Just completed an all-ISOM trade (my first such) and man o man did I get back some smokes! Well, one of them was a 1997 Partagas Culebra and was my first culebra to smoke ever - domestic or ISOM.
The twisted, malliable and light cigar had a slightly rugged look yet the lightness and smoothness of this aged cigar didn't feel rough at all but rather pampered, which undoubtedly it has been. The light and initial draw suprised me on how easy it lit and how fast the draw was. Barely a puff in and I was covered in a volume of smoke that threatened to overwhelm me until I realized how gentle the smoke was really.
After that it was a small learning curve on finding out how slow you had to smoke this cigar. The tastes of it reminded me of a silky, sweet peppers with a minty aftertaste that numbed my lips slightly and as I smoked the cigar down, spread to the roof of my mouth and the back of my throat. Smoked too fast though between puffs, and the hotter smoke caused a spicy pepper with an aftertaste of dirty tobacco rolled into the ground too much. Luckily the light consturction of this cigar made recovery of a too hot of a draw simple and just as fast. The result was, with a couple of exceptions on the too hot of a draw, the majority of this cigar smoked awesome in the taste category. The key point for this cigar was to smoke it slowly - even slower thanI have found to be "normal" and slower even than a Short Story.
A side effect though of this slow smoking did mean that I had to relight the cigar a couple of times during the course of this cigar, but just as with the initial light, was easy and fast with little trouble at all. I referenced earlier about the sheer volume of smoke this cigar put out - way past much larger ring and stoutier cigars, yet the smoke wasn't harsh at all and the draw was lighter than that of a cigarette.
I gave this cigar a 87 and definately would smoke another one any day.
Sam
P.S. Princess was a prude with this cigar, taking one sniff and then arrogantly stalking away. My youngest cat, Leo - a full blodded Maine Coon, like it however and for the first time in weeks sat near me as I smoked it.
Picky damn cats
The twisted, malliable and light cigar had a slightly rugged look yet the lightness and smoothness of this aged cigar didn't feel rough at all but rather pampered, which undoubtedly it has been. The light and initial draw suprised me on how easy it lit and how fast the draw was. Barely a puff in and I was covered in a volume of smoke that threatened to overwhelm me until I realized how gentle the smoke was really.
After that it was a small learning curve on finding out how slow you had to smoke this cigar. The tastes of it reminded me of a silky, sweet peppers with a minty aftertaste that numbed my lips slightly and as I smoked the cigar down, spread to the roof of my mouth and the back of my throat. Smoked too fast though between puffs, and the hotter smoke caused a spicy pepper with an aftertaste of dirty tobacco rolled into the ground too much. Luckily the light consturction of this cigar made recovery of a too hot of a draw simple and just as fast. The result was, with a couple of exceptions on the too hot of a draw, the majority of this cigar smoked awesome in the taste category. The key point for this cigar was to smoke it slowly - even slower thanI have found to be "normal" and slower even than a Short Story.
A side effect though of this slow smoking did mean that I had to relight the cigar a couple of times during the course of this cigar, but just as with the initial light, was easy and fast with little trouble at all. I referenced earlier about the sheer volume of smoke this cigar put out - way past much larger ring and stoutier cigars, yet the smoke wasn't harsh at all and the draw was lighter than that of a cigarette.
I gave this cigar a 87 and definately would smoke another one any day.
Sam
P.S. Princess was a prude with this cigar, taking one sniff and then arrogantly stalking away. My youngest cat, Leo - a full blodded Maine Coon, like it however and for the first time in weeks sat near me as I smoked it.
Picky damn cats
