$5 Yard Gar Reviews
blutattoo
Posts: 1,294 ✭✭✭
$5 Yard Gar reviews.
I am sure some will dispute whether a yard gar can cost as much as five bucks, but the point of this thread is to give my impressions of sticks that can be bought for under five dollars. Im not talking about 5 dollar msrp, but rather what you can reasonable expect to pay for one when bought by the box, in a bundle, or on sale. My hope is to shed light on some less expensive smokes that might fly under the radar, but offer a good enough experience for others to consider when looking for a good cheap smoke. My palate is certainly not as refined as some of the people I would call experts on ccom, but I have smoked enough different smokes to know what I like and I dont.
Todays review is the:
Pinar Del Rio Small Batch Black Corojo
Toro 6x52
20 Ct. Box Price $42.99
Here is what they say:
Made with total care and consideration, Pinar del Rio Small Batch Black Corojo cigars are the epitome of what boutique blends should look like. A complex mixture of Dominican Corojo ligeros and secos are combined with Dominican Criollo 98 long leaves, and then cradled inside a silky, sultry Dominican Habano wrapper. The result is medium to full in body, featuring distinctive notes of earth, black pepper, dried fruit, and cedar. This is one fine cigar, and it will thoroughly satisfy any connoisseur from start to finish.
Appearance and feel:
Im not sure I would call this a pretty cigar. The wrapper gives the impression of a paper towel roll both in color and character. It is rather rough to the touch with a number of noticeable veins. The cigar is firm without giving the impression of being tight and It feels slightly lighter than its size would indicate.
Pre-light and draw:
The smell is surprisingly pleasant given its lack of visual appeal. A definite woodsy smell is predominate with more pine than cedar. After the cut the draw is perfect. Which is almost as important as the flavor itself in my opinion. Not to firm and not like sucking air through a straw.
First impressions: Surprisingly good. It would seem like the factory description is very close to my experience. Black pepper, dried apricot minus the sweetness, cedar, and a touch of leather and sea salt. If I was given this cigar blind I would not have picked the Dominican as its country of origin.
Full impression:
The cigar produces a good amount of smoke. Burn has stayed razor sharp. The ash is not holding much more than half an inch. Due to some inattention I had to re-light about a third of the way through, but it hasnt thrown off the flavor. The flavor has stayed consistent throughout. No transitions to new flavors just a lot of the same. Towards the middle, more of the dried fruit sweetness has come on with the aftertaste. Its almost a mouth feel of sweetness more than the actual flavor of something sweet. Black pepper has stayed consistent and is the most prominent flavor with cedar and leather on the aftertaste.
Past the halfway point the cigar loses its ability to stay lit more often. The flavors have stayed much the same with exception of the pepper becoming less and less prominent and the cedar and sweetness playing a larger role. I am getting a very minor amount of harshness, but nothing major or unpleasant. The final third seems to finish the way it started. What started as a pleasant smoking experience has ended with a tad bit of boredom.
Final impression:
At just over two bucks a stick this is a pretty good bargain. It doesnt cost enough to get you disappointed by its lack complexity, but it offers enough good things to keep a few in the cooler. I have smoked a number of these and have had extremely consistent experience each time. I would keep these in a rotation of everyday or value priced sticks.
Rating:
7.5 out of 10
I am sure some will dispute whether a yard gar can cost as much as five bucks, but the point of this thread is to give my impressions of sticks that can be bought for under five dollars. Im not talking about 5 dollar msrp, but rather what you can reasonable expect to pay for one when bought by the box, in a bundle, or on sale. My hope is to shed light on some less expensive smokes that might fly under the radar, but offer a good enough experience for others to consider when looking for a good cheap smoke. My palate is certainly not as refined as some of the people I would call experts on ccom, but I have smoked enough different smokes to know what I like and I dont.
Todays review is the:
Pinar Del Rio Small Batch Black Corojo
Toro 6x52
20 Ct. Box Price $42.99
Here is what they say:
Made with total care and consideration, Pinar del Rio Small Batch Black Corojo cigars are the epitome of what boutique blends should look like. A complex mixture of Dominican Corojo ligeros and secos are combined with Dominican Criollo 98 long leaves, and then cradled inside a silky, sultry Dominican Habano wrapper. The result is medium to full in body, featuring distinctive notes of earth, black pepper, dried fruit, and cedar. This is one fine cigar, and it will thoroughly satisfy any connoisseur from start to finish.
Appearance and feel:
Im not sure I would call this a pretty cigar. The wrapper gives the impression of a paper towel roll both in color and character. It is rather rough to the touch with a number of noticeable veins. The cigar is firm without giving the impression of being tight and It feels slightly lighter than its size would indicate.
Pre-light and draw:
The smell is surprisingly pleasant given its lack of visual appeal. A definite woodsy smell is predominate with more pine than cedar. After the cut the draw is perfect. Which is almost as important as the flavor itself in my opinion. Not to firm and not like sucking air through a straw.
First impressions: Surprisingly good. It would seem like the factory description is very close to my experience. Black pepper, dried apricot minus the sweetness, cedar, and a touch of leather and sea salt. If I was given this cigar blind I would not have picked the Dominican as its country of origin.
Full impression:
The cigar produces a good amount of smoke. Burn has stayed razor sharp. The ash is not holding much more than half an inch. Due to some inattention I had to re-light about a third of the way through, but it hasnt thrown off the flavor. The flavor has stayed consistent throughout. No transitions to new flavors just a lot of the same. Towards the middle, more of the dried fruit sweetness has come on with the aftertaste. Its almost a mouth feel of sweetness more than the actual flavor of something sweet. Black pepper has stayed consistent and is the most prominent flavor with cedar and leather on the aftertaste.
Past the halfway point the cigar loses its ability to stay lit more often. The flavors have stayed much the same with exception of the pepper becoming less and less prominent and the cedar and sweetness playing a larger role. I am getting a very minor amount of harshness, but nothing major or unpleasant. The final third seems to finish the way it started. What started as a pleasant smoking experience has ended with a tad bit of boredom.
Final impression:
At just over two bucks a stick this is a pretty good bargain. It doesnt cost enough to get you disappointed by its lack complexity, but it offers enough good things to keep a few in the cooler. I have smoked a number of these and have had extremely consistent experience each time. I would keep these in a rotation of everyday or value priced sticks.
Rating:
7.5 out of 10
0
Comments
¨Only two people walk around in this world beardless - boys and women - and I am neither one.¨
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
My favorite cigar list here
Alec Bradley American Sun Grown
Toro 6 x 50
Price $93.99 for a box of twenty purchased on sale for $92 w/freebies
What they say
Alec Bradley's American Classic came as a bit of a surprise to the cigar industry. The Connecticut-wrapped blend was far stronger than most enthusiasts had expected and was packed with a ton of flavor. So where does that leave American Sun Grown? Well, this blend amps it up even more. While the strength won't surprise you, it's ripe with rich, full flavors that remind you how a Nicaraguan puro should taste like. Notes of spice, leather, and earth run rampant on your palate and linger there long enough to easily pair with your favorite scotch.
Appearance and feel
This is a dark cigar for sure, although there are some inconsistencies with the coloring on the wrapper. It almost appears as if you can see through it to the lighter color binder in places. This is not actually the case since the wrapper feels thick and rustic(rough). The cigar feels perfectly weighted in hand and is neither too firm or too soft.
Pre-light and draw
Cut with a guillotine produces a perfect draw. Initial taste of damp earth and cedar with just a hint of pepper.
First Impressions
Boom instant black pepper blast from the first puff. After the first few draws the overwhelming black pepper subsides. This is not quite as spicy as a MOW, Diesel, or MF, but it is close. I am also getting a very distinct vanilla extract taste. It surprising mellows after the pepper dies out. The initial ash holds on for an inch or so, and they burn has stayed razor sharp through the first third.
Full Impression
The burn has turned a little wonky midway through and the ash definitely doesnt hold on for very long. I am wondering if it is a bit too humidified. I pulled this out of the bottom of the cooler, but it is staying lit nonetheless. The pepper has definitely mellowed considerably and a very earthy character has become prominent. I get fleeting notes of orange peel zest, vanilla, oak, and leather. Nothing stays on the palate long enough to really concentrate on, which is a shame since all of the flavors would be great if they were more pronounced. These have been in the cooler for a few months, but maybe a year or two of aging would do these some good.
The burn has straightened itself out without a touch up and the flavors have remained consistent throughout. For a Nicaraguan puro I am getting a different kind of spice than is typical of those type of smokes. I would really swear this is a multi-country blend.
Final Impression
I purchased these simply because they had a fifteen pack freebie with the purchase of any Alec Bradley box. All told it worked out to be less than $3 bucks a stick. At this price point I think they are worth it, at retail I would buy others that I think are more well rounded. This is not quite a stick you sit down and just enjoy with a drink, but it is definitely much better tasting and constructed than a typical yard gar. For me the perfect place and time for this cigar is the third cigar of the day when your palate is a little off and you just want a strong cigar to go with your bourbon straight up.
Rating
8 out of 10
Yeah, I didn't want to like them because it seemed so gimmicky but I loved them. Bought some of the new K-9 ones as well. They are pretty good, but I like the original more I think. Anyway, let me know if you want either one or both. I certainly owe you more than a couple of yard gars!
Taxes in the lousy state of NJ i's hare to find smokes under $6... Betchya if I found one here it would be $8-$9!
Rating 9.0 out of ten
(hmm, wait...if no one buys them they'll stop carrying them)
OK, some of y'all might like them, but not the Toros. Those, you'd probably best just leave for me, I'll suffer for you.
In all seriousness, you don't know what you'll get, Connies, maduros, etc., but it's the sweetest deal I've ever found here.
(my Gollum voice in my head says "SHUT UP! STOP TALKING TO THEM"
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
The SF in the title stands for short filler. From what I gather, the long filler that got cut off as they're rolling cigars gets re-used in sticks like this. Supposedly DPG, who is in charge of the MF operations, makes sure the short filler cuttings get used at a 70/30 ratio with 70% of the same long fillers being the same as the 30% the short fillers came from so the flavors are consistent with the original blend.
Draw is a tad loose, but fine. Construction is fine, with a clean good-quality wrapper. Burn is straight and sharp, with the ash holding an inch easily.
Flavors are respectable; spicy cedar, with a nice cofffee-like undertone. Not much shift in flavor from start down to the last couple inches.
Ccom sold me the sampler, but I don't see them available on their own. It may take a call to The Beard, but I they're generally just under $2.50 in Toro, when available.
Disclaimer; sipping some Evan Williams Single Barrel may be turning this yard 'gar into something more than it is. :-)