Vegueros belicoso from 2002 limited edition humidor

[broozer]

Well, I couldn't wait any longer to light one of these up. Someone on another cigar forum told me he had smoked a couple of them and told me since I liked the Vegueros line already that I would for sure like these. So curiosity got the best of me and I grabbed one from the humidor:

Pre light draw proved this cigar to have just the perfect draw to it (clipped at an angle). Before lighting I can taste the usual herbal flavors to this cigar, which is exactly what I expected from a vegueros cigar.

WOW! This thing starts out really good. It's got the normal flavors that most vegueros have (herbal and salt), but it's also got a great dose of black pepper in there too. The salt flavor of this one is equal to the sancho panza corona honestly. At only ¼" inch into the cigar I can tell this is gonna be one helluva smoke.

I've hit the one inch mark and the ash is holding tight (except for the little bit I accidently knocked off). The pepper flavor has gone away pretty much and the herbal and salt flavors have calmed down a bit and there's a slight creamy/smooth taste to the cigar now. So far the burn has been pretty straight with only a couple of minor touch ups. At this point is a wonderful mild flavored habanos. The draw is still perfect and there's tons of smoke.

You know what's really weird? If I didn't know this was a vegueros I would swear it's an SP belicoso (I might have to smoke one of my SP beli's from '02 after this just to do a comparison). Nearing the two inch mark the creaminess has really taken over with both salt and herbal flavors deep in the background.

At the halfway point the black pepper has jumped back at me out of nowhere pretty much overpowering all other flavors. It wasn't until the halfway point that I even needed to take a sip of water. That's how smooth this cigar is to me. And as quick as the pepper came back it's gone again within about 3-4 puffs.

Well, the flavors kept up pretty strong until the end of the cigar, especially the pepper flavors. That was one damn fine cigar and if that box wasn't so pricey I'd order another right this second.

The one thing that I can't figure out is what has happened to some of the bands. It almost looks like the gold on the bands has oxidized and it while it looks like it's liquid (because it's shiny), it is not. Maybe wilkey can tell me what has possibly happened here. Here's a pic of the band close up:

Like I said, this was a great cigar and one I am definitely looking forward to smoking more of these from this humidor (well, it's not really a humidor).

bruce

[hoyopr]

Thanks for a great review Bruce. I've not tried anything from Vegueros but have added some Sancho to my list of cigars to try so appreciate the comparisons you've included.

Randall

[stever]

Nice photos and great review.

Haven't smoked that many Vegueros. The belicoso sounds like a pretty good smoke. Looks like there were plenty of resin specs on the ash, too.

[n2advnture]

Excellent review Bruce!

~Mark