Weekend review; November 7th and 8th, 2009

This was an absolutely beautiful weekend. I took some time Sunday to begin painting my back porch deck. It was really in need of it. I didn't finish but I made a huge dent in it!



This weekend I'm reviewing 2 cigars officially, and one unofficially. By that I mean, I have a cigar that was given to me by my neighbor who is also a cigar lover. He said it was from a friend of his who recently returned from Cuba. Yes, I know what you're thinking. My neighbor gave me 2 cigars that his friend brought back. We'll take a look at one of them a little later.




Cigars reviewed this weekend:

• Punch Gran Puro Rancho
• Don Pepin Garcia JJ Series Belicoso

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Punch Gran Puro Rancho (5 1/2 x 54)

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Medium brown in color. Great draw. First draws were a sweet spice with cinnamon notes. Quite a bit of pepper in the spice which was especially noticed when blown threw the nose. The finish was long with sweet almond notes. Orange citrus noted. Very sweet, spicy cigar that reminds me of maple syrup! (weird, I know) Medium bodied. Very nice cigar.

Score: 93

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Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Don Pepin Garcia JJ Series Belicoso (5.7x52)

Beautiful medium brown cigar. Intense cinnamon spice with pepper. Finish is long with a combination of cinnamon and vanilla notes. The pepper lingers; love that. A touch of sweet grapefruit citrus in the spice. Hints of roasted almonds at midpoint. The cinnamon spice and pepper stays very strong throughout. This is a very, very good cigar.
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Score: 94
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Now, on to the mystery "Cuban" cigar...
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The story of people traveling to Cuba and bringing back cigars is not a new one. This is just such a story and although I appreciate any cigars that are given to me, the story raises red flags. It's just not that easy to travel to Cuba and bring back cigars. It can be done, however it's not easy. That being said let's look at one of these cigars that were brought back.
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The cigar is a churchill size, 7x47 or 48, and reminds me of a Romeo y Julietta churchill. In fact, the band is gold and very similar to the RyJ band. Here is a pic of the cigar:
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Upon close inspection I noticed that the cigar is triple capped. This is typical of all Cuban cigars. The cigar is darker than other RyJ churchills I have seen.

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Here is a close-up look at the band. All the band says is "Churchills" surrounded by "Cuba" on the left and "Habana" on the right.

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The cigar was a dark brown; much darker than other similar Cuban cigars, but that alone is not a deal breaker. The cigar was spicy with some pepper. Short finish. Dark almond notes. The cigar was not nearly as spicy or flavorful as other Cuban cigars I've had. This may very well be a Cuban made cigar with Cuban tobacco, but it does not appear to be a product of the main manufacturers in Cuba. There are people making cigars on the black market in Cuba because they know they'll sell; they're from CUBA! Most of these cigars are nothing close to the likes of a Bolivar, Partagas, or Montecristo.

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I have one more that I'll let rest for a lot longer and give it a try. This one had several shortcomings. Again, thanks to my neighbor for the cigars but I feel I must be honest with what I found.