Budget Habanos

[craig]

My first review here and I thought I'd try something new to me, one of those aging reviews where the same cigar is smoked at regular intervals. And, just for fun, a comparison. Right.

I've reduced the comparison down to a few questions. New answers will be added at each sampling.

Mar/Apr 2011 reviews at http://www.cigarsmokers.com/threads/...009#post165009

Jul 09 reviews at http://www.cigarsmokers.com/showpost...7&postcount=19

Nov 08 introduction and first review:

So what are budget Habanos like, anyway? One attempt, Guantanamera, was awful. However, which of the rest of these short-filler cigars are worth smoking, and when? I picked six, five of which are less expensive than any long-filler Habanos. Starting with the least-expensive:

The Jose L. Piedra Petit Cazadore (4 1/8"x43) and Petit Cetro (5"x38) are the cheapest Habanos currently being imported into Canada. Just assume the JLP's are random-blend cigars, and you won't be disappointed. Uniquely, JLP does not use tobacco from Vuelta Abajo (Pinar del Rio, etc.). The best JLP's are the Conservas, but those are priced too closely to the Quintero Panatela's to be considered.

The carton of Jose L. Piedra Petit Cazadores purchased had a July 08 date. Four months old, they were much too fresh for me. The Petit Cetros carton was stamped October 07 and those were closer to smoking status, but still had a tannic aftertaste. Both will probably benefit from at least couple years of rest from their box dates.

The mild panatelas (5"x36) are the favoured contenders for best Habanos per dollar. First, the Rafael Gonzales. Each box of Rafael Gonzales Panatela Extras (RGPE) carries Mr. Gonzalez' famous directive:

In order that the Connoissoeur may fully appreciate the perfect fragrance they should be smoked either within one month of the date of shipment from Havana or should be carefully matured for about one year.

The Habanos website calls the above, "curious."

This box of RGPEs has an October 07 box date, so Mr. Gonzalez' "curious" directive has been followed. However, carefully matured for a bit longer is what I'm thinking.

The second, and more well-known panatela, is the Por Larrañaga. At best, the Por Larrañaga Panatella is, well, a Por Larrañaga, but earthier. The earth dissipates as the cigar gets older, and then it may become like a lighter, less complex Montecarlo. These January 08 cigars are too tannic right now, but should get better.

The Quintero Londres Extra (4 7/8"x40) is a like a Partagas/RA/Bolivar Fuma . The wrappers even look like a lighter Ramon Allones - definitely the best-looking cigars of this group. However, besides quality of flavour, what you also give up is consistency - from draw to draw. This June 07 box is not ready, but is still enjoyable. Smoked now it is strong, almost like a Lito Gomez.

Last is a benchmark in hand-rolled short-filler Habanos: The Por Larrañaga Montecarlo. This $3.50 6 1/4" x 33 thin smoke rewards only the patient smoker. The PLMC is not complex or in-your-face; it is all about caramel. You may not want a caramel cigar every day, but one sure goes nice with coffee once in a while. This FEB 06 box is very smokeable now. Unfortunately, it is too cold here for these cigars now.

I will smoke these all again in early 2009, and every few months thereafter. I hope to post a detailed review of one of the cigars as well each time. edit: see post #7 for review schedule

Full pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/baldhea...7609453201833/ Check out the colours in the HavanaHouse seal:

[nhcigarfan]

Nice work.

[SmoknTaz]

Lots of info to chew on, thanks Craig.

[Diesel Grinch]

This looks interesting.

DG

[bigwhiteash]

No doubt!


I wish I could smoke Cuban cigars

[pmp]

Good read. I agree on the montecarlos. I am smoking a box now from 07 and there is a little harshness on the first inch but overall these are very tasty now.

I would have to put my vote in for h upmann corona majors. They are cheap, they taste great, and they come in tubes so they travel very well.

[craig]

Good read. I agree on the montecarlos. I am smoking a box now from 07 and there is a little harshness on the first inch but overall these are very tasty now.

I would have to put my vote in for h upmann corona majors. They are cheap, they taste great, and they come in tubes so they travel very well.

Haven't had those, I guess because they are priced just below Party Shorts / Bolivar CJ / RASCC - and Partagas Shorts are one one of my favourite smokes

---
While I'm here, let me add a few more smokes to the Budget Habanos comparison:
Quintero Panatela - Sep 06 - so that all the Vegueritos vitolla can be reviewed. Needs more time.
Quintero Brevas - date unknown(!) - but smoking well now.
Jose L.Piedras Cazadores - Jul 08

And a planned review schedule:
Feb 09 - Por Larrañaga Panatela at 1 year
May 09 - JLP Petit Cetros and RG Panatela Extra at 18 months
July 09 - Quintero Londres Extra at 2 years, Quintero Brevas
Aug 09 - JLP Cazadores and Petit Cazadores at 1 year, Por Larrañaga Panatela at 18 months.
Oct 09 - Quintero Panatela and JLP Conserva at 3 years
Nov 09 = JLP Petit Cetros and RG Panatela Extra at 2 years

[pmp]

Haven't had those, I guess because they are priced just below Party Shorts / Bolivar CJ / RASCC - and Partagas Shorts are one one of my favourite smokes

I don't really every smoke anything smaller than a mareva these days so those on my radar. BPC, PLPCs, Party PCE, and Dip 4s are more comparable. The corona majors can hold their own. Not very complex but still good. I wish they sold plpcs in 25s.

[craig]

I don't really every smoke anything smaller than a mareva these days so those on my radar. BPC, PLPCs, Party PCE, and Dip 4s are more comparable. The corona majors can hold their own. Not very complex but still good. I wish they sold plpcs in 25s.

I wish they sold PLPCs in Canada!

I must admit that I've shied away from H. Upmann because the two vitolla that I've smoked (Mag46 and Sir Winston) needed years of aging before I found them enjoyable.

Amongst mareva's, I currently like the Monte and the Boli PC. From your list above, have you had the PCE's? I was wondering what they are like.

[CoventryCat86]

I'm a huge fan of the JLP Cazadores and I actually like them young.

The last Sir Winston I smoked was about four to five years old and I thought it smoked great.

I also love Quintero Brevas and as with the JLPs, I don't mind it when they're young. I have some 15 year old Quinteros around here somewhere and yes, I do notice the difference between the aged ones and the raw ones but like I said, I don't really care if they're young.

[pmp]

I wish they sold PLPCs in Canada!

I must admit that I've shied away from H. Upmann because the two vitolla that I've smoked (Mag46 and Sir Winston) needed years of aging before I found them enjoyable.

Amongst mareva's, I currently like the Monte and the Boli PC. From your list above, have you had the PCE's? I was wondering what they are like.

The corona majors and regalias are quite good. I wouldn't overlook them. Also if you haven't had an upmann no 2 you really need to. Those are downright fantastic.

Party PCEs taste more partagas-like to me than the shorts. If you are a fan of that full dark bittersweet flavor that partagas has then you will like them. I like my cigars more earthy. Partagas is very underrepresented in my humidor but I keep those around for people who really like partagas or uneperienced smokers who want to try something cuban that is full bodied.

[jeanbreckman]

looks very interesting

[craig]

Name of Cigar: Por Larrañaga Panatela
Ring/Length Shape: 5"x36
Filler/binder/wrapper:Vuelta Abajo, short-filler
Wrapper Colour: Colorado Claro to Colorado
Wrapper Sheen: a bit
Sample web price: $1.75US
Date of box: Jan 08
Date of last review: Nov 08
Date of review: Feb 09
Storage: sealed Mason jar in coolerdor, 65F/65%RH

(Aside: the storing of tobacco in sealed Mason jars is borrowed from pipe smokers, and is an old form of packaging Habanos - and a new form of packaging of some Tatuaje's. I tried jars with JLP's a while back (half the box in jars, half in a wooden box(SBN, not a dress box)) and after six months, I liked the mason jar'd cigars better. Currently I'm repeating the experiment with a number of other cigars. Interesting (to me) observations: Some cigars out-gas enough to generate positive pressure in a sealed jar, others do nothing. Also, the wrappers on jar'd cigars seem to not exude oils in the jar, unlike cigars stored un-cello'd in a box or humi. Once out of the jar, the oils seem to come out right away. Back to the PL ...)

These PL's have just hit one year of box age, and the improvement from the last smoking at nine months is noticeable. While a number of smokers like the tannic (sharp) taste of a young smoke, I prefer that the tannins be reduced. (I don't notice the tannins if I drink alcohol while smoking a cigar.)

Pre-light showed a typical Cuban short-filler wrapper: far from flawless, somewhat coarse, and with colour variations. The bunch was fine - no soft spots, and the cold draw was perfect. As is seemingly typical with a cigar taken fresh from a jar, the aroma was fragrant and generous. There was a definite fruity/floral taste to the cold draw.

Upon lighting the cigar, I was immediately hit with mild sweet smoke - although not an overwhelming sweetness. There was a lot of smoke, and a mild tickling of the sinus' if I exhaled through the nose. Not a peppery smoke. The trademark PL caramel taste was not very strong, and was overwhelmed by basic tobacco taste. No richness or leather, etc. - PL's, at least the Panatela and the Montecarlo, do not seem to have any ligero, or very little of it. A slight saltiness crept in about a 1/2 inch in, but a purge got rid of that. No bitterness at all.

The flavour of the cigar was not intense; fairly weak in fact. However, what was there was quite agreeable, though not complex. This is a mild smoke in terms of body, although it had a surprisingly strong nicotene punch compared to a similar non-Cuban.

The ash was very dark, but held up well for a short-filler. Burn and draw were perfect - a welcome contrast to the Quintero Breva's that I have been smoking recently, every one of which has needed a poke or two. (This is probably due to the relative amounts of ligero between the two smokes. Ligero holds more moisture than volado or seco.) Trying to smoke in a normal big-ring fashion did lead to hot mildly-burning smoke on the tongue, but being patient and taking it slow made all the difference. I took 45 minutes to get this thin-ringed 5"x36 cigar down to a 3/4" nub. (Most people rate this as a half-hour smoke.)

Overall, I'd say that this particular cigar was typical of a PL panatela. Not heavy, or rich, or full-bodied, or complex; but a straightforward mild-bodied smoke with hints of sweetness that would go well with coffee. (I had this one with water.) Note that when I say mild, it is relative to other Cubans; this isn't like a tasteless (to me) mild-bodied Dominican/Honduran that is prevalent in this price range. With one year of box age, these are ready to be smoked now, but I'll be waiting for the spring before I work them into rotation.

Finally, for those into numbers like myself, I scored the cigar at 74 without taking price into account - identical to the cigars-review.org rating of 7.4

[597]

Thanks for the reviews.

[12500]

[pmp]

I smoked an upmann regalia last night. My apologies on the scoring system if you haven't seen it here before. Its something I developed for blowinsmoke that I find to be slightly more accurate than most

Name: H. Upmann Regalia
Vitola: mareva 5x42
Box Date: Sept 07
Review Date: Feb 14

8/10 - appearance and construction
Appearance is great. From outward appearance the entire box is perfectly constructed across the board. Each band, each cap, each foot is perfect. The wrappers are smooth with very little mottling or veining. The wrapper color is uniform and the color of rich red clay earth(colorado). The prelight aroma is somewhat tangy and spicy. The clip is a slightly askew by a small vein under the surface of the wrapper. The prelight draw is ample. Definitely no plugged stick here. Overall these are constructed very well.

15/20 - flavor
the flavor was bordering on exciting. It started off right out of the gate with a nice bit of leather, cake, black tea and some pepper. The first inch or so was a bit rough. As the cigar burned down it developed this bittersweet tannic profile and showed slight hints of spice. The flavor was consistent and enjoyable. I would have to say my only qualm was that it was slightly muted at times. Still an enjoyable flavor profile from h. Upmann.

9/10 smoking characteristics

Not much to report here. This cigar burned excellently and produced ample clouds of smoke. Solid construction is showing through in the smoking characteristics.

price 5/5

For a 4 dollar stick this is hard to beat.

37/45 x 100 = Score = 82%

Overall I was impressed but not blown away. The flavors were excellent and a very good example of cuban tobacco and h. upmann flavors. For anyone who has smoked the coronas major this is a departure from the lightness in that vitola. This stick is much bolder and spicier and closer to the flavors of a mag. This scoring system tends to be harsh sometimes in an attempt to make something unbiased where an average cigar actually earns a 50%. That considered, a score of 82 for a 4 dollar cigar is quite impressive.

[craig]

Thanks for the review!

So it sounds like the Regalia's are more flavourful compared to the Corona Major?

[pmp]

Thanks for the review!

So it sounds like the Regalia's are more flavourful compared to the Corona Major?

Not really they are just different. The corona major to me is pretty mild. These are more full bodied. The flavor in both cases is ample.

[craig]

1. Which one is the best to smoke now?
Jul09-The Por Larrañaga Montecarlo is easily the class of this field; but it also costs about 2x as much as the other cigars, and thus is in a different class. Of the rest, the Por Larrañaga Panatela for mild/medium; Quintero Londres Extra for medium/full.
Feb09-Quintero Brevas. Cold weather means I want something with stronger flavours than the delicate Montecarlo, and, due to the presumed age of these particular cigars, the Brevas are smoking better than the Londres Extra.
Nov08-Por Larrañaga Montecarlo

2. Are JLP's worth buying?
Jul09-Maybe. JLP's are inconsistent - the four different JLP's have three different wrappers. The other brands are more consistent. If you get a good box/bundle, then they're a great value.
Feb09-Yes. Local prices of Quintero's have gone up in '09, but JLP's are still at '08 levels. My favourite JLP (so far), the Conservas, is 2/3rds the price of my favourite Quintero, the Londres Extra.
Nov08-No

3. Por Larrañaga - one Montecarlo or two PL Panatela's?
Jul09-two Panatela's. The Montecarlo is a more refined cigar and smokes longer; but it is almost 2x the price of a Panatela.
Feb09-in winter, two Panatela's. Caramel in the dead of winter doesn't taste great.
Nov08-Montecarlo

Jose L. Piedra
JLP Petit Cetro (5"x38 Oct 07)
1 yr - Nov 08 - Mottled JLP wrapper (sun-grown?). Close to smoking status, but still had a tannic aftertaste. Guess on aging: two years (Oct 09)
20 mos - Jun 09 - Strong tobacco flavour with a bit too much earthiness for me at the moment. A different cigar from the Petit Cazadores. Guess on aging goes to three years (Oct 10).

JLP Petit Cazadore (4 1/8"x43 Jul 08)
5 mos - Nov 08 - Dark and oily JLP wrapper. Much too fresh for me. Guess on aging: two years (Jul 10).
11 mos - Jun 09 - Smokes like a hot and sour firecracker. Can be smoked now, at one year. Two years is probably better.

JLP Cazadore (6"x43 Jul 08)
7 mos - Feb 09 - Same wrapper as the Petit Cazadore. Partial plug. The Quintero Breva seems better.
1 yr - Jul 09 - Similar to the Petit Cazadores, but needs longer to age. Benefits from a lot of purging, especially after the halfway point. Guess two years (Jul 10) plus.

JLP Conserva (5.5"x44 Sep 07)
17 mos - Feb 09 - Has a light-coloured wrapper that looks shade-grown. rough but good. Guess 3 years (Oct 10).
21 mos - Jul 09 - partial plug. Still rough.

Rafael Gonzales
Rafael Gonzales Panatela Extra (5"x36 Oct 07)
1 yr - Nov 08 - Mild, floral, and sweet. Carefully matured for a bit longer is what I'm thinking. Guess three years (Oct 10).
20 mos - Jun 09 - Smokes well, improvement expected.

Por Larrañaga
Por Larrañaga Panatela (5"x36 Jan 08)
10 mos - Nov 08 - Typical Por Larrañaga caramel, but earthier. The earth dissipates as the cigar gets older, and then it may become like a lighter, less complex Montecarlo. These cigars are too tannic right now, but should get better. Guess one year (Jan 09)
13 mos - Feb 09 - Ready to smoke at one year - still earthy.
18 mos - Jul 09 - Continuing to smoke well. A little less earthiness.

Por Larrañaga Montecarlo (6 1/4"x33 Feb 06)
2.8 yr - Nov 08 - This thin smoke rewards only the patient smoker. The PLMC is not complex or in-your-face; it is all about caramel. You may not want a caramel cigar every day, but one sure goes nice with coffee once in a while. Very smokeable.

Quintero
Quintero Panatela (5"x36 Sep 06)
2.5 yr - Jan 09 - Strong tobacco taste, perhaps the strongest of all Quinteros. Tannins come in half-way. Guess three years (Sep 09).
2.8 yr - Jun 09 - These still have a bit too much bite for me ... three years may not be enough.

Quintero Breva (5.5"x40 no date)
Jan 09 - These have a darker wrapper than other Quintero's. Of indeterminate age, they are smoking well right now. I would guess that they have four plus years of age.

Quintero Londres Extra (4 7/8"x40 Jun 07)
1.5 yr - Nov 08 - like a Partagas/RA/Bolivar Fuma. The wrappers even look like a lighter Ramon Allones - definitely the best-looking cigars of this group. However, besides quality of flavour, what you also give up is consistency - from draw to draw. This June 07 box is not ready, but is still enjoyable. Smoked now it is strong, almost like a Lito Gomez. Guess three years (Jun 10)
2 yr - Jun 09 - no change, although this one had a partial plug.

[nhcigarfan]

When you use the jar, do you put any humi device in the jar when it goes in the cooler? Also, how tight is the lid?