Professor Sila Churchill

[Saxjazzman]

This thread will review:

Name: Professor Sila, Churchill
Size: 7.00 x 48
Wrapper:Conneticut shade
Binder: ??
Filler: DR Long Leaf
MSRP: Box of 20 for $120.00
Price Paid: $25.00 at Auction, listed at $49.95
Stated Strength: Mild
Comments: This cigar is listed as "Supremely mild". The ads say it is a great morning cigar. This cigar was purchased in June 2007.



For original thread discussion see Start Up Thread

 

[Saxjazzman]

To keep it standard, we would rate the cigars in three categories.

A) Appearance--How the cigar looks, how the pre-light smell is, the wrapper, etc.

B) Taste---How is the taste? Spicy, strong, bland, airball, etc. How did the taste progress, etc.

C) Construction---How did the cigar perform in terms of draw, burn, ash, etc.


To rate the cigars we would use a number from 5 to 10, 5 being one you would not even give Fidel to smoke and ten being a damm good cigar. The final rating number would be determined by the following:
A + B + (1.5)C divided by 3.5. This is similar to how Cigar Magazine does it but it is a little different. I realize that this is not perfect and there may be better ways but this would work also. Thanks for the reviews!!

 

[H311oLHD]

This is my first review for CP, so be gentle! Thank you to SJM for letting me in on this :thumbs: !

A) Apperance: It's got a golden wrapper, dark in some areas, and has three or four veins running through it. I'm hoping none of them give this cigar any trouble, but one looks like it will. The cap of the icgar seems to be a double cap and is pretty neatly put on. I'm a bit worried that the cigar might be underfilled in a few locations, but I guess we'll see! Well, the pre-light draw was......sugary... This definitely has a sweetned cap and reminds me all too well of splenda. We will not be scared...we will press on! I would have to give it a 6. I'm not sure any cigar in my opinion deserves a 5, unless it's a black n` mild or rolled by someone as skilled as I am! Score: 6

B) Taste: To start the 'taste' category for the Profesor Sila, I must warn the readers that this has a sweetened cap. This cigar is definitely very mild. At first it dominated the cigar entirely, but as I smoked, the cap flavor became less and easier to bare. Not to repeat myself, but the first 1/3 of this cigar tasted like splenda and a little bit of tobacco. Very little changed from the 1/3th to the 2/3th. The final 3rd of this cigar turned extremely bitter and forced me to put hte cigar out early. Score: 5.5


C) Burn: The best aspect of this cigar has been the burn so far. It has been razor straight thus far requiring no touch ups. The first ash held on for about an inch before it started to lean so i gently tapped the ash into my ashtray as to not get it all over my floor. This particular ash is not a very pleasant looking one, it's a mixture of light and dark greys and at times even extremely dark grey, almost black. Much to my suprise, the cigar burned evenly all throughout, and never required any touch up at all. Score: 8

6+5.5+(1.5)8 / 3.5 = 6.71 I'm really sorry, but I had a hard time getting past the splenda...i mean sweetened cap. This cigar wasn't for me, but i'm really glad i got the chance to review it! Thanks again SJM!

 

[mr.mac]

Uhhhh... I'm looking forward to reviewing this cigar.... Not really... :whistling: :laugh:

Go ahead and treat yourself to the VIBE on your next review. You deserve it.

Thanks for the reveiw. It will be interesting to see how everyone else rates this gem.

mac

 

[Saxjazzman]

Thanks for the great review. What is interesting is that the advertisement compares this cigar to Nat Sherman Suave brand. What do they say about advertisement?? This may be a good cigar for those that like the Baccarat brand as it is along similar lines. Again, thanks for the review and the sacrifice!!

 

[H311oLHD]

Dang, I typed out a long paragraph, but I accidently got it deleted lol.

SJM - the Suave and Sila cannot even be compared. The sweetened cap is extremely overpowering for most of the cigar. If they took the sweetened cap away completely, I could maybe see some slight comparisons between the two cigars, but that's a big IF.

Thank you again for letting me participate!! It's really awesome of you to give us as much time as we need. I really enjoy being able to pick my own time to sit and review these, instead of having to smoke all of these in a 2 week period! LOL. I'll continue to review them slowly, but I promise i'll do my best to get em all done. I am pretty sure that my next one is going to be on the Vibe, a cigar that I've been looking forward to for awhile now!

 

[dk_ace]

Dang, I typed out a long paragraph, but I accidently got it deleted lol.

SJM - the Suave and Sila cannot even be compared. The sweetened cap is extremely overpowering for most of the cigar. If they took the sweetened cap away completely, I could maybe see some slight comparisons between the two cigars, but that's a big IF.

Thank you again for letting me participate!! It's really awesome of you to give us as much time as we need. I really enjoy being able to pick my own time to sit and review these, instead of having to smoke all of these in a 2 week period! LOL. I'll continue to review them slowly, but I promise i'll do my best to get em all done. I am pretty sure that my next one is going to be on the Vibe, a cigar that I've been looking forward to for awhile now!

Don't look forward to it too much! I did, and I think it skewed my experience with it. I'm holding out on reviewing it until I smoke the last one. Anticipation can ruin it if you expect too much as did I.

D

 

[AVB]

This brand used to be made in the Canary Islands and was started in 1934. It then then disappeared in the 80's and returned again at the start of the boom. They closed down again in 2001 I think. This Sila you guys have is nothing like the older version which while being a milder cigar at least wasn't sweetened and had a decent tobacco taste. I still have a few old ones in the humi somewhere. At it's prime it was listed as a $5-10 stick depending on size (circa 1996).

 

[xRanger]

I tried one of these at 70% last week, and one at 65% today. They had both been sitting at rest since SJM sent them out. Onto the review…

A) Appearance on both I tried was light golden, with a few veins running the length of the stick. Double cap which was peeled off with my Xikar on each stick I tried. The prelight draw was easy, but as said before, it is hard to get past the taste of the sweetened cap. I couldn’t put my finger on it for taste, but thought it tasted slightly like chemically induced honey. Now that I have read the previous review I have to agree that it did indeed taste like Splenda to me as well. I will have to give the overall construction and appearance of this cigar a 7.

B) The taste again started out too mild and sweet for my taste. To me it was kind of reminiscent of an Acid or CAO Flavored. Too much of a fake chemical taste. The sweet tastes stayed predominate through the first half I would have to say on both sticks. After that you could taste the bitterness coming out in it. Almost too bitter for such a mild cigar. Overall rating on taste I will give them a 5.

C) The burn of both cigars started out really even. They both seemed to want to ash at about every inch however. The one at 65%RH had a tendency to run along one of the veins and required touch up a couple times. The one at 70%RH did seem to burn a little more even and consistently throughout than the 65%RH one did. The ash was anywhere from light to dark grey on both sticks. I would have to rate the burn of these cigars at a 7.


7+5+(1.5)6.5 /3.5= 6.21

Not one of my favorites by a long shot. I am going to put the third one down for another six month rest, and revisit it then. I will update this review at that time.

Thanks to SJM for the chance to try this stick.

Bill

 

[dk_ace]

Well, I decided to tackle the beast.

A) The foot of this cigar is a little shaggy looking to me. It has more veins than I expect to see in a cigar, but that doesn't really matter to me as long as it doesn't affect the smoking experience. Decent looking sand colored wrapper.

B) This is my first cigar with a sweet cap, and it was a very interesting experience to say the least. The Splenda synopsis is quite fitting I'm afraid. It totally dominates the first and most of the second third of the cigar with just a touch of tobacco flavor underlying it. The last third I experienced the bitterness as well. The sweetness that prevails in this cigar could be an enjoyable novelty if it was really like sugar, but it isn't. It has this fake, chemical composition to the sweetness that you just can't shake.

C) The construction on mine wasn't very good really. They didn't light well. The wrapper is extremely fragile. The burn on the other hand is decent. No unusually big touch-ups needed.

A + B + 1.5C =

6 + 5.5 + 1.5(6) = 5.86

I can't recommend this cigar to anyone unless you've never had a cigar with a sweet cap. If you're that guy (like I was), smoke ONE so that you can have the experience and get it over with.

Even though this one wasn't a winner - this is a great idea by SJM, and I'm thrilled to be given the oppurtunity to review these. Thanks for getting this together and letting me participate SJM!

D

 

[Saxjazzman]

Thanks for the great reviews gents!! And thanks AVB for the background on the cigar. It is good to know. I am sure that the present ones do not compare to the original ones. :thumbs: