Budget Habanos

[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?

[Roger]

Nice review! Thanks Roger.

[craig]

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?

No humidification. The cigars/jar are at the right RH before the lid is screwed down, and the temp is around 64F in the basement 24/7/365.

I tried a few things with the lid. Doing it the proper way (hot jars) leads to a vacuum within the jars which probably isn't good - you can see the cigars swelling when the seal is broken. So I just screw down the lid tightly with the jar at humidor temp. If there is a leak, then the jars are in a coolerdor anyhow.

It is a convenient way to organize/isolate aging cigars for me at the moment, as I don't like keeping cigars that don't have cello in (Cuban) dress boxes.

While I'm here, Jerry's reviews of the PL Panatela and the JLP Crema (which is hand-made short-filler, not machine made)
http://www.stogiereview.com/2009/02/17/por-larranga/
http://www.stogiereview.com/2008/12/08/jose-la-piedra/

[craig]

I've been smoking these again throughout March and April. Going into this review cycle, from least to most expensive, the cigars are: (pricing indicative only):

Under $2:

Jose L. Piedra Petit Cetros 5x38 Oct 07 – This example has a very good wrapper on it – a very large waterspot hints that this wrapper could have been used elsewhere, and not on one of the least-expensive Habanos around. JLP wrappers used to be typically sun-grown, but all of these JLP boxes except the Brevas have what look like shade-grown CT(!) wrappers. At 3.5 years, the Cetros is ready to smoke, unlike the other JLP’s. It has lost much of the tannic taste that it had when younger, but some remains. Full of honest, un-refined, tobacco taste, with the odd hint of complexity, I suspect from the wrapper – one draw had Cohiba grassiness!

JLP Petit Cazadores 4.125x43 Jul 08 – Similar to the Petit Cetros, but stronger and younger. At the half-way point, the tannins come in, and the cigar becomes a bit salty.

Under $2.50

JLP Conservas 5.5x44 Sep 07 – each draw was sweet and then strong, but eventually the draws became just strong. An unrefined, raw, cigar, which was possibly not as strong when fresh. A bit too rough and powerful for me, so I’ll go for aging to five years (Oct 2012), and hope for an improvement.

JLP Cazadores 6x43 Jul 08 – this cigar had a tight draw and had the most pronounced veins I have ever seen on a wrapper. It was like toothpicks were under the wrapper. Tastewise, the cigar was somewhat sweet, with a crisp aftertaste. Like the Quintero Brevas, it smokes like a good bundle smoke.

Under $3

Quintero Panatela 5x37 Sep 06 – this is a yummy cigar now, and has lost the tannins of a young cigar. Very flavourful, seems ideally matched to café cubano. Packs quite a bit of nicotine punch for its size.

Quintero Brevas 5.5x40 Oct 07 –stronger, less refined, and less complex than the Londres Extra, but a pleasing bundle smoke, like a Flor de Oliva.

Rafael Gonzalez Panatela Extra 5x37 Oct 07 – a few in this box have had tight draws, and this latest one is no exception. After a cut and a few days in a dry-box, the draw is a bit looser but still tight. This cigar just had too much tobacco in it, and I put it down. Previously, these were mild cigars that were overshadowed by the Por Larrañaga Panatela.

Por Larrañaga Panatela 5x37 Nov 07 – Unlike most inexpensive Havana's, Por Larrañaga claims to use tobacco from Vuelta Abajo - one of the best tobacco-growing areas in Cuba. Unfortunately, the Panatella was discontinued in 2010 IIRC (in Canada, at least).

At four+ years, the wrapper on this cigar seemed to be darker than I remember. The band has become discolored and slides easily around the cigar.

Pre-light, a sweet butter taste and scent dominated the cigar at six months, followed by a fruity/floral taste at one year. However, after four years, what little taste remains is just of tobacco.

Draw on this example was a bit tight. Rolling the cigar improved the cold draw.

When young, the Panatella was mild and sweet, with the trademark Por Larrañaga caramel (brown sugar/butter) taste. Now that sweet taste is pretty much gone. The cigar has become medium-bodied, although there is no pepper and little aftertaste. One can easily blow a bit of smoke out through the nose. Burn was even, with a dark grey ash.

To be blunt, this cigar is past its prime, and is pretty bland now. No complexity. Nice tobacco taste, but that's about it.

Under $3.50

Quintero Londres Extra 4.875x40 Nov 07 – after a blast of spice to start, the cigar became sweet and complex and very smokeable, hinting of a RASS at less than 30% of the price. Even though the cigar is almost 3.5 years old, the cigar still smokes a bit young. It can be smoked now, but the tobacco seems to show the potential for improvement. I’ll check on these again in 9 months (at four years, Dec 2011).

Around $4.50

Por Larrañaga Montecarlo 6.25x33 Dec 09 – The Montecarlo is an anachronism – a premium short-filler cigar. One can get a quite good long-filler cigar for the same money, and the thin yet long vitola is a strange sight in today’s world of 50+ ring gauge robustos. In its pre-Castro heyday, the Montecarlo was a cigar famous enough to be known solely by its name. Even today, the box carries a separate “Monte-Carlo” label – highly unusual for a Habanos dress box.

At just over a year old, these cigars are smoking wonderfully – but you have to like caramel. The most expensive cigar reviewed here, and the best of them at the moment.

ETA: Questions:
1. Which one is the best to smoke now?
Apr11-New box of Montecarlo's, still the best.
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?
Apr11-I think that they are worth the price. However ...
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?
Apr11-doesn't matter now as the PL Panatela is no longer available.
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

[CoventryCat86]

The Quintero Brevas are another one of my favorites.