Tabaqueria de Filipinas 1898 Independencia L.E.

[JiveTurkey]

Last month, I bought a couple boxes of 1898 Independencia Limited Edition by Tabaqueria de Filipinas for a family reunion occurring this Labor Day for my Mom's--the Filipino--side of my family.

They were pretty cheap, so I wanted to smoke one myself to ensure I wasn't bringing total crap to the reunion. I decided to smoke one yesterday; though it was June 11 here, it was June 12 in the Philippines, which is Philippine Independence Day. Here's my review of the cigar with about a month in the humidor:

Manuf.: Tabaqueria de Filipinas
Line: 1898 Independencia Limited Edition
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 52)

Filler: Philippines
Binder: Philippines
Wrapper: Indonesia

Burn time: 60 minutes
Drink: Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Pre-cut
- Band: Very attractive design with a nice gloss and texturing.
- Color: Claro, with a few double claro spots.
- Smell: Hay. Not necessarily bad, but not mouth-watering.
- Construction: Fair. A couple veins, but the wrapper looked well constructed. No soft spots or lumps. The cap, was jagged and I didn't trust it with a guillotine, so went with a punch.

Pre-light
- Taste: Nearly none.
- Draw: Firm, but not unmanageable.

1st 3rd
- Flavor: Mostly natural tobacco.
- Smoke: Decent amount of smoke, but I needed to double-puff most of the time to get it. It never felt like it was going unlit, so I chalked this up to the firm draw.
- Burn: Lit very easily, but almost immediately started to burn unevenly, which I could not remedy by moistening the fast side or torching the slow side.
- Ash: Light gray and very firm. Stayed on for a good inch after tapping. Left a nice ash cone with no exposed wrapper.

2nd 3rd
- Flavor: More of the same, but it tastes more smooth and rounded. Very slight and occasional acidity.
- Smoke: Same.
- Burn: Though it remained uneven, the whole cigar seemed to be burning at the same pace, so I stopped trying to fix it. About halfway in, it evened itself out, though the line was jagged.
- Ash: Same.

3rd 3rd
- Flavor: A woody character joined in with the tobacco. The occasional acidity became more apparent and frequent, but not terribly so. It never got harsh, even to the last inch, though I had to put it down due to my lips beginning to burn.
- Smoke: Double-puffing not needed as much.
- Burn: Stayed even, but jagged, to the end.
- Ash: Same.

Overall
- Flavor: Mild to Medium. Nothing special, but it didn't taste bad at all.
- Body: Mild to Medium. Wish I could produce more smoke from each puff.
- Strength: Medium. Gave me a slight buzz.
- Aroma: Not terrible, but not good; kind of burned the nostrils.

Bottom line: Decent for the price ($1.17 ea.). The common theme seems to be "not great, but not bad." It will be fine for the reunion, but if they weren't Filipino, they would not be considered. I'll see what another three months in the coolerdor does for the other 39.