RealFreakinCigarReviews

Thinkin' outside the box!  Once again, this being the year of change and whatnot, I thought I'd take a foray into the unknown.  The last time I was at my local cigar shop, I saw these rather non-descript boxes in a bin by the "bargain/bulk" cigars, and thought I'd give it a shot.

Ted's made by hand

Teds made by hand

Initial Thoughts

As I said above, I found these sticks next to the "bargain bin" cigars on the floor of my local tobacconist.  At $8.00 a pop, I think thats kind of an insult.  Looking at the cigar, its a lighter brown that I'd expect for a maduro.  Construction appears to be decent enough, with a somewhat veiny wrapper.  Sniff test gives me a slightly earthy, cedar aroma.

The Smoke

Since I have to take my daughter to Karate in about an hour, no adult beverage for me.  The weather is absolutely gorgeous, and since precious little actually seems to be going right with work, I'll do a cigar review instead, and work later .  I use my punch cutter on the cigar, no issues with head breakage, and pre-light draw gives me a pretty easy draw. Toasting the foot and taking my foot gives me a mixture of flavors.  Specifically, I'm greeted with a nice toasty flavor with slight hint of pepperiness and a slightly sweet taste as well.  The flavor lingers quite nicely.  I would call the cigar mild to medium bodied at this point.

At the 1/3rd point, the pepperiness has increased a fair amount, although the other flavors have subsided quite a bit.  The burn is a little bit uneven at this point.  I'm getting plenty of billowy smoke.  Unfortunately, at this point, I'm noticing part of the wrapper is starting to unravel... not a good sign.  I would say right now, the cigar is definitely medium bodied.

At the 2/3rd point, the burn is uneven enough that I have to retouch it with my lighter.  The wrapper unraveling issue went away, compliments of being stopped by the band.  After removing the band, the cigar didn't fall apart, so thats good :)!  I'm still getting plenty of flavor -- spicy, with a hint of leather and toasted nuts.  In terms of flavor intensity, I'm gonna say its on the higher end of medium bodied, but not full.

I'm almost done, and I again had to retouch the thing due to burn issues.  I haveta say, that is really disappointing for me.   And I'm done.  Was the experience worth the $8.00?  In my opinion, not really.

The Rating