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A Newbie's Take

Sam, Mike's has them for under $67 for a box of 20. There may be better prices out there; I haven't done an exhaustive search. But at that price, I'm seriously considering loading up on a box.
 
This morning's review is also what I really am smoking right at this instant (as I write this here).

The cigar is nothing fancy as this is my first morning/wake up cigar I have ever had I didn't want to totally blow it with anything too fine in case I didn't like smoking in the morning.

I decided on the Hoyo De Monterey 135th Anniversary Robusto. 4 1/2"X52 the dark oily wrapper and what appears to be great construction makes it appear to be a promising cigar.

Another reviewer covered this cigar in another thread in this discussion and while I do not share his exact response would have to say I was rather dissapointed in a way. This cigar has a pretty 1 dimensional taste of herbs and coffee beans to me that isn't as exciting as the cigar looks to be. While not a "bad" smoke I think aging would help a lot with this cigar, by perhaps mellowing it out just a tad (it's already medium bodied) and perhaps drawing more flavor out. I truly believe this cigar has potential and thus not writing it off, but next time will age this one for 6-12 months.

Overall I rate this a 6. I will say though on a sidebar that between the coffee and this cigar it has been a great morning kick start! But next time going to go with something with a little more complex taste.

Sam
 
FatherTiresius said:
Sam, Mike's has them for under $67 for a box of 20. There may be better prices out there; I haven't done an exhaustive search. But at that price, I'm seriously considering loading up on a box.
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$67!!! I'm IN!

So ummm who or what or where is Mike's?

:lookup:

Sam
 
Addition to the above review on the Hoyo:

The finish is going extremely well, the flavors definately matured quite a bit with a stronger flavor.. Had the entire cigar went like this last 1/3 is going then by all means this review would of been different.

Sam
 
So ummm who or what or where is Mike's?
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Mike's is a very good tobacconist in Tampa. They have great selection, prices and service and they've been in business forever. They have an online presence here. Their prices on Fuentes in particular have always been quite good - I got a box of Hemi Sigs from them for less than $150 about 4 months ago.
 
Sam, also check Famous (www.famous-smoke.com). $66.95 there for those sungrowns.
 
Will do Shadow... what I would really like to do/find one day is someone who is willing to go halves or thirds into the super premimium boxes... you get the box price of cigars without having to pay a major part of your atantomy. But it is also good to find deals like the Sun Grown and Heminway Short Stories that one can afford on their own.

Sam
 
Sam if you're looking to share a box with somebody, post a message in the Cigar Trades/Group Purchases forum. I, like you, am often looking for somebody to split a box with, and I can't imagine you and I are the only ones.
 
Sam,
thanks for all the great reviews. I noticed in a past post (try saying that 20 times real fast :p ) that you invited others to post reviews. Well, my friend, you may have inspired another newbie and I just might take you up on that offer in the near future. Provided the near future offers the time to do so.

And, to the last comment - yep, try famous. I tried to order from them a couple of weeks ago - unfortunately they can't ship to my address. I was pretty impressed with many of their offers.
 
The setting:

Couldn't find Lord of the Rings to watch again so we settled for The Cell. Friend staying with us from out of town this week and I passed him his first cigar - a Hemingway Signature. What I had was - well be patient and you will find out :p

The pre-ordeal, light and draw:

Beautiful strong smell that had you woozie just from the scent. Easy light and draw which produced volumes of awesome smelling smoke... matter of fact it was the smell that did it for my friend and his curiosity had to be quenched. So out went the Hemi I just bought today LOL - it was worth it he liked it ;)

The taste:

The most unique tasting cigar I have had to date. It started off full bodied and strong and only matured up to the point I nubbed it. Brandy wine, leaving a strong aftertaste in the mouth that was almost refreshing like good mouth wash - leaving behind a clean refreshed and cooled down mouth with hinst of sweet strong peppers popping in your mouth. Red oak, rich earthy tastes combined for this flavorable cigar enriching the experience was the euphoric feeling that just past the mid point had me so laid back I dropped the cigar for a moment in my lap! This cigar came close to simply kicking my a$$ even after a hearty meal of roast beef and veggies.

The Rating:

A very very strong 10 and under my new system a 10+ LOL. Yes, I know I need to revise my scoring system. While the other cigar which rated this high was awesome too, it (the Sancha Panza) would be a day time smoke versus this one which was definately an after meal smoke.

The cigar construction:

Aged maduro leaf in brandy oak barrells for 7 years... a special blend of the top three leaf fillers used in: Opus X, Hemingway and Don Carlos... aged yet another year before hitting most markets and been sitting around for who knows how long (at least a year I am guessing) before making it's way into my hands...

The cigar:

A.K.A. the "Shark" - the A. Fuente Anejo #77

Folks if I ould have a dying wish now in my young age it would be to light one of those up right before my time ends! What an awesome smoke. Expensive as hell. Rare to find as hell. But very very worth it.

If you have one of these - smoke it my friends! Now, for tomorrow may be too late!

Sam
 
Muley said:
Sam,
thanks for all the great reviews. I noticed in a past post (try saying that 20 times real fast :p ) that you invited others to post reviews. Well, my friend, you may have inspired another newbie and I just might take you up on that offer in the near future. Provided the near future offers the time to do so.
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Muley - hope on board my friend! This thread was started as an experiment on reviewing cigars for myself and those like me still relatively new to cigar smoking to try and define the cigars we are enjoying and compare notes with each other.

I look forward to seeing your reviews here bud!

:thumbs:

Sam
 
Hi folks, been reading how my reviews over the last coouple of weeks and have come to a couple conclusions. At one point I started the "Newbie's Take ISOM Style" to divide out the reviews between Domestic and ISOM. I am thinking about doing it again... I would "retire" this thread and start 2 other "Newbie Takes" threads: "Everyday Cigars" and "Super Premimium Cigars".

This way the casual reader could see at a glance the latest categories my smoke reviews are in and focus on the style that most interests them. I do not however want to appear to be flooding this particular room so am putting it out there for you all to let me know which you would A) like and B) think is better - keep all the reviews between ISOM and Domestic, or divide it further with: ISOM, Premium and Everyday.

After reading Muley's review and his scoring and coming to the conclusion that a flat 10 scale is too limiting to cigars I believe I am going to go for a 100 scale as well.

So I am going to put some thought into it over the next day and determine a logical way to rate them, i.e. how many out of 100 points would taste get? construction? light? draw? appearance? smell? etc. Obvisouly since flavor is major with me even if poor construction I would arrange the scoring in such a way as to reflect that. Anyway more updates on this when I can along with some more reviews. Lately I have been smoking cigars I have already been smoking and nothing new really to add to previous reviews (exception with the short story which just gets better and better LOL)

So give me some feedback on whether to keep this thread or let it die out and start two others to seperate the cigars out more.

Until later - Sam

P.S. Tireius and Muley let's put our heads together and do maybe a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly cigar review in which all of us smoke the same cigar. Perhaps we could do it as a miny monthly trade, read month A I send out the same cigar to you guys, month B Muley does the same, etc. and on an appointed evening or simply within a designated time of receipt we all do our reviews at once. Let me know what you think.

Sam
 
P.S. Tireius and Muley let's put our heads together and do maybe a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly cigar review in which all of us smoke the same cigar. Perhaps we could do it as a miny monthly trade, read month A I send out the same cigar to you guys, month B Muley does the same, etc. and on an appointed evening or simply within a designated time of receipt we all do our reviews at once. Let me know what you think.
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That sounds like fun, Sam. It'll be interesting to compare our reviews. Weekly might be too often since I'm frequently out of town for a week at a time, but I think bi-weekly would work.
 
First of all, keep up the good work!!! :thumbs:

I would prefer to see each reviewed cigar in a seperate thread. That why it's easy to see what smokes have been reviewed and if you're interested in reading it you don't have to dig around for it. That would be my only suggestion. :)

Good job SamGuss :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
 
Good review on the Shark Sam.

I've smoked several of them and have really enjoyed them. I've put a handfull in deep hibernation to give them some age.
 
sam,
great idea on breaking up the threads.
i like to read your reviews.
as a newbie myself i really find it hard to put into words the flavors i get from a
certain cigar. i'm learning alot as i would like one day to try to review one myself.
so brek up those threads :D
glenn
 
SamGuss said:
P.S. Tireius and Muley let's put our heads together and do maybe a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly cigar review in which all of us smoke the same cigar. Perhaps we could do it as a miny monthly trade... Let me know what you think.

Sam
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Sam,
this sounds like a good idea. But, unfortunately, my schedule isn't that hot right now. Until I return to Monterey in December, it'll be tough to coordinate the trade/review. We could do it, but there's some extenuating circumstances. Why don't you drop me an email (spilkersa@hotmail.com) and we'll talk off-line. I really like this idea!
 
gws3 said:
sam,
great idea on breaking up the threads.
i like to read your reviews.
as a newbie myself i really find it hard to put into words the flavors i get from a
certain cigar. i'm learning alot as i would like one day to try to review one myself.
so brek up those threads :D
glenn
Click to expand...
Thanks Glenn :)

I apologize that I have been slowing down on the reviews but ya'll know it gets when life gets busy LOL. I am finding time to smoke em just not review them in detail except for the diary. Will have time though this weekend to go through it and pull a few for the records and I am sure will post 1 or 2 others this week :)

Til later

Sam
 
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