Welcome to my second review, and this time starring 5 Vegas Gold No. 1 and of course myself and possibly the blurriest pictures to add to your reading and viewing pleasure.
Ok, time for some background info on the 5 Vegas Gold No. 1 (as copied off CBid)
"Welcome to the Golden Era of 5 Vegas (pronounced "cinco vegas"). Made with a hearty blend of premium tobacco leaves from Honduras that have been aged a full 5 years and a satiny Grade A Connecticut Shade wrapper leaf, the 5 Vegas Gold is your answer for a full-flavored cigar that’s mild in strength. Light one up and experience a joyride of smooth flavors. It opens with some zest, a combination of toasted nuts and subtle spice, then develops a soothing creaminess that coats the palate, making the initial spice an afterthought. Not a harsh note can be found as the cigar burns, and each puff releases a velvety cloud of blueish-white smoke. The Honduran-made 5 Vegas Gold is just right. Mild enough for everyone to enjoy, and enough character to please palates of all levels. Overall, this welcome addition to the steadfast 5 Vegas name is a wonderful cigar that just may become a part of your every day rotation.
Packaged in attractive "gold bar" style boxes.
This 7.5" x 54 vitola, dubbed the No. 1, is a slow-burning treat produced in extremely limited quantities. It was create with two things in mind: to celebrate the success of 5 Vegas Gold and to give the cigar market a longer-lasting, mild to medium-bodied cigar that’s buttery smooth, but loaded with flavor. A savory treat that can be enjoyed every day of the week, morning or night!
Category: BOXES
Cigar Size: 7.5" x 54 ring"
price paid for a box of 20 $34 = $1.70 per stick
Again, in advance, I apologize for these horrible pictures, this time it was a nightlight yellowish street lamp smoke out on the waterfront of Caesar's Bay in Brooklyn (well, thats where I normally smoke).
some pictures to start us off.
Here is the box of 5 Vegas Gold I bought, these sticks are monsters, and the gold box is shaped like a gold brick you would stereotypically find in Fort Knox. This was taken upon receipt of the box.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/unoriginall/Cigars/5VegasGoldNo1.jpg
Here is the stick in my hand. 7.5 inches of Connecticut Shade Wrapped goodness. This band is enormous, bling bling!!
THE PRELIGHT RITUAL
THE FEEL - Very smooth, as if this cigar were buffed to a brushed texture. The cigar itself was firm, I took a sniff of the wrapper and something hit my nose, don't know what it is yet, but I will find out soon. No blemishes that I could see, and very little if any veining.
THE CUT AND DRAW - I used my cheapie cutter (I promise to buy a palio when the carbon fiber comes out, especially since I get paid soon) to cut off the tip of the cap and took a prelight draw. Not loose enough. So I cut some more, almost into the cigar itself, leaving maybe only a milimeter of the cap intact. It was enough to get a good draw and not ruin the head of the cigar. The draw itself was still not loose, but I didn't have to work at inhaling it and it was enough for me to suck in air with ease. The cut itself was good. Construction wise, it if was able to take this kind of cut (almost no head, can you say MOHEL?) then I can ascertain that this cigar is built very well.
THE LIGHTING - The winds were picking up, so I opted for my butane flamethrower to scorch and torch the foot. Puff puff, pass to my left hand to put my lighter away, puff puff again. Lit very well, no problems with the burning.
THE INITIAL PUFFS - puff puff, puff puff, at first the draw was kinda tight, tighter than I had realized when there was almost no smoke coming out of my mouth. Was I inhaling it? Were the winds blowing it away too fast? No, I believe the fire wasn't hot enough yet to get an ultimately even burn, so I started to blow through it to get that foot nice and red. Then puff puff, and it was an easy draw from then on out. Also, notes of spice tickled the rear of my mouth, oooooh.
At this time, I would like to unveil my coffee drink of the day. It was a large mixed Dunkachino/French Vanilla from Dunkin Donuts. This coffee had a profound effect that I later realized, as will be explained.
THE SMOKE - Like the Cbid description said, "velvety". Unfortunately, this one produced medium smoke, not very thick, and not very abundant... at first. Later on, the smoke evolved.
THE HERFING - What can be said about this cigar? Hmmmmm, as I was slowly sipping my French Vanilla Dunkachino, I was tasting Vanilla. Was this cigar bland? Was the coffee overpowering the cigar? I don't know, but I understood one thing, I liked what I tasted, so I went with it.
Puff puff. The Ash was fairly stiff. It stood up to my shaky hand and variable prevailing low/high winds for and inch and 3 quarters.
Then the ash fell off. It wasn't all uniform as I would have liked, the outside flaked a bit, and there were various striations of black and white ash. Maybe this was because of the wind.
Puff puff some more. Puff puff again, I was constantly puffing, at 7.5 inches, this was a very cool smoke that I could puff constantly. Well, the size and the cool breezy air in combination accomodated this, which I felt helped me appreciate this stick all the more. Had this been a still day, I might have been warmer, but damn I woulda been out there for 2 hours instead of 1.
Some more pictures of the cigar after the ash fell off.
The burn was fairly even, a little "external coning" but What the hell, not much I can do to fix that. As far as there was no tunneling, I didn't care.
A picture in comparison to the Verazanno at night.
For some reason, the hot red parts of the cigar showed up as violet blue in the pictures. I should get a better camera, but cigars take priority.
Ok, now for some of the more descriptive parts... the flavors. At first, a spicy tingle, this was all I tasted, and it never went away, but wasn't there constantly, just subsided then came back at the most unexpected times. Nutty, earthy vanilla, buttery, and floral potpourri. Let me explain this in more detail... for the first half inch, it was all spice, then it subsided into a vanilla flavor. Vanilla was the dominant flavor in the entire stick, and the nuttiness, and spice revolved around each other, one puff spice, one puff nutty. There were some serious undertones of floral potpourri in there. At first I didn't know what it was until I kept smoking it. Thinking what it resembled most. It wasn't a taste in my mouth, but an aroma that crept to my nose, like a sneak attack. I thought "oooh, now THATS INTERESTING!!! " I think this is the one element that previous people who have smoked this cigar overlooked.
The smoke itself was evolving as well, from very thin to a moderate plume. As the stick got to the half way point, the draw became very loose, and the smoke was coming at me from all angles. The texture became "velvety", and the flavor of it was buttery... creamy, buttery, earthy - vanilla. The spice and nuttiness still came and went here and there, but that only kept my focus on the cigar, and I enjoyed it. In fact, I puffed this down to the label, which was about 2 inches left to the stick. Yeah, I could have nubbed it to the last end, but didn't, didn't want to ruin my final moments of this cigar with hot bitter smoke that almost all sticks ultimately succumb to.
At this time, I finally realized that this cigar had a vanilla texture to it. The Dunkachino was complimenting the cigar, extremely well. This was also the time I started to reflect upon the other flavors and textures, buttery, creamy, nutty, vanilla, and floral.
OVERALL - This is a great cigar. The aging of the 5 years mellowed this one out well. A myriad of revolving flavors, and ceaseless intrigue accompany this cigar. Mild, and flavorfull, definitely deserving of its grandiose box.
MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS - ok, I did a search here on Cpass about previous reviews on this stick and came up with a few hits
KayakinBoy's Review
opusxfiles review This one is not quite a formal review, but gets a generalization of how the smoker thought of this stick.
bombtek's review the only positive review I found.
This was a "hate it or love it" stick, and I think the culprit is the floral potpourri aroma. Would I recommend this to friends? Hard to say. This floral culprit is a big determining factor in how the smoker enjoys this particular cigar. I loved it. :love: (The fact that I got them fairly cheap didn't hurt either, value goes a long way), The revolving/evolving flavors, smoke output, creamy buttery textures kept me in a trance on this stick. The easy smooth draw towards after the first inch and a half, and the smoothness of the smoke added to my enjoyment. I would definitely smoke more, but I also wonder how well it would be one year from now, so I want to age some too. There are possibly two sticks (that I know of) that come close to this auric wonder... Excalibur No. 1 Natural by HdM and Romeo Y Julietta Reserva Real, although the latter two are without the potporri aroma.
THE AFTEREFFECTS - Full body flavor in a mild strength cigar. Very little nicotine effect, and I mean LITTLE. My tolerance is very low on the nic, and since I felt almost nothing, I find this cigar very enjoyable. The 5 years aging is a big factor in this. I love pre-aged cigars, the nicotine kick isn't as strong and there is more flavor in them.
Well, thats all for my review of the 5 Vegas Gold No. 1. Thankyou for reading and I hope my pictures didn't ruin your eye sight.
- Dave.
edited for some incorrect img tags
Ok, time for some background info on the 5 Vegas Gold No. 1 (as copied off CBid)
"Welcome to the Golden Era of 5 Vegas (pronounced "cinco vegas"). Made with a hearty blend of premium tobacco leaves from Honduras that have been aged a full 5 years and a satiny Grade A Connecticut Shade wrapper leaf, the 5 Vegas Gold is your answer for a full-flavored cigar that’s mild in strength. Light one up and experience a joyride of smooth flavors. It opens with some zest, a combination of toasted nuts and subtle spice, then develops a soothing creaminess that coats the palate, making the initial spice an afterthought. Not a harsh note can be found as the cigar burns, and each puff releases a velvety cloud of blueish-white smoke. The Honduran-made 5 Vegas Gold is just right. Mild enough for everyone to enjoy, and enough character to please palates of all levels. Overall, this welcome addition to the steadfast 5 Vegas name is a wonderful cigar that just may become a part of your every day rotation.
Packaged in attractive "gold bar" style boxes.
This 7.5" x 54 vitola, dubbed the No. 1, is a slow-burning treat produced in extremely limited quantities. It was create with two things in mind: to celebrate the success of 5 Vegas Gold and to give the cigar market a longer-lasting, mild to medium-bodied cigar that’s buttery smooth, but loaded with flavor. A savory treat that can be enjoyed every day of the week, morning or night!
Category: BOXES
Cigar Size: 7.5" x 54 ring"
price paid for a box of 20 $34 = $1.70 per stick
Again, in advance, I apologize for these horrible pictures, this time it was a nightlight yellowish street lamp smoke out on the waterfront of Caesar's Bay in Brooklyn (well, thats where I normally smoke).
some pictures to start us off.
Here is the box of 5 Vegas Gold I bought, these sticks are monsters, and the gold box is shaped like a gold brick you would stereotypically find in Fort Knox. This was taken upon receipt of the box.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/unoriginall/Cigars/5VegasGoldNo1.jpg
Here is the stick in my hand. 7.5 inches of Connecticut Shade Wrapped goodness. This band is enormous, bling bling!!
THE PRELIGHT RITUAL
THE FEEL - Very smooth, as if this cigar were buffed to a brushed texture. The cigar itself was firm, I took a sniff of the wrapper and something hit my nose, don't know what it is yet, but I will find out soon. No blemishes that I could see, and very little if any veining.
THE CUT AND DRAW - I used my cheapie cutter (I promise to buy a palio when the carbon fiber comes out, especially since I get paid soon) to cut off the tip of the cap and took a prelight draw. Not loose enough. So I cut some more, almost into the cigar itself, leaving maybe only a milimeter of the cap intact. It was enough to get a good draw and not ruin the head of the cigar. The draw itself was still not loose, but I didn't have to work at inhaling it and it was enough for me to suck in air with ease. The cut itself was good. Construction wise, it if was able to take this kind of cut (almost no head, can you say MOHEL?) then I can ascertain that this cigar is built very well.
THE LIGHTING - The winds were picking up, so I opted for my butane flamethrower to scorch and torch the foot. Puff puff, pass to my left hand to put my lighter away, puff puff again. Lit very well, no problems with the burning.
THE INITIAL PUFFS - puff puff, puff puff, at first the draw was kinda tight, tighter than I had realized when there was almost no smoke coming out of my mouth. Was I inhaling it? Were the winds blowing it away too fast? No, I believe the fire wasn't hot enough yet to get an ultimately even burn, so I started to blow through it to get that foot nice and red. Then puff puff, and it was an easy draw from then on out. Also, notes of spice tickled the rear of my mouth, oooooh.
At this time, I would like to unveil my coffee drink of the day. It was a large mixed Dunkachino/French Vanilla from Dunkin Donuts. This coffee had a profound effect that I later realized, as will be explained.
THE SMOKE - Like the Cbid description said, "velvety". Unfortunately, this one produced medium smoke, not very thick, and not very abundant... at first. Later on, the smoke evolved.
THE HERFING - What can be said about this cigar? Hmmmmm, as I was slowly sipping my French Vanilla Dunkachino, I was tasting Vanilla. Was this cigar bland? Was the coffee overpowering the cigar? I don't know, but I understood one thing, I liked what I tasted, so I went with it.
Puff puff. The Ash was fairly stiff. It stood up to my shaky hand and variable prevailing low/high winds for and inch and 3 quarters.
Then the ash fell off. It wasn't all uniform as I would have liked, the outside flaked a bit, and there were various striations of black and white ash. Maybe this was because of the wind.
Puff puff some more. Puff puff again, I was constantly puffing, at 7.5 inches, this was a very cool smoke that I could puff constantly. Well, the size and the cool breezy air in combination accomodated this, which I felt helped me appreciate this stick all the more. Had this been a still day, I might have been warmer, but damn I woulda been out there for 2 hours instead of 1.
Some more pictures of the cigar after the ash fell off.
The burn was fairly even, a little "external coning" but What the hell, not much I can do to fix that. As far as there was no tunneling, I didn't care.
A picture in comparison to the Verazanno at night.
For some reason, the hot red parts of the cigar showed up as violet blue in the pictures. I should get a better camera, but cigars take priority.
Ok, now for some of the more descriptive parts... the flavors. At first, a spicy tingle, this was all I tasted, and it never went away, but wasn't there constantly, just subsided then came back at the most unexpected times. Nutty, earthy vanilla, buttery, and floral potpourri. Let me explain this in more detail... for the first half inch, it was all spice, then it subsided into a vanilla flavor. Vanilla was the dominant flavor in the entire stick, and the nuttiness, and spice revolved around each other, one puff spice, one puff nutty. There were some serious undertones of floral potpourri in there. At first I didn't know what it was until I kept smoking it. Thinking what it resembled most. It wasn't a taste in my mouth, but an aroma that crept to my nose, like a sneak attack. I thought "oooh, now THATS INTERESTING!!!
" I think this is the one element that previous people who have smoked this cigar overlooked. The smoke itself was evolving as well, from very thin to a moderate plume. As the stick got to the half way point, the draw became very loose, and the smoke was coming at me from all angles. The texture became "velvety", and the flavor of it was buttery... creamy, buttery, earthy - vanilla. The spice and nuttiness still came and went here and there, but that only kept my focus on the cigar, and I enjoyed it. In fact, I puffed this down to the label, which was about 2 inches left to the stick. Yeah, I could have nubbed it to the last end, but didn't, didn't want to ruin my final moments of this cigar with hot bitter smoke that almost all sticks ultimately succumb to.
At this time, I finally realized that this cigar had a vanilla texture to it. The Dunkachino was complimenting the cigar, extremely well. This was also the time I started to reflect upon the other flavors and textures, buttery, creamy, nutty, vanilla, and floral.
OVERALL - This is a great cigar. The aging of the 5 years mellowed this one out well. A myriad of revolving flavors, and ceaseless intrigue accompany this cigar. Mild, and flavorfull, definitely deserving of its grandiose box.
MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS - ok, I did a search here on Cpass about previous reviews on this stick and came up with a few hits
KayakinBoy's Review
opusxfiles review This one is not quite a formal review, but gets a generalization of how the smoker thought of this stick.
bombtek's review the only positive review I found.
This was a "hate it or love it" stick, and I think the culprit is the floral potpourri aroma. Would I recommend this to friends? Hard to say. This floral culprit is a big determining factor in how the smoker enjoys this particular cigar. I loved it. :love: (The fact that I got them fairly cheap didn't hurt either, value goes a long way), The revolving/evolving flavors, smoke output, creamy buttery textures kept me in a trance on this stick. The easy smooth draw towards after the first inch and a half, and the smoothness of the smoke added to my enjoyment. I would definitely smoke more, but I also wonder how well it would be one year from now, so I want to age some too. There are possibly two sticks (that I know of) that come close to this auric wonder... Excalibur No. 1 Natural by HdM and Romeo Y Julietta Reserva Real, although the latter two are without the potporri aroma.
THE AFTEREFFECTS - Full body flavor in a mild strength cigar. Very little nicotine effect, and I mean LITTLE. My tolerance is very low on the nic, and since I felt almost nothing, I find this cigar very enjoyable. The 5 years aging is a big factor in this. I love pre-aged cigars, the nicotine kick isn't as strong and there is more flavor in them.
Well, thats all for my review of the 5 Vegas Gold No. 1. Thankyou for reading and I hope my pictures didn't ruin your eye sight.
- Dave.
edited for some incorrect img tags