An old love visits.......Partagas Robusto Dominican Republic

When I first started smoking, before I realized that there were other cigars out there that rewarded the bold and reckless, I used to smoke a few Dominican cigars, a lot of H. Upmann and a few Partagas: the stellar Sabroso Tubos, the mild but roasty No.10.  But I never had any illusions, these are pedestrian cigars to satisfy a public sleepwalking through an embargo.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they don't seem to rise above the mildness of their ingredients by letting any one flavor be bold.  You get the delicious taste of the Cameroon wrapper, the slightly chocolate and sweet mexican binder, and the marrier, the dominican filler.  But while they are well made and reasonably worth the money they charge, they are boring to me, I'll just say that out right.

At a herf earlier in the year, I was handed an old Partagas Robusto, likely at least 8 years old, very yello in the cello, and smelling quite aged and mild.  I wanted to taste what I had been missing.  I had no expectations, and was going to allow it to be good.  I poured a glass of Victory Baltic Thunder, which was dark with chocolatey notes and very light licorice, but bursting with a brilliant fruitiness.  Great beer.  The cigar I made a bit of an error on, I cut it with a wedge and while it drew fine, it never really performed, I got air through it, but not a draw that I thought would add much to the flavor.  So why didn't I re-cut it with a guillotine?  Well, that's easy...I am an idiot.

The smoke was much as I remember it, good taste from the wrapper, but boring inside.  A slight metallic, pencil lead flavor with a grassiness that overall was just not impressive.  But I do not really rate non-cuban cigars, and I handicapped the smoke with my lazy cutting.  A more open draw would have worked out better.  I am confident of that.  It's hard to take much away from a cigar that just is what it is.  It's not their fault that they can't get tobacco from the fobidden zone.

But in general, this is why I left these cigars years and years ago.  It's like the old Wendy's ad that has returned...Where's the BEEF?  If I had no access to the better cigars in the world and had only these to smoke forever, I would resign myself to enjoying these, much as I used to 15 years ago.  But in 2011........Ehhh.

Smoking more of the fakes

I have a friend in the cigar fraternity who sent me a box of cigars in lieu of cash one day, and I was glad to get them.  When the cigars are Edicion Limitada 2010 Montecristo Grand Edmundos, why not?  But while I trust my friend, apparently I can't trust his vendor. 

In the first MGE EL 2010 post in this blog, there was a beetle hole in one of them.  Now there are beetle holes in ALL of them....MULTIPLES.  So again, because I honestly believe that no modern Habanos cigars should be hatching beetles under proper storage conditions, I have no doubt that these are fakes.  On forums I get a lot of guff about this theory, but on my blog I can say what I please.

So tonight I am going to smoke another one.  First it should be said that I don't even really like these cigars.  They are giant, round sticks with an airy draw.  And the beetle holes are not going to help the airy part.  So let's take a look at what's left of the box.  The flash brightens the wrapper a bit, they are not this light.

So it lights up slowly but evenly, which is pretty important with any large cigar.  You need to really light a fat cigar well or you are going to have problems all the way down to the nub.  Oftentimes even touching the cigar up periodically will not help.  It all starts at the foot.  Light em right. 

It does not immediately TASTE like a fake, in fact were I handed this cigar out of the blue, outside of a little youth, I would not think anything was out of the ordinary with the flavor.  It tastes a lot like a Hoyo Epicure No.2, which people might think, "Hey, there you go.."  Not with me.  I hate those crappy smokes, haha.   But it's not a terrible smoke yet.  It should be noted that box, bands, embossing...all look fine, no trouble with my eye wanting to pick this cigar apart.  Holding a finger over the beetle holes allows me to draw a very decent amount of smoke through the cigar.  If I don't, there is no draw.  One thing that does not look right is the sloppy cap.  On almost any other type of havana cigar I would have concerns about that, but with this EL wrapper, it's all they can do to just get it to look like a cuban cigar and not a San Andres Valley second.  The smoke is slightly sweet, pretty medium-strong, leaning toward strong, and a slight flavor of tea and a little twang.  There is a touch of creaminess to be found, but nothing on the whole to get excited about.  The stick is very firm along it's length, yet very light, but not spongy at all.  This COULD be a major league smoke in a blind test with the holes patched.  At the half-inch mark I taste a hint of beetle-ass.  Not a bad burn at all, a little shaggy due to the standard H2000-type wrapper, harvested from the corona leaves to boot, so it's really thick and oily.

My argument or complaint with the cigar is there is nothing really special about it.  This could be as cuban-esque as it wants to be and still be a fake.  It may smile and smile and yet be a villain.  It could be rolled on some guy's table with his own tobacco and boxed in the readily available pilfered boxes with pilfered labels and bands.  This is my leaning at this point.  It is cuban, but how authentic?  These guys don't freeze or vacuum crush their tobacco or cigars.  No one who knows about these smokes would deny that at best, they are gray market to begin with.  The tobacco is not tasting all that great, nor the blend.   Tough call on these.  I have no questions in my mind that they are not what they are supposed to be.  These HAVE to be better than this.  Everyone who has had them finds them excellent, most would say better than the Montecristo Sublimes of several years ago.  I would love to send these to people, but I wouldn't want to taint their supplies with beetle potential. 

What these smokes DO say to me is that I don't think the cubans are getting enough credit for how well they are currently CONTOLLING beetles in their Habanos products.  I do not keep my cigars in the best of conditions when it comes to temperature.  I TRY, but in the peak of the southern summer, it's difficult and expensive.  And yet again, I have never had a single beetle hatching incident in over twelve years of keeping stock.  This box must have hatched 4-5 dozen.  I mean, look at the DUST they created.  I have crushed a few dozen myself at various times upon opening the box. 

But now I have gotten to the point where I will not be holding the holes closed anymore, and I am hoping that the cigar improves in flavor as I KNOW it will in it's burn.  It gives me a chance to sip the smoke and probe for flavors.  Indeed it does improve quite a bit.  The power continues unabated but is softer in it's flavor.  But still there is just not much there. 

So in the end, what has any of this meant?  If this was a review of the Grand Edmundo, it might be worth something.  As it is, I am not in any way further assured that these are not fakes.  Not a negative reflection on my friend at all either.  Just not good cigars.  I am going to smoke ONE MORE in the distant future, perhaps over New Years.  Maybe these are sick.  They sure aren't good.  Once the cigar butt cooled, I disassembled it and found no glaring evidence of standard fake cigar pedigree.  A FEW scraps, but mostly long leaf filler of varied shade and grade.  Inconclusive, but with credit, nothing I saw made me think they were illegitimate.  What I wanted was a sheer sign to support my theory.  I didn't get it.

So on a theme, I will also smoke another under-whelming cigar that others find a darling.  Tomorrow for LSU-Tennessee, I will have a Trinidad Robustos T.

My favorite cigar......how many are there, lol.

I like to think I have 5 top cigars.  And then I smoke another one and 5 becomes 10.  I think this cigar is in that top 5.  ALWAYS tastes SO GOOD.  Poured a Sierra Nevada 2011 Bigfoot Ale.  Wow, good beer.  Looking for a good cigar.  This year at the Shack, a generous brother palmed me with a Diplomaticos No.4.  CONSISTENTLY the best of Havana, and as is tradition, Habanos cuts the best cigars from production, as they have done with this one. 

This one is pretty, a nice mellow box press, beautiful color, perfect weight.  And then the trouble started.  As I looked around for a cutter, I saw my wedge.  Great for golf, not so hot tonight.  I am a lazy person at heart, and I need to look harder for a cutter.  There are only about 20 in the house.  But I settle for the wedge, draw decent air, so I go ahead and light it.  The cigar draws fine but produces stingy smoke.  Good flavor with light tea and some leather.  Not a traditional Diplomaticos, but again, aren't these things all the same with different bands??  This one doesn't help kill the myth.  A little mineral flavor, no coffee or cream, no nutmeg or cinnamon.  Hmm.  Not terrible, but for the first real cigar of fall for me, a little disappointing.  One thing I DO know, this cigar is young.  I didn't ask, but I am thinking 07+.  And now as my memory comes into it's stride, I think I got this from Greg from NC.  One of my favorite people in the smoking biz. 

So of course, I want this to be great.  But it's only good.  When I poked through the humidor, I passed a Trinidad Robustos T.  A Sancho Panza Belicoso.  Twinges of regret course over me.  The skeeters ate me up outside, so I am finishing the smoke indoors.  It gets better, but is still far short of the one VOLFAN gave me in Memphis.  Man that was a fine Diplo 4.  So I am thinking this one is just going to be a bad choice on a good night.  LSU wups a fit on Florida, and looks good doing it.  And as luck would have it, I get the Tigers versus Tennessee again next week on CBS.  So that makes FIVE games on national TV that I got to see this year, an absolute miracle.  I guess being No. 1 in the nation gets doors open.  But I digress.

 This was a well-anticipated smoke tonight, but it falls short of it's potential...I give it a 75.