RealFreakinCigarReviews

Initial Thoughts

This fat little fellow came along in one of JR's "Herf in a Box - Deluxe" packs, a while back.  It, along with the other "surprise" cigars have sat a few months in the humi, waiting for me to get off my ass and do a review.  So, after the yard work this morning, in the just-lovely weather we're experiencing this weekend, it was time.  I have these "unknowns" sitting in a little walled-off corner of my humi, to make sure they don't accidentally mingle with my Monte's and such.  As it was still early in the day, a short smoke was called for.  I rummaged around a bit but couldn't find a choice short, but then noticed this little fella sitting at the top of the prison pile.  OK :)

I unwrapped him and saw some small veins, and a little flake forming on the wrapper.  The mouth end was a little lighter in color than the other end.  The build seemed to be fine, if not a little tight - no soft spots noted; in fact, it seems quite hard, like a hunk of tree branch.  Then I passed it under the wife's nose for a sniff test: she reported it smelled like chocolate!  Much more chocolatey than any of the others yet.  I took a sniff - yes, it did have a decidedly chocolate aroma.

The Smoke

V-notched and fired it up.  Hmmm, tasted pretty good straight off!  Sort of like dark chocolate, with it's bitterness and flavor.  A few puffs later, a woody, cedary flavor popped out, which was unforeseen but welcome, but sort of diminished the chocolate sensation.  This continued on for the whole smoke, with the addition of slightly more bitterness as the cigar disappeared into ash.  What was surprising with this inexpensive little guy, was there was no hint of that nasty "cheap stogie" flavor so common in sub-$2 cigars, even at the end when it usually becomes obviously evident.  This fact alone makes this a worthy smoke in my judgement!

The burn was excellent at the start, but by the end of it's short little 4.5-inch life, had turned "mangled chicken claw" on me.  But that's OK I guess, it was only at the conclusion of the experience.  The ash was a nice light gray, and held together for a total of just two turds deposited in my ashtray (along with the sad, smoking claw carcass).

Overall, if I had a choice between one of these guys, and *any* corner store brand, I'd take this one hands down.  But compared to other regularly stocked, inexpensive cigar store brands?  Maybe... if I only had $1.72 in my pocket.

The Rating