The Power of Suggestion - Cohiba Siglo II Tubo 2007

Folks were talking about this cigar online today, and I remembered how long it had been since I had one.  I picked out a good one, which is to say I grabbed the first one out of the 3-pack.  I opened the tube and found either a bit of plume or dried mold near the cap.  I generally think of this as plume, since it gathered around the edge of one of the cap slices.  Mold in my experience, is more of a generalized covering of an area of the cigar. 

This shows you the difference between old-man vision and a sharp closeup.  This looks like mold to me, but I am willing to split the difference.  There is no aroma of dankness nor evidence of staining on the cigar or the cedar.  Regardless, it's going to be smoked.
I pinched out a piece of the cap and lit it up.  The cigar appears dry, but the gentle squeeze I give it tells me that it is well humidified.  Normally I would dry this out for a day or even two, but the last time I did that the cigar tunnelled, so I decided to just shake this one out and fire it up.  The first draws were strong and dry, and not very appealing.  As it burned down about a half an inch, the cigar warmed up and became very aromatic and flavorful, with a lot of sweet, tangy goodness.  I do not find the Siglo series to be too full of the exotic bean flavors, but there was coffee and tea in abundance.  The Habano 2000 series strain of wrapper leaf bunched up in a sloppy ash, but there was no real problem with ragged burn. 

I am not a big fan of the Siglos, and this one is not great, but it is a good cigar to be sure.  It's got a good molasses note in the smoke and the smoke itself is plentiful.  I have had much better examples of this vitola de salida, but again, I don't think of this as a great Cohiba cigar.  It is however, one of those smokes that proves to me that the Cohiba name is not worth paying a premium for in every case.  The bigger, thicker vitolas certainly offer more for the money, but these Siglos, the I and II, to me, are not worth the money.  I could get two Bolivar Petit Coronas for the price of this cigar, and I guarantee you I'd enjoy them more.  And again, this is NOT a bad cigar.  It's really all in what you prefer.  I would also think this would be a great smoke paired with rum or whiskey.  I don't take spirits on the weekdays, lol.  So who knows.  The burn to the end was decent but became raggedy in the second half.  And to it's credit, the cigar's flavor improved during the second half, becoming quite 'sophisticated'.  Still above my head, but I can see how Cohiba fans categorize the flavor as being Cohib-esque.  A bit more cedar in the end, and some chocolate, but a harsh kind of chocolate bordering on tar.  But after a purge and a re-light, it is definitely chocolate.  Quite light, but noticable.  Given the fact that this cigar is not to my preference, and standing alone as a possible abberation, I would grade this low, perhaps 83.  Good but not great.

1998 Bolivar Coronas Extra

The Extra is AGE, haha.  What a fantastic little cigar.  Very smooth but pretty strong.  A light but persistent tea flavor is the main impression. And of course, that is fine with me.  One thing you will learn from this blog is that I like the tea flavor you get with cuban tobacco.  It is a perfect example of a well-rolled cigar, with a straight burn line and perfect draw.  I miss the old Bolivar band, too.  The loss of the serif effects on the font makes the cigar look much less historic, and this is a historic brand. 

About an inch and a half in, the flavor gets creamy with a lush mouth feel.  I immediately begin to SLOW DOWN and enjoy this cigar.  I tend to rush a smoke and waste no time in ruining it.  But when a smoke this old bears the hallmarks of a well-aged cigar, it is a shame to rush it.  The sipping action reveals a layer of complexity I had not noted before.  Since the start, I was able to exhale it through the sinuses for more flavor, but this is easier and more flavorful.  A slight tinge of leather crosses with an exciting burst of orange sherbet. How strange.....and great. 

I took these out of a dress box and popped em into some cedar to see if I can squeeze another ten years out of them.  These smokes don't have what I like best in a Bolivar.  I like tangy and fruity with a blast of fresh tobacco.  But these are reasonably good replacements...just not the same thing.  Maybe I won't try to take them all another decade.  Ten would be better.  The other 14 will get smoked.  As it gets to about an inch and a half long, it gets much less interesting.  So I let it go out while it is still a smashing 92 points.

2000 Punch Double Corona

I had no expectations for this cigar.  It's not just that it's been probably 5+ years since I smoked a double corona.  It's not just the age, pushing into it's second decade.  And dammit, MAYBE it's because it just self-ashed into my tea........ehh, a little character. 

It lit a bit slowly, but thoroughly, and burned straight as an arrow.  It's ate up with coffee grounds and sweet molasses flavor, but it's got a bad side...the wrapper is nicked as many large wrappers are.  Otherwise, this is a beautiful cigar.  Just perfectly rolled, and you couldn't SEE a seam or a vein.  And as many havana cigar-boxers do, they wrapped the band around it so the nick would be in back, lol. 

Well nicks are where air is sucked in, and it causes this cigar to be not just a DOUBLE-clutcher, but a TRIPLE-clutcher.  It takes some serious puffing to get smoke to flow.  So for the first half of the smoke, it's a chore.  Still, the flavor is great.  These old double coronas are either spent or savagely smooth.  This one was the latter, thank goodness.  Throughout it's length, it gave up fantastic, smooth flavor.  As it got shorter, it got stronger, but the same general profile of coffee and dark sugary sweetness pervaded.  I am not sure that is actually a word, but it is HERE.  It was pervasive, anyway. 

A good double corona will have bits of ligero surprises in it, maybe it's seco, who knows, but it's just a little flag of leaf thrown in for flavor accents.  This one has several spots where the flavor rounds out and gets creamier, so yeah, maybe it's seco.  A real masterpiece of a double corona.  And don't get me wrong, I am not really a fan of double coronas, I can barely finish a churchill.  I like smoking cigars, but I like to smoke petit coronas or coronas, robustos and minutos. 

I like to be done, or on to the next one after an hour.  A cigar has to be masterfully blended if it is going to hold my interest.  This one almost does it, but it is a little bit monotonous.  Great, but not enough flair.  It needs to have at least 16 pieces of flair.  If it was a little more interesting it could reach into the 90's.  Wrong cigar for the wrong person....86 points.

The flat cigar

In an interesting exchange I saw the other day, a guy was asking if his cigars were fake, because the cigar on the far left of the box was far wider than the others.  This points a spotlight on the common anxiety involved with people who should not be purchasing cigars, but have done so anyway, and now are facing a box of cigars with no experience in determining just WHAT they are looking at.  Your first box of havana cigars is certainly an adventure, but this was a new one for me.  I have heard almost every single quirky item that people point to to tell another person that they have been duped. I have heard every worried question over this facet or that.  But the fat cigar on the left is a new one.  I have never thought about this cigar negatively.

 You can find one in almost every dress box of havana cigars.  This is a cigar which undergoes a more intense box press owing to it's position directly above the cardboard spacer lying on the far left side of the bottom layer.  Where 12 of the top layer cigars lie atop other cigars, which give a bit and deform slightly themselves, this semi-rigid, square cardboard tube does not give.  This forces the cigar on top to flatten significantly.  I love this cigar. 

Why is there a cardboard spacer in a box of havanas?  Well, it's because there are 25 cigars in a box.  How does one evenly divide 25 cigars into two layers?  Most cigar companies place 13 beauties on top, and only 12 on the bottom.  They fill the space with a cedar block or a cardboard tube.  The cigar above it is pressed extremely flat.  It looks cool, it smokes great, and being a Padron fan for decades, it hits all my 'box press' buttons.  So tonight, I pulled out a few from my stash of "top-lefters", a Punch Double Corona and a Bolivar Coronas Extra. 

Yes, I have a stash of them.  I generally remove this cigar and store it separately out of habit.  (I have bizarre fetishes.)  So tonight I will smoke one and review it here.  The Punch is a 2000 edition, and the Bolivar is a 1998 cigar.  Stay tuned....

Quai d'Orsay Imperiales

Ran across a fresh box of these the other day, I say fresh, they are not actually fresh, but these are late 09, so yeah, they are kind of fresh.  I just tend to smoke these rather old, so to me they are awfully fresh.  A sparkle of plume on a few of them.  They smell awfully rich for a mild-bodied cigar. This is liable to be an awfully good box of smokes. 


And Quai d'Orsay is not a MILD cigar per se.  Certainly less full-FLAVORED than the Rey del Mundo Tainos, but about the same BODY.  These are cigars for a good palate.  You have to be a nose exhaler to fully appreciate these smokes.  I am not.  I have a few of these stashed here and there, but i do not get to smoke them much.  I am a former cigarette smoker, and I just can't grasp the full palette of flavors these cigars place upon my palate, lol.  One thing is for certain, a true connoisseur needs a box of these to balance out a good collection.  Sometimes you get up first thing in the morning and want a cigar.  Sometimes you are in a contemplative mood with a cup of cafe au lait.  Sometimes you want to share a cigar with a friend who is not capable of taking the full power of a strong cigar. 

And then there are the people who just know that a cigar does not have to be powerful to make a powerful impression.  That's when the Quai d'Orsay Imperiales really shines.

Juan Lopez Corona

Rushed my sinuses today and tried a Juan Lopez Corona that...sigh...SOMEONE...gave me up in Ohio this past summer.  That's IT.  I am writing this stuff down from now on.  It's just disrespectful.  


Well, I had a friend over for some BBQ and beers and laid out some baby back ribs and some beef ribs.  Cut this cigar and enjoyed it after the first check of the meat, it was very tasty, but my olfactory setup is not quite there yet after a solid week of snotfest following 3 days of sickness as described earlier.  It had a heavy tea flavor, some spice and a medium creamy body. 

This is a perfect smoke that was wasted on me today.  You can see that the burn line was just perfect, as was the draw.  These have not been seen for some time, seems like most coronas are going dodo on us.  I'd like a few boxes of these on hand.  I should have smoked a fitty-cent sale special and tested the waters.  And even with all that going against it, this was a superior smoke.  On a good day this cigar would have touched 93 points.  In fact that's what I would score it.  It could have been a 95, I am not sure.  So here are some pics.... 

This pic is rubbed and smoked but dry.  Added some sauce and let em get crisped up a bit, also had some monumental chicken thighs.  Sweet baby Ray's is some epic sauce.  Thanks to my cousin Jim in Michigan for that tip.   Stay tuned, this cold seems to be leaving, in fact I am not sick, I am just clogged up now.

Sick as a dog

Sorry cigar fans, I am down for the count.  I recently worked a trade show where 10,000 kids over three days crawled all over my product, and while I washed my hands when I could, they got me.  It's been 3 days of horrific chest clog and the aches and sensitivity that comes with a hacking cough.  But today is better than yesterday, so it won't be long before I get back to smoking some cigars.  I was also going to drive some distance to see my mother with some comp time I got for my trade show bit, but once it became clear I was sick, I thought why blow the time in that condition?  So I will save it for an upcoming short trip to New Orleans, effectively turning it into a long trip.  And turns out I will see my mother and sister there anyway.  So that happened.

Other than that, I sent a coat with three habanos to the dry cleaners, so I am sure he or she is enjoying the cigars.  They were nothing special.  You say, OLS, why wouldn't your dry cleaner just return your cigars?  It is neither my dry cleaner, nor my coat, lol.  A few items from a sale that had a value something like $1.50 each.  Still....

OK, what's coming up.  Having a bit of time to plan, I'd definitely say that some lonsdales would be in order.  I gave my second to last Rafael Gonzalez lonsdale to a friend recently, so I will smoke my last one.  They do not make these anymore, but you just can't hold onto stuff like that.  I think I will also smoke one of my last Partagas Lonsdales from a 2002 cabinet this weekend.  So for people who enjoy the classiness of the cervantes vitola, a bit of a treat.  Not as good as actually smoking one, but you do get pictures.  I need to smoke that Montecristo Sublime as well, but that is for New Orleans.

More sad news to report, my Mardi Gras ramble has been cancelled.  I have not missed a MG in 20+ years, though I have not lived in the area for that same time period.  I have a great high school friend to stay with, but this year his wife is jumping at the chance to take a friend's place on a cruise.  This would not be a problem since Eugene and I can certainly find our way around a Mardi Gras weekend.  But he is working security in some pretty wild hours, and who knows if he will be off or feel like hanging out.  So MAYBE it's not off, but it certainly is not automatic like it was for 20 years.  Shame, I have a new memory card in my camera and a licencious attitude.  Not sure I spelled it right, but I know what it means.  So let's put that in the possibles category.

Unknown Vegueros Seoane (early 2000's?)

Man am I glad this is a blog and not a podcast.  How in the hell do you say Seoane?  This is traditionally the best cigar from Vegueros, the little-known brand that is created out in Pinar del Rio in a factory that now produces the Trinidad.  I am not sure that Habanos intends to keep producing these.  If it was about respect, they would just drop the brand.  I know a good number of people who appreciate them, the mareva is big down in Big D.  The Especiales No.1 is nowhere to be found these days.  If you were lucky, you picked up a few boxes 2 for 1 a couple years ago.  If not, and you are looking for a box, good luck.  I am not sure people consider these worth paying the "discontinued premium".    

This smoke shares a vitola de galera with the also infamous Cohiba Exquisitos.  Never had one of those, but frankly, at Cohiba prices I would pass anyway.  Any cigar that looks prone to bad draws is not worth paying double for.  After the performance of the Cohiba Siglo VI last night, there is no way I am not dry-boxing this cigar.  Well, one day anyway. 

As I look at the foot, and don't jump on me just yet, but LOOK at the foot on this thing.  Me sense trouble.   There is not much space in there, but MUST we fold the filler like this?  If it burns up one side, I am going to say something.  You know I will.

You know after lookng at the foot some more, that's not that messed up after all.  Firstly, it burned perfectly.  Secondly, it is not that bad of a roll on something with a ring gauge of about 32.  I retract my worries WELL after the fact, haha

This cigar has been called the poor man's Cohiba by people I know who are not crazy, when taken as a whole.  Some of them read this blog, however, so make what you will of that.  But this brand is supposed to be chock full of the Cohiba grassy taste.  Well, of course, Cohiba is not just grassy, there are flavors of...wait, this is not a Cohiba review.  But for a third the price, a really good one of these should offer flavors over and above it's pedigree.  OK, enough rambling on, I know you hate it.

Well,this is NOT a Cohiba, but ironically, it has more going for it than a not too great SigloVI I had just last night.  A decent Siglo VI would kick it's ass.  Perfect burn so far, with a light vegetal taste and some VERY light tea.  A nice oily wrapper with nice tooth covers this smoke, which dabbles in espresso at times and has a desserty quality that I like. 

Thanks to the man that handed this to me in Ohio over the summer.  Naturally, I have no memory of who it was.  That's the price one pays for giving me a smoke.  Immortality in a pine box, I guess.  This is a medium flavor on a medium bodied smoke, and while it is not going to blow anyone away with complexity, this is not a bad smoke at all.  Sweet at times, a little chocolate in there, too.  This is the perfect conversational cigar.  You could sip slowly on it (you have to) and carry on a great conversation and not be brought down by cigar maintenance worries.  The flavor is not distracting and is perfectly blended for just grooving on.  I really like this cigar.  What's really striking about the smoke is the fact that it holds up so well against the cigars I have reviewed lately.  Big names and little performances.  Embarassing wastes of money.  Then a little 2 dollar smoke shows em how it is done.  Did I mention the burn is razor straight?  So it is clear that I do not know what I am talking about.  But it looked like it was going to.....I mean, I've seen it a million......Ah, who cares, it's good.

Now for the bad news.  As a cuban cigar, this is not so fantastic.  You could get this exact taste out of a La Riqueza, or Illusione.  (but at 3 times the price?) In  a blind taste test, I could not pick this out as 'the cuban".  The flavor has no real depth, a little nuance, not a lot, and after all, is vegetal a GOOD flavor descriptor?  Ehh.

But if you just look at it as this cuban cigar some awesome brother handed you, then it is pretty great.  Most people I talked to back in the early days of this brand's worldwide release said 'the Seaone is the best.'  But the best I have had is the Mareva.  I have a box of the Especiales No.1 that I have not cracked, so who knows.  But I have heard that they are pretty linear as well.  If I had my druthers, I would take this over a bad Cohiba, but what does that really MEAN?   83 points

2007 Cohiba Siglo VI

Why oh why can't every torcedore in havana galeras learn to roll a cigar without simply wrapping it up

like Mike Tomlin's game plan?  This is some issue of FHM or something, wrapped into a tight spiral.  And it burns like it.  On the plus side, it's an instantaneous blast of tongue coating finish. 

No grassy impression, but a ton of roast coffee and hard-hitting tobacco.  If a lesser man had smoked this, it would have made his knees buckle.  This is a strong cigar.  But it is not much like a Cohiba.  There is not much sweet, beany goodness here.  There is not much aged cigar flavor here, just an unbalanced blast of power.  This is clearly a cigar to put away for more time than I have.  But it was the Super Bowl Sunday, and I wanted to smoke it.  I wish now that I had let it go.  It burned ok for a half an inch, and then just ran up one side with a dead spot on the other, a knot of unburned tobacco that just ruined the smoke. 

The flavor improved as it became a Cohiba Robusto, but this cigar is not ready to smoke.  I let it go out and scraped all of the unburned tobacco and tried it again.  It got much sweeter and calmed down a bit after that, but as it gets to 3 inches long, it's back to being a crazy bastard.  Ten minutes later, it has gone out, so we will scrape it again.  Better, but hey Habanos, if you are listening...What the hell are you DOING?? 

If I wanted to pay nearly twenty dollars to get slapped in the face with an insult I would go and buy a quarter tank of gas...........80 depressing points.

Hey Slayer, if you are reading this, do NOT smoke yours.  Or at least check the roll job from the end.
This cigar should have been dry-boxed for a few days, it tunneled more than Jules Verne in Journey to the Center of the Earth.  Man, am I looking forward to the Vegueros Seaone.

A hole in the weather

Well as most people know from living it, it's been a little COLD of late, and next week here is looking like ridiculously cold weather again, but today we will reach 50.  And heck, it's super bowl Sunday, so I am going to open a window, vent some warm air I already paid for, to clear some smoke and review some cigars.  But as it's been a little boring here lately, we are going for some cigars with pull.  I'll smoke and review a 2007 Cohiba Siglo VI, a Vegueros Seaone and maybe something else of note.  I had planned to smoke a Montecristo Sublime, but the box was SO perfect and had an aroma SO chocolatey and dank...well, I just couldn't do it.  I will save that for a spring day full of promise.  In fact as I type this I KNOW where I will smoke it.  My sister and I meet in New Orleans for a little peek at our old stomping grounds and a chance to revive old attitudes of superiority over all mankind.  When you are a New Orleanian, what else can the US show you??  You have it all.  Now we are both in other parts of the country and at least SHE loves her life and surroundings.  Neither of us misses the oppressive sponge of heat and funk we used to walk out into on summer, even SPRING days at times.  She gets her fall leaves, her snow, her precious seasons, lol.  I basically get the same thing I had then, now with shorter summers, cooler winters.  But the river is never far, the familiar sounds of ships announcing their presence, trains blasting away in the night, the sandly loam fields and willow trees lining the banks of the Mississippi and popping up everywhere river sand is used as fill.  It is less flat here, and the food and nightlife are still advertised as big draws.   But I am 6 hours away from New Orleans and it will be a good thing to get back and also have family there with me.

Where was I again??

Oh yeah, I will smoke that Sublime in New Orleans.  I will also have a special Mardi Gras section a few weeks prior to that and who knows what that will entail.  It might be a rare sidestep from the usual "all cigars" format, I can tell you that.  Man do I need my Mardi Gras break.  OK, check this space later today for the Cohiba Siglo VI 2007...