Bill in Nashville asked me to do a series of Trinidad reviews to go with the recent Cohiba reviews, in part to see if their near-Cohiba pricing equated to some near-Cohiba taste and value. And what better way to start than with the 'discontinued as soon as it was released' Robusto T. There is really no telling why Habanos S.A. has decided to stop producing the Robustos T, but in a way I am sure it has to do with the entire line moving a bit slow in the position it was given up near the top of the pricing tier among Habanos' portfolio.
It does give a smoker pause to read over and over, 'these cigars are rolled with the finest Vuelta Abajo leaves". When you have 20 brands all saying the same thing, it's hard to imagine how such a statement can be true with only so much "finest leaf" available. And when you position Trinidad as not only among the finest cigars in the catalogue, but equal to or just under Cohiba, you are bound to have some problems when the cigars don't stack up.
On the good side of the ledger, Trinidad's original lineup perform very well, and they do it with a unique blend that is refreshing when compared to box after box of cigars from the other brands that taste as if they could all be the same, only with different bands applied. One doesn't always get that impression, but it happens often enough to make more than a few connoisseurs shake their heads. The brand was launched with the Fundadores in 1998, and was quickly given the support of a few more vitolas, all unique at that time. The Coloniales and Reyes added a demi corona and a corona, in a manner of speaking. The sizes were 'weirded up' as in the launch of the San Cristobal line, making them JUST a little different, while remaining familiar to smokers with a preference for the small smokes. The small cigars also made the high prices a little more tolerable as did the trick of releasing them in boxes of 12 and 24.
It wasn't too long after the launch of the original Fundadore that the blend was altered completely, the bands changed, and the aforementioned extra sizes were added. After another short period of time, the problems began, in my eyes at least. New sizes came out, and after tasting a few of them, I realized that I was no longer interested in the brand. The flavors were weak and uninteresting to me. The original lineup were still great smokes, but for the big money they wanted, they could keep em all.
I cut the pigtailed cap on the Robusto T and was a little perturbed to find that it had a very airy draw. This would not be to my liking. An early strike against a cigar I had not liked in the previous two tastings for this blog. It lit quickly and delivered a nice, strong smoke. All of the other times I had smoked the Robusto T, it came across as too strong. All this from a cigar that was touted as the cigar of the year in a few publications and blogs. And granted, a lot of people do fine with a strong cigar, and manage to taste decent flavor in there. Just not me. If there was anything good in the Robustos T I have tried previous to this one, it was hard to tell from all the power. In one respect, that was good. A year or two in a dark box would render a much stronger and more delicious smoke than your run-of-the-mill habano. It had to. All of the raw materials were there. And so it was with this cigar. I was immediately treated to a sweet, but sharp-edged and tannic smoke, with lots of delicious side notes that ranged from almonds to chocolate to raisins and a little cream. I was impressed. But the airy draw meant that I always got more smoke than I wanted, and the light puffs required to keep from being overpowered were not quite enough to keep the cigar burning properly. Furthermore, when I DID give it a good puff for the burn, it was harsh and hot, unlike the much better BHK52. That cigar offered a great taste no matter how soft or hard you pulled smoke through it.
But on the whole, it was still an impressive cigar. And in a way I set myself up to fail. I searched the feet of the three cigars on the top layer of the box to find a bunch that I thought would draw well. I didn't want a plugged smoke or a tight draw to ruin the review of such an expensive cigar. I picked the cigar with the least tobacco showing at the foot, and the one that looked like it was not rolled up like a newspaper. As the smoke burned to halfway, it began to get tarry and hot. I wanted to smoke this as far as possible, again, because it was pricey, and because it was important to this review series. But I never smoke a cigar that begins to show it's butt to me, and this one surely did.
When I look at this cigar as a score or a recommendation , I have to look at it as something for special occasions and one that will be there for you no matter how long you wait to smoke it. This cigar has not even begun to be ready to smoke, much less reached a point at which it is starting to offer diminished power and richness of flavor. I would highly recommend picking up two boxes of these cigars as they are slated to be discontinued, and perhaps already out of production. It could also be a scam by Habanos SA to drive purchase activity on the brand and this vitola. The word on the street is that the entire line is set to be 're-imagined' and knocked back in price to once again cement Cohiba as the bell cow of havana cigars. It is too hard to see inside the murky minds down south to try and understand what they might do in the near future. But what I CAN see in the future is a box of cigars that would still be delivering big flavor in 15 years. I am not sure WHEN you would begin to see this cigar as 'past it's prime'. So again, if I had to score this cigar, I have to factor in construction, which is going to knock 8 points off the score. But if you were to forgive that entirely, and think "maybe I will cut the smallest possible hole and test the draw FIRST before I light it", and you got the flavor I got out of this cigar, you'd be hard-pressed not to award a 94 to this smoke. But in this series, I have to be critical and portray each cigar for what it is. If HSA was serious about this cigar being top of the line, they would watch the bunching a bit better and turn out 12 perfect cigars in a box. SO I have no choice but to knock those 8 points off and score this 86. VERY CLOSE, as the saying goes, but in this case, NO CIGAR is just about right...not MUCH of a cigar, anyway.
I opened the seal on this box for the first time last month. It was sealed in 2005 in Havana, Cuba, and hadn't seen the light of day for 7 years. After smoking it, I realized I should have opened it a few years before. Increasingly I prefer a young, tangy, powerful cigar. Not a cigar that is STRONG, but one that has not been diminished by time. As I have repeated here many times, I have the palate of a billy goat. I am not sure if I am tasting a cigar or a tin can. I kid. But only because I care.
The cigar lit a little slowly, owing to a firm draw. The flavors, on the other hand, got cracking from the first puff. THIS was a 'old' Montecristo the way they were meant to taste. The quality of the cocoa powder taste was completely 3 dimensional and stark. I was stunned by the brightness of the taste, just so clearly defined, sweet and rich. And that is when it hit me that I WISH I had smoked this cigar sooner. I enjoyed it very much, but it was a subtle kind of power to go with all that taste. As great as the cigar tasted, there was a missing dimension that I love so much in a Montecristo. I find a sweet and sour tanginess and a wonderful lip-smacking richness of flavor that I only really get in Montecristo, and occasionally in a nice 2-3 year old Bolivar. I did not get that dimension in this smoke. But I tried....and I hoped.
What I did get was a PERFECTLY well-behaved cigar and an abundance of smoke just pouring out of the elegant 38 gauge panatela. I choose the word elegant for a reason. Everything about this smoke is elegant. The perfect construction, the shape and heft of it, the flavor, and even the feeling of it as I seem to see myself outside myself, a picture of utter sophistication sitting in a lawn chair on my porch and cursing the heat. In a shocking truth, I have to admit that this is my first Especiales ever. I have KNOWN for many, many years that some people think they are the finest cigar on the planet. And yet there has always been something else to buy, something else to smoke. Add to that the fact that they are not cheap by any mean and maybe I can be forgiven in my omission.
The first half of the cigar was smooth and chocolaty, the second half was a ramp up in power, plus more but softer cocoa, and a surge in tea and milk. It is hard to imagine a better cigar than this, although I think the BHK 52 beat it out at almost three times the price. So I will give it the same score as my BHK, but will NOT subtract 5 points for exorbitant cost and this cigar rings in at 95
Well, I now know hardly anyone either A.) reads this blog, or B.) cares what comes next, lol. I had a total of one reply in helping to arrive at a decision as to what would be a worthwhile exploration of a brand, a vitola or some other type of theme week, for the lack of a better term. Bill in Nashville asked for Trinidad, and since he was the only one to vote, Trinidad it is...Nate in New Jersey also chimed in with a request on one detail, he wants to see a comparison smoke between a 1998 Trinidad Fundadore and 2005 model. He actually wanted to know about 2003 Fundadores, but I am fresh out of those. I think as it is Friday, I will start out with the largest girth cigar that I own in the Trinidad marque, the Robustos T. In that way I can celebrate the 102 degree temperature we are baking in today and see how low it can go as darkness falls. I am betting not too far. 103 today and my sister is walking around on the freaking Matterhorn. That's where the expression "must be nice" came from, although I am imparting a little extra saucy sarcasm on the top of mine today. I lover her, but when we get to the Smokies, I am going to kill her.
Shame of it is, I went to Piggly Wiggly today to get some pork fingers, like I am going out in THAT tomorrow and cooking meat. hah
Fat chance. But trooper that I am, I am going to smoke that 09 Trinidad Robusto T tonight, and tomorrow while I am cooking at 4 am, haha, I am going to smoke a Reyes from 2010. Then I think I am going to smoke inside on Sunday, if I have to hit the Fox and Hound to DO IT as I compare the 98 and 05 Fundadores. I am going to need some real good luck to survive the weekend. I'll see you on the flipside.
For you young people, that's the way the movies used to present the modern-day A.P.B. for the cops to be on the lookout. I can hear it now..."Calling All Cars, Calling all Cars, be on the lookout for a cigar smoking idiot posing as a connoisseur."
I am getting wound up for my upcoming vacation, and I am looking at a few things I want to smoke while I am in a good mood in the Smokies. But for the time until then, I think I like the idea of smoking several vitolas in a row within a marque like I did over the last few weeks with Cohiba. It did not really work out all that well, but I did enjoy a few cigars and I think it helped to generate a little interest among my 19 loyal readers, haha. (Thanks, by the way).
I have a few choices to offer, and there are really not too many choices in all of Habanos anyway, less than twenty I think. But I can do Bolivar, Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, Partagas and might be able to take a half-ass swing at H. Upmann.
We can also take it another way and think in terms of churchills, Robustos, demi-coronas and maybe petit coronas. After all of that, I guess it's even possible to take a refresh on some of the ELs I have in hand these days, almost all of them at least 3 years old. They are BOUND to suck NOW. You can comment to the blog with your vote or reach me at the Asylum on visitation days.
I went through a few names before it dawned on me who sent me this cigar. It was Scott, another inmate in the asylum. I am not sure of the date on this cigar, by the time I post this I will know, but my guess is 2010. It tastes new, but not BRAND new. I have never had a post-1998 model of this cigar that I really liked. I tell people all the time, which explains why people always try to give them to me, or tell me, "try this one", handing me some soggy-ended butt like I am gonna smoke it. Actually I HAVE tried a few like that, but I don't like it so much. The lore on this cigar is that it is a treasure-trove of caramel and other hard-to-find flavors often hoped for but seldom seen. When it doesn't have it, they say that if you just give it a few years, it will come. Well you don't have to try more than a few cabinets of 50 without finding that flavort before you know that increasingly it just ain't there. It used to be. I got a dress box of 25 in Windsor, Ontario one year that was among the finest cuban cigars I ever smoked. I remember it well, some assholes had just flown a few jets into a couple of beloved icons in this country. That made it really hard to get out of Canada with em, and more than a few sweat trails rolled down my head as I came across. Once I arrived safely on the other side of the Detroit River, I had to pull over and look at them and do a little bear-dance inside myself as I realized fully what I had just done.
But I traded a couple of Purple marine mushrooms to Scott and he sent me a few really nice sticks that he knew were favorites and a few of his own recent favorites / acquisitions. His mushrooms arrived in a completely drenched out cardboard box of dead sea creatures and my stuff got here fine.
Now when I pull out a few cigars to smoke from a cabinet, I tend to take the ugliest first. That's what it looks like Scott did here. This cigar looks like it was rolled by a wookie.
Oh sure, it looks good in THIS photo, but it was rumpled, outsized and torn in a few places. I cut a tiny, shaved sliver of the cap from it and it drew and lit perfectly. It burned with a white/grey ash and delivered a perfect draw and taste, nothing standing out, but full of typical havana tobacco taste. It was pretty strong to me, most would call it medium strength, but this is part of the zone I like in a cuban cigar, and I typically smoke well-aged cigars that have very little of this raw flavor and power left. It is not unruly, and I settled in to a really enjoyable smoke with a Whiskey Sour blended up in the JimmyB. The last 4-6 cigars I have smoked for the blog have been on slightly cooling hot southern nights, complete with biting gnats and mosquitoes. So to say I enjoyed myself is a bit of a stretch, and yet there are much worse ways to spend an evening. The ash grows to a full inch and a half and I begin to give it a wary eye. Not soon enough however, and it drops in my lap. The cigar was well-prepared for it's ashing though, and it continues to burn uninterrupted. You need to prepare for the ashing process, and I don't think many smokers do. When you see your cigar ash getting to a point where you believe it's best to ash it, give it a little purging blow, and then follow that with a nice, long, deep draw. Follow that up with a few small breathy puffs and then let it burn for a minute or so. When the cigar ashes, it should break at the point where you took that deep puff, and the extra few puffs after the fact will establish the burn ring that will keep your cigar burning properly. Try it.
The first half of the cigar was strong and flavorful and had a new flavor for me. It had the tea taste that I love, but there was a really strong note of cane sugar which gave me a unique southern iced tea flavor that I really enjoyed. After the ashing, the cigar was muted for about a quarter inch, but then developed a nice cuban twang that we all love as smokers of havanas. There was a char and a bitter nut flavor and an odd piney finish. All in all the cigar was one of the most pleasurable I have smoked in this short summer. I really have to thank Scott for sending it to me. Don't worry, the last time I sent him a big bag of troop support cigars I put a few nice ones in there to make up for the dead seafood I sent him last time. It was heart-breaking to hear that the mushrooms arrived dead, they were my favorite specimen from my old salt tank. I had never SEEN such a beautiful LSU Tiger Purple in a mushroom, and they were slow-growing and large and healthy. I needed them to go to a good home and thought Scott was it. But the Memphis Post Office is such an inefficient, entrenched gang of idiots that it takes a package 36 hours just to leave the city most of the time. NOT GOOD on a flat-rate box designed to arrive in two days. The mushrooms were well-insulated and the air was quite cool back then. I blame their horrible mis-management and slovenly work ethic for the death of the gorgonian and mushrooms.....
Where was I? Oh yeah, this was a GREAT CIGAR, I'd give it a solid 90 points.
From time to time just by the luck of numbers I find a chance to smoke a 1998 Punch Corona. Apart from an occasional lackluster performance, over the 40-50 I have smoked I have found nothing but amazement in them and pleasure in giving them credit. And tonight I had an extra pleasure in smoking one of the ones I really like...the stack cigar that lies above the cardboard spacer on the second layer of 12. They get so flattened out and look like some kind of cuban Padron. They can sometimes get a little tough on the draw, and this would be the case tonight. But oddly enough for me, this was NOT an impediment to enjoyment. This cigar came very close to being perfect in flavor.
I admired the cigar for a moment, even put my glasses on to do it, haha. Such a beautiful cigar, such a monument to the way it used to be done. I had no trouble imagining that this cigar was going to reward me somehow, and it was just about to do it.
I cut the cigar and tested the draw. Too tight. I cut to the shoulder of the cap and re-tried it. Still firm, but do-able. I mixed up a fresh peach Daiquiri I made from some peaches I bought to day at El Supermercado. I cut em up and sugared them when I got home. I tossed em into the Jimmy B and cranked it up to 11. I poured the drink into a cup and headed outside.
The stick was dry yet oily, and the band was slipping wildly from end to end. It took the flame slowly and I evenly lit it. The first puff was such an intense serving of tea and milk that I was completely taken aback. This was coming close to it's 15th birthday and it was as good as a cigar gets. Well, as good as MY own cigars get. I have simple tastes I guess. That flavor carried on with a soft leather, a little wine, and an occasional taste of cane sugar. The tight draw held it back a bit, and I am still kicking myself for not poking it. I can't imagine what an intensity of flavor that might have produced. But I was outside for the duration and had nothing to poke it with anyway. There was a mystical subtlety to it that was so completely captivating that again, I wondered how it could be going on so strong after such a long time in a dress box. On top of that, it is likely that these were slightly abandoned for a portion of their life. But they taste pretty damn good. Everything was going along well, no real flavor intricacies or changes, but very smooth and elegant. Then I ashed it and the exact opposite of what I thought would happen...happened. I was hit by a gigantic explosion of cocoa powder almost as if it had actually come out of the cigar like a shaker and onto my tongue. I was shown over and over again that there is nothing you can put past an old habano. It is always going to outfox you no matter how clever you think you are. Color me impressed with this one.
This is the cigar that tells me that our friends at Habanos are slapping something together with smoke, mirrors, duct tape and propaganda. I still think they are the best tasting cigars made today, but I can't figure out if the soil is spent, the methods have become too intense for such a natural process, or if they are just making too many cigars with the materials they have. You can't tell me that my 2010 Montecristo No.4s are going to be anything LIKE this in 13 years. But you know what, I HOPE THEY ARE. A man can dream I guess.
I am tickled to award this smoke a 90. With a perfect draw this thing would have hit 95 without even breaking a sweat.
After the complete embarrassment of the Cohiba Esplendido the other night, I needed to let this Blog-speriment end on something resembling a high note. I did not want to waste one of my remaining Siglo VIs or Robustos or Lanceros, but I DID think it was OK to smoke one of my last few 2004 Siglo IIs. I thought that there was a chance that it's oily and dark wrapper might signal something of a surprise inside. The first surprise was the draw. I cut the cigar and tried to draw air and it was tight. But I would not repeat the mistake I made on the Esplendido. I gave it a poke with a bicycle spoke, which is NOT the third line of a naughty limerick but a draw improvement strategy. And it worked well. This was good and bad. It drew perfectly then, but a lot of tiny particles of tobacco dust flew into my lungs, which is likely not good, eh? At least into my throat. The good sign is that in the pre-light draw, I taste the most wonderful chocolate I have tasted in a cigar. I never taste much in pre-light draws, in fact that I do not ever take note of what I taste, since it's always nothing interesting. But I was intrigued now....
The cigar was a wonderful color; deep, dark and extremely oily. The photo does not reflect that in any way, but it's there, believe me. The smoke is well rolled with a few noticeable veins but the oils are what is interesting to me. From certain angles you get that cloudy sheen, like looking at a small spiderweb in the grass from the side. The cut was a little dusty, and the cigar lights up like it's in a race. The smoke does not present the chocolate flavor I was waiting to taste from the pre-light draw, but it is dark and rich and leathery with a lot of spice. This cigar is 8 years old and stout as an East German Track and Field athlete in the 72 Olympic games. I am further intrigued.
I poured a Pina Colada and took it to the porch, and expected that the cigars flavors would mimic the drink, as it was sweet, tropical and fruity. Surprisingly the two complimented one another without affecting the taste of either, at least to where I could detect it. Now that's not actually true, the cigar lessened my enjoyment of the drink due to the taste buds being heated and charred by the smoke. As I puffed into the area where 1.5 inches were burned, the cigar did not develop any different flavors, but my palate is notoriously bad, and I could tell there was something there I could not detect, like a dog whistle tooting away somewhere. The impressive thing was the ash. It was ridged and uniform with mostly white tones with occasional eruptions of black from within. That's not what got my attention, though. It was strong and straight and I have no doubt that it would have held on throughout the smoke and never ash itself. But as I had to take it upstairs to shoot the nub, I ashed it before I could prove that to be true, lest it end up on the carpet.
I smoked it to where you see it, could have pushed the band up again, but it was hot out and the no-see-ems were beginning to find me. Additionally there was not much left to prove to me, it had really impressed me once I ashed it the second time. I went from smoking a stout and leathery cigar to one of almost perfumed florality and delicacy. A real turnaround and just the surprise I was hoping for. The Cohiba Siglo II was NOT very much like a Cohiba on this occasion, but with my attitude towards the brand just lately, that was fine with me. I can't score it very high based on a lackluster first half, but the 3rd third and beginning of the nub was just unbelievable. That brings it out of the high 70s to I would say......ehh, 86 points.
Every once in a while I get SO MAD at Habanos SA and/or Cubatabaco that I want to end my commerce with them entirely. Who even knows what Cubatabaco calls itself nowadays? And after tonight's Cohiba Esplendido, who cares. The title of this post is simple to decipher. The Cohiba Esplendido is the supposed flagship of Habanos, the finest cigar of their finest brand. But what happens when you show a cat that is currently playing with a ball of twine a sparkly piece of tinsel? They drop the ball and play with the tinsel. And so I think it will go with HSA. For me to pay $20 for a Cohiba Esplendido and have this kind of performance is an outrage. And now that Cohiba is focused on the BHK line as their ultimate production Cohiba, you can count on more and more disappointments from the rest of their line, a ball of twine that is put down by the people who operate the global havana cigar monopoly in Havana. They will be distracted by the new effort, start funneling the best materials to the BHK and the Linea Classica will turn to the same crap shoot that all of their brands have become.
I began a project last week with a Cohiba Esplendido, a Panatela and a BHK 52. I had high hopes of 3 glowing reviews of the finest havana cigars in the world. What I got was a large wad of cash gone to pay for one fantastic cigar, one OK cigar, and one cigar that defies any name I can give it that properly reflects the anger and disappointment that I feel after smoking the piece of crap.
It all began so well on this evening. I had a beer that I have never had, all frosty and new, and ready to go. I had what appeared to be a perfect julieta 2 cigar ready to cut and smoke. It must be mentioned that I selected the heaviest cigar from the box to smoke for this review, fully aware that the weight alone could portend a BAD outing, but confident that the densely packed cigar would shine if given a chance.
I paired the cigar with a Gulden Draak ale, one of the new beers that I bought for my upcoming trip to the Smoky Mountains. The beer ended up being the star of the show. That alone is just sad.
After I cut the cigar, the draw revealed that things might not end up going so well. It was on the tight side of tight, and although it would draw some air, it was not good. I could poke it with a spoke, but this is a review, not a drive to make the smoke work no matter what. Once lit, I could draw a mouthful of smoke with two small puffs, and without a lot of effort, I found the cigar to be grassy and extremely mild with no flavor standing out as particularly pleasurable. As it burned though some initial difficulties in burn, it was beginning to show some tea and a little creaminess, but not the flavor I was looking for, the flavor of a $20 cigar. Let me repeat that for Habanos S.A. A $20 CIGAR. Some poor bastards have to pay 40, 50, up to $80 for a 50/50 chance at getting a piece of junk like this. I know that once you have the money, you could care less if anyone enjoys your product, but I think that what I have on hand now will do for Esplendidos in the future. You won't be getting any more of my $20 bills.
As the cigar burned down on it's pathetic path, it developed a distinct Gangster Lean which is not very well shown in the photo. I knew then that I not only had several large stems in the bunch, but certainly a twist in the bunch, too. Not sure if you know this, HSA, but I did not buy this cigar to discipline a bad dog. I bought it for smoking pleasure. There is no reason to roll it up like a copy of Granma to smack a perro malo, especially when your country pioneered the entubar method. Or are your most skilled rollers not rolling Cohibas anymore? Are Grade 1 torcedores practicing on the Esplendidos now?? Why do you allow people with so little skill to roll your most famous cigar? Is it because Sadaam Hussein is dead? Do you no longer fear the reprisal of the famous Cohiba-smoking dictators now that he is dead and Fidel is so weak? Or did they get too many bad cigars and eventually stop smoking these supposed super-cigars?
I could have let the cigar go out after only two inches were gone, it was THAT BAD. But in the end I thought I should stick it out to see if maybe it would improve. I massaged the over-packed head and hoped for the best, trying to get smoke out of it as best I could. But in the end I got SO MAD that I could no longer go on. I took the butt apart and extracted the two biggest stems out of the twisted wreck of a bunch to show here. They look a LOT smaller in the photos, trust me. For truth in blogging, though, they were attached to whole leaves, I simply stripped them for the photo. I have plenty more Cohibas on hand, it's true, but know this. I will never buy another Cohiba.
SHAME ON YOU. 60 points.
Ask anyone in the habanos lovin' business and they will tell you that no matter how hard you try to fight the marketing machine that Habanos S.A. has become, they eventually win. It's called a monopoly. They're GONNA get you. I held out over a year on the Behike BHK line, just a ridiculous gilding of the lily to make DAMNED sure that you KNEW you were about to smoke the finest cigar in the world. I won't bore you with the details that have been lavished on video and print reviews of this line, with one taking 5 minutes just to unpack his box, pointing out every rich detail and never even lighting the cigar in the end. Suffice it say that no detail has been left to look 'common' with the BHK line.
Yep...that's laquer.
You unpack the box from it's "Get Smart"-style multiple layers of security (and opulence) and the occasional buyer might see a box of fat cigars that don't look any better-wrapped than any other havana....like mine. Some reviewers report flawless wrappers with angel music and radiant beams. The cigars are pretty normal-looking in THIS box, with a few surprising factory nicks out of the thin wrappers, and while there will be no mistaking here in a minute that they are SUPREMELY well-fabricated, I was under-whelmed by the final vista of the mighty cigars in all their glory.
I did a quick check of all of the sticks to find the one who would have to die, like a ruthless drill sergeant looking for any tiny reason to throw your footlocker into the air and create an unruly pile of toiletry items, towels and underwear. And I spotted it. A cracked foot on one of the cigars that signed it's death warrant.
The cigar lit very unevenly on the front porch of the house in the dark of a hot Friday evening at 9:30 pm. The heat was on, and the frogs were calling up a storm in the trees, begging for rain or sex or both. I had a triple torch in my pocket and a Wild-Turkey shot-and-a-half over ice in the other hand. I sat down in a folding chair in the dark and began to smoke the Cohiba BHK 52. I will not lie, it impressed quickly. No need to get warmed up, it seems the Behike creative committee had stolen the secret formula for the NUB, getting to the sweet spot from first light and puff. It was VERY round and creamy with a sweet milky quality, like the last puddle of milk you save in your Cocoa Pebbles. The cigar burned like crap for that first inch while the crack sorted itself out. But in terms of flavor, I was amazed at how the cigar managed to taste great with little sippy puffs and fantastic with big, bold, burn- enhancing puffs. There is literally no describing the mixture of undefined flavor characteristics. The whole experience, while a great treat, is a bit muddled at this point in the cigars age. The sweet, milk chocolate sensation remains throughout the entire length of the cigar I found, and there is no development to speak of in this two-week old new US citizen. I am sure that will change over the years I will be smoking these. For now it is a powerful blend of GREAT LOADS OF TEA, twang, chocolate and herbs, with Vanilla in there, too. And a nice looking band besides.
The construction needs to be mentioned here. I don't usually dwell on that aspect of cigars, it would do havanas a great disservice if I had to always discuss their problems with consistency here. But the BHK 52 is an enigma of sorts. HARD AS A ROCK, yet a PERFECT draw. Robusto-sized cigars often suffer an airy draw which I do not prefer. I like to give a nice pull on the cigar to get smoke and then after that puff, spend my next 3-4 puffs barely breathing through it, sipping the smoke. An airy cigar only allows the latter. This cigar draws at just a bit past medium and occasionally closes up to give a medium-firm draw, both well inside my range of enjoyment. I clipped only the pigtail initially, leaving a 3/16 hole in the end and the draw was fine for me, but I realized I might ruin the flavor with such a cut and apprehensively re-cut the smoke before heading outside, and the draw was identical with a 1/2 inch hole. Outside of the uneven burn from the split foot, the cigar was a marvel of perfect construction, which I do not consider too much to ask on a $35 cigar. Worth that?? Ehh, not so sure. But for the readers of the blog, sure, I am glad I spent the money and would do it again. Another box of these? Not likely.
A cigar like this might be a tale of three inches, as that's about all the smokeable length you get here. I know some nubbers, but I am not one. I do not get more of my money's worth by smoking it to a roach. The first inch was uneven owing to the crack, but light and delicious. The second inch was a model of perfection in every aspect. Increasing power, an increase also in the richness of flavors, although still quite confusing and muddled. Not like muddled is a BAD THING. The flavors were sweet and nutty and rich, so if I had to be a little confused by just what the hell they WERE, that's just too bad, I guess. I'll take it. The last inch turned into a longer and longer inch. As you can see in the last photo, I pushed the band up to near the head on this one, not wanting to let it end. I rammed the band underneath the wrapper accidentally, hell it was dark. Sue me. But the flavor just kept coming, albeit in a much more stout form. I think this cigar is designed to reveal the poseurs in all of us. It is a freaking phenomenal cigar, but it has a surprise waiting for the nancy-boy that decides he has what it takes to pop a roach clip on the BHK 52. It turned my stomach something fierce at the end. The sweat started rolling, my stomach got queasy and I couldn't put it down fast enough. No bad light cast on the 52, though. I prepared with a very large meal, and it sure wasn't the Wild Turkey what done it, lol. No, this cigar comes with a surprise inside, and ought to also have a warning sticker, although I am fed up with warning labels on cigar boxes. If you consider that I also got lit up by the little tiny Cohiba Panatela, maybe this shouldn't surprise anyone. But this does not happen often to me. This reminds me of a beer that covers it's 16% ABV so cleverly that you barely taste the burn going down. Then you walk into the door jamb on your way to the bathroom. This was a chocolate cake with a FILE in it. If only I were in prison. HIGH MARKS on the Behike BHK 52. I will give two scores...93 points on taste and quality, and minus 5 points for the ridiculous price. What's crazy is, when you smoke this cigar you can taste the 98-99 in there waiting to define itself, The materials are IN THE CIGAR to do it, maybe 100 too.
I was in Jackson, TN a few weeks back to smoke with a friend of mine, and it became clear right away that we hadn't done enough planning or thinking about the mini-herf. The beer at a street festival was not yet for sale, and the bar we had intended to smoke and drink at was not open for two hours. WE WERE lucky enough to buy a few Yuengling's apiece from the vendor after all, a lil under the table sale, and we walked for what seemed like 15 minutes until we stumbled upon a bench outside of a popular restaurant. I reached into my box and pulled out a 1998 Los Statos Deluxe Delirios. This is nothing but a machine-made piece of junk, but man does it ever satisfy me. It is hard to imagine that a 15 year old cigar composed of chopped up havana cigar scraps could BE THIS GREAT. I taste fine handmade cigars costing 20-30 bucks all the time, and this 55-center NEVER ceases to amaze me. The range of sweet and spicy and totally indescribable flavors is SO wide and SO good. Perfect burn, perfect light, perfect draw and even for a MM cigar, it rarely self-ashes on me. I think I have 30 or so of these left, and you can see here,
http://olscigars.blogspot.com/2012/03/los-statos-deluxe-delirios-1998.html
I seem to find the time to smoke them regularly. There was a time when I had 3-400 of these on hand. But the problem with a cheap cigar is they are so easy to give to people as gifts. And out of 50 I smoked personally and 30 I have left, you can see that had to be a lot of giveaways. But in the end, I am sure now as ever, the people that got these handed to them by the onesies or by the box of ten, thoroughly enjoyed their cigars. Simply amazing......94 points. Perfect in nearly every way.
If you really look you can find these to this day, but look hard and swallow harder, cause they ain't cheap no mo.
I must establish from the outset that I KNOW that I should not smoke young Cohibas. However, this blog ain't gonna write itself, I need to smoke cigars to keep people interested in what there is to say about the cigars that pass my way. This cigar is young, but I have heard rumours of young Cohibas tasting great these days. I will grant that the conversation turns rapidly to "a shame" and "a waste" after that, but initially people are liking the latest Cohibas. The Lancero comes to mind as a vitola that I have heard comments on lately concerning smoking what you have on hand and enjoying it.
And so it came to pass that a box of Panatelas came across my desk the other day. Naturally I grabbed a handful and ran. I have always been intrigued by this cigar, and the vitola in general. It is a completely handmade cigar, and specifically it is a charter member of la Linea Clasica of Cohiba, the first selection of vitolas, 3 if I recall correctly, that were introduced with Cohiba in it's first public appearance. They were the Panatela, the Coronas Especiales and the Lancero. Seems Fidel liked his long and skinnies. I wish he still held sway with Habanos S.A. because they apparently no longer care for the long, slim panatelas. 7 or 8 years later the Robusto, Esplendido and the Exquisitos were added and it was some time before the Siglos came along.
But I digress. There are two other cigars of this vitola one From Punch, the Margarita, and another from Montecristo, the Joyitas. All are wonderful little hand-made smokes, and how they get any flavor out of the tiny, prohibitive mix of leaves in a panatela is beyond me. But perhaps none does it as well as the Margarita and Panatela, and by virtue of price, perhaps the Panatela is the best of all. But I still think it is a tie. But in general I feel that all 3 cigars are over-priced for what you get. They all provide a satisfying, truly unique smoking experience, but at $130-$180 a box, I just can't get behind that.
And I digress again. So I have this cigar, and I know it is too young to smoke. But I took one to work the other day and smoked it in my car at lunch. Now this is a mistake in any trip other than an interstate trip of constant motion, if you want your car to smell nice. (I have a way of keeping 'new-car smell' in a car for years after purchase). I spent the rest of the day airing out the vehicle. But while I was smoking, I was treated to a great mix of flavors and PERFECT performance. I specifically chose the heaviest cigar I could find to tempt fate with the draw-gods. Not a lick of trouble, even after de-capping the cigar with my teeth. It lit well, and was a rich mix of musk, blackberry, vanilla and cocoa. The cigar was also STRONG. When I let it go at the 1/3 mark, I was woozy. I was walking into HOAM DEEPOT and looking to all the world like a drunk on the way home from a pub. I had a SLIGHT queasy feeling and sweat began to roll a bit. I KNEW I had smoked a cigar after that little number. The burn line was perfect the whole way down, and it never went out, except for when I went into the store and laid it on a garden center pull cart and went in to get safflower seed. When I came back to it, it was out, but I admit I was thinking, 'wouldn't it be cool if that sucker was still burning?' So I laid it on the car mirror and took a picture. I was going to light it up for another go, but as I was about to ride in the car again, I thought that I should use my road time to air the car at high speed instead.
After my experience I had some thinking to do. Is this cigar WORTH 7 dollars? If you were buying a five pack in cardboard, perhaps. $35 bucks for the luxury of having the best short smoke money can buy for 5 separate occasions would be fine. Having 25 of them is a bit of a stretch. I can buy two boxes of Partagas Super Partagas for $175, and MAYBE enjoy them as much as the Cohiba. I could buy a box of San Cristobal El Principes which I KNOW I like more, and have enough change left to buy that 5 pack of Panatelas anyway. So in the main, no, I do not think these are a good buy. Whether or not they are a good cigar is not a question at all in my mind. This is a fantastic smoke. AGED, I think they would be truly exquisite. In fact a few years ago, I had one brought to me from Mexico, and even after a ton of trepidation over it's certain fake pedigree, found out that no, it was indeed real and, how does the saying go, "it was fabulous". No idea how old that one was. It was likely 2-3 years old, since I am not sure how fast this cigar sells in shops with so many other choices. But I could taste all the pre-cursors of real flavor in this 2011 cigar, a ton of tannic power, hints of sweetness and DANK aroma unlit, chocolatey goodness when lit. The flavors I tasted were certainly near unique, with dark berry fruitiness, chocolate and a little vanilla. Not much 'grass' whatever that tastes like, but I am glad that the few leaves they had to work with left the "Cohiba grassiness" out of it. If you find yourself ordering a few 5-packs and 3-packs, these would be an excellent choice. If you had a chance to grab one in a box pass, it would be another great way to smoke the Cohiba Panatela. But buy a box at your own risk if you are budget-conscious at all. A great little cigar though...91 points
Oddly enough that is NOT the name of an island off the coast of Cuba. It's the jolly old elf that brought me some new Cohibas to taste for the blog. In the next week or so, I will be smoking a Cohiba Panatela, which I have had before and was very impressed with. I never smoked one for this blog, but it should be interesting, as they are 2011 smokes.
Also coming up is the Behike 52, which ought to REALLY be a trip. I have had friends who read this junk tell me that they appreciate that I never fail to tell them when the emperor isn't wearing any clothes, so to speak. I don't have a very good palate, but I do know what I like. And oftentimes I do not care for cigars that are widely accepted as great smokes, but that do not perform for me. While I understand the concept of a good, representative sample, I also know it's possible to find a great cigar occasionally, and I do....only occasionally, haha. So the Behike 52 review ought to be a hoot.
I also found my way into a few 2008 Esplendidos, and I expect the world out of these sticks. I have let far too many 04 and 06 models slip right through my fingers due to a reverence for a rule many have for aging you Cohibas before smoking them, thus avoiding the waste of a potential fine smoke. By the time they were ready to consume, someone else wanted them more than me. I wonder how those cigars tasted? They were certainly fantastic when they were new.
So look out in the next several days for some Cohiba reviews. I am hoping for some really high marks.
Also I would like to thank Jeff B, a co-inmate at the Asylum where I am locked away. He was the high bidder one of a few auction lots that I had in our troop-support auction. It consisted of three of the 5 highest-rated cigars I have smoked for the blog, Which turned out to be the 2001 Partagas Churchill Deluxe that scored a 97, and two cigars that scored a 93, the 1998 Bolivar Coronas Extra and the 2009 H. Upmann Coronas Major Tubos. Had the bids escalated to a troop-worthy level, I probably would have substituted the tubo with a 2005 Trinidad Fundadore which also scored a 97.
Also included in the lot was a OLSCIGARS pint glass, as well as a OLSCIGARS beer-tasting glass. Once the bidding rounded $65, I decided to throw in one of my new tobacco plant pint glasses.
The winning bid eventually reached 90 bucks and Jeff was the winner of the lot, using a persistent strategy of bids and I am glad he felt it was worth bidding on. With shipping to Canada, he actually paid about what it was worth in the end, though, haha.
Thanks Jeff.
I call this 'again' for a few reasons....No.1, I thought I already typed all this out, but suddenly the post is not there anymore. You can never be sure what is going on at Blogspot. They changed the whole way it operates for a "better" system that sucks. And now posts disappear I guess.
No.2, I have smoked a few of these for this blog, and they have all been reasonably good, at least as good as a giant comedy cigar can be. But this one would be different. I did not keep any notes, I smoke and blog, not letting much time pass in which I could forget what I remembered. So this post might be a bit thin.
The cigar clipped nicely enough, but there was no air to be found in the draw. I thought it was just plugged. I would find out later this was not really the case. So I put the smoke into a dry box and left it for a few days. When I went back to it, it was a bit better, and I wanted to smoke it and have a beer. I chose a Victory Golden Monkey...might be a bit too springy for this cigar, but it was looking like a dud to begin with, so I threw caution to the wind. The cigar lit slowly and burned agonizingly slowly as well. What I realized was that there was a hidden air leak in the wrapper that was stealing my suction. I found this out midway when the wrapper just peeled back in my hand. I was not happy. The cigar was a triple-clutcher. I had to pull three LONG draws to get any kind of smoke. What I got THEN was not bad, strong and full of chocolate and spices. I gave it a fair trial, smoking 2/3 of it's length until I just got mad and let it go. I do not think that the torcedore tricked me, hiding his error with a smooth wrapper, but I will say that if there had been draw machines in the factory back in the 20th century, this one would have been yanked, I hope. I enjoyed the flavor of my laborious draws, but the experience was not a good one. So I will eviscerate the cigar's noble reputation and say if you can't get it right, don't charge 20 bucks a pop for the smoke. 68 points.
I smoked a few cigars over Memorial Day weekend, and one of the three failed to get burned because it would not draw properly in the pre-light test. More about that Montecristo A later. Of course the way the blog is structured, you might read about it FIRST, so let's hope you read this entry first instead. The three cigars I wanted to smoke that weekend posed for this publicity shot on Friday night of that three day weekend.
The second cigar out of this little trio was a tubo-packed Montecristo Petit Edmundo.
I still don't get this cigar. It is supposed to be such a unique cigar, packed with sweet chocolate and herb flavors and toffee and cream and I JUST DON"T GET IT. They LOOK great, with oily if veiny wrappers, sometimes they feature good construction, but I have had a half a box and a couple of cartons of tubos, and I have yet to have more than one good one. (And I admit, that ONE was stellar.)
But this cigar was not so hot. It burned extremely well, and even slower than "extremely". There was a decent amount of tea, with only a little spice. The only time I tasted chocolate was in the tar at the end of the smoking experience. STILL, the cigar gave me an hour of easy smoking, didn't have to think about it much, and I let it go a LOOOooong time without ashing it. And it was NOT terrible.
All I really wanted was some cocoa powder like a real Montecristo, and like the best one of these I ever had, back about one year ago by Lake Erie at Sandusky Bay. I am not looking for better taste because I have a lot invested in these cigars, but this is a havana cigar, and not just that, but a havana cigar that the corporation that markets the havana cigar hangs one of it's many hats on. And I just don't get it. I have about 30 more of these, and I intend to smoke all of them, so there is time left to get it. But for now, i just don't get it. A good cigar, but not a good scorer.....I give it an 80.
Its only because of a great irony that I write this entry today. Today is what I CALL the first day of summer. Meteorologically perhaps, it's nowhere near it. But on the calendar, to ME, summer starts on June 1st. The reason this is odd is because it is 67 degrees outside in freaking Memphis, TN. On June 1st. This MIGHT just be the weirdest weather year I have ever experienced. Certainly the last 12 months were. If you recall, while the leaves were still on the trees in early fall, we had ice storms and snow in the northeast that brought down a LOT OF trees and limbs. Then we start 'summer' way early, before we have even had any kind of real winter. The bugs are here to take over the planet, and the campaign starts today!
So its 67 out, and overcast. I just put a down payment on a box of Behikes. The cheapest I could get. This from a man that never orders cigars from the forbidden island. I am ready to send out the lots that I put into our troop support auction this past week. I picked out all the cigars, the glassware, the humidors. I got a chance to see the bottom of every cooler I own, which never happens. Outside of a messed up Saturday afternoon working out of town, this is going to be a relaxing weekend. I am going to fill up the bird feeders, bring an ice chest outside, alongside a humidor of smokes, a bottle opener, a triple-flame lighter and my little TV. And I am going to soak up whatever is left of the cold front and watch the little birdies eat up my retirement money. Normally I would cook, too, but I have been cooking the carp out of some meat lately. I need to relax.
Then next week, after barely working at all, I get to drive to Charlotte and see my family for most of the work week. I get to play in the dirt with my mother and relax and be a good son. And sooner rather than later, there'll come another holiday, the 4th of July. And then before I get the smell of powder and magnesium off my hands I will be in the Smokies again for a whole week. As a fatty, I usually hate the summer. But this year I think I am going to go with the flow and slide into my 50th year with a smile. Just go with the heat, hope for a breeze, and smoke some of my best cigars.
.jpg)
