Robusto "C" Reviews/Discussions

[DaBear]

Aesthetics: 4.5/5
A couple thick veins, but an otherwise nice looking chocolate brown wrapper again. Probably my favorite of the samples aesthetically.



Pre-light Construction: 5/5
Cap cuts cleanly. A dark earthy tobacco scent from the foot, similar but with a kick of spice on the cold draw.

Post-light Construction/How it smoked: /5
Burn starts out fine, so no complaints there. A nice bit of smoke just keeps coming off the foot. A nice very light grey ash, that has become a bit flaky about an inch in and the SOB just ashed on my keyboard as I typed this. Burn has been fine through out the stick, a couple fixes here and there, but thats just my OCD about burnlines showing.

First Third: 4.5/5



A nice earthiness to the initial light with a light bit of spice. The spice retreats afterwards leaving the dry earthiness. The spice works its way back in about a half inch or so in. The spice disappears again, but a nice sweetness comes in toward the inch mark. Nothing really new to report as the first third rounds out.

Second Third: 4/5



More of the same into the second third, this really is more one dimensional than I remember it being. And nowhere near as spicy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but different. I no longer think this is a Pepin, not sure whose it is any more. Maybe an AJ blend, or could even be a Jaime blend. The earthiness gets a bit more chocolatey to the end of this second third.

Final Third: 3/5



Again, more of the same, but a bit of the spice I've been waiting on starts to come back in. Getting kind of boring here to the end. Had such high expectations after the first stick and it isn't even close to living up to them.

Aftertaste/Finish: 3/5
Theres a touch of an almost licorice flavor to the finish throughout the first third. The finish more or less disappears into the final third, not really getting any aftertaste.

Aroma: 3/5
Nothing good nor bad on the aroma, granted I blame that on being in a shop with about 7 other guys smoking.

General Comments:
This wasn't a bad stick, but it was not what I experienced the first time through at all. The flavors hit my palate well, but I feel I would have enjoyed it a touch more if I could have just zoned out and watched the game with it rather than try to pick out the flavors.

Overall score for the cigar: 3.5/5

Recommendation:
Recommended, but how highly depends on the price.

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by DaBear

General Comments:
This wasn't a bad stick, but it was not what I experienced the first time through at all. The flavors hit my palate well, but I feel I would have enjoyed it a touch more if I could have just zoned out and watched the game with it rather than try to pick out the flavors.

I get that. While you need to focus to do a review, don't do the rifle thing, where all you see, hear, smell, and think about is the cigar. That makes reviewing a job. Enjoy the stick, make notes as they strike you. The first two areas you write up right away (Aesthetics and Pre-light Construction), so you don't need to even be smoking the cigar to do them.

As for the other stuff, just smoke it. The rest you reflect upon later and get your impressions. Did it even smoke in thirds? Or was it just one long smoke? Hey, it might have had 5 distinct changes, or maybe it was constantly in flux (my personal favorite).

Peace of the Lord be with you.

[DaBear]

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

I get that. While you need to focus to do a review, don't do the rifle thing, where all you see, hear, smell, and think about is the cigar. That makes reviewing a job. Enjoy the stick, make notes as they strike you. The first two areas you write up right away (Aesthetics and Pre-light Construction), so you don't need to even be smoking the cigar to do them.

As for the other stuff, just smoke it. The rest you reflect upon later and get your impressions. Did it even smoke in thirds? Or was it just one long smoke? Hey, it might have had 5 distinct changes, or maybe it was constantly in flux (my personal favorite).

Peace of the Lord be with you.

I get that, it was just a comment on how I felt about the smoke. Some sticks I feel are best for zoning out to while watching a game or reading a book or just shootin the chit with the guys, this was one of them. I'm enjoying the review process, I certainly don't think its a job. I've been putting that stick in my travel when I go up to work off an on for the past two weeks just waiting for the time to hit and not force myself into smoking it. Tonight was the night it finally felt right. Its actually been an experimental night tonight for me, aside from this stick I'm on my second stick thats completely new to me tonight.