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Tried a padron 2000 today paired with espresso

Summ: score 7.7/10 Smooth (but strangely harsh on throat for me), superb aroma (quality not quantity), lots of smoke, a bit sweet and oily on lips, stings back of throat for me. I lowered score due to this sting (harshness). Without harshness would probably be a 8.2-8.3? score for me. Aroma and flavor may hint at what a high end padron might taste like. Need to try 1 of those someday.

- Bitterness: 0, (10 = most bitter)
- Pepper: 1 (10 = most pepper).
- Tongue bite/harshness: 6-8, harshness in back of throat for me, no tongue bite at all, stings my nose a bit for some reason kind of like a cameroon wrapper does but not nearly as bad (10 = lots of tongue bite and/or harshness)
- Sour: 0, 10 = most sour)
- Body: 2-3, (10 = fullest body)
- Strength: 1 (10 = highest nicotine)
- Flavor: 2-4, mild meaty flavor. I might say "leather" cuz this is closest I've found to anything tasting of leather (that term gets thrown around a lot not sure what it really means) (10 = best quantity and quality)
- Aroma: 7 superb deep barnyard aroma but not super strong (10 = highest amount and best possible)
- Smoke: high white smoke at first then very blue later then mixed white and blue (I assume due to temp but could be due to blend?)
- Firmness: a little soft
- Draw: light/easy
- Presence: 1, (10 = most mouth presence, >5 becomes detrimental for me)
- Burn: very good, 1 touch up no re-lights

Price: $6.20 as a single. Small cigar. Any Padrons are really never on sale in the sense of getting premium cigars for less than $2 or $3 (from what I've seen anyway)
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Gonna go back to back with a couple heavy hitters.... cuz Friday N Merica!:D

First up is an Obsidian belacaso followed by a Gurkha Black Ops Maduro Churchill


Tried to get a pic of just how ridiculous the smoke output is on an Obsidian- that pic was with a light breeze. I love em:cool:



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So hard to resist....

great deal with free shipping

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Fwiw I noticed that Vegas A are one that is available pretty much every day at cigarbid for about $1.50 ea for robusto size in a 5 pack. Don't know about gordo though. But one downside with cigarbid is u have to order a lot of stuff over the course of a week to get shipping costs down. If u can find a Vegas A lot that has lots of units u can be an early bidder and get them for maybe $1-$1.25 each. If it has only 1-2 units or so u have to be a last minute bidder to get cheap imo.
 
Fwiw I noticed that Vegas A are one that is available pretty much every day at cigarbid for about $1.50 ea for robusto size in a 5 pack. Don't know about gordo though. But one downside with cigarbid is u have to order a lot of stuff over the course of a week to get shipping costs down.


I normally buy them when they go on sale as a sampler of 20/$40 with 4 different sizes but then I have to find a way to get free shipping
 
Tried a rocky Patel vintage 1999 Connecticut today

Summ: score 9.3/10. Very distinctive sweet spice/almond cake flavor. I think this is a love it or hate it cigar (guessing). I watched 3 reviews all of which totally conflicted with each other on flavors, burn etc. one said almond which I could see as I think it is kind of like almond. Another said cocoa chocolate coffee etc that don't fit in the slightest imo. I suggest trying one of these if u like mild cigars that have lots of flavor. Very distinctive flavors. I love it.
- Bitterness: 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 (10 = most bitter)
- Pepper: 1 (10 = most pepper).
- Tongue bite/harshness: 1 (10 = lots of tongue bite and/or harshness)
- Sour: 1, 2, 2 (10 = most sour)
- Body: 2, 3, 3 (10 = fullest body)
- Strength: 1, 3, 3 10 = highest nicotine)
- Flavor: 8, 8-9, 8-9 short finish sweet spice I really like (I can't quite put a name on it marzaipan maybe? reminds me of some type of holiday cake) leather, some typical connecticut shade woody flavors (10 = best quantity and quality)
- Aroma: 7, 8-9, 9 nice almond? and leather aroma (10 = highest amount and best possible)
- Smoke: thick billowy type smoke
- Firmness: normal
- Draw: light/easy
- Presence: 1, 2, 2 (10 = most mouth presence, >5 becomes detrimental for me)
- Burn: very good 1 touch up after minor canoeing in middle
Price: $2.5 in a sampler
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Today 3rd Macanudo 1968 I've tried. I posted briefly about this one earlier but here is info in same format as others FYI.

Summ: score 8.9/10 smooth, a bit peppery at first, big flavor transitions, leather changing to rich deep earth and aged tobacco flavors. On par with torano exodus 50 year perhaps a tad bit better and definitely a bit smoother/creamier in 2nd and 3rd. Both are deep rich medium-full cigars without strong pepper

- Bitterness: 2-3, 3, 2-4 (10 = most bitter)
- Pepper: 5, 1-2, 2-4 (10 = most pepper).
- Tongue bite/harshness: 2, 1, 1-2 (10 = lots of tongue bite and/or harshness)
- Sour: 0, 0, 0 (10 = most sour)
- Body: 6, 7, 7 (10 = fullest body)
- Strength: 1, 3, 4 (10 = highest nicotine)
- Flavor: 4 leather a bit peppery, 7-8 sweet -leather -walnut, 8-10, creamy -deep earth -sweet -mossy -strong aged tobacco (10 = best quantity and quality)
- Aroma: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (10=highest amount and best possible)
- Smoke: normal
- Firmness: normal
- Draw: excellent
- Presence: 3, 2, 3-4 (10 = most mouth presence, >5 becomes detrimental for me)
- Burn: very good 1 touch up no re-lights

Price: $66 for box of 20 on Black Friday sale at field supply.com (note price was $69 on sale last week) E27B73DA-D6DE-4B2A-9F34-FC260267B139.jpeg
 
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Davidoff 3x3 tubo today. No full review on this one 7.7/10 score. Fairly plane jane Dominican connecticut shade cigar but with excellent construction. Mild, mostly smooth with some spice and white pepper in 2nd third. Low to very low aroma. About the same as the griffins but with more pepper. Licorice/anise taste sometimes. Kinda interesting but no big deal. A bit of pepper heat on tongue. Around $25 for 9 pack. I would spend my $ elsewhere tbh. No negatives at all really. Pleasant and well made cigar. Good burn, draw, excellent construction.
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Anyone have an online source of Santa Damiana cigars? I must have picked one up locally as part of "random" pick, but found the smoke pleasant. I checked regular sources and googled, but no luck. Thanks.

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This is all I could find.



I didn't call the number to find out price and availability though
I didn't find much either on quick internet search. Must be a smaller brand cuz evidence of retail presence in UK fwiw. Cigar aficionado 90 rating in 1992 and 1998 last review by them. One long review on YouTube I didn't watch. Perhaps they were big in the cigar craze in 90s and now are more boutique with more limited market (total WAG based on 5 min of searching only)?
 
This is all I could find.



I didn't call the number to find out price and availability though
I didn't find much either on quick internet search. Must be a smaller brand cuz evidence of retail presence in UK fwiw. Cigar aficionado 90 rating in 1992 and 1998 last review by them. One long review on YouTube I didn't watch. Perhaps they were big in the cigar craze in 90s and now are more boutique with more limited market (total WAG based on 5 min of searching only)?

Thanks much. I didn't find much either, nor recall hearing of these before, so I'm sure was on of my "pick one at random in addition to regular" locally. I don't recall which shop I picked it up from, but I'll check sources, when the dust settles. :)
 
Tried a nub habano today. 7.2/10 score for me. Will try to fill in this post with "data" later when I have time. Very, very slow burning (kept at 69% for over a month so a 65% one might burn differently?) Nice cedar taste and cedar/light aroma. No deep earthy musty notes for me more cedar. About a 6-7/10 for body (medium-full). A bit harsh on throat but not real bad or anything. Bitterness maybe 5-6/10 which is fairly high. Sour is maybe 5-6/10 again high (ie too high) for me. Sourness # drawback for me. Burn excellent. I love the ultra slow burn but peeling wrapper and I handled it gingerly. Its a nice wrapper just really fragile (thin) it seems. I think this is made by Oliva. Lastly I would say don't buy this thinking it's a short smoke due to smaller length. It burns longer than many robustos out there (most rocky Patels I've tried for example). If u have a taste for more Cameroon and corojo style tasting cigars u might like this. If you like deep earthy cigars this probably will still be pleasing but different taste profile than those (YMMV, just my non-expert opinion fwiw).
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Tried a Rocky Patel Renaissance connecticut today.

Summ: score : 5.0/10 poor construction, nice light aroma, pretty good dry woody flavors but more bitter from 2nd third. Score heavily penalized for poor construction issues (I've had burn or construction issues with most rocky patels so far, but some have been great. Perhaps their production has outstripped quality control now that they r more popular I dunno). I'm getting to the point now that I may smoke what RPs I have and then only get a few favorites now and then. Just not worth it to me when so many construction issues. I know in the past RP has been known for good construction but that has not been my experience overall. Jury is still out but I'm used to other brands where I really have never had issues such as these (Fe macanudo, original h upmann, partagas, original montechristo, etc).

- Bitterness: 3-4, 5, 6-7 (10 = most bitter)
- Pepper: 0, 0, 0 (10 = most pepper).
- Tongue bite/harshness: 1, 3-4, 6 No tongue bite, some harshness on throat (10 = lots of tongue bite and/or harshness)
- Sour: 1, 3-4, 3-4 (10 = most sour)
- Body: 1-2, 2, 2-3 (10 = fullest body)
- Strength: 1, 1, 1 (10 = highest nicotine)
- Flavor: 2-3, 3-4, 3-4 dry woody (10 = best quant. and qual.)
- Aroma: 5, 5, 5 nice light barnyard aroma, (10=highest amount and best possible)
- Smoke: normal
- Firmness: Variable. Spongy parts, hard spots, poor construction
- Draw: Very tight, hard to get a good draw. Tried to squeeze out some hard spots but no luck improving draw so far
- Presence: 2, 3, 3 (10 = most mouth presence, >5 becomes detrimental for me)
- Burn and construction: poor construction hard and soft spots creating bad draw. Cracked wrapper. Burn is fine
- Price: $2.50 in a sampler unknown regular price
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So I couldn't remember where I picked up the Santa Damiana. Likely suspects were the smoke/magazine shop in the city where I workout, the one horse town I live near that surprisingly has a great tobacco shop (my primary theory), or the weird little market with a small walk in humidor in the little toilet of a town my office is located in. Turns it out, against my best theorizing, it was the latter.

I bought some sticks whilst picking up some take out from my favorite Italian joint that is next to them.

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Quest aside, for a an El Cheapo / No Name smoke, I did enjoy. I do believe I will light one up tonight. :D
 
And today has been an MFer at the office. Since it is finally sunny out, there was only one thing to do: setup the folding chair outside of said, light up one of the aforementioned sticks, and bask in the joyous sunlight. Ahhhh ... mission accomplished! :D
 

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