/04/1944 - Allies land near Hollandia, New-Guinea

22/04/1944 - Hitler and Mussolini meet at Salzburg

24/04/1944 - 1st Boeing B-29 arrives in China "over the Hump"

24/04/1944 - RAF bombs Munich

24/04/1944 - United ***** College Fund incorporates

25/04/1944 - United ***** College Fund incorporates

26/04/1944 - 1st B-29 attacked by Japanese fighters, one fighter shot down

26/04/1944 - Papandreou govt in Greece forms

27/04/1944 - Boston Brave Jim Tobin no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 2-0

28/04/1944 - Stalin meets Polish/US priest S Orlemanski

28/04/1944 - Exercise "Tiger" ends with 750 US soldiers dead in D-Day rehearsal after their convoy ships were attacked by German torpedo boats

29/04/1944 - Surprise attack by Van de Peat on General Landsdrukkerij in the Hague

30/04/1944 - NY Giant Phil Weintraub gets 11 RBIs

30/04/1944 - NY Giant, Mel Ott scores 6 runs in 1 game drawing 5 walks for 4th time

01/05/1944 - Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, 1st jet bomber, makes 1st flight

01/05/1944 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Martin Flavin (Journey in the dark)

01/05/1944 - Surprise attack on Weteringschans Amsterdam, fails

02/05/1944 - WABD (WNEW, now WNYW) TV channel 5 in NYC (DUM/MET/FOX) 1st broadcast

03/05/1944 - "Meet Me in St Louis" opens on Broadway

03/05/1944 - Meat rationing ends in US

05/05/1944 - Gandhi freed from prison

05/05/1944 - Russian offensive against Sebastopol Krim

06/05/1944 - 70th Kentucky Derby: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 2:04.2

06/05/1944 - KJR-AM in Seattle Wash swaps calls with KOMO

07/05/1944 - German assault on Tito's hideout in Drvar Bosnia

08/05/1944 - 1st eye bank opens (NYC)

08/05/1944 - 33 communist resistance fighter sentenced to death

08/05/1944 - U-575 sinks Asphodel

09/05/1944 - 1st eye bank opens (NYC)

09/05/1944 - Country singer Jimmie Davis becomes governor of Louisiana

09/05/1944 - Dutch resistance fighter Gerard Musch arrested

09/05/1944 - Joe McCarthy returns as Yankee manager after an illness

09/05/1944 - Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol

10/05/1944 - Chinese offensive in West-Yunnan

10/05/1944 - Smith v Allwright (excluding Blacks from primary voting) is illegal

11/05/1944 - Opposition group surprise attack post office Washer

11/05/1944 - Slomp Resistance fighter (Frits de Zwerver) freed from Arnhem prison

12/05/1944 - 900+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen and Brux

12/05/1944 - Krim purged of nazi troops

12/05/1944 - Secret Police arrest Gerrit Van de Peat

13/05/1944 - 70th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 1:59.2

14/05/1944 - 91 German bombers harass Bristol

14/05/1944 - British troops occupy Kohima

14/05/1944 - Gen Rommel, Speidel and von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate Hitler

15/05/1944 - 14,000 Jews of Munkacs Hungary deported to Auschwitz

15/05/1944 - Cincinnati Red Clyde Shoun no-hits Boston Braves, 1-0

15/05/1944 - Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill and George VI discuss D-Day plan

15/05/1944 - Sergei Aleksi becomes guardian of Patriarch Throne

16/05/1944 - 1st of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz

16/05/1944 - Milt police attack gypsies

17/05/1944 - -18] Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java

17/05/1944 - Chinese/US arm forces take Myitkyina Airport, Burma

17/05/1944 - General Eisenhower sets D-Day for June 5th

17/05/1944 - Operation Straightline: Allies land in Neth New-Guinea

18/05/1944 - Polish 2nd Army corps captures convent of Monte Cassino Italy

18/05/1944 - Expulsion of more than 200,000 Tartars from Crimea by Soviet Union begins, they are accused of collaborating with the Germans

19/05/1944 - 240 gypsies transported to Auschwitz from Westerbork Neth

[Colt45]

Very interesting. It made me curious, but I could not find any real specifics. I did

find this, though it's very general, and a bit long:

[link=http://www.answers.com/topic/general-cigar-holdings-inc?cat=biz-fin.tld/]Link[/link]

Here are a few ads, found on an auction site: