moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
My brother came up to visit me for the week, so we headed to the cigar club for some grillin', cigars, beers, and football. It was the perfect excuse to bust out some cigars that I've been holding off smoking... the first one from a box of rarities is always the hardest to torch.
Ashton VSG "Round" Corona Gorda (5 ¾" x 46) -- These are the oldest VSGs in public release; they were made in 1997, but not sold until 1999 in 50 cigar cabinets. They lack the trademark VSG box-press, hence the moniker "VSG Round".
This was a great cigar. Now if I didn't know any better, I'd say that these are a different blend then the production VSGs -- but a higher authority made it clear to me that the blend was the same. This is somewhat puzzling, because the spices present in this cigar are much more pronounced, and the intermingled tastes much more full and complex.
I can only guess that either the amount of tobacco in the cigar is different (they generally under-fill cigars that will be box-pressed), or time is very kind to VSGs. The taste was simply delightful; if you like VSGs, these old "Rounds" are your holy grail. Clearly these benefit significantly from age; a 7 year old VSG is a wonderful thing.
Original Release Opus X Reserva d'Chateau (7" x 48) -- These Opus X cigars are from the first harvest of Chateau Fuente tobacco that was commercially viable. These beautiful sticks came in a slide lid box, and the 7-8 years of age has yellowed the cello to an inviting amber-yellow color.
Sliding the cello off revealed a wrapper that was much more pale than your traditional Opus X Rosado wrapper, covered from head to toe in beautifully fine "tooth", and dotted with tiny flecks of plume, glistening in the light like the glitter makeup on a stripper's cleavage. Anticipation was high; what would these cigars be like with such age on them?
The answer was clear: they are absolutely stunning. Anyone who believes tobacco from the Dominican Republic does not age well, or does not hold its flavor has simply never smoked one of these beauties. I gave one to my brother, and he kept on puffing on it, then looking at the cigar, and saying "Wow" like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. This is after he'd already polished off (and thoroughly enjoyed) a 2001 Añejo No.50.
I gave another to the cigar club owner Bill, and he was blown away as well... "I've never had a cigar that was this flavorful, but also this smooth" -- and the man has had plenty of cigars in his lifetime.
Spicy, refined, complex, smooth, creamy -- this cigar has the characteristic Opus X flavor that has married, remarried, had children, been born again, and is comfortably enjoying mid-life.
This cigar is up in my top 10 list of all time, in good company with Dunhill Estupendos and Cabinettas, and other finely aged tobacco. They really are that good. My advice for everyone is to take your Opus, stash them away for a decade, and then smoke them. The results will be worth the wait.
It has enough refined power and flavor that I dare say it'll easily stand up well to another 10 years of aging. I'm going to try to ration these out to myself once a year for the next 10 years or so.
Ashton VSG "Round" Corona Gorda (5 ¾" x 46) -- These are the oldest VSGs in public release; they were made in 1997, but not sold until 1999 in 50 cigar cabinets. They lack the trademark VSG box-press, hence the moniker "VSG Round".
This was a great cigar. Now if I didn't know any better, I'd say that these are a different blend then the production VSGs -- but a higher authority made it clear to me that the blend was the same. This is somewhat puzzling, because the spices present in this cigar are much more pronounced, and the intermingled tastes much more full and complex.
I can only guess that either the amount of tobacco in the cigar is different (they generally under-fill cigars that will be box-pressed), or time is very kind to VSGs. The taste was simply delightful; if you like VSGs, these old "Rounds" are your holy grail. Clearly these benefit significantly from age; a 7 year old VSG is a wonderful thing.
Original Release Opus X Reserva d'Chateau (7" x 48) -- These Opus X cigars are from the first harvest of Chateau Fuente tobacco that was commercially viable. These beautiful sticks came in a slide lid box, and the 7-8 years of age has yellowed the cello to an inviting amber-yellow color.
Sliding the cello off revealed a wrapper that was much more pale than your traditional Opus X Rosado wrapper, covered from head to toe in beautifully fine "tooth", and dotted with tiny flecks of plume, glistening in the light like the glitter makeup on a stripper's cleavage. Anticipation was high; what would these cigars be like with such age on them?
The answer was clear: they are absolutely stunning. Anyone who believes tobacco from the Dominican Republic does not age well, or does not hold its flavor has simply never smoked one of these beauties. I gave one to my brother, and he kept on puffing on it, then looking at the cigar, and saying "Wow" like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. This is after he'd already polished off (and thoroughly enjoyed) a 2001 Añejo No.50.
I gave another to the cigar club owner Bill, and he was blown away as well... "I've never had a cigar that was this flavorful, but also this smooth" -- and the man has had plenty of cigars in his lifetime.
Spicy, refined, complex, smooth, creamy -- this cigar has the characteristic Opus X flavor that has married, remarried, had children, been born again, and is comfortably enjoying mid-life.
This cigar is up in my top 10 list of all time, in good company with Dunhill Estupendos and Cabinettas, and other finely aged tobacco. They really are that good. My advice for everyone is to take your Opus, stash them away for a decade, and then smoke them. The results will be worth the wait.
It has enough refined power and flavor that I dare say it'll easily stand up well to another 10 years of aging. I'm going to try to ration these out to myself once a year for the next 10 years or so.
