Newbie Review #13 Don Kiki Brown Label

**Dru Lee Parsec** · 12-07-2006, 02:21 PM

Chris has been after me to smoke one of these for a while. Plus, I've been doing a lot of mild cigars lately and I thought I'd smoke something with some body to it. So last night I lit up a DK Brown label.

Pre light: Huge chocolate flavor. Very full body but it had a REALLY hard draw. In the hand the cigar felt super firm like it was packed seriously tight. Dang, I foresee problems already.

I light it up and it has some burn problems. No matter how I try to touch it up one side is burning slow. And that draw problem is pretty bad. Now, there was this girl in high school, you'll remember her, she's the one that could suck a trailer hitch ball through 40 feet of garden hose. Well she could probably get a good draw on this cigar. But me!? No way. After about 30 minutes of smoking and re-lighting I just got tired of the effort and set it down.

How about the flavor? It reminded me of an Rocky Patel vintage 1990 in many ways (Including the fact that the PR 1990 I smoked was also plugged) It had a good, dark flavor with some good chocolate and a thick smoke (when you could get it). If it wasn't plugged I think this would be a damn good cigar. I just got a bad one.

Newbie Appropriateness: ????? I dunno, I couldn't get enough smoke out of it to really enjoy it. Since it's a fuller body cigar it could scare away a newbie. But on the other hand, the chocolate flavor might appeal to you.

**chefchris** · 12-07-2006, 03:23 PM

hmm, every dk i've ever smoked had almost too good of a draw. borderline loose. and i've always been able to get alot of smoke, and i don't recall ever having serious burn problems. sorry to hear you got a bad one. don't give up. it was your first time, you might have been nervous.

**Dru Lee Parsec** · 12-08-2006, 12:42 AM

it was your first time, you might have been nervous.

LOL

**Cabaiguan Juan** · 12-08-2006, 06:43 AM

you gotta get back on that horse, of let that girl from highschool get the rest of your dk browns.

**guado** · 12-08-2006, 09:08 AM

Seems like you had a bad one. I will have to smoke one of my DK browns this weekend now for sure.

**Cabaiguan Juan** · 01-22-2007, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Dru Lee Parsec

How about the flavor? It reminded me of an Rocky Patel vintage 1990 in many ways (Including the fact that the PR 1990 I smoked was also plugged) It had a good, dark flavor with some good chocolate and a thick smoke (when you could get it). If it wasn't plugged I think this would be a damn good cigar. I just got a bad one.

I received a few DK Browns from Chris the other week, and fired one up on the drive down to Richmond. It reminded me of a chocolaty version of the RP 1990's. It tasted good, and I will defiantly enjoy the last 4 I have.

**The Korean** · 05-04-2007, 07:03 PM

Ok, so I got a box of these a couple months ago, and at first I loved them. I hadn't smoked any in a few months until last weekend. It had bad burn problems, flavor wise I was happy, but had to keep touching it up, and about 2/3 of the way in I set it down and moved to yard work. I had another one today, and had the same problems. Is there something I should be looking at. I have them in my cooler with 65%...any thoughts.

**COMB2** · 05-04-2007, 10:18 PM

I had one about 2 weeks ago. Every thing was fine except it tasted like a dog turd!

Not that I know what a dug turd taste like

**HersheyWalker** · 05-05-2007, 03:17 AM

Being that "The Don" is my main man, I thought I'd chime in.

First off, the rollers for the DK's are varied in skill level. One third of the sticks you'd recieve are a bit too loose and are smoked in just under 25 minutes. Another third are too tight, especially if your humi is well hydrated. And the last third are just right, perfect pull and burn nice and even all the way down when well humidified.

The way I deal with the three types of DK's are as follows: If loose, simply enjoy what you got: a well humidified smoke with an easy pull, count your blessings. If tight, cut the stick and check the pull. If it's so tight you can't get a good draw, let it dry out a bit outside of your humi for 6 hours or so: when you you come back to it, it'll pull solid smoke and will last a solid 50 minutes. If perfect, sit back and enjoy a nice 40 minute smoke which will leave you feeling halfway drunk for the next two hours.

So in conclusion, the DK's are tempermental and vary from stick to stick even within boxes, but they are cut from a quality tobacco which burns very slow and packs a solid punch to your noggin. I don't have a sophisticated enough palate to pick out flavors and scents from smokes, but when it comes to "The Don's", I can confidently say that they are a fairly flavorless smoke that has a spicy fullbodied flavor with hints of little else. If you are looking for a smoke to give you a lasting body buzz that will allow you to watch the movie of the night without being your normal cynical self, grab a Don. Gets the "Hershey Seal of Approval".

**HersheyWalker** · 05-05-2007, 03:20 AM

Korean, I would suggest you take the sticks out of thier singles wrappers so they can hydrate without obstruction. That should work out your burn issues.

**Kenyth** · 05-07-2007, 10:29 AM

My biggest problem with DK cigars is the inconsistency in flavor, burn, draw, etc. The brown labels in particular seem to have flavor consistency issues. If you get good ones though, they're a damn fine deal! Then again, I have the same problem with almost all economical cigars. The exception is the "5 Vegas" sticks from CI. So far, they have all had good consistency and quality. Though I wouldn't rate Carlos Torano cigars as "economical", they too have great consistency and quality for the money.

**The Korean** · 05-24-2007, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by HersheyWalker

Korean, I would suggest you take the sticks out of thier singles wrappers so they can hydrate without obstruction. That should work out your burn issues.

Per your suggestion, I tried this, and it worked out wonderful. I just had one, it didn't burn dead even, but even enough for me to be very satisfied. Thanks for the tip

**HersheyWalker** · 05-24-2007, 10:58 PM

Glad it worked out for ya!

**boomshay** · 05-25-2007, 12:08 AM

i've got a box of botellas and agree that they are hit and miss.... a few months does seem to help them out considerably though

last one i had was perfect

**Andrey78** · 07-04-2007, 12:15 PM

I smoked green and red.
Burn was very bad!!! I have to light 3-4 once each cigar.
I dont know why? I disappointed.

**HersheyWalker** · 07-10-2007, 12:28 AM

The DK Brown is the best cigar under 8$/stick.

**metaldonnieg** · 07-21-2007, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by chefchris

hmm, every dk i've ever smoked had almost too good of a draw. borderline loose. and i've always been able to get alot of smoke, and i don't recall ever having serious burn problems. sorry to hear you got a bad one. don't give up. it was your first time, you might have been nervous.

The two I've had were real loose as well. The one I smoked last night was kind of a pain for the last half/third, though. It went completely out once and I had to touch it up about 3 times additionally. The churchill lasted slightly over 2 hours, though, and I smoke pretty fast typically.

And I think you missed two letters in what you have smoked, Chris.