Review These - Reviews

[Mazeman]

OK, here are the cigars' identities.

To review:

Cigar marked #1.

Nice stick. Stronger than the first, a bit spicy. Lots of smoke. I liked it. I nubbed this one. Nice looking wrapper. I would smoke one of these again.

Ooops. Forgot this part.. I would guess this is the more expensive stick.

Cigar #1 was actually the less expensive. It was a Camacho Havana Toro (made in Honduras). I paid $3.70 for it (a little higher than my own rules) and got it mainly to match the size/color of cigar #2.

This was the cigar marked #2.

It was a nice, firm stick, the wrapper was a little rough. It smoked well and produced a lot of smoke. It tasted, well, like tobacco. Didn't come across very strong, but not overly mild either, At about the halfway mark it got a little bitter. I pushed on and it mellowed out again.

It came across to me as an everyday stick, not as something special. It's didn't do enough for me that I was inspired to sit out in the cold and nub it.

Cigar #2 was a Graycliff Blue Label PGX (Profesionale). Same size as cigar #1 at 6X50.

[TheSilentChamber]

How much was the greycliffe?

[Mazeman]

How much was the greycliffe?

I forget. Got a fiver in an auction at Famous-Smoke. Definitely over $10.

[ggiese]

Those Greycliff's are WAY over priced... Not a bad smoke, but not worth the money they charge for them....

Good setup up, Maze!!!

[SuperChuck]

Mystery Cigars from Shagaroo....

Cigar #1

This cigar had a nice, dark wrapper with one really big vein running the length of the cigar. The wrapper was a little crumbly and was constantly flaking off in several locations on the cigar. The draw on this cigar was quite tight, which is not to my liking, and the flavor was light and not quite to my liking... It reminded me of wet leather or something.

Cigar #2

This cigar was a little lighter, without any major veins. The construction was great, no flaking or crumbling. The draw was much looser, much more to my liking. The smoke had a good flavor to it, with just a hint of spice, and the smoke was copious. It's not the best cigar I've ever smoked, but it was very nice. I'm going to go out on limb and guess it might be a Romeo y Julietta.

How did I do?
(Now I'm starting to second guess the order in which I smoked them)

[Shagaroo]

Mystery Cigars from Shagaroo....

Cigar #1

This cigar had a nice, dark wrapper with one really big vein running the length of the cigar. The wrapper was a little crumbly and was constantly flaking off in several locations on the cigar. The draw on this cigar was quite tight, which is not to my liking, and the flavor was light and not quite to my liking... It reminded me of wet leather or something.

Wet leather. Cigar #1 was Saint Luis Rey Reserva Especial Toro. Cheap stick. The Belicoso is a nicer stick but they are still hit and miss and I keep these for yard gars or folks that think swishers are real cigars.

Cigar #2

This cigar was a little lighter, without any major veins. The construction was great, no flaking or crumbling. The draw was much looser, much more to my liking. The smoke had a good flavor to it, with just a hint of spice, and the smoke was copious. It's not the best cigar I've ever smoked, but it was very nice. I'm going to go out on limb and guess it might be a Romeo y Julietta.

Opus X Perfecxion X. This has been sitting in my humidor since December of last year. Glad to hear it aged well.

[SuperChuck]

Hot damn, I got it right! :)

[bigpoppapuff]

in case you didn't know...the camacho havana was the first cigar to use a criollo wrapper....
criollo means "indigenous"...as in, to havana (seed).....in my opinion the camacho havana is a terrific cigar...

[QuietC]

Guess these reviews will help to show that higher price doesn't mean higher quality. Not with every case of course. Not with each person either. Interesting to see that he went with the "lower end" cigar.

[TheSilentChamber]

Its a pitty too, you'll be hard pressed to find anything cheeper than $8 at the local shop here, so I offen go without trying some of the cheeper things.

[SuperChuck]

Its a pitty too, you'll be hard pressed to find anything cheeper than $8 at the local shop here, so I offen go without trying some of the cheeper things.

Time to start looking for more shops!

The two big shops in my area are really geared toward a snooty and/or touristy crowd, so the prices are pretty high and there are very few sticks in the <$5 range. I went shopping around and eventually found a shop with less expensive smokes and significantly better proces...

[ReV]

Ok here goes: keep in mind that I'm new at this.

Side by side they both look nice enough, but something about stick #2 just feels better. I dont like the feel of stick #1 (if that makes sense) as much as the 2nd.

Stick #1:
This was a small light colored stick. Looked decently constructed; the bouquet was nice. The prelight was kind of bitter. It cut kind of odd, but that could have been my fault. As far as smoking it, it lit easy enough and had a nice draw. It burned a little lop-sided. The flavor was very mild all the way through the smoke and went out once toward the end. Overall, not a terrible smoke but not the best either.

Stick #2:
This cigar was longer than the first and a darker color. It looked pretty well constructed and had a stronger bouquet than stick #1. It lit easy, burned even the whole way through and had an easy draw. The flavor started off mild but started picking up spice a little ways into the smoke. By the end, there was a decently bold flavor to it, and while not my favorite taste, was overall good. I think this guy was the more expensive smoke, but i had assumed that from first looking at them side by side so i may have gotten my mind stuck on this assumption.

Conclusion: Stick #1 is cheaper stick. Stick #2 nice stick.

[chefchris]

Alright ReV, great reviews!

Cigar #1 Was an Indian Tubac Cameroon Legend
Cigar #2 Was a Gurkha Signature '101' Maduro

And you were right, #2 was the more expensive cigar.

I really like those Cameroon Legends. Good cheap smoke.

[ReV]

Alright, i got em' right. Thanks for the cigars chris, i cant get those localy.

[JJ Westbrook]

Ok, sorry it took me this long to post my reviews, but this was a LONG weekend at work. I will review in the order that I smoked the cigars.

Cigar #2

This stick is about 5 inches long and about a 48 ring gauge I would guess. The wrapper is very light in color. The "squeeze" on this stick is a little softer than I have seen before. I automatically assume that the draw on this is going to be very loose. I was correct. I used my favorite puch on both of these smokes just to be fair. The pre-light draw was, indeed, loose but kind of flavorful. It lit and burned fine. The taste started off pretty rough, but got better shortly after. Now I have to say that I was not over impressed with this smoke. It was too loose and did go out about 30% through it. I would like to say I got to finish it and give it a fair review. However, as usual, life (or more specifically, work) got in the way. My job requires me to be on-call at times. This weekend was one of those times. I got an onslaught of calls suddenly while I am trying to enjoy my smoke. It got so bad that I got frustrated and called it quits after about 50-55%. I really hope this is not the better of the two cigars that just got ruined.

Cigar #1

This stick is 6 inches long and about the same ring gauge as the first one. The wrapper is darker and tighter than the first. The "squeeze" was much tougher than the first, it was down right stiff. Not hard, but stiff. Pre-light draw was tough but very tasty. Lighting was easy but drawing was tough right from the very beginning. Also, the burn was even down the length of but I swear it burned primarily at the center of the cigar. It did not burn evenly across the foot. This was somewhat annoying, but the taste was good enough that I wanted to continue. The draw did improve a bit shortly into the smoke, but then just got worse. Smoking this thing was a real chore. It went out a couple of times within the 90 minutes I smoked on it. Finally, I surrendered around 3/4 through the cigar. I have never had one this tough before, so I guess this is what is called a plug.

Well, as tough a time I had with these reviews, I am still going to take a stab at picking the more expensive of the two. But for the plug, my choice would easily be Cigar #1. I am aware that this can happen at random with even some (usually) really good cigars. So, my choice is still going to be Cigar #1.

Either way, thanks for the chance to participate in this again. And thank you for the stow-aways that you sent. That was rather kind of you.