- Don Pepin Garcia Tabacos Baez Serie H robusto
- Oliva Connecticut churchill
- Siglo X Belicoso
- Tatuaje Red robusto
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Don Pepin Garcia Tabacos Baez Serie H robusto (5x50)
Cinnamon spice with semi-sweet grapefruit note and black pepper. After a half inch the predominant notes are the grapefruit spice which seems to be gaining in sweetness as the cigar burns. The finish is fairly long with roasted almonds and a woody taste. There are some faint vanilla notes also. DPG cigars are known (at least to me) by their signature citrus notes. This cigar is heavy with those citrus notes. Supposedly this blend by Pepin has less pepper than some of his other blends. Well, I guess it's somewhat less but there is still enough to be enjoyable. It is medium bodied. At the midpoint there is more citrus on the finish. The draw is very good. The cigar produces a lot of smoke. The burn is quite good and even. This is a typical "very good" DPG cigar but it lacks some of the richness in the spice that some of his other cigars have. Definitely a good cigar, though.
Score: 88
Oliva Connecticut churchill (7x50)
To be honest, I have been avoiding this cigar for one reason; the word Connecticut. Usually those type cigars are very mild and almost tasteless. Yes, there are some exceptions, like the 601 Black, which uses a Connecticut wrapper although the name would not lead you to believe that. It is a quiet monster, starting off flavorful and ending up almost full bodied! I can only hope this cigar is the same way. Oliva makes great cigars so lets see how this cigar stacks up.
It is a beautifully made cigar. Very dense feeling. It started off with lots of cinnamon and vanilla spice and a nice amount of pepper. The finish is sweet with primarily vanilla notes with light notes of raw almonds. While it is mild it is very flavorful. The finish is the best thing about this cigar. It really lasts. At the midpoint the pepper seems to intensify. Overall, nice flavor and a great finish but the lack of significant pop held this cigar's score down. I have the utmost respect for Oliva and the cigars they make and realize that this cigar is targeted at the mild cigar smokers and that niche of the market. That said, it's a cigar that I will not often reach for in the cigar shops.
Score: 87
Siglo X Belicoso (5 3/4x54)
Nicely constructed cigar. This is the new band on this cigar. There was a dispute over the squares that were on the old ban so they changed it. The cigar's blend did not change. Really nice cinnamon spice with lots of sweet citrus and black pepper. Nice, long finish of vanilla and almonds. There is lingering pepper on the palate. Touches of vanilla also noted in the spice. The cinnamon and citrus are balanced making a very nice flavor. The subtle vanilla gives it a nice sweetness. The draw is very good. Medium bodied. This is a Nicaraguan cigar and has a lot of the typical flavors associated with that region. Modestly priced at around $6 to $7 at your local shop. An affordable, good cigar if you like spicy cigars. These cigars are made by Altadis. Here is a link to the Altadis site describing the various Siglo cigars. A very solid, flavorful cigar that I can recommend you try.
Score: 89
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Tatuaje Red robusto (5x50)
I reviewed this cigar back in March of this year and gave it a fairly low score. I was told by other's in the cigar world that these cigars had to sit for a period to develop more flavor. So, I decided to give it another try. It's been over 6 months so did the flavor improve?
This cigar is made by Don Pepin Garcia for Pete Johnson. Pete's cigars are known for flavor and have that typical Pepin spice.
Here is what I said about the cigar back in March, shortly after I received then:
As with any Pepin made cigar I expect something great so I looked forward to trying this version of the Tatuaje' cigars. It was a dark brown cigar that started off with cinnamon spice and pepper. The finish was long with semi-sweet almond notes. I kept waiting for more as the cigar smoked but it never happened. While this is a good cigar it greatly lacked any "pop" that is usually associated with Pepin-made cigars. At best this cigar is medium bodied and I would have it closer to mild than anything else. Decent cigar but I was disappointed in it..
Score: 87
Based on that review I would not want to buy them again. But, with a little aging I had hopes the cigar would be better.
Here is my current opinion on the cigar...
Starts off with a tremendous amount of grapefruit citrus spice with cinnamon notes, black coffee, and pepper. The finish is long with semi-sweet notes of vanilla and raw almonds. Full bodied. Great draw. Great burn; very even. The grapefruit spice is very prominent with this cigar and the black pepper is amazing when blown through the nose. It's intense! At the midpoint there is a slight note of sweetness in the citrus spice and it also transfers over to the finish. A little time definitely did this cigar a world of good. I love this cigar as it is today. I gave it 6 months. Not sure how long to wait but you can use this as a rule of thumb. Great cigar.
Score: 91
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