DBall's Newb Blind Taste Test #5

[DBall]

Originally Posted by smitty81

Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed some of the CC's.........

I guess I was just waiting for that cigar that was deeper in spice.

The best thing about how shitty my memory is is that I have no recollection of what I sent. I do, however, have the pictures (and no, I don't add them to photobucket until I'm ready to reveal). I have to check the folder to remember what I shipped out.

There may be some stronger, fresher cigars... I honestly have no idea...

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by smitty81

I guess I was just waiting for that cigar that was deeper in spice.

Don't let your expectations get in the way.
I've ruined many a good cigar looking for something that wasn't there, instead of enjoying the flavors that were.
If your mind is open you will always be surprised at what pops up.

I did this review in the last installment.

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showpo...&postcount=107

5 CC's is a small sample size.
You never know what lurks in the other 5.

[Blak Smyth]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

Don't let your expectations get in the way.
I've ruined many a good cigar looking for something that wasn't there, instead of enjoying the flavors that were.
If your mind is open you will always be surprised at what pops up.

I did this review in the last installment.

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showpo...&postcount=107

5 CC's is a small sample size.
You never know what lurks in the other 5.

What was it Dom?

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by Blak Smyth

What was it Dom?

It was an 08 Partagas Princess

[Partially Deaf]

My only comment is that those are a lot of cigars for a noob to smoke in a timely manner

[DBall]

Originally Posted by Partially Deaf

My only comment is that those are a lot of cigars for a noob to smoke in a timely manner

Ehh... only going for roughly 1 a week.

[BlkDrew]

anxious to see the next couple, keep up the great work guys.

[DBall]

ApexAZ Cigar #6
*************

5/5/2012

Tonight it's cigar #6 from Dan's blind taste test. I'll be pairing it with a double of Shieldaig 18 and a Perrier water. My pallet has been acting funky lately, but so far it seems limited to the Nicaraguan cigars I smoke regularly. The CC's have not been a problem so far and my allergies are not giving me trouble today, so we'll see how it goes!



Pre-light
This cigar is about 5 1/4" long and has a ring guage around 38 - 40. It has a smooth natural wrapper with small veins. Unlike the other CC's before it, this one seems to only have a double cap. The construction is good, but the cigar feels slightly hard. The smell is very similar to the last one. Just a manure and tobacco smell.

The pre-light draw is a little bit tight, which makes sense given how hard the cigar feels, but seems to be good enough for smoking. Flavors before toasting remind me of tobacco and loose tea.



1st Third
On the first 2 draws the draw is good and the smoke is smooth. Things were somewhat flavorless to start, but I'm starting to get some muted sweet cream. The burn is perfect and the ash dropped on it's own after about 2/3 of an inch. Strength and body are both mild.



2nd Third
After about 35 minutes I'm into the 2nd third of the cigar. Overall, it hasn't had a lot of flavor. It is smooth and sweet, but the flavor is somewhat muted. Muted flavors of sweet cream, coffee and leather come and go. The burn and draw both continue to be excellent. The strength and body are both more mild-medium now.



Final Third
65 minutes in and I'm progressing into the final third. The flavors are less sweet now and more like caramel. I still get a slight amount of leather, but not as much coffee. There's some other flavors I am unable to classify. The cigar is much tastier in the last third and I'd say the strength and body are more medium-full now. The burn continues to be perfect. With about an inch left, it's too hot and bitter so I called it quits.



Conclusion
I enjoyed this cigar more on the 2nd half. The first half was somewhat bland to me. I give it a 7/10. I think a recurring theme is starting to emerge here: I'm very used to the full flavored nicaraguans. These milder smokes take a while to develop for me. The one thing that I absolutely love about some of them is how sweet they are. Once they come into their own, they really are delicious. Some are just a bit on the mild side. Once again, Dan, thank you for the opportunity to experience it!

Score: 7/10

Total smoke time: 105 minutes

[DBall]

smitty81 Cigar #6
**************

Ok, first of all..........I want to apologize for this review being so late.

I work at an irrigation business and we are short on help this season so they have been making me fill in where needed to keep up. I have been working almost double the hours I normally work. I'm so tired after work, all I feel like doing is sleeping.

Here is the review guys!








This is stick #6

This cigar is about 5-1/4" long and I'd say about a 36 gauge. I have been anticipating this cigar for a while because of the way the wrapper looks. The wrapper is kind of blotchy in color. It mostly has a lighter color wrapper but then it has some darker patches all over it that make it appear to have water damage or something weird like that going on with the wrapper.

Good construction with small veins.

It's Cinco De Mayo so I'm enjoying a strawberry margarita with this cigar. (they didn't pair to bad either)

First 1/3rd

This wrapper has some spice to it, really making my mouth water and my throat burn. I'd say it's a mellow cigar with caramel flavor. Not a real strong flavor but it's there.

2/3rd

Not a whole lot to touch upon here during the 2nd third. The flavor remains the same and the burn is also pretty good. Just enjoying this cigar, I'd say it's one of the more enjoyable cigars I have tried in this BTT.

Last Third

This cigar is still holding on to it's caramel flavor. If it has changed any at all, I'd say that maby it has maby picked up a sweet cream flavor?

This cigar sort of reminds me of the romeo E julita (sp) that we had earlier in the BTT.



I'm gonna go ahead and give this cigar a 7/10. Not real bold in flavor but the flavor that was there was enjoyable and it had very little burn issues.




Beings it's a holiday weekend and I plan on sitting on my butt, I will try to hammer out a few more reviews to play catch up!

Sorry again guys.

[DBall]

Originally Posted by DBall

I think a recurring theme is starting to emerge here: I'm very used to the full flavored nicaraguans. These milder smokes take a while to develop for me.

I love this quote (and it's not to pick on you)...

Perceptions definitely color experience. While not a full flavored cigar (I've smoked one and enjoyed it), it was a Nic cigar.



I really like these taste tests.

[DBall]

ApexAZ Cigar #7
*************

5/14/2012

Okay, moving onto #7 in DBall's Blind Taste Test. I'll be pairing it with a double of whisky and a Pellegrino. Even though it's 8:15 P.M., it's still like 100 degrees out, so I'll probably be smoking faster than usual. It's warm. Phoenix summer is here. Ugh.



Pre-light
This cigar is about 5 3/4" long and has a ring guage around 38. The wrapper is slightly darker than the others and has one large vein throughout it's length. It also has somewhat of a roughly placed single cap (at least it appears so). The construction seems good enough, but the cigar just looks a little rough around the edges and it's very light. The cigar looks and feels old to me. The scent off the foot has a very, very slight tobacco smell. I had to really concentrate to smell it, it was so faint.

The pre-light draw seems fine, and I taste nothing but a slight grass/wood type flavor, which is also very faint.



1st Third
Like the others, the cigar is very smooth right off the bat. I don't think any have ever had that in-your-face blast of pepper like so many Nicaraguans do. This is a good thing to me. While I don't mind a bit of pepper, the first few puffs can be pretty brutal before things start to settle. On the other hand, I don't taste a lot at first on these either. After about 3/4" I'm finally starting to get some sweet flavor, but unable to pintpoint exactly what it tastes like just yet. About 1.5" in the flavor is kind of a toasty sweet cream flavor. It's very smooth and mild, but somewhat muted. The draw and burn have been perfect, and the salt and pepper ash drops on it's own after about 3/4".



2nd Third
I start getting into the 2nd third after about 25 minutes. The flavor is starting to really pick up now and it's really tasty. Notes of vanilla come in, as well as some charred wood. It's pretty dang good. It's still very mild and creamy with mild strength. The burn has continued to be perfect.



Final Third
45 minutes passed before getting into the final 3rd. The flavor continues to get sweeter. It's more of a toasty coffee, vanilla, caramel type mix. I'm digging it. What is it about these that make them so sweet? There must be something in the soil that promotes a lot of glucose or something? The burn continues to be perfect. Things are more medium now and the flavors just continue to fuller, sweeter and better with every puff. It's quite good and sadly it had to end with about 1/2" left.



Conclusion
This cigar was one of my favorites so far and I give it a 9/10. I really loved it! Thanks, Dan!

Score: 9/10

Total smoke time: 75 minutes

[DBall]

smitty81 Cigar #7
**************

Stick #7 is about 5-3/4 long and is about a 36 Ga. cigar. The construction of it is very soft and mushy with a single cap. There are some large veins in the wrapper and overall, this cigar looks pretty rough.

My first impression of this cigar after inspecting the construction of the cigar is that this cigar must be a cheaper value cigar.



I found the draw to be pretty tight on this cigar. The flavor on the other hand was awesome.




I'm not gonna take the time to break this cigar down into thirds as it basically retained it's flavor through out the entire cigar.

The burn was OK for the most part but I did have to touch it up a few times as the large veins in the wrapper seemed to keep it from burning real well.
There was very little to no smoke.

The flavor was AWESOME. The flavor was a very nice sweet cream-grassy flavor. I was really digging the flavor of this one.



I did retrohale with this cigar and based on the retrohale, I took an educated guess that this is a CC because my nose was not on fire afterwords. This was a really smooth cigar.




I truly enjoyed the flavor of this cigar down to about the last inch or so and then it started getting a bit harsh. I had been wondering if short filler was used in this cigar based on the construction. I did a little dissection with the nub and found short filler indeed.



After this cigar, I truly feel that I have learned something from this experience Dan has so kindly offered to me.

I feel that the conception I have gathered from my time here is that short filler is for cheaply made cigars. That may well be but 2 of the 3 cigars that I have really enjoyed flavor wise have had short filler.

To me short filler only means one thing which is the second thing I feel that I have learned. It means a tighter draw to me. Both of the short filler cigars I have enjoyed have both had a pretty tight draw which makes sense to me once I stop and think about why that would be so.

I give this cigar an 8/10 based on the draw issues. If it would have been a bit easier on the draw, I would have rated it between a 9 & 10.

Tasty!

[Brutus2600]

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan!

Seriously though, fun twist I really wasn't sure what cigars these were, but I had a sneaking suspicion they weren't CC's. Despite the reviewers thinking they were, I'd say these reviews were still spot on. When I reviewed a ROXY I definitely pulled tons of sweet, creamy caramel notes from it - something both reviewers noted.

Great job guys

Andrew, did you know these were being included in the lineup?

[BlkDrew]

Originally Posted by Brutus2600

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan!

Seriously though, fun twist I really wasn't sure what cigars these were, but I had a sneaking suspicion they weren't CC's. Despite the reviewers thinking they were, I'd say these reviews were still spot on. When I reviewed a ROXY I definitely pulled tons of sweet, creamy caramel notes from it - something both reviewers noted.

Great job guys

Andrew, did you know these were being included in the lineup?

how do you think dan got them? haha i have been waiting patiently, thanks for the great review guys.

[Brutus2600]

Originally Posted by BlkDrew

how do you think dan got them? haha i have been waiting patiently, thanks for the great review guys.

Well you were selling a lot lol, I just wondered if you knew he was using them in the BTT

[DBall]

Originally Posted by Brutus2600

Well you were selling a lot lol, I just wondered if you knew he was using them in the BTT

Drew lives in the same city as me and, while not as often as we should, we get together and smoke cigars on the balcony. I asked him for a couple cigars for this thing and he brought em over.

I figured it would not only be a fun twist, but a way for Drew to get a 100% honest and unbiased review of his cigars.

Success on both counts!

[smitty81]

Originally Posted by BlkDrew

how do you think dan got them? haha i have been waiting patiently, thanks for the great review guys.

Pretty good man! I was wanting to try one of your cigars.

Just for the record Dan, I knew this one wasnt a cc because of the retrohale......

Good smoke though.

[jonumberone]

Well done, Dan!

[NeuRon]

the plot thickens!

[ApexAZ]

Haha, awesome! I dig the Roxy's.