2010 Partagas Super Partagas

I need to state from the outset that these are cheap cigars.  In  the grand scheme of habanos, they are the hamburger to the steak of the really fine big boys.   But they are, since 2003-5, also every bit as hand made as the biggies, so they have a lot to prove.  In any event, you could find 4-5 boxes of these for the same price as a single box of expensive Cohibas.  And in this review, you will find out what a great buy that would be.

I was in Ohio for "the" herf.  I was expecting to see a friend named Scott, whom I always see up there since hs is as close as Chicago.  SO when another Chicago area friend handed me a 5 finger bag of  Partagas Supers and told me they were from Scott, I thought, cool, I will thank him later.  Well in a nutshell, they were NOT from THAT Scott, but another whom I did not even expect to see there.  So Scott, and you know who you are, I appreciate these sticks.  You already know what I think of them, and a fiver off the top is a HUGE treat for me.

It has been 6 months since I got them, and I decided last night to pull one out.  I looked out from one of my windows to see a hot cafe' au lait girl who lives a block away...she was out walking her dog to the east, and I knew that if I chose my beer and cut my cigar and got downstairs I would have plenty of time to see her when she got back coming West.  But I must have been side-tracked for too long upstairs, because I smoked the cigar and drank my beer on the front stoop and did not see her again.  But ehh, no matter.  It's not like she thinks much of 250# me.  I used to be 190 and old.  Now I am fat and old.  But it was more FOR ME to see her, as she is about 6 feet, not an ounce of fat, and all fine.  But I digress, pathetically so in fact.

These Super Partagas are terriffic cigars.  I have said it before, all of the formerly machine-made cigars that have become hand made that I HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO SMOKE have been just fantastic.  And these are a super value, too.  They are reminiscent of a thinner Partagas Short, both in length and in smoke body.  They are not nearly as stout and peppery, but the peppery core of Partagas IS THERE.  Where this cigar shines is in it's sweetness.  If you liked the Short, but think it needed an added dimension, THIS is your cigar.  It is about an inch and a half longer, a little thinner, and is loaded with creamy, spicy, nutty, sweet flavor.  A delicious core of rich tobacco taste with pepper, and this bouquet of extra flavors as fleeting nuance.   In fact it reminds me of the resultant cigar were Partagas and Trinidad to have a baby.  Maybe that tells  you what to expect more than anything else.
The cigar drew and burned and performed like a dream.  I could not think of a single negative thing about it.  It was a gorgeous colorado shade, and oily and smooth as silk.

Once it became clear that the little half and half girl was NOT coming past, I got a little edgy and thought of all the news I was missing upstairs and then I heard a bird call I had never heard before.  It was a large bird, about 3/4 the size of a hawk, more white than a hawk tends to be, and was clucking like a woodpecker, in that repetitive pattern when they fly and call.  What I think I decided in the end was that it was an immature hawk calling for it's mother.  It was a lot like an alarm call that I played on the net, though an octave lower.  I thought it might be a Cuckoo even, but I am thinking now a hawk.  But now I know a new vocalization for hawks I had never heard before.  But in the time it took to track down the sound to it's source, the cigar went out.  It was only 1/2 done, but I let it go out for good, happy with the price (free) and thrilled with the time I had with it and the flavor and joy it had provided.

I do NOT mind rating this little cigar, a solid 90.