Yea you're prolly right but still. I enjoy cooking but still use recipes for the most part, just kinda tweak it what I want or to fit the wife's pickiness. Of course she's eating a whole lot more than she did when I met her.
Yea you're prolly right but still. I enjoy cooking but still use recipes for the most part, just kinda tweak it what I want or to fit the wife's pickiness. Of course she's eating a whole lot more than she did when I met her.
Welcome to marriage...
LMAO! Sorry, I knew what you meant, but just had to throw that in there!
Yea you're prolly right but still. I enjoy cooking but still use recipes for the most part, just kinda tweak it what I want or to fit the wife's pickiness. Of course she's eating a whole lot more than she did when I met her.
Welcome to marriage...
LMAO! Sorry, I knew what you meant, but just had to throw that in there!
LMAO, well this may be true, shhh, I didn't say that.
Don Tomas Clasico Corona Grande (6.5 x 44) Tubo
Wrapper: Honduran
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan.
The tube this cigar is in is a painted bright yellow and metal. It is lined with cedar and has never been opened since before I picked it up in the walk in humidor where I bought it. The cigar itself is a medium brown and has a woody spicy smell to it. Cut with a punch. The draw is woody and spicy and a bit on the tight side. It has an oily feeling to it on the lips.
The light is quick and the first few puffs are a sharp cedar with almost no finish at all. The aroma this cigar lets off is very cedar. It reminds me on a woodworking shop. When the finish does come though, its a bit too leather for the other flavors in the cigar to work well with it.
Just before the first ash fell (1 ½ inches) the cigar balances out a bit. The cedar mellows some and the leather becomes a bit sweeter. The tiniest note of white pepper is noticed on the back of the palate. The aroma is still cedar and the burn is a razors edge.
At the half way point the sweetness has faded away some and what is left is cedar and leather but not much else. I find those flavors good but, on the whole, the cigar is a bit flat in flavor.
The cigar winds down by warming up a bit. This brings on a hint of harshness but nothing to be too worried about.
This is a cigar that is left over from my pre-travel-humidor days. I would buy cigars in tubes to take backpacking for protection of the stick. This cigar was cheap and protected and it was good enough.
And thats exactly what it is.
As I pull the cigar out of the cellophane the smell wafts up to my nose. Its a rich smell. I dont even need to hold it under my nose to smell it. The smell is barnyard and a bit of dried fruit minus the sweet. The lick on the triple cap is very oily on the tongue. There is a hint of leather and sweet.
The draw unlit is coco and slightly tight.
The beginning is sweet coffee. The sweet is the initial flavor on the draw and its almost sugar in nature. The aftertaste is a bit grassy. The grass soon fades to a coffee after taste.
The first ash fell at about an inch but it was an accidental ash.
At about the halfway point the taste has not changed that much. It isnt complex at all but the flavors there arent expressly bad, its not great either. The burn is uneven but no corrective lights are needed.
As the cigar approaches the end of its life a strange bitter taste shows up.
This cigar is a bit of a let down given the pre-light. I expected more out of this cigar and brand.
Burn to the band. Time: 1h 15 min
Burn: 9
Draw: 8
Taste: 7.5
Aftertaste: 7
Construction: 9
Appearance: 8
Feel: 7
Overall: 7.9
3 smoke rings -- an average cigar just barely
Recommended to:
Give you your friends who dont care what they smoke.
it sounds like you gave this cigar too much credit and hype to start out with, the wrapper sounds awesome but its only a small part of the whole cigar. i think you should leave another one of these in your humi for a while and come back to it in a year and see how it plays out for you i think you might suprise yourself. you seemed so excited by the prelight that i dont think you gave the rest of the cigar a fair chance
it sounds like you gave this cigar too much credit and hype to start out with, the wrapper sounds awesome but its only a small part of the whole cigar. i think you should leave another one of these in your humi for a while and come back to it in a year and see how it plays out for you i think you might suprise yourself. you seemed so excited by the prelight that i dont think you gave the rest of the cigar a fair chance
there is relativly little hype to this cigar. I approached this cigar as i do every other one: with an open mind. usually when the prelight is that good the cigar follows through... at least a little.
as far as leaving it in the humi for a while...this one had been there for almost a year as it was. Since its a medium body cigar i doubt that more time would do it any good.
its not like this is a very expensive cigar either. if i remember correctly, when i got it they were runnin $2.75 - $3.50 a stick. for that price "an average cigar" is what id expect.
Also Dan aging a cigar will not necessarily make it better. Aging allows the tobacco to marry and for the most part all you're getting from it is removing any harshness from the cigar. If the flavors aren't what you like or its lacking complexity its unlikely aging will change this. If you thought the cigar was harsh or one flavor was too dominant or something along those lines, that is where aging will improve a cigar.
Vigilante by Rocky Patel
Petite Corona Corojo (4.5 x 44)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Peruvian.
The band on this cigar is wide bright and very eye catching. The cigar itself is smooth and brown with only one or two veins in it. The smell is very classic tobacco. Licking the cap brings a taste that is a fairly sweet and oily with a hint on pepper. A punch cut and draw test expose the draw is a bit tight but has a coco and coffee thing going on.
The first puffs are earthy and leathery. There is a bit of that autumn taste that I associate with a corojo wrapper and a mild sweetness. Within the first inch a mild cinnamon develops. It isnt a hot cinnamon, but rather a raw mild cinnamon that would be good on applesauce, with a mild sweetness. I find the smoke to have a bit of a desiccant and the aftertaste has a fair amount of bitter to it.
Shortly after the first ash falls a strange bubble thing develops on the side of the cigar. It doesnt poke out far and the burn is still good but its definitely protruding out on one spot. Ive never seen this before.
At the half way point the flavor is about the same. A crack has developed off of the bubble. It isnt falling apart but it does show there are some issues going on.
The bitter seems to be getting worse though I have slowed my pace of smoking.
The bubble and the crack seem to be caused by an expanding binder. The binder itself is not cracked but rather unfolding. It seems that this is clearly a construction issue rather than a humidity issue or some other storage/damage issue. The foot is clearly wider than the head of the cigar and is expanding to the point of I can hear it cracking when I draw.
Even through all of this the burn has remained decent. It may be expanding and cracking but its all burning at the same rate.
With an inch or so left the bitter has left but is replaced by an ash taste. The good can no longer compete with the bad. Time to put it down.
I chose a 2 of six smoke rings because there was a flaw in the cigar; not in the concept but in how this particular cigar smokes. It was very clear that it was a construction issue. I would be interested in hearing from those of you who have smoked this cigar and liked it.
I have only smoked the maduro and its an average cigar. Burn issues are common with it as that bitter finish. Its odd to me that it can come into your mouth sweet and leave bitter but thats what happens with this cigar. The Robusto doesn't have the bitter problem but it does still have burn issues.
I've never heard of this cigar... I'd be looking forward to a your reviewing one where the construction isn't such a problem. On construction, what does it take for a cigar to get, say, a "3" rating?
iduno. never had one that even came close. I try only to smoke good cigars so my reviews tend to score high. if i smoked everything then some more would get bad reviews.
In NC (at least I think it's the whole state), they give health/cleanliness scores to restaurants based on inspections. They use a 100-point scale, and deduct points for items which go against code. A restaurant can also earn bonus credits for certain other items, so it is possible for a restaurant to receive a 105-ish score. If a restaurant scores below 90, that is bad, and if it scores below 80, it is unacceptable. While it is technically possible to score in the 20's or 30's, it is (in reality) impossible because the restaurant would have to break virtually every rule in the health code, and would have been shut down well before that. I think the lowest score I've heard about for a restaurant was something like a 72.
I figured your rating system was somewhat similar, in that a "3" construction is more of a theoretical possibility. If you found yourself smoking something that poor, you'd probably toss it before the score could even get that low.
10-23-08 been in humi since 2-24-07
Gurkha Grand Master Dos Capos (8.5 x 52)
Wrapper: Cameroon, Brazilian Habana 2000
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan
This cigar is huge. It has an impressive stature to it. i mean seriously look at it: There are however, a few flaws in the wrapper that are very easy to spot due to the very high contrast in the two wrappers. The Cameroon seems very fragile.
The smell is sweet barnyard, very much on the earth side. The lick on the cap has a very hay taste to it. Cut with a punch. The cut created a small crack in the cap. The draw test is very good.
Once lit the taste is sweet and earthy, almost moss in nature. Once the cigar develops a bit there is a coffee taste to it. Even after the first ash this cigar is still longer than most cigars that I tend to smoke. The ash fell at one inch. At that point a bit of a grassy flavor is hinted at. Mostly the initial tastes are still there. It isnt very complex at this point. If it doesnt become more complex will it get boring being that it will end up a 2- 3 hour smoke? The burn is even. I was worried about this because of the two different thicknesses of each wrapper.
Three inches in and an oak like taste comes out. I would still hesitate to call it complex but this oak is a welcome addition. The burn is still perfect.
Nearing the half way point (an hour and 15 min in) the cigar has built up a coffee taste on the finish. Its a bit on the bitter side. Besides that the flavor is much of the same. There is no spice at all.
With about an inch left the taste has not changed. The initial flavor is significantly better than the aftertaste. Its a good showpiece and it burns well but it lacks in the flavor department.
I'd certainly rather have an ugly cigar that has a bang up flavor any day of any week. All looks and no flavor is just not for me. Good review as always, I'll be sure to steer clear of that one.
I need to keep in mind that we all get the occassional bad cigar in an otherwise quality line. I assume that happened yesterday with my first Gran Habano Blue Label. It was a robusto that had a few soft spots, but otherwise looked good. A good clip, but difficult light . . . one side didn't seem to want to light. Got it going, nice, easy draw, wonderful spicy, floral aroma and great flavor of spice, black pepper and oak -- but an ash that was ragged and terribly uneven color -- mostly charcoal gray to black on outside with some white inside but not uniformly white. Looked like some filler didn't want to burn. It dropped before hitting an inch. I was surprised the flavor and aroma stayed and got more complex throughout the smoke. No re-lights, but needed touch ups twice. One side of the wrapper just didn't want to burn., it just charred and started wrinkling. So I passed it off as a roller having a bad day. I have another, so I'll give it a try and see how it goes. The flavor, aroma and strength impressed me enough to try a few more before giving up.
I have had some minor burn issues with Gran Habano cigars. I've yet to try a Blue Label, but my experience comes from the #3 habano, #5 corojo and 3 Siglos. Again, nothing major, just every so often they required a touch-up.
The cigar is fairly large and has a bit of a tooth to it. It smells light. The color is a bit lighter than some other maduros that I have seen. I bought this cigar in Las Vegas and they cut it with a punch for me so I have no taste for the lick on the cap precut. The draw is good, maybe great. There is sweetness to the draw.
The first draws, after the light, are a bit bitter from the light. The wind is clearly a factor here; I had to light quickly. After it settles a bit the draw is round and has what I notice is in all Nicaraguan cigars: a round coffee and burnt coco taste. People often compare Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco. I dont know why they do. They both seem to have very unique features to me. The only common thread is that they are both very round in nature.
This cigar is not as sweet as I thought it would be from the prelight. There is also a wood like taste that might be similar to cork. This flavor was at the first ash, maybe an inch and a half in.
The flavor profile is not what I usually go for but the feel of this cigar is amazing, and unbelievably relaxing. The aroma is quite good as well with earth and wood abundant. A very light spice is sometimes present as well.
At the half way point the flavor is very much the same, good but not very complex.
The cigar burns fast. I have had no burn issues at all. I feel that the cigar is a bit on the dry side. time to check the battery in my hygrometer.
As the cigar ends a great roundness develops. This is the first bit of real complexity in the cigar. I wish it would have done this at the midpoint.
That second-floor bedroom you have that contains an underground stream in Cuba seems relevant here, somehow. I'm just not quite bright enough to figure out how. Relativistic fizziks always gave me trouble.
Comments
LMAO! Sorry, I knew what you meant, but just had to throw that in there!
Don Tomas Clasico Corona Grande (6.5 x 44) Tubo
Wrapper: Honduran
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan.
The tube this cigar is in is a painted bright yellow and metal. It is lined with cedar and has never been opened since before I picked it up in the walk in humidor where I bought it. The cigar itself is a medium brown and has a woody spicy smell to it. Cut with a punch. The draw is woody and spicy and a bit on the tight side. It has an oily feeling to it on the lips.
The light is quick and the first few puffs are a sharp cedar with almost no finish at all. The aroma this cigar lets off is very cedar. It reminds me on a woodworking shop. When the finish does come though, its a bit too leather for the other flavors in the cigar to work well with it.
Just before the first ash fell (1 ½ inches) the cigar balances out a bit. The cedar mellows some and the leather becomes a bit sweeter. The tiniest note of white pepper is noticed on the back of the palate. The aroma is still cedar and the burn is a razors edge.
At the half way point the sweetness has faded away some and what is left is cedar and leather but not much else. I find those flavors good but, on the whole, the cigar is a bit flat in flavor.
The cigar winds down by warming up a bit. This brings on a hint of harshness but nothing to be too worried about.
This is a cigar that is left over from my pre-travel-humidor days. I would buy cigars in tubes to take backpacking for protection of the stick. This cigar was cheap and protected and it was good enough.
And thats exactly what it is.
Burn to the band
Burn time: 1h 30m
Burn: 10
Draw: 8
Taste: 8
Aftertaste: 8
Construction: 9
Appearance: 9
Feel: 7
Overall: 8.4
3 smoke rings -- an average cigar
Recommended to:
Those who like cedar in the smoke but thats all
Those who need a tubo to go back packing with.
Padilla Hybrid Robusto (5x50)
Wrapper: Hybrid Cuban seed/Connecticut seed Ecuadorian Sungrown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican, Peruvian
As I pull the cigar out of the cellophane the smell wafts up to my nose. Its a rich smell. I dont even need to hold it under my nose to smell it. The smell is barnyard and a bit of dried fruit minus the sweet. The lick on the triple cap is very oily on the tongue. There is a hint of leather and sweet.
The draw unlit is coco and slightly tight.
The beginning is sweet coffee. The sweet is the initial flavor on the draw and its almost sugar in nature. The aftertaste is a bit grassy. The grass soon fades to a coffee after taste.
The first ash fell at about an inch but it was an accidental ash.
At about the halfway point the taste has not changed that much. It isnt complex at all but the flavors there arent expressly bad, its not great either. The burn is uneven but no corrective lights are needed.
As the cigar approaches the end of its life a strange bitter taste shows up.
This cigar is a bit of a let down given the pre-light. I expected more out of this cigar and brand.
Burn to the band. Time: 1h 15 min
Burn: 9
Draw: 8
Taste: 7.5
Aftertaste: 7
Construction: 9
Appearance: 8
Feel: 7
Overall: 7.9
3 smoke rings -- an average cigar just barely
Recommended to:
Give you your friends who dont care what they smoke.
What caused the accidental ash?
...it was already lacking when it left the factory.
again, just one opinion on one day.
usually when the prelight is that good the cigar follows through... at least a little.
as far as leaving it in the humi for a while...this one had been there for almost a year as it was. Since its a medium body cigar i doubt that more time would do it any good.
its not like this is a very expensive cigar either. if i remember correctly, when i got it they were runnin $2.75 - $3.50 a stick. for that price "an average cigar" is what id expect.
Vigilante by Rocky Patel
Petite Corona Corojo (4.5 x 44)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Peruvian.
The band on this cigar is wide bright and very eye catching. The cigar itself is smooth and brown with only one or two veins in it. The smell is very classic tobacco. Licking the cap brings a taste that is a fairly sweet and oily with a hint on pepper. A punch cut and draw test expose the draw is a bit tight but has a coco and coffee thing going on.
The first puffs are earthy and leathery. There is a bit of that autumn taste that I associate with a corojo wrapper and a mild sweetness. Within the first inch a mild cinnamon develops. It isnt a hot cinnamon, but rather a raw mild cinnamon that would be good on applesauce, with a mild sweetness. I find the smoke to have a bit of a desiccant and the aftertaste has a fair amount of bitter to it.
Shortly after the first ash falls a strange bubble thing develops on the side of the cigar. It doesnt poke out far and the burn is still good but its definitely protruding out on one spot. Ive never seen this before.
At the half way point the flavor is about the same. A crack has developed off of the bubble. It isnt falling apart but it does show there are some issues going on.
The bitter seems to be getting worse though I have slowed my pace of smoking. The bubble and the crack seem to be caused by an expanding binder. The binder itself is not cracked but rather unfolding. It seems that this is clearly a construction issue rather than a humidity issue or some other storage/damage issue. The foot is clearly wider than the head of the cigar and is expanding to the point of I can hear it cracking when I draw.
Even through all of this the burn has remained decent. It may be expanding and cracking but its all burning at the same rate.
With an inch or so left the bitter has left but is replaced by an ash taste. The good can no longer compete with the bad. Time to put it down.
Burn time 55 min
Burn: 9
Draw: 8
Taste: 7
Aftertaste: 6
Construction: 6
Appearance: 9
Feel: 7
Overall: 7.4
2 smoke rings -- a flawed cigar
I chose a 2 of six smoke rings because there was a flaw in the cigar; not in the concept but in how this particular cigar smokes. It was very clear that it was a construction issue. I would be interested in hearing from those of you who have smoked this cigar and liked it.
I figured your rating system was somewhat similar, in that a "3" construction is more of a theoretical possibility. If you found yourself smoking something that poor, you'd probably toss it before the score could even get that low.
Gurkha Grand Master Dos Capos (8.5 x 52)
Wrapper: Cameroon, Brazilian Habana 2000
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan
This cigar is huge. It has an impressive stature to it. i mean seriously look at it:
There are however, a few flaws in the wrapper that are very easy to spot due to the very high contrast in the two wrappers. The Cameroon seems very fragile.
The smell is sweet barnyard, very much on the earth side. The lick on the cap has a very hay taste to it. Cut with a punch. The cut created a small crack in the cap. The draw test is very good.
Once lit the taste is sweet and earthy, almost moss in nature. Once the cigar develops a bit there is a coffee taste to it. Even after the first ash this cigar is still longer than most cigars that I tend to smoke. The ash fell at one inch. At that point a bit of a grassy flavor is hinted at. Mostly the initial tastes are still there. It isnt very complex at this point. If it doesnt become more complex will it get boring being that it will end up a 2- 3 hour smoke? The burn is even. I was worried about this because of the two different thicknesses of each wrapper.
Three inches in and an oak like taste comes out. I would still hesitate to call it complex but this oak is a welcome addition. The burn is still perfect.
Nearing the half way point (an hour and 15 min in) the cigar has built up a coffee taste on the finish. Its a bit on the bitter side. Besides that the flavor is much of the same. There is no spice at all.
With about an inch left the taste has not changed. The initial flavor is significantly better than the aftertaste. Its a good showpiece and it burns well but it lacks in the flavor department.
Burned to the nub.
Burn time: 2 hours 40 minutes.
Burn: 10
Draw: 9
Taste: 8
Aftertaste: 7
Construction: 9
Appearance: 8
Feel: 8
Overall: 8.4
3 smoke rings -- an average cigar
Recommended to:
golfers (given the hastle free burn and burn time)
people who buy cigars for looks only.
I need to keep in mind that we all get the occassional bad cigar in an otherwise quality line. I assume that happened yesterday with my first Gran Habano Blue Label. It was a robusto that had a few soft spots, but otherwise looked good. A good clip, but difficult light . . . one side didn't seem to want to light. Got it going, nice, easy draw, wonderful spicy, floral aroma and great flavor of spice, black pepper and oak -- but an ash that was ragged and terribly uneven color -- mostly charcoal gray to black on outside with some white inside but not uniformly white. Looked like some filler didn't want to burn. It dropped before hitting an inch. I was surprised the flavor and aroma stayed and got more complex throughout the smoke. No re-lights, but needed touch ups twice. One side of the wrapper just didn't want to burn., it just charred and started wrinkling. So I passed it off as a roller having a bad day. I have another, so I'll give it a try and see how it goes. The flavor, aroma and strength impressed me enough to try a few more before giving up.
What have your experiences been with this cigar?
I have had the Gran Habano Habano #3. i remember a few burn issues as well but nothing too bad. I liked it enough to get another.
maybe they just have an issue with rollers there.
Padron 4000 Maduro (6.5 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
The cigar is fairly large and has a bit of a tooth to it. It smells light. The color is a bit lighter than some other maduros that I have seen. I bought this cigar in Las Vegas and they cut it with a punch for me so I have no taste for the lick on the cap precut. The draw is good, maybe great. There is sweetness to the draw.
The first draws, after the light, are a bit bitter from the light. The wind is clearly a factor here; I had to light quickly. After it settles a bit the draw is round and has what I notice is in all Nicaraguan cigars: a round coffee and burnt coco taste. People often compare Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco. I dont know why they do. They both seem to have very unique features to me. The only common thread is that they are both very round in nature.
This cigar is not as sweet as I thought it would be from the prelight. There is also a wood like taste that might be similar to cork. This flavor was at the first ash, maybe an inch and a half in.
The flavor profile is not what I usually go for but the feel of this cigar is amazing, and unbelievably relaxing. The aroma is quite good as well with earth and wood abundant. A very light spice is sometimes present as well.
At the half way point the flavor is very much the same, good but not very complex.
The cigar burns fast. I have had no burn issues at all. I feel that the cigar is a bit on the dry side. time to check the battery in my hygrometer.
As the cigar ends a great roundness develops. This is the first bit of real complexity in the cigar. I wish it would have done this at the midpoint.
Burn to the nub
Burn time: 1h 35min
Burn: 10
Draw: 9
Taste: 8
Aftertaste: 8
Construction: 9
Appearance: 8
Feel: 10
Overall: 8.8
3 smoke rings -- an average cigar
time to move to Iran.
or is that Uranium?
That second-floor bedroom you have that contains an underground stream in Cuba seems relevant here, somehow. I'm just not quite bright enough to figure out how. Relativistic fizziks always gave me trouble.