Got this one with a sampler pack from Cigars International. Dark wrapper, purple, black and gold band. Torpedo style. Nice looking cigar. The wrapper was a little veiny but no hard spots. When I lit it, it gave out thick plumes of smoke but that didn’t last long. After about 5 minutes, it became very hard to draw and seemed to lose it’s full flavor effect. It kept going out and it didn’t burn very even either. It was too much work to smoke, so I put it out about 1/2 way down. A real dissappointment. It started out like a good cigar, but quickly lost it’s rating with me. I have 4 more left so I will be smoking them and if my opinion changes, I’ll let you know.
I’m going to attempt something new here. Two reviews in one posting. Here’s why: A couple of weeks ago I came home from working the 3-11 shift and one of my best friends, “John” waited up to meet me because he had a surprise for me. A gentleman he does business with hooked him up with two different cigars and he wanted to share one of them with me. What a good friend!
“John’s” friend “Braden” gave us a Punch Rare Corojo and a Romeo y Julietta 1875 Habana Reserve. “John” smoked the Punch and I, the Romeo. First of all, let me say what a beautiful evening it was. Midnight, clear sky, 78 degrees, no humidity and in the company of a friend and a Killians. Throw in a couple of stogies and you know the night can’t turn out to be too bad.
First, the Punch rare corojo. “John” said it was the smoothest cigar he ever had. No bite, just plain smooth with a slow even burn. I notice that it wasn’t putting out a whole lot of smoke, but it never went out, he said it was not too smokey, it was just right. Plus it didn’t get hot toward the end. He was able to smoke it until it was simply too small to hold. He only had to de-ash it twice, and when he did the ashes seemed to want to cling to the cigar, but when they fell they hit the ash tray with a definite “thud”.
Now the Romeo y Julietta. It had a light colored wrapper and put out lots of white smoke with every draw. It had a certain “zing” when I blew it through my nose, kind of like burping champagne. The flavor was outstanding and consistant throughout. Some cigars change flavors halfway down, not this one. It was excellent from the first draw to the last.
Although I didn’t try the Punch rare corojo, I could tell by “Johns” reaction and my own experience with the RyJ, these two cigars are very enjoyable and I will seek them out to buy again. Oh, did I mention how long they lasted? Well, they both lasted almost two hours! Imagine, enjoying something other than a college hockey game for two hours. Man what a good time. A special thanks goes out to “Braden” for making this review possible. Although “John” kept yawning and I had to drip beer on his forhead a couple of times to keep waking him up, I think it was a success. Thanks.
A few weeks back I walked across the street to visit my neighbor (We’ll call him “Dr. Rob”). Little did I know that I was in for a pretty entertaining evening. “Dr. Rob” is a non-smoker so I left my cigars at home. As I approached his front porch I smelled the aroma of a cigar. His Father-in-Law (We’ll call him “Fred”) was sitting on the porch swing enjoying what looked like a huge maduro wrapped cigar. After the proper introductions, “Dr. Rob” offered me a Killians and “Fred” offered me a National Brand Maduro. I felt like a king.
I didn’t take any notes on this smoke, I was too busy enjoying the moment, so I am going to guess at it’s dimensions. Please correct me if I’m wrong on anything. It seemed to be about 7 inches long with a 52 guage “gerth”. It was wrapped in a nice dark maduro wrapper with almost no veins. The first thing I noticed was how sweet it was. After about 1/3 of it was gone it dawned on me how very smooth it felt while I blew the smoke through my nose. It had a good even burn the whole two hours it was lit. That’s right, two hours. (”Dr. Rob” found out that I could drink lot’s of beer in two hours.) There was no oily residue around the fire and it didn’t unwrap at any time. A sweet smoke with a good burn.
“Fred” was in town to help “Dr. Rob” do some remodeling and visit with his grandchildren. During those two hours on “Dr. Robs” porch he entertained me with story after story. It turns out that “Fred” is a retired detective and had many, many interesting stories. He also knows what he is talking about when it comes to cigars. Which was obvious considering the National Maduro he offered me. This was a very good cigar that I will buy in the future. Too bad he had to head home so soon but I’m sure we’ll meet again. Maybe next time I’ll let him write the review.
From what I’ve seen, one of the most debated cigar etiquette topics is whether to leave the band on or off when you smoke it. Until now, I felt very comfortable with taking it off.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a ritual when firing up a cigar. I goes kinda like this.
-Pick out cigar from my humidor. The cigar I choose depends entirely on the mood and how much time I am committed to this session.
-Remove all packaging material, including bands.
-Cut the cigar, normally with a guillotine cutter.
-Smell the cigar, take it all in.
-Slowly light the cigar with my butane lighter. No puffing until it’s lit all the way.
-Once it’s lit, watch it burn and observe how the burn progresses.
I’ve decided that from now on, I will leave the band on until I’m ready to burn through that area. This is because I’ve damaged cigars by ripping a hole in the wrapper, and makes for a terrible smoke. It’s simply not worth it. If it is bad etiquette, then so be it.
I sometimes partake in the daily specials Cigars International puts on, and this time it was the Victor Sinclair combo pack. Included in this combo was:
5 - Victor Sinclair Select Robusto (5” x 50)
5 - Victor Sinclair Select Toro (6” x 50)
5 - Victor Sinclair Select Torpedo (6.5” x 54)
5 - Victor Sinclair Select Churchill (7” x 50)
It was on sale and I picked them up for $36.99 after shipping and everything. I’m anxious to fire these bad boys up. As usual with Cigars International, my goods were delivered super fast. I had these in hand three days after ordering.
