RealFreakinCigarReviews

JR Edicion Limitada Alternative

Initial Thoughts

How good, seriously, can a cigar that costs a buck fifty a stick be, in this day, where it is not unusal to pay 5, 6, 7 or more dollars for one stogie.  I’m not going to bother trying to come up with descriptions of flavors that don’t actually mean anything to me, or probably most folks who are actually smoking the cigar, as opposed to waxing poetic about what it allegedly tastes like.  (Seriously… I’ve smoked a number of cigars, and have yet to puff on one that tasted as though it “had well balanced floral flavors with a leather undertones” (as one website selling a different brand of cigars claimed).  I don’t know about you, but I don’t eat leather.. well ok… maybe when I was a kid I did actually try to eat a very small piece of a suede shoelace, but that’s another story.)  

The Smoke

So, in looking at this cigar, before firing it up, I have to say, it appears to be quite well constructed.  It is firm, and when I snipped the cap with my cutter; it cut cleanly, and didn’t crack the cap as I’ve seen happen with other cigars in this price range.  Yes, I MAY actually have to own up to being cheap, but hey, I’ve got a wife, 3 kids and an ex-wife to support; I’m on a budget.  At any rate, I fired up the cigar, and took my first couple of puffs.  It has good flavor, and seems to go quite well with the vodka martini I’m drinking.  I would call this definitely medium bodied, although the website claims “med-full”.  I’ve smoked some true “FULL” bodied cigars, and this ain’t full.  Definitely medium though.  The draw on this cigar seems a little bit tight.  And, at approximately ¼ of the way down, I noticed that it burns a little bit unevenly.  I rotated the cigar as I puffed on it, and the burn seemed to even out.  Strength at approximately the half way point is still decidedly medium, but reasonably complex.  Good flavor, and definitely is complimented with the martini.  It doesn’t produce too much smoke, and as I said, tastes pretty good.  I set the stogie down for a little bit (maybe 15 seconds or so), and it nearly went out.  In fact, I had to relight it, to make sure that it would continue burning evenly.  Draw on this stick is still tight, and perhaps its just the petulant 3 year old in me, but I don’t really like to have to work very hard for gratification.  Ok, so, I’m done… it went out completely at a little past the 2/3 point, and its cold.

Uneven Burn on the JR