Lumberg
Opus Lover
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2003
- Messages
- 3,700
Hey all.
So I was putzing around in the garage with my son today and had the chance to smoke several nice cigars. The first three were acquired from Big100HD in a blind trade.
The first one I smoked (and probably the one I enjoyed most) was the Felipe Gregorio Dos Capas (barberpole wrapper). It was quite smooth and had a very nice flavor profile that was a good combination of the maduro and natural. I was pretty skeptical. I have never smoked any dos capas. I even picked up some BTLs and just put them in passes or bombs cos I thought it was a gimmick. So I was quite impressed. It burned exceptionally well and the draw was perfect with just a punch in the head.
For the next one I decided to give the RASS a try. Now I haven't had much luck with ISOMs, but they do have a pretty big following from lots of people who know a lot about cigars, so I usually try them when I get them. This was a short little robusto size that felt quite nice in the hand with a light wrapper. I punched it and lit it. The smoke tasted, eh, OK. A tad on the bitter side. The draw was great and the burn was great. It didn't have any sublime flavors or barnyard tastes or smells. It burned down to an inch without a hitch. Not a terrible cigar, but I have lots that I like more that are much less trouble to get. The main thing I took from this cigar was the mildly bitter taste.
The next one I smoked was an Anejo torpedo size. I believe it's a 55. I had smoked a #46 Anejo yesterday and was looking forward to this. I liked the fact that it was nice and thick. It still maintained good temperature for a thick cigar and the flavor was everyone one hopes for in an Anejo. Burned straight, great draw with a modest clip at the head. No tar buildup at the head, I believe this is because it was kept at a lower humidity.
I'd like to take a quick break here to note that I think readers will note that the qualities of the above cigars showed good storage conditions, which is a reflection of the good storage Frank uses. After he gave the cigars to me I had them sealed in a ziploc bag for a week, and only opened the bag today to smoke the cigars.
On to the rest
I then moved on to an Opus X DC. This I also punched and lit right up. This one seemed a little moist, as like the other cigars, I had kept it pretty much sealed in its bag after buying it from the store, which tends to keep their cigars overhumidified. The cigar alwasy stayed lit, but if I put it down for a few moments I had to do several quick puffs to get the cherry going again. Once it got over halfway through the burn became quite uneven. Overall the taste was very very good and consistent. A typical Opus X.
The next one I smoked was a LFD Oscuro Natural 500 series (the thickest gauge cigar). I like the stubby thick shape, as I haev gravitated towards the thicker cigars.
After organizing this group buy several months ago, I have been aging these and waiting for them to "come in." They have a characteristic that I can only call "irritating" to them. Age has consistently mellowed this characteristic. The one I smoked today has almost all but lost this tang to it. However there was nothing left. The cigar did nothing for me. Zip. Zero. Nada. On top of that, I kept getting little pieces of tobacco in my mouth. The fact that I had punched this cigars indicates to me that that means some clippings and small pieces of leaf had be bunched into the middle of the cigar. Stopped smoking this one probably less than halfway through. I know there are plenty of people who love these so I will probably be looking to trade/pass/give these away.
After that disappointment I had to go with a sure thing. I picked a Padron Churchill Maduro regular line and smoked that one with great gusto and pleasure. I find it rather thin for the Churchill designation. It's definitely as thin as you can get away with and still call it a churchill.
Anyway this cigar was the perfect cap to a nice evening. Perfect maduro flavor, great construction and burn, and of course perfect draw from a regular center punch.
So I was putzing around in the garage with my son today and had the chance to smoke several nice cigars. The first three were acquired from Big100HD in a blind trade.
The first one I smoked (and probably the one I enjoyed most) was the Felipe Gregorio Dos Capas (barberpole wrapper). It was quite smooth and had a very nice flavor profile that was a good combination of the maduro and natural. I was pretty skeptical. I have never smoked any dos capas. I even picked up some BTLs and just put them in passes or bombs cos I thought it was a gimmick. So I was quite impressed. It burned exceptionally well and the draw was perfect with just a punch in the head.
For the next one I decided to give the RASS a try. Now I haven't had much luck with ISOMs, but they do have a pretty big following from lots of people who know a lot about cigars, so I usually try them when I get them. This was a short little robusto size that felt quite nice in the hand with a light wrapper. I punched it and lit it. The smoke tasted, eh, OK. A tad on the bitter side. The draw was great and the burn was great. It didn't have any sublime flavors or barnyard tastes or smells. It burned down to an inch without a hitch. Not a terrible cigar, but I have lots that I like more that are much less trouble to get. The main thing I took from this cigar was the mildly bitter taste.
The next one I smoked was an Anejo torpedo size. I believe it's a 55. I had smoked a #46 Anejo yesterday and was looking forward to this. I liked the fact that it was nice and thick. It still maintained good temperature for a thick cigar and the flavor was everyone one hopes for in an Anejo. Burned straight, great draw with a modest clip at the head. No tar buildup at the head, I believe this is because it was kept at a lower humidity.
I'd like to take a quick break here to note that I think readers will note that the qualities of the above cigars showed good storage conditions, which is a reflection of the good storage Frank uses. After he gave the cigars to me I had them sealed in a ziploc bag for a week, and only opened the bag today to smoke the cigars.
On to the rest
I then moved on to an Opus X DC. This I also punched and lit right up. This one seemed a little moist, as like the other cigars, I had kept it pretty much sealed in its bag after buying it from the store, which tends to keep their cigars overhumidified. The cigar alwasy stayed lit, but if I put it down for a few moments I had to do several quick puffs to get the cherry going again. Once it got over halfway through the burn became quite uneven. Overall the taste was very very good and consistent. A typical Opus X.
The next one I smoked was a LFD Oscuro Natural 500 series (the thickest gauge cigar). I like the stubby thick shape, as I haev gravitated towards the thicker cigars.
After organizing this group buy several months ago, I have been aging these and waiting for them to "come in." They have a characteristic that I can only call "irritating" to them. Age has consistently mellowed this characteristic. The one I smoked today has almost all but lost this tang to it. However there was nothing left. The cigar did nothing for me. Zip. Zero. Nada. On top of that, I kept getting little pieces of tobacco in my mouth. The fact that I had punched this cigars indicates to me that that means some clippings and small pieces of leaf had be bunched into the middle of the cigar. Stopped smoking this one probably less than halfway through. I know there are plenty of people who love these so I will probably be looking to trade/pass/give these away.
After that disappointment I had to go with a sure thing. I picked a Padron Churchill Maduro regular line and smoked that one with great gusto and pleasure. I find it rather thin for the Churchill designation. It's definitely as thin as you can get away with and still call it a churchill.
Anyway this cigar was the perfect cap to a nice evening. Perfect maduro flavor, great construction and burn, and of course perfect draw from a regular center punch.
I had the FG Dos Capas...it tasted like A$$. Not just typical A$$, but really nasty A$$. ??? Now if you like A$$....just messing with you Jonathan. Couldn't help but yank your chain over this statement. 
