any one try the Cigars International Legends series?

[jgohlke]

I smoked this one last weekend...Here's the review:

Saturday June 3 2006

Legends Cigars - Green (Puro Indios)

All the cigars in the Legends series are the same size, 5.75” x 54 with a target price of $5. This cigar was purchased as part of a Legends sampler from CigarBid and spent about 6 weeks resting in my coolerdor.

Prelight activities:

The cigar felt firm and had just a slight give when I gave it squeeze with my fingers. I’ve been practicing giving my cigars a gentle pre-light squeeze and I think this one was about perfect. (I’m trying to train myself to recognize the rock hard cigars and put them back for a longer rest before I punch/clip them). It had a nice milk chocolate brown color with 2 noticeable veins in the wrapper. I gently squeezed and twisted the large label to see if it was loose. It twisted with just a little effort. It came right off, but created just a slight tear in the cigar wrapper. This was probably my fault and didn’t affect the smokeabilty of the cigar.

It had a great smell…somewhere between musty and woodsy…with just the right amount of old dog crap. I’m not very good at using good descriptors…the smell kind of reminded me of an old barn (to me, that’s a good smell).

I punched it (my preference) after briefly holding the cigar in my mouth to moisten the head. It punched without drama or tearing. The pre-light draw was just the perfect compromise of effort and resistance.

First 3rd:

I lit it with my Zippo torch (Blazer insert) using a brief toasting and then some direct flame coupled with a few puffs (I was outside). My initial impressions of the taste was a slight nuttiness. The smoke was dry and just a bit hot (from lighting).

The first 5 puffs were almost sweet with lots of smoke. It was a nice cigar right from the beginning. It maintained an even burn with a dry smoke and stayed almost sweet with no peppery flavors. It easily kept a 1 inch ash which I knocked off with a single tap. The cigar had just a slight cone after the first ashing.

I would classify the first 3rd of this cigar as dry, almost sweet, slightly creamy with lots of smoke and good draw.

Middle 3rd:

It was clear by this time that the cigar was a mild-medium smoke. I didn’t notice a nicotine buzz. After another forced ashing (tap), I noticed the cigar was now tunneling just a bit. Within 2 or 3 puffs, it went out. I re-lit it and after the second puff, it was fine with no re-light nastiness. At some point during this portion, it rolled off the table where I had it resting and fell about 2 feet to the garage floor. It didn’t seem damaged in any way.

Last 3rd:

I didn’t get to nub this cigar as it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were coming out in full force. On the other hand I put the cigar down while it was still good. I managed to completely skip those last two puffs where a good cigar goes bad…for some reason, I always have to take that “is it really done” puff after the puff that tells you that it’s really done. Anyway, I was several puffs into the last 3rd when I called it a night.

Total smoking time: 1 hour 5 minutes.

Summary:

I really liked it. Generally, I like the mild to medium cigars and this cigar was exactly that. This would be a great mid-afternoon smoke for me (on an empty stomach).

 

[occifer143]

Green Label --Puros Indios

Construction:
Solid sponge like moisture. There were no visual cracks or flakes. It had a natural wrap
with some apparent veins.
I clipped with a guillotine cutter just past the first cap.

I used a Calibri torch to toasted the cigar. The first draw was at 8pm. It was a tuff first draw. I did not get any initial taste from the first draw.

1st third
The taste that started to come were very light with a touch of creaminess. The cigar was very cool and it was almost like smoking air.

2nd began at 8:15 pm
There was not a overwhelming amount of smoke. The burn was even and the draw
became easier as the cigar went on. I was looking on my pallet for a new taste but, none were apparent. At 8:24 the first ash fell off with about 2 1/4 inches falling off.

3rd began at 8:31pm
The burn stayed even throughout the rest of the cigar. I was really struggling to get the flavors. There was just light variations of wood.

Ended the smoke at 8:46
This cigar did nothing for me. IMHO you should not have to search for flavor notes so hard. This may be a good cigar for the new smoker, or for those who like mild smokes. On the positive side I smoked the whole cigar with an even burn, and only two ashes. That makes for a great solid construction.

PS: Thanks Joe

 

[iluvmysh]

Green Label:

Pre-light: The smell of the actual cigar doesn't smell too good. It smelled a little sour.
The pre-light draw was nutty, kind of a hollow nuttiness (not sure if that's possible).

It had a nice draw, not too tight, not too loose. Taking off wrapper wasn't too easy, it tore the brittle thin wrapper. The construction of the cigar wasn't too tight as noted by the draw. The wrapper was light in color.
Sorry for the blurry picture:

I cut it with my Double blade Guillotine and lit it with matches.

This cigar is a mild cigar with not too much smoke. It was very nutty and smooth. The ash held well and was pretty white.

2nd/3: The ash fell off by itself. It was still smooth and nutty, nothing really different. The burn was pretty even until this point where I had to touch up one side, but that was about it.

last 3rd: Still pretty smooth, nothing really different.

This is a nice yard gar that I wouldn't mind having more around but I can still live without it. Nothing really to crave about. Again, mild and nutty and good for a smoke if you have it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one.

This took me almost an hour to smoke. I'm sure it would've taken longer if I had slowed down, I probably rushed it some.

 

[jgohlke]

Good job guys! Thanks for keeping up! ha, ha, ha

Orange label next! I smoked it over the weekend, but still have to do the writeup. I took some notes and pictures! I'll post the review soon.

 

[occifer143]

Good job guys! Thanks for keeping up! ha, ha, ha

Orange label next! I smoked it over the weekend, but still have to do the writeup. I took some notes and pictures! I'll post the review soon.

Sounds good my package arrived today, and thanks Joe for the extras. You are a great BOTL.

 

[vortex]

I'm curious about these cigars too.

Here's the CI Link

Anybody willing to do a full review on all 8 of them? Step right up brothers and sisters!

We can do a full workup on these. We'll get some folks willing to smoke one of each of them and write a review. I'm thinking 3 reviewers....me as one. Now we just need 2 more volunteers. Anybody? Anybody?

To sweeten the deal a bit...I'll provide the cigars, let's say 2 per week. Banded..reviewers smoke the same ones each week. To say thanks for supporting this effort I'll include a bonus cigar or two in each package...yours to smoke free, no review required. Once all 8 reviews are completed, each participant gets a special "completion" prize from me.

Sound like fun?

Respond in this thread, if you want to be a reviewer.

Cheers,
Joe

I would love to review any of them but I am glad someone did the Purios Indios because I didn't care for that one much.

 

[jgohlke]

I smoked this one last weekend...Here's the review:

Saturday June 10 2006

Legends Cigars - Orange (Rocky Patel)

All the cigars in the Legends series are the same size, 5.75” x 54 with a target price of $5. This cigar was purchased as part of a Legends sampler from CigarBid and spent about 6 weeks resting in my coolerdor.

Prelight activities:

The cigar felt firm with just a slight give on the squeeze.

I punched it and the pre-light draw was very good. I noticed just a slight peppery-ness.

First 3rd:

I was outside in a slight wind, light the cigar directly. First couple of puffs were dry and a little spicy. The cigar had a slight taste of old leather with a pleasant after taste tending toward to creamy/buttery but not quite there. After a few puffs, the leather taste became more of a smell than a taste and the cigar developed kind of a "bready" taste.

Here's how it looked after a few minutes:

Middle 3rd:

I had a big lunch but no evening meal and was smoking this cigar about supper time. At the 1/2 way point, I got a beer (Blue Moon) and some goldfish crackers. I could feel the cigar in my stomach and didn't want to risk getting sick (even though this cigar is not considered a strong cigar, I'm a light-weight.) After a few more puffs, I noticed the bread taste was kind of reminding me of pizza dough..then I noticed I had eaten Pizza flavored Goldfish crackers. Ha, ha, ha. No more crackers! The mildness of the Blue Moon went very well with this cigar.

Here I am sitting at the entry to the garage, smoking the cigar:

Last 3rd:
At the beginning of the last 1/3rd, the ash fell off and hit my left hand on the way down. I noticed it was hot, but it didn't leave a mark. The ash didn't even break when it hit the concrete:

The flavor profile remained the same, fairly mild but with some nice leathery, bready flavors. I stopped smoking it just a few puffs after this last picture:

Total smoking time: 1 hour 15 minutes.

Summary:

I liked it, it had a bit more flavor than the Green label, but was still a fairly mild cigar.

As a side note, while I was smoking it, I could hear a circular saw (with a blade brake) running in the neighborhood somewhere. I could also see the first wave of storm clouds rolling in from the south...that pretty much means only thing...something is brewing in the tropics and it's close enough to spin off storm clouds in Central Florida. Hard to believe we are only 10 days into hurricane season. I wondered if one of my neighbors was going to board up his windows. (he didn't)

 

[Brickhouse]

Great reviews guys. And love the pic by pic Joe.

 

[iluvmysh]

Orange Label:

Pre-light: Pinch test is not too tight, not too loose. There were some flaws with the cigar:

But it didn't seem to have much affect on the experience other than aesthetics.
I cut the cigar with my double blade guillotine. The draw was nice, nice and easy. The major flavor was an earthy leatheriness with a hint of spiciness to the lips.

I lit the cigar with my torch.
The first-third goes like this:

The cigar was mild in flavor with an earthy leathery taste much like the pre-light draw. There were tons of milky smoke. My FAVORITE part of the gar wasn't when I was smoking it, it was sniffing near the butt. It was VERY sweet smelling. I wanted to just eat the gar. Each puff I took, I had to smell the butt of it first, get that sweet smell experience.
The burn was very even all the way through.

The 2nd-third:

The ash fell by itself, it wasn't on the softer side. The spiciness subsided as the gar was being consumed. The flavor remained the same throughout.

The last-third:

Nothing really changed, the gar was smooth and had tons of smoke. I had to relight it because the gar went out at the last third while I was taking my time smoking it. There were subtle hints of almond towards the last third for a little bit. Then that taste subsided and was back to the earthy, leathery taste.
After the relight, it was good to go again.

I stopped the gar there, the foot was getting too close and burning pretty hot as I took my puffs towards the end.

This gar was mild-medium and made me very relaxed. My favorite part of the gar was enjoying the sweet aroma of the butt.

This cigar took me 2 hours, so you can say I relaxed and enjoyed it. It isn't a bad gar, I would probably keep two or three in my humi for later relaxing smokes if I were to purchase some.

 

[occifer143]

Orange Label

Construction:
A firm with light moisture cigar. Feels like it is packed pretty tight with a lot of fillers. Color is a medium to dark brown, not as dark as a maduro. There are some darker spots on the wrap. While looking at the foot of the cigar I noticed what seems to look like some small seeds not moving around so it must be safe to smoke.

6:45 Start with a toast, lighting the cigar with old trusty Colibri 2 flame torch.
It begins with a whole f smoke and plenty of flavors. No distinct flavors are jumping out as of yet. I thought it was going to be a hard draw but, it was the opposite. About 10 mins. in I get a coffee taste coming through.
7:00 I must tap the first ash because the cigar keeps going uneven.

7:09Start the second third.I am getting a sweet taste.It tastes like amaretto.
It is a nice mix going from a coffee taste to a sweet nectar. The burn still is giving a lot of work.

7:25 Start of the third part. This cigar has moved to a peppery taste. Not a hot peppery just a light spice. This is how this cigar end .

I think the cigar had great complex taste. If it had a year to mix and mellow this cigar would be great, For now I liked it but, there was a lot of work keeping this cigar even and lit.

Thanks again Joe for this opportunity. :love:

PS. Sorry I don't have a camera for pictures.

 

[jgohlke]

Great job guys. Richard - for longest ash and best nub, you get to pick the next cigar.

The Purple cigars arrived (Graycliff). I've ordered the Copper and Black from CI, but the web page still shows "backordered"...

 

[iluvmysh]

Great job guys. Richard - for longest ash and best nub, you get to pick the next cigar.

The Purple cigars arrived (Graycliff). I've ordered the Copper and Black from CI, but the web page still shows "backordered"...

Thanks Joe! I would have to pick....The White Label.

Thanks again Joe. :thumbs:

 

[jgohlke]

White Label is up next. Since Iluvmysh picked White's, we'll let him post the first White review.

Blue labels on deck.

Next shipment:
Purple, Black and Copper

I have the Purple's, Blacks are on the way to me (shipped from CI last week). Copper is no longer on back order at CI and should ship from CI to me in the next day or so.

I'll wait until I get all 3 of these in-house before I send out the next (and final) package.

Cheers,
Joe

 

[iluvmysh]

White Label:

Prelight: The pinch test told me the gar had a good firmness to it. It was just right. Well I tried very carefully to take off the wrapper, I thought everything was okay, but boy was I wrong. Not too long after, the gar's wrapper started to fall apart on me. I cut the
gar with my double blade guillotine.

Lit with my triple flame torch.
I had a few coronas with this gar as I was celebrating and hanging out with a few friends.

1st/3rd: The gar was hard to smoke because of the broken wrapper. The flavor was smooth but not too apparent in the beginning. Nothing was really popping out at me.

2nd/3rd: The gar's got even more flavor as I smoked it. It was very nutty and smooth. The more I smoked, the worse the wrapper got. The wrapper had completely fallen off by now, but I still went on. I really liked the flavor of the gar, so I smoked it to the nub.

last/3rd: The gar's wrapper had completely fallen off, but I kept going at it. The flavor got even better, very nutty as I smoked it.

Aside from the wrapper falling off, this was a very tasteful cigar. The very nutty, smokey cigar tasted good.

Thanks for the opportunity Joe.

Richard

 

[jgohlke]

Saturday June 17 2006

Legends Cigars - White(Camacho)

All the cigars in the Legends series are the same size, 5.75” x 54 with a target price of $5. This cigar was purchased as part of a Legends sampler from CigarBid and spent about 6 weeks resting in my coolerdor.

Prelight activities: (2:45 pm Saturday afternoon)

The cigar felt firmer than the previous cigars in this series. Here's a pic:

and another:

The large band slipped with just a little effort and then slide right off. It did create just a slight tear in the wrapper, although it didn't affect the smoking of the cigar.

The pre-light draw was just a big tight and confirmed my squeeze test feeling a bit on the firm side. The cigar was just a bit spicy, with good flavor and a nice smell. Overall construction was very good.

First 1/3:
Draw stayed a little tight after lighting. Lots of smoke even with the tight draw. This cigar was clearly a strong cigar. I was wishing I had waited until after dinner to smoke it. It had a good taste although I had trouble picking out the specific flavors. The ash was a dirty gray and didn't hold it's shape very well.

2nd 3rd:
My son and I were sitting in the driveway talking when I noticed this on the right rear tire of the truck:

We had the usual debate out whether to take it out or not. Of course, we eventually took it out and I was lucky!

It was a shorty.

The cigar continued to be strong, lots of smoke and good flavor. I really enjoyed it although I didn't take too many notes during this part of the smoking...I think I was distracted by the tire.

Last 3rd:
By this time I could fell the nic buzz. I started to slow down the smoking towards the back 1/2 of the cigar and I really slowed down during the last 1/3. Even stretching the cigar out, I was starting to get a bit lightheaded and I could feel it in my stomach (remember, I'm a lightweight). Eventually the cigar went out and I left it out. Had I waited until after dinner, I'm sure I could have gone the distance with this cigar. As it was, I did enjoy it and I put it out before I got the "nasty puff".

Total smoking time: 1 hour 35 mins.

 

[occifer143]

White label

I am not a Camacho fan :angry: but, I will try to be fair. :laugh:

Construction on this cigar is poorly. There is plenty of moisture and plenty of flaking.
The color is a medium brown. The flaking is do to the construction of the cigar not the humidification of it. All cigar have been stored at 65% with beads.

I began by toasting and light the cigar with a Calibri two flame torch. The first draw was full of smoke. Pretty loose filler to allow that much smoke. I will let you know that today smoke is being accompanied by a glass of refreshing lime-ade.

This cigar start with a light smooth taste of creaminess. I was looking for the peppery taste they claim but, it must be really faint because it was not there. The first third was not very impressive it took around 20 mins to smoke.

The second part begins to allow more flavor. That vanilla or coffee taste is coming through. A very smooth rich taste. The cigar is smoking smooth. The only bother is the flaking of the wrap. The burn is even. The ash needs to be rolled of about each third. This third lasted about 18mins due to the nice tastes I smoked a little quicker.

The third stilled had that vanilla taste. The burn is staying even but, getting hot. As I get into this third the taste is going another route. The route is of a crappy taste. Not the way I would like to end a cigar. I could not even nub it now.

As I said before I do not like Camacho cigars. There was great hope for this cigar but, the end is what keeps you remembering. Maybe with time this stick may blend. I will not be the one to find this out. :angry:

 

[jgohlke]

Ok 4 of the 8 cigar reviews are complete. Nice job guys!

Blue Labels up next.

CI shows Black and Copper both shipped to me, should arrive in 2 packages today and Thursday. Hopefully I can turn them right around and get the last 3 cigars on their way this week.

 

[jgohlke]

The last shipment went out today. Purple, Black and Copper labels headed your way. Looking forward to reading the reviews.

Joe

 

[Brickhouse]

Great reviews guys!

 

[occifer143]

Thansk again Joe. I will post when I recieved the next group. As for the last review I will either smoke tonight or tomorrow.