Actung! 1944 Parole review

[Swissy]

well, to date this is the oldest cigar I have owned, let alone smoked. Dunno too much about it, other than it was made for the German Army troops in WWII, and they were stored in caves for awhile? But with my interest in WWII history, this was the prefect cigar to get from Devin's pass (thanks again Devin!!!!) and smoke it.

Anyways, it was on the smoking block last week. It was not the finest rolled cigar I have seen... but the construction was suprising good, but not 'perfectly beautiful' if you get what I'm trying to say? Well built, but not totally pleasing to the eye. Some rough lines from the wrapper, and they were not evenly distributed across the cigar. But we are talking about a 1944 cigar probably mass produced for a bunch of soldiers that most likely did not critique the appearance of it! :laugh: (although I doubt this was the cigar Adolf Galland was famous for smoking while flying his fighter planes)

It had a slight box press shape to it, or it could have been the construction. I scored the edge of the cap and flipped it off, revealing the 'guts'. Again, not the prettiest stuffing of a cigar, but then again...


So I took a test puff, and the draw was damn near perfect! Not too loose, not too tight... amazing good for a cigar that is 63 years old! My first look into the flavor revealed a fairly strong tobacco flavor, and... well, there was no 'and'. Just tobacco. So out comes the flame...


And it lights nice, easy and stayed pretty much perfectly lit. One thing I noticed was lots of smoke right off. I like that in a cigar...



So as far as the flavor goes, well, it was pretty much all tobacco. No hints of this or that, just plain straight up tobacco. I may have missed something 'extra', as my taste buds are not as refined as some. But it was not unpleasant at all... just a even tobacco flavor to the end.. I doubt they would have gotten fancy making cigars for troops during WWII!

But all in all this was a fun cigar to smoke. Not the greatest for flavor and such... but how can you beat the history behind it, and the fact that it was 63 years old and still smoked fine? The burn was pretty much razor sharp, it was constructed well enough to stay together, I never got any debris in my mouth... and if you like a full tobacco flavor, this was perfect for you! A fun cigar to smoke regardless.

 

[Devil Doc]

You got guts, Swissy. I'd have second thoughts about consuming anything from WWII Germany considering they used to make bread with increasing amounts of sawdust as the war wore on.

Doc.

 

[jfields]

Nice! Sometimes that's half the flavor. The mystique/story behind a cigar always seems to amplify the experience while smoking it.

Not trying to be a smartass, but I wonder if you did not know anything about it, if you would have thought it a dog rocket. ???

 

[Wurm]

Very neat!

Goes to prove that if you store a cigar well, it can last forever or until the flame claims it.

 

[BlindedByScience]

Very cool, Swissy.... :thumbs:

I'm with Doc on this one; you've got some brass to tackle a WWII era German smoke......

Cheers - B.B.S.

 

[Fatken]

Thanks for sharing, I have never heard of one of these. Sounds like it was a great experience.

Ken

 

[Mark Twain]

Good review. I have two of these resting in the humidor, do they really need more time? :laugh:

These are pretty neat. There is a source that has full boxes of these in stock. Some are 50 ct boxes, others are 25 ct boxes About the same size as the cigar pictured but called something different.

Source should get credit for photo. Don't know the policy on talking about pre-embargo cigars, so the source will remain nameless.

 

[Ginseng]

Nice review of a historical artifact, Jim. :thumbs:

I think I've got one stick from that era but I haven't quite worked up the courage to light it up.

Wilkey

 

[audilicious]

damn you got balls

I hope that thing was packed with amphetamines, it would at least be worth smoking, otherwise I'd keep it as an artifact.

 

[Coinguy89]

This is way too cool. I'd love to have a box as a conversation piece.

 

[tigger]

I was fortunate enough to smoke one of these last year.

Well past its prime, but an interesting bit of history. That always counts for something in my book.

 

[AVB]

I was eyeballing that stick in the pass but had no idea what I could put in for a trade. I would have held onto it for awhile though before torching it up. Nice review!

 

[Mike33]

Nice review Jim. I've got several resting......will have to fire one up pretty soon.