Shadow
That's DON Shadow to you!
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2001
- Messages
- 4,044
Here is the first Blind Cigar Review. Beast's review is not included since he is on vacation. When he gets back he will post it under this thread. The reviews are in alphabetical order with no editing. Here we go:
EMO:
Appearance: This lightly veined, dark brown vitola had a unique nose I could quite place. It was slightly box pressed with a little pigtail on the foot. Upon closer inspection, there were no visible stems to speak of. 10/10
Construction: Another great quality of this smoke! A perfectionist rolled this cigar, or the cigar factory has great quality control. It was firmly packed and provided some spring when squeezed. As I stated before, there were no visible stems, even after clipping. Pre-light draw provided just enough resistance and the same wonderful aroma as the nose. The 1st quarter of the smoke burned slightly uneven, but not detractably so. After the ¼ mark it burned razor sharp holding up to 2 ½ inches of firm gray/white ash. This one provided plenty of smoke, which turned a bit hot towards the end. 9/10
Flavor: The 1st quarter of this nice cigar provided a medium bodied, medium strength, robust tobacco flavor. Unfortunately, it was jus a bit harsh on the back of the throat. After the initial harshness subsided I could taste a bit of spice and cedar. After the 1st quarter the flavor really picked up, as did the strength of this cigar. Hints of leather and earth permeated my palate with each puff. The harshness mellows some and the flavor became more consistent with each puff. At the halfway point, I pick up a bit of nutty flavor on the tongue, along with a slightly bitter taste. The flavor remained the same except for intensifying through the rest of the smoke. 8.5/10
Overall Impression: This cigar is not the type I would find myself smoking everyday. It was just not my style. But with that being said, this was a really good cigar overall. The wee one packed a good bit of flavor and a lot of strength for its size. If it weren’t for the bit of harshness and bitter in the flavor profile, I think I would have found it more enjoyable. Definitely an enjoyable cigar! 9/10
Firestorm:
Here we go... Blind #1 Review
First this was a VERY surprising cigar.
Appearance: This cigar was beautiful. It had a nice tight roll.....and what I call an ISOM roll....nearly rock hard with NO softness in it. It had a beautiful silky though not clearly oily wrapper. The wrapper reminded me of a sungrown or habana 2000, because it was rather dark in appearance, but not quite so dark as to label Maduro. It also sported a very nice " pigtail, also called a " flag" head by some. Its only initial appearance flaw was that is smelled like dirty feet. Yes... I DID say "dirty feet". I even gave it to my wife to smell for a totally unbiased opinion. (She knows nothing of cigars and kind of hates them.) When handed this cigar to smell she said.." it smells like feet"... which was MY opinion, though it was nice to hear it from a 2nd party .
Well.......with that presmoke smell I did not expect much! ( and truthfully feared it might taste like it smelled.)
Needless to say I was astonished when I lit it up!
Once cut this cigar had a very nice easy prelight draw. It lit effortlessly and burned PERFECTLY. It took NO effort to sit back and enjoy the journey this cigar was taking me on...and the journey was more of an adventure!
It started and finished with a controlled burn, effortless draw, with lots of smoke and NO
heat! Its' flavors were an initial slight bitterness with no hint of sweetness. It challenged my taste by progressing to a wondrous sweetness with the flavor of nuts and leather. It acquired the barest pleasant hint of pepper for about a minute at the midpoint. This then vanished as quickly as it appeared.
It was a medium bodied smoke, enigmatically changing from bitter to sweet, to creamy leather and nuts with an incredible syncopation of a lightly bitter counternote to dance with the sweet prevailing taste throughout the cigar. It ended with a sweet short sweet leathery finish.
This was an EXCEPTIONAL cigar! And was in fact the best I have had to date, competing with my former favorite a Partegas Short ISOM. It looked nice, smoked exceptionally, was extremely well made and rolled, and had a lot of very creamy and enigmatic smoke. I found it to be a sultry, perplexing and thoroughly enjoyable cigar. Using the Cigar Lovers Diary evaluation system this cigar scored a whopping 93, the highest to date for me!
I am praying you will tell me this is a cigar I can get from Jr's for less than $3.00 each, but am pretty convinced it is a Montecristo Expecialle #2 ISOM. ( PLEASE tell me I am wrong, because I will order several boxes if not....)
Thanks for introducing me to the best cigar I have smoked to date.
...........Now tell me it is an alt of something easily acquired and I will do your bidding for an hour!
Horse:
I agree with the smelly feet. hehehehe guess I cheated and used a previous review term.
Clipped off the pig-tail and gave it a pre-light draw. ummm just right. Toasted the foot, and lit up....not bad but not exceptional. Nice tobacco taste with not much spice thrown in. Donna tried it... hmmm tastes like a cigarette to her. The first 1 1/2 inch finally fell off on it's own accord. BTW, there was not 'twang' that I could taste nor the tell-tale dark ash that the isom will show....so....no isom in my book. Throughout the stick...had to relight 2X.... when it went out a 3rd time at 1 3/4 " from finishing....I let it fly into the flower-bed.... a decent 'yard' stick if it was a gift.
Thanks Bill for lettin me try that one. 8^)
JLew:
This cigar looked great, rolled well, lots of small veins throughout, very dark, and oily. I opened it up about 80% and light it up easily. The first draw was nice creamy with a small hint of wood. The draw perfect. The taste at first stayed soft and mild very creamy. Towards the middle I started having problems with the flavor. The flavor went from creamy and mild to thick and strong quick. The thickness was overpowering and allowed no distinguishable flavors to come out. Additonally a bitter aftertaste followed. My opinion on this stick is not favorable as you may tell. It became more of a chore to finish than enjoyment which is what cigars are about. I didnt like downing your smoke, but I think your wanting straight forward opinions here. Jasonbtwthanks for including me, this is fun.
PuroBrat:
#1 - CAO Extream??? This cigar had a great prelight nose, with a nice dark, slightly rough oily wrapper. The construction was very good and the roll was tight. I loved the little pigtail at the cap. I used a .45 caliber punch to put a nice size hole in the cap. Prelight draw was smooth and easy. As I toasted the foot, the nose was pleasent and spicy. The burn was flawless from start to finish. I never had to touch it up at all. While this cigar was a strong powerhouse, it was smoothe and easy on the tongue. Small inhalations provided a full bodied and very peppery taste with hints of wood (cedar?) and Nice spicy tones. This was a true nubber, I burned my lip AND my thumb. Thanks Bill for
letting me play
Somkin’Tone:
The Curly Mofo Review
Well to start off, this is an awesome idea, and I'm glad to be a part of it. Now that the brown-nosing is out of the way, here we go:
When I pulled out this nice curly Lonsdale(?), I noticed the perfect shade of wrapper. Nice, even color all around. Not a lot of veins, almost perfect. I was happy right away. Pre nose was mild, sweet, almost a bittersweet chocolate with a mild tobacco smell with hints of cedar/wet wood.
Upon lighting, I noticed the perfect burn, nice draw with a mossy/wet cedar kind of smell, my favorite (I like 'em a bit on the wet side). There was a LOT of smoke, but it was very aromatic. Even Fran took a liking to it and asked me what it was. Hey, if the lady likes it, that's an automatic winner. I didn't even have to open the window, just turned up my Csonka and let it rip. So the first quarter of the 'gar was so far a 9. Pretty mild.
Half way through, the perfect draw was even more noticeable. There was
a very light pepper taste, and that's when I noticed the wrapper taste.
Very sweet, almost a carmel. Ash was awesome, deep dark grey. The
smoke was plentiful, and didn't have an aftertaste, actually I enjoyed it. I didn't need to wash it out with the glass of single single I had sitting next to me, 'just in case'. Then when it was smoked to half, I noticed the wood taste was stronger, not in a bad way, just a hair more noticeable. It got hot, it was my fault, I was really puffing away on it, but I sat it down for a bit and it cooled right off. I even inhaled it, but it's been so long since I've done that, I coughed out my lungs and it burned the back of my throat a bit, but man, this was a nice smoke, so I did it again LOL. Second time, it was smooth. I had to hit the scotch to take that burn away and replace it with the spirits burn hehe..
The last quarter the pepper taste came back a little strong, so I blew through the cigar and it mellowed back out again. TONS of smoke. It got hot again, but I think it was because it was getting close to the end. All of the tastes blended together to make a perfect end. Very aromatic ending, the tobacco smell was nice, I love that smell. All in all, I'd say that this was a 9 out of 10 on the Smokey Scale(tm). If I had to recommend this, I would readily. I loved it. Smoked almost to the nub, but it got so hot I decided not to ruin the session, so I let her die out. I let the taste linger a bit on my lips before finishing off the tasty beverage, and it was heavenly.
So that's the way I see it. #1 was an excellent smoke. Once I find out what this one is, I'm gonna have to hunt down a box, because that was
one of the most enjoyable hours I spent with a cigar.
-Tony
EMO:
Appearance: This lightly veined, dark brown vitola had a unique nose I could quite place. It was slightly box pressed with a little pigtail on the foot. Upon closer inspection, there were no visible stems to speak of. 10/10
Construction: Another great quality of this smoke! A perfectionist rolled this cigar, or the cigar factory has great quality control. It was firmly packed and provided some spring when squeezed. As I stated before, there were no visible stems, even after clipping. Pre-light draw provided just enough resistance and the same wonderful aroma as the nose. The 1st quarter of the smoke burned slightly uneven, but not detractably so. After the ¼ mark it burned razor sharp holding up to 2 ½ inches of firm gray/white ash. This one provided plenty of smoke, which turned a bit hot towards the end. 9/10
Flavor: The 1st quarter of this nice cigar provided a medium bodied, medium strength, robust tobacco flavor. Unfortunately, it was jus a bit harsh on the back of the throat. After the initial harshness subsided I could taste a bit of spice and cedar. After the 1st quarter the flavor really picked up, as did the strength of this cigar. Hints of leather and earth permeated my palate with each puff. The harshness mellows some and the flavor became more consistent with each puff. At the halfway point, I pick up a bit of nutty flavor on the tongue, along with a slightly bitter taste. The flavor remained the same except for intensifying through the rest of the smoke. 8.5/10
Overall Impression: This cigar is not the type I would find myself smoking everyday. It was just not my style. But with that being said, this was a really good cigar overall. The wee one packed a good bit of flavor and a lot of strength for its size. If it weren’t for the bit of harshness and bitter in the flavor profile, I think I would have found it more enjoyable. Definitely an enjoyable cigar! 9/10
Firestorm:
Here we go... Blind #1 Review
First this was a VERY surprising cigar.
Appearance: This cigar was beautiful. It had a nice tight roll.....and what I call an ISOM roll....nearly rock hard with NO softness in it. It had a beautiful silky though not clearly oily wrapper. The wrapper reminded me of a sungrown or habana 2000, because it was rather dark in appearance, but not quite so dark as to label Maduro. It also sported a very nice " pigtail, also called a " flag" head by some. Its only initial appearance flaw was that is smelled like dirty feet. Yes... I DID say "dirty feet". I even gave it to my wife to smell for a totally unbiased opinion. (She knows nothing of cigars and kind of hates them.) When handed this cigar to smell she said.." it smells like feet"... which was MY opinion, though it was nice to hear it from a 2nd party .
Well.......with that presmoke smell I did not expect much! ( and truthfully feared it might taste like it smelled.)
Needless to say I was astonished when I lit it up!
Once cut this cigar had a very nice easy prelight draw. It lit effortlessly and burned PERFECTLY. It took NO effort to sit back and enjoy the journey this cigar was taking me on...and the journey was more of an adventure!
It started and finished with a controlled burn, effortless draw, with lots of smoke and NO
heat! Its' flavors were an initial slight bitterness with no hint of sweetness. It challenged my taste by progressing to a wondrous sweetness with the flavor of nuts and leather. It acquired the barest pleasant hint of pepper for about a minute at the midpoint. This then vanished as quickly as it appeared.
It was a medium bodied smoke, enigmatically changing from bitter to sweet, to creamy leather and nuts with an incredible syncopation of a lightly bitter counternote to dance with the sweet prevailing taste throughout the cigar. It ended with a sweet short sweet leathery finish.
This was an EXCEPTIONAL cigar! And was in fact the best I have had to date, competing with my former favorite a Partegas Short ISOM. It looked nice, smoked exceptionally, was extremely well made and rolled, and had a lot of very creamy and enigmatic smoke. I found it to be a sultry, perplexing and thoroughly enjoyable cigar. Using the Cigar Lovers Diary evaluation system this cigar scored a whopping 93, the highest to date for me!
I am praying you will tell me this is a cigar I can get from Jr's for less than $3.00 each, but am pretty convinced it is a Montecristo Expecialle #2 ISOM. ( PLEASE tell me I am wrong, because I will order several boxes if not....)
Thanks for introducing me to the best cigar I have smoked to date.
...........Now tell me it is an alt of something easily acquired and I will do your bidding for an hour!
Horse:
I agree with the smelly feet. hehehehe guess I cheated and used a previous review term.
Clipped off the pig-tail and gave it a pre-light draw. ummm just right. Toasted the foot, and lit up....not bad but not exceptional. Nice tobacco taste with not much spice thrown in. Donna tried it... hmmm tastes like a cigarette to her. The first 1 1/2 inch finally fell off on it's own accord. BTW, there was not 'twang' that I could taste nor the tell-tale dark ash that the isom will show....so....no isom in my book. Throughout the stick...had to relight 2X.... when it went out a 3rd time at 1 3/4 " from finishing....I let it fly into the flower-bed.... a decent 'yard' stick if it was a gift.
Thanks Bill for lettin me try that one. 8^)
JLew:
This cigar looked great, rolled well, lots of small veins throughout, very dark, and oily. I opened it up about 80% and light it up easily. The first draw was nice creamy with a small hint of wood. The draw perfect. The taste at first stayed soft and mild very creamy. Towards the middle I started having problems with the flavor. The flavor went from creamy and mild to thick and strong quick. The thickness was overpowering and allowed no distinguishable flavors to come out. Additonally a bitter aftertaste followed. My opinion on this stick is not favorable as you may tell. It became more of a chore to finish than enjoyment which is what cigars are about. I didnt like downing your smoke, but I think your wanting straight forward opinions here. Jasonbtwthanks for including me, this is fun.
PuroBrat:
#1 - CAO Extream??? This cigar had a great prelight nose, with a nice dark, slightly rough oily wrapper. The construction was very good and the roll was tight. I loved the little pigtail at the cap. I used a .45 caliber punch to put a nice size hole in the cap. Prelight draw was smooth and easy. As I toasted the foot, the nose was pleasent and spicy. The burn was flawless from start to finish. I never had to touch it up at all. While this cigar was a strong powerhouse, it was smoothe and easy on the tongue. Small inhalations provided a full bodied and very peppery taste with hints of wood (cedar?) and Nice spicy tones. This was a true nubber, I burned my lip AND my thumb. Thanks Bill for
letting me play
Somkin’Tone:
The Curly Mofo Review
Well to start off, this is an awesome idea, and I'm glad to be a part of it. Now that the brown-nosing is out of the way, here we go:
When I pulled out this nice curly Lonsdale(?), I noticed the perfect shade of wrapper. Nice, even color all around. Not a lot of veins, almost perfect. I was happy right away. Pre nose was mild, sweet, almost a bittersweet chocolate with a mild tobacco smell with hints of cedar/wet wood.
Upon lighting, I noticed the perfect burn, nice draw with a mossy/wet cedar kind of smell, my favorite (I like 'em a bit on the wet side). There was a LOT of smoke, but it was very aromatic. Even Fran took a liking to it and asked me what it was. Hey, if the lady likes it, that's an automatic winner. I didn't even have to open the window, just turned up my Csonka and let it rip. So the first quarter of the 'gar was so far a 9. Pretty mild.
Half way through, the perfect draw was even more noticeable. There was
a very light pepper taste, and that's when I noticed the wrapper taste.
Very sweet, almost a carmel. Ash was awesome, deep dark grey. The
smoke was plentiful, and didn't have an aftertaste, actually I enjoyed it. I didn't need to wash it out with the glass of single single I had sitting next to me, 'just in case'. Then when it was smoked to half, I noticed the wood taste was stronger, not in a bad way, just a hair more noticeable. It got hot, it was my fault, I was really puffing away on it, but I sat it down for a bit and it cooled right off. I even inhaled it, but it's been so long since I've done that, I coughed out my lungs and it burned the back of my throat a bit, but man, this was a nice smoke, so I did it again LOL. Second time, it was smooth. I had to hit the scotch to take that burn away and replace it with the spirits burn hehe..
The last quarter the pepper taste came back a little strong, so I blew through the cigar and it mellowed back out again. TONS of smoke. It got hot again, but I think it was because it was getting close to the end. All of the tastes blended together to make a perfect end. Very aromatic ending, the tobacco smell was nice, I love that smell. All in all, I'd say that this was a 9 out of 10 on the Smokey Scale(tm). If I had to recommend this, I would readily. I loved it. Smoked almost to the nub, but it got so hot I decided not to ruin the session, so I let her die out. I let the taste linger a bit on my lips before finishing off the tasty beverage, and it was heavenly.
So that's the way I see it. #1 was an excellent smoke. Once I find out what this one is, I'm gonna have to hunt down a box, because that was
one of the most enjoyable hours I spent with a cigar.
-Tony
Reviews for Cigar #2 are due on Saturday July 20 with posting on Sunday July 21.
