Montecristo Petit Edmundo: Whatta Smoke!

Pre-light- As soon as I snipped off the beautifully constructed 3 seam cap and took a cold draw I knew I was in for a special treat. Even cold this stick filled my palette with light cedar, coffee and tobacco flavors.

I gave it a quick light and the fun really began! This is one of the last 8 of these stick I have from a box stamped 2007. AGE REALLY HELPS THESE STICKS! I brought this along with me to a friends "open Burn" night last night to see how it would stand up against some of the other goodies I have been smoking and also to gets some others opinions about it. Well, it below away many of my similar smokes and the crowd agreed this stick is amazing.

As soon as it hit it with flame, int he classic "monti" fashion your palette gets filled with cedar and coffee flavors. Due to the large ring gauge of this cigar it remains very cool and fresh on your palette from beginning to end. The predominate flavors range from the aforementioned cedar and coffee, to rich tobacco and vanilla notes. Its not at all spicy, but it is one of the most satisfying sticks on the market.

When i first tried these back in 2007, they were a bit strong but a few years of ago really mellowed the cigar out and improved the flavors amazingly. I cant wait to see what 5 years or better yet 10 years will do to this stick. I will recommend this if you decide to age one of these boxed for 3-7 years, buy 2 boxes, one to smoke and one to age. Once you have one of these it is VERY hard to stop smoking them and let them age.

The finish is tremendous, even on the ride home at least 30 minutes after i let this stick die out the cedar and Rich tobacco flavors lingered on my tongue. If you can get these BUY 'EM. they are worth every penny!

Price-n/a

Burn-Perfect

Flavors-coffee, cedar, vanilla, rich tobacco, cappuccino

Buy again? ABSOLUTELY!

Romeo y Julietta Reserva Real Petit Robusto

Pre Light-After taking a cold draw, the cigar tasted of very light tobacco flavors with some nutty notes on the palette.

I gave it a quick light (and boy was it quick, this stick lite up like a piece of dry cedar) and off we went....

This is the last stick that was given to me in a 5-pk from 2006. Well, in 3 years this stick tastes exactly the same as it did when it was "young".

This is a good morning stick with coffee or while doing yard work. It very mild, warm and toasty with light cinnamon and bread flavors. Unfortunately, the flavor very one dimensional and really doesn't change at all from start to finish.

The burn was perfect producing a light grey ash that was a bit more "flaky" that I would have liked from a cigar of this ring gauge.

Price-$4.80
Flavors-Toast, cereal
Buy again? most likely not

Don Pepin Cuban Classic Robusto: A Cafe con Leche with too much Leche.

I was excited to have this stick. I have had several of theDon Pepin Cuban Classic Perla (1952) size and though they were excellent, however they unfortunately, have been a little hit and miss over the past few months. 

This stick was very well made.  The wrapper is a beautiful reddish brown color and was firm to the touch. Don Pepin is known for making very well crafted cigars and this line was no different. It was also finished with a very neatly put together 3 seam cap. 

Pre-lite- I took a cold draw and got some light tobacco flavors, maybe a touch of very mild coffee notes and some cereal flavors. 

Upon touching my torch to this stick I was expecting a blast of white pepper, like many of Pepin sticks, but was pleasantly surprised with mild tobacco flavors and some ceder notes. the burn started a little jagged but corrected itself, but than turned jagged again and did this throughout the entire smoke. 

Once it really got going about 3/4 of an inch in I noticed a very pleasant aroma and kept thinking this taste just like a cafe con lech with a bit too much leche in it. the tobacco and coffee notes were there but were very muted and undefined. It seemed like someone just put too much leche in my cigar. The draw started perfect and stayed perfect, requiring a nice little tug to get the smoke though. One of my biggest pet peeves, it a cigar that doesn't draw properly. You could be smoking the best cigar in the world, but it really doesn't matter if it doesn't draw properly because you would never be able to get the smoke to taste it. 

A little bit past the mid point I finally got that Pepin white pepper blast in the back of my throat, which to be honest I'm not very fond of. I don't like spicy cigars, I find spice hurts my review of a cigar more than I would like to admit.  

The ash was very nice, light grey in color and kind of loose but stayed until about 1.5 inches, which is fine in my book.  

The finish was very spicy and had a lemon pepper quality to it with some mixed cedar flavors mixed in. 

Overall it was an ok smoke, I wish that the original flavors would have stayed a bit longer, but i was expecting a typical Pepin spice at some point. (by the way if you are like me and dont like alot of spice in a cigar, try Don Pepin's JJ-its fantastic!). 

I will say that this robusto was a pretty smoke, the stick, the label the ask they all looked good together. This would be a fine stick for a BBQ or a company picnic. 

Price-$7.20

Burn-jagged, than ok, than jagged, etc

Buy again? doubtful. 

New Nub Maduro

Good thing really do come in small packages!

This is a great looking stubby cigar. The wrapper was very smooth and seemed to be very well made. the ring gauge was a bit large compared to what I normally smoke, but wasn't very uncomfortable. I feel compelled to say that most people think these Nub's are quick smokes-they certainly are NOT! This stick took a solid hour to smoke. 

Pre Light-i took a cold draw of this and didn't think it would be anything special. 

Upon toasting the foot with my torch the immediate flavor that came to mind was raisins. It tasted like toasted raisins, slightly sweet and reminded me a La Gloria Cubana Serie R no. 4 Maduro. In fact the two stick are very similar other than they are made with completly different tobacco's. The difference between the Nub Maduro and the LGC4 is that the LCG4 was much more harsh. this was a nice medium bodied smoke. 

Around the half way point this stick let me down, mainly I got bored with it. the flavors didn't change other than more of a cedar flavor it held true to the original raisin flavors. The burn on this lie guy was excellent, no touch ups were needed and it stayed straight and even. 

The finish I found to be a bit metallic, but it did intensify, although no more than the high side of medium. It was a fun smoke mainly because the ash got very long. It smoked well beyond the band holding a nice thick ash with a medium grey color. It was a good smoke, however not great. I would recommend trying it though. 

Price-$6.50

Flavor-Raisens with a hint of cedar

Burn-Excellent

would buy again? maybe

La Aroma de Cuba Edition Especial #2: An aromatic flavorbomb

Review:

I smoked this neat little robusto after work while floating around the pool.

Pre Light-My first taste of this was disappointing. A cold draw revealed nothing more than some light grassy flavors. I incorrectly assumed that this would just be another taste/review. Boy was I wrong!

Upon firing up the foot, I immediately got hit with strong tobacco, coffee and caramel flavors in a creamy smoke. I also noticed that this stick not only tastes wonderful, but the aroma coming off of it was nothing short of heaven. Best part about it-NO spice! (I don't like spicy sticks)

There has been some debate that this edition made by Don Pepin for Ashton was inconsistent and bland, however my experience was quite the opposite. It was extremely flavorful with no poor qualities other than the inconsistent burn. I had to touch up the burn a few times, however the classic taste was never affected.

Simply put, this stick started out tasting excellent and never quitting. i smoked it down to the point where I couldn't hold it anymore and the flavor stayed consistent. I would rate the strength medium bodied. I'm going to pick up a few more of these sticks just to check the consistency but if they all smoke this well, I would rate this a "box worthy" stick.

Price-$6.75

Burn-ok

Flavors-caramel, coffee, rich tobacco

Would buy again? Absolutely!

This is just the beginning!