Dr. Marn's Sungrown extravaganza

[Dr. Marneaus]

Well, as some of you may have seen my recent Oliva review, and my inquiries about sungrowns, and maybe even that I was gifted several SG's by a kind BOTL. Well I've decided to take my chances at a review across the spectrum of sungrowns. In the next week or 2 or 3 I plan to smoke through all of the different sungrowns that are in my Humi, and post up a review for a little compare and contrast. So, here goes nothing.

I'll start off by posting in the Oliva Serie O review from my other thread, to consolidate it.

Oliva Serie O

As some of you may know, I'm a total newb, but you also may know that I have developed an affinity and curiosity for different sun grown cigars. A generous BOTL gifted me several different sun growns in a little giveaway he had, and this is the first I chose to smoke.

Grabbed my iPod and speakers, threw on my jacket, and went out to sit down in the dorm courtyard. Turned on my Cafe Del Mar (fantastic smoking music) and got to work.

Initial observations: The cigar is a Nicaraguan Puro, with a slightly dark wrapper (this was not the maduro version). Wonderful to the touch, very smooth and slightly oily. The cigar had great construction, except this particular one had quite a big vein running up one side, oh well. The pre-light aroma was great also, mildly sweet, as with many other sun growns. Time to light it up.

Smoke: I gave it a quick toast with my torch, and took a few puffs to get it started. Right off the bat this baby made my tongue tingle. Taking a puff would leave a pleasant spicy flavor on the palate that would quickly fade off leaving me with a slightly sweet taste.

The cigar stayed nice and mellow through most of the smoke, producing a good volume of thick smoke for a cigar this size. I'd say it was a good medium body, I tend to prefer light-medium bodied cigars, and this one fit me perfect. The burn was even and it never got hot or bitter on me.

Sadly, when I got down to about the last 3rd of the cigar I could tell it was getting hot, and thus a bit bitter. I figured after letting it sit and slowing down, that seeing as it hadn't mellowed back out, I'd try a purge. I purged it, and this brought back the initial flavors, but it was short lived. From this point on the cigar stayed hot and slightly bitter, but I stuck with it till the end. This is probably because of the smaller ring gauge of this particular size.

Overall impressions: A great smoke that I will definitely be trying again. If you're a fan of sun growns, or are looking to try one out, you really cant go wrong here. I rank it up there just under the Patel Sun Grown, which is one of this newbs favorite cigars. Go give it a try, I don't think You'll be disappointed.

So, folks, how'd I do?

edited for grammar

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Cigar: Petrus Reposado

Initial Observations: This cigar is a Dominican maduro sun grown wrapper. Construction was great, nice leathery smooth wrapper, very oily and firmly yet evenly packed. Smell was good too, deep and slightly sweet. Clipped the tip and pre light draw was smoth, not too much resistance, but not too easy either. Looked like it'd be a great smoke.

Smoke: went outside, gave it a light toast, and lit it up a little violently, I got a little aggressive with the lighter, but that didn't mater after a minute or two. As soon as I took a puff i could taste the toasty flavor. The first thing that came to mind was a toasted marshmallow, for some reason (I scorch my marshmallows until they are black and crispy, so it wasn't your gently toasted mallow). It was weird to think this because I haven't had a marshmallow in ages. Anyways, this toasty taste stayed through the whole cigar.

After I got a little further into this bad boy I found some definite hints of coffee, maybe a little chocolate too. So, overall a toasty somewhat sweet taste. However, it was very dissimilar from the Patel Sungrown, Ashton VSG, and Olivia Serie O (sorry, didn't review the first 2, I will). It seemed more sugary or chocolaty sweet than the sweetness I would normally associate with a sungrown. Burn evened itself out for me.

Around the half way point I started to lose interest. It got kinda bitter and flat tasting, still with that toasty hint though. Mostly bitter, I was just sticking with it hoping something would come back.

Just past the 2/3rds mark I lost all interest in it. It was boring, getting bitter, I had purged it but to no avail. I was about to put it out, but in the next minute or 2 in came a somewhat nutty flavor. I got a little more excited, but in a matter of minutes it was gone, and replaced by a bitterness again. At about the 3/8ths mark I was done. Stuck it in the ash tray and went back inside.

Overall Impressions: Boring, generic, and not like any sungrown I've smoked to date. Medium body that never produced much smoke. If I didnt know it was an SG, i'd never even have THOUGHT that it was. Not TOO bad but not that good either. No plans in the future to really revisit this one. Looks can be, and WERE decieving on this one, great feeling great construction, but it whats on the outside doesn't always make the cigar.


Thanks for reading.

 

[MoeCizlak]

Aside from the name of the first cigar, great reviews!! I'm a big fan of the Oliva lines, they are quality cigars.

 

[souldog]

Great reviews! Personally, I am not a fan of sungrowns, but am willing to give that Oliva try again!

 

[Devil Doc]

Great reviews! Personally, I am not a fan of sungrowns, but am willing to give that Oliva try again!

Really, you only smoke CT. shade? If it ain't grown in the shade, stands to reason it was grown in the sun. Don't it?

Doc.

 

[souldog]

Great reviews! Personally, I am not a fan of sungrowns, but am willing to give that Oliva try again!

Really, you only smoke CT. shade? If it ain't grown in the shade, stands to reason it was grown in the sun. Don't it?

Doc.

Ah yes, bested by the honorable Devil Doc! I have been made a fool again.... :laugh: :laugh:

Good point.

 

[cohibasurfer]

Great reviews! Personally, I am not a fan of sungrowns, but am willing to give that Oliva try again!

Really, you only smoke CT. shade? If it ain't grown in the shade, stands to reason it was grown in the sun. Don't it?

Doc.

Ah yes, bested by the honorable Devil Doc! I have been made a fool again.... :laugh: :laugh:

Good point.

R M P L

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Up tonight, Torano Signature Collection

Cigar: Carlos Torano Signature Collection - Robusto

Initial Observations: Cigar has a maduro sun-grown wrapper. Nice and dark with a slightly oily feel, not as much as the Olivia or Petrus. The construction was good, a few veins but not bad. The cigar felt light when I was holding it, a little squishy, didn't seem packed too tight. The smell once again was sweet, reminiscent of other sungrowns, looks like it should be a goodun!

Smoke: Had a friend with me tonight, Averyfilm, gave him a CAO Eileen's dream to smoke. I went out and light up with my new harbor freight butane torch... 5 bucks, how can you go wrong. Gave a few puffs and there was a very similar taste to the Olivia and Patel, only slightly more toasty. Toasty with a sweet hint. The first puff left me with a good impression. Started burning a little bit crooked though, not so good.

All was well so far, same sweet taste that I've found in others, nothing really stood out about it. It was smoking well, not getting hot, holding good ash, and very consistent flavor. Producing a good volume of smoke, unlike the Petrus mentioned above, that no matter how much I puffed seemed like I was blowing out air.

I smoked it down a ways and decided to see if a purge would change things up. Well, lemmie tell ya what, it sure did. Purged it and let it sit for a min or two, picked it up and BAM a huge cedar flavor hit me, it was great. Sadly though, this only lasted for about another 15 minutes or so. I was surprised by this because I hadn't found it anywhere else in the cigar. A pleasant surprise.

Smoked it down close to the end, it was getting late and I had to draw up an irrigation plan for work, so, I put it to bed.

Overall Impressions: A good medium bodied smoke that was smooth, and didn't get hot or bitter until the very end. Nothing stood out about it though, other than the burst of cedar after I purged. Would I buy it again? Sure, it was worth the 5 or so bucks that I paid. Would I buy a box? Nope. So, give it a try if you're looking to try some of torano's cigars, as it was the best I've smoked of his.

Untill next time, I'm out. Probably do another on Thursday.

Thanks for reading, hope this was a good read!

 

[Niko]

Very nice reviews. I bought a box of those Petrus Reposados and feel the same way, they look great out of the box and taste good for a while but then they drop off.

 

[Niko]

Crappy double post!

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Plan to light up another sungrown tonight, get this thread back in order.

Maybe a Patel OSG....

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Cigar: Patel OSG Toro

Initial Observations: This sun grown Toro is a good looking cigar with a Honduran wrapper. Construction was pretty dang good. Firmly packed, no soft spots, nice smooth wrapper, not oily though. A good smell to it but once again, not as sweet as other sun growns, especially the Patel Sun Grown. Clipped it and pre light draw was perfect. a fair amount of resistance.

Smoke: I'm not gonna lie, I had trouble lighting this one. One part of the foot just would not take a flame for some reason, but after a little coaxing it got burning normal. Right off the bat I noticed something.....nothing. I was utterly surprised to taste nothing resembling the new Patel Sun Growns. Not like it in the slightest. I didn't pick up any real flavors in this stick.

This was a very well constructed smoke, draw was perfect on it, and it produced great smoke. Burned nice and straight, and super slow. However, the taste wasn't there. I stayed on in the hopes that things would change.

It was burning very slowly, but very consistently. This would have been great if it had a nice flavor to go with it. I was bitter a bit, but at this point I realized something. it didn't GET bitter, it simply WAS bitter. This blew my mind. It was never harsh bitter, never got hot in the least, but it was just a relatively bitter tasting cigar. It was a bit...stingy or rough, not as smooth as I like.

At this point I was straight up tired of the cigar. I actually felt bad only smoking about half this thing.

Overall Impressions: For some reason this cigar with GREAT construction GREAT smoking qualities and GREAT potential fell way short in the taste category. I found my self spitting every few draws, and wanting to take a sip of my coke. Also, I wanted to spit even after I had finished smoking. Maybe it just isn't for me, or didn't fit my taste? I don't know. I was really looking forward to this cigar, and I really wanted to like it, but it just didn't happen for me. Maybe someone else can chime in on this one with their experience. I would shut this cigar out to others, but I'm not planning on smoking any more, unless it falls into my lap. Mr. Patel was wise to release the current line of Sun Growns.

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Cigar: Chateaus Fuente King B

Initial observations: This cigar had a pretty good size to it, so I was excited. For some reason I like the larger cigars most of the time. Smell was kind of sweet, and cedary, due to the fact that it was wrapped in cedar. It was very firmly packed, not spongy. It had 1 big ole vein running down the bottom, but this never cause any issues. Sun grown Ecuadorian Wrapper looked nice, dark and tasty!

I had a rough day and went to the MGM grand to walk around and smoke with a buddy because it was too damn windy outside to smoke. I clipped the torpedo tip and had a kind of tight draw, but not too bad. I didn't feel the need to loosen it up. The cigar took light quickly and the first puff was nice and sweet. The whole time I was smoking it I noticed this. It carried the same sweetness as the Patel Sun grown that I like so much.

Sorry I don't have any pics, I was walking around a casino, not taking pictures.

The stick burned well the entire time, maybe because I was inside? It never got crooked or anything. Walked around smoking it, enjoying it, but then got tired of walking. We sat down at some penny slots and put in 2 bucks, just sitting there playing. Eventually a cocktail waitress offered us drinks. This cigar went great with a free gin and tonic.

Overall impressions: Great cigar, by far my favorite regular production Fuente. I'd buy a box of these probably. Nice and sweet, nice draw, good burn and good burn time. Very relaxing to smoke. At 6 bucks a stick, definitely worth it.

Until next time,
Andrew

 

[thirdeagle]

nice posts. I lit up a Don Tomas Sungrown last night - first half inch burnt the buds pretty good but it mellowed out nicely. Next up is an AVO sungrown followed by the Fonseca Sun Grown Cedar - my go-to stick and one you should try.