This is a long story that most of you probably won't care about. But oh well.
Back when I first got into cigars, I was pretty broke. So I was always looking for good quality cigars at blue collar prices. I tried a sh*t ton of cheap cigars. There were many losers and many winners. OK, there were a lot more losers than winners.
The Famous Value Line from FSS were one of the lines that I found a few winners in. They were mostly losers, but the winners really stood out. I tried the Dominican 100,200,300 (didn't like any of them). The Honduran 100,200,300 were tolerable, but not great. The Honduran 400 were made by Camacho and were pretty damn good bundle cigars. The Honduran 500 were THE best bundle cigars I've ever smoked. I was in disbelief every time I lit one of those things up. I am convinced that they were a big project that got sh!tcanned and Famous bought the whole lot.
That brings us to the Nicaraguan line. I only ever tried the 200 and 300. The 300 were made by Pepin, solid smokes, and again I suspect that they were an abandoned project that got bought out by Famous. The Nicaraguan 200 were very good as well.
As the Value Line stock disappeared, Famous decided not to keep the lines going. I don't blame them, really. The bundles rarely sold higher than the minimum bid on their auction site. Eventually, my beloved Honduran 500, Nicaraguan 200 and 300 were gone. Well, I was looking through their auction site the other day, and the Nicaraguan 200 are back. So I snagged a bundle for old times' sake.
These are nice looking cigars. Very well constructed and heavy in the hand. Nice medium brown wrappers and pigtail caps. 5.5" X 52 RG.
First 1" -- Spicy in the nostrils but not like horseradish strong. A bit of an earthy flavor on the finish, which leads me to believe there is probably some non-Nicaraguan tobacco in the blend. As I type with the cigar between my teeth, a very pleasant woodsy aroma is coming from the foot. Nice so far.
About 2" in -- Good burn, great draw, solid ash. Dominant flavors are the same, but a bit of a tangy flavor on the finish. Nice smoke volume. Not a bad smoke so far.
About halfway -- Much the same. Decent flavor. A solid smoke at this point.
A little past halfway -- Starting to get a little harsh. I am smoking this cigar ROTT, so I won't pass judgment yet, but I had to snuff it out.
Final thoughts -- Hopefully the harshness goes away with a little humi time. If so, I welcome the return of the Famous Value Line Nicaraguan 200.