Swedish cuban cigar tasting

kjellfrick · November 29, 2008

We, a small crowd of swedish Habanos enthusiasts, had talked about getting together to smoke premium Habanos and cultivate our interest in the cuban art of cigars. This first meeting was organised by trebla and Superpartagas and took place in september in Stjärnhov, a lovely village southwest of Stockholm. A total of nine gentlemen (trebla, Superpartagas, kjellfrick, COJ, fundadores, LasseP, Joppe, Ståhlbom and Patrik) met up for a three course dinner and some cigars provided by the organisers of the event. No particular theme was intended; the cigars were chosen as being interesting and good examples of cuban cigar production. They were, in smoking order:

-Montecristo Robusto LE 2000 (VEL DIC00)

-Vegas Robaina 15 Anniversario, 5th Avenue, Germany (OLK AGO04)

-Romeo y Julieta Cedros de Luxe No. 3, vintage from the 70’s

-Custom made Coronas, rolled by Milagri, Hotel Nacional, february -08

We all took tasting notes and these are collated in the following sections. Of course, we all started with Mojitos before lighting up!

Top row from left to right: trebla. Superpartagas, kjellfrick and Patrik.

Bottom row: LasseP, fundadores and Joppe. LasseP, Patrik and Superpartagas.

Montecristo Robusto LE 2000 (The first limitada release).

Boxcode: VEL DIC00 (Group code la Habana province).

Bought from an english merchant, kept since then at 65-68 % RH. EMS, JJ Fox and Special Vintage Selection JJ Fox EMS Hunters & Frankau stickers.

The tasting protocols showed a wide disparity in perceived tastes (it’s almost as if we smoked nine different cigars) and this summary weighs the comments The lack of unity was mainly caused by great variations in draw which went from almost plugged to a very good draw.

This robusto was quite box pressed with a dark colorado wrapper. Ash was grey and black striated with lighter areas mixed in. The general appearance was very nice; a solid, well contructed cigar with a slight bloom and tooth.

The aroma of the unlit cigar was faint, with cocoa, vanilla and coffee foremost. The draw also had cocoa flavours.

Smoking:

The burn, draw and, as a consequence, smoke volume varied a lot. Cocoa, coffee and bean flavours were found by almost everyone and there were hints of darker flavours, eg dark chocolate, found by some of us. Creaminess, acrid vanilla, cedar, some pepper, mild woodiness, bitter woodiness towards the end, tartness, spices were spread comments. Nicotine content was felt as low and both strength and fullness were judged as medium.

In Summary:

Many of us had cigars with bad draws, and consequently our appreciation of the cigar varied a lot. Beany, cocoa and coffee flavours dominated. We gave the cigar 3 - 6 points on a nine point scale

Vegas Robaina 15 Aniversario, 5th Avenue Germany

52x156 Robusto Extra. Boxcode OLK AGO04

This is a highly sought after special release from Germany. Only 1000 boxes were produced, and the presentation was in Semi Boite Nature boxes with 15 cigars. A predecessor of the regional releases of later years.

Very well rolled cigars, almost perfect in appearance. Some very fine veins in the wrapper but no imperfections. A well developed triple cap on a light colorado wrapper.

This Jubilee cigar had a faint, mild and gentle aroma, possibly with hints of stable and cocoa whereas someone detected a sweet smell. The pre-light draw gave very little flavours, maybe a hint of sweet cocoa. One of us detected weak cellar flavours.

Smoking:

The cigar had an exemplary burn and the smoke volume was good. Ashes were striated with a mix of light grey, silvery and black. Someone felt the ashes didn’t hold together very well towards the end.

This cigars split us into two camps where one group felt it had a thin, non-cuban, farty elegance that lacked the cuban fundament whereas the other group thought it had great potential.

Recurrent tasting opinions were; dry character, clean tobacco, tannic, cedar, tartness and pepper. The cocoa-coffee-cream combo was found by one smoker and someone found similarities with the H. Upmann flavours.

Strength was perceived as mild to medium and the fullness thin to medium.

In Summary:

Not quite cuban in character. It gains points on looks and construction. Points averaged out around 7 out of nine, with a few giving lower points and one of us believed it had a potential for a 9 in the future.

Romeo y Julieta Cedros de Luxe No. 3

Vintage 70’s

42x129, Marevas in cedar cover from the early 70’s.

This is a cuban classic still in production. It was interesting to taste the long term effects of the cedar wrap. The cigars were presented in the original ”green” dress box.

The cigars were perfectly constructed with very beautiful light brown wrappers without any faults at all. Someone commented that they were quite oily for their age.

We detected many subtle aromas from the unlit cigars, the most common ones were honey, strong aromatic woody and pine forest aromas. Also noted was vanilla, dried fruit and cocoa. The pre-draw was light, many of us concidered it perfect.

Smoking:

The cigars had an easy draw, perfect according to many of us, and the smoke billowed out nicely. Ashes were mostly white, in some cases striated with light grey, and kept together well.

We were very much in accord on the taste of this cigar. Punchy flavours of aromatic woodiness, cedar, pine, terpentine, pine sap and juniper wood flavours as well as a nice pepper nose-burning strength were noted by all and increased throughout the cigar. Bitter almond and some acidity in there. We were a bit surprised by the strength of flavour in the cigar concidering its age. Body was judged to be medium and strength medium to strong.

In Summary:

We averaged 7-8 points on this one. It lacked some depth and complexity for a full nine points.

Custom Made Corona

There is a mystery quality in these cigars since they aren’t part of regular production and have been rolled by Cuba’s best rollers. These were rolled by Milagri at the Hotel Nacional in Havana in februari 13, 2008.

The colorado wrappers looked really good with a well made cap, but some pronounced veins present. Good construction. Pre-draw smells of warm barnyard with a hint of coffee.

Smoking:

The draw was very good, having a slight cuban resistance – ”just right” – and the ash was grey. The cigar was medium strong. Tasting notes revealed diverging opinions among us; ”too fresh, tart and all over the place tastewise”, ”mild, with a full rounded taste”, ”sweet, honey taste, exotic wood, soft flavours, very little pepper” and ”the best cigar tonight, really”!

In Summary:

The cigars previously smoked this night probably affected our palates when we evaluated this custom made stick. Personally, I found this one to have the greatest quality and the greatest potential for development. We gave the cigar 7 to 8 points of 9.

Final thoughts:

We all had expectations before this event. What came out of it as winners was not what we had generally expected, however. The Montecristo Robusto was a dismal failure in quality and the Vegas Robaina didn’t even remind us of a cuban cigar in taste! Enter the vintage RyJ! The surprising strength of flavour in this 35 year old cigar was totally unexpected. The Custom Made was also far better than we had expected, especially concidering its youth. All in all it was a great night with great people, a splendid dinner with some very interesting smokes! To be continued in another place another time…

For the Cuba-Herf-Group

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