[Catfish]

I always preface my reviews by stating I do not have a well-developed palate further hampered by a lack of proper vocabulary to express the flavors I come across. It takes at least a medium-bodied cigar to even keep my attention. Perhaps it is this personal failing to be able to fully appreciate mild bodied cigars that lends certain blends to come up short of my liking. But I digress...

The AF 858 Flor Fina 858 and the Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 toro.

This review is short and sweet because both sessions with each of these cigars was the same.

Construction and Appearance: Both cigars are equally impressive considering the differences in their appearance. Attractive, near veinless wrappers. A deep ( unfortunately, I suspect dyed ), oily maduro wrapper of the 90. The 858, I would guess a more sun grown shade. Both cigars were firm, hefty sticks with no soft spots. The 90 sports a box-pressed appearance. An impressive stick to look at. Pre-light draw of both was perfect, if unflatteringly lacking in pre-light flavor.

Both cigars lit easily thanks to my trusty Ronson Jetlite. Both cigars burned razor sharp even though I was sitting on my porch overnight as Hurricane Sandy sent a pretty much constant 30MPH wind across the deck.

While the 90 presented a seriously thin offering of smoke, the 858 more than made up for it with a billowing ribbon of unbidden smoke coming from the lit end that sent a mouthful of smoke my way with very little effort on the draw. Not too easy of a draw, just fine.

And that ends any kind words about these 2 sticks.

Neither stick made it past the 1/2 way point. And trust me when I say, i'm a patient smoker. Maybe it comes from my frugality and I insist on getting every pennies worth of any cigar I purchase. Whatever the case may be, I don't give up on a smoke unless the effort is truly wasted.

It certainly was on these 2.

I have multiples of each of these sticks and maybe down the road I will smoke either one of them again and update this thread. More than likely, they are going into the troop box at EPIC. Then again, I truly do not know if I want to subject any of the fine fighting men of our armed forces with such torture.

Thanks for reading my review. I wish it had better news to report. I do not recommend these cigars to anyone and will never purchase either again.