La Estrella Cubana Rosado Aristocrat

[txmatt]

I am a bit bummed out that only 11 people read my review yesterday, and noone commented. I suppose I should just write the reviews for myself and not worry about the audience, however I did spend quite awhile writing it. Perhaps I offended people with my jokes Monday to the point they aren't reading my posts. I was in a bad mood today when I sat down to smoke this stogie, and I finished with a mood not noticably better; this cigar was at a disadvantage but here is my review:

Scores
Appearance - 70
Construction - 85
Burn - 56
Draw - 86
Flavor - 41
Value - 40
Overall - 52


Appearance of the wrapper's surface was nice with few visable veins and only one that was slightly raised. The cigar was finished with a shaggy foot which was a nice change; not necessarily better looking but a plus because its a break from the ordinary. The color of this wrapper seemed all around unnatural to me though. I my past experience rosado leaves are reddish brown where as this thing looked magenta The wrapper did have a nice oily sheen visable in the sun.

The cigar seemed well constructed, the surface was smooth and even and it didn't unravel at all upon cutting. Draw was a bit too easy but I prefer that to the opposite. The wrapper burned very unevenly throughout, however the binder and filler burned nice and even. The end result was that I had to nuke the wrapper with my torch a couple of times as it got annoyingly uneven. On the spots the cigar was burning properly the ash was a nice even light grey color.

The cigar yielded very nice quantities of thick, heavy smoke. Nice trails of this thick smoke kept rising from both ends of the cigar for a good five to ten seconds after each draw, this was the most enjoyable aspect of this cigar. The flavor was weak and mild to medium bodied. It tingled my tongue more than the roof of my mouth, this was out of the norm. The flavor contained some cedary notes and some grassy flavor. I can forgive a LOT of flaws if a cigar tastes good. This wasn't really bad but alltogether unnoticable - it tasted like smoke. Plenty of machine made cigars can best the flavor it presented - a cigar would have to taste notably bad to score worse in my book.

This cigar proves that a maker can do several things very well and still end up with a flop. I suspect there is a very nice blend of filler in inside the mutant wrapper, and it was cleary rolled by skilled rollers. The factor that is separating this bad cigar from being a better one sits solely on the wrapper. As a novice cigar smoker I suspect if they fermented the wrapper another time and aged it several more years they might have something. But since the wrapper of this cigar is its highlighed feature the cigar overall slips below mediocracy into the dog rocket zone. If I continue to have space to spare in my coolidor to hold onto the other 4 sizes I have from the sampler I might try one again in a year. Not recommended.

Matt

 

[emodx]

How long did you have it before smoking it? Perhaps a little on the wet side. As far as the number of people reading your post, I wouldn't sweat it. Keep in mind the day to day things going on in peoples life. I usually try and read as much as I can each day on this board. But for instance, yesterday I had duty on the ship, so I only checked a couple of threads that needed my attention. I went back and read a lot of other threads I missed yesterday. Also, keep in mind that your posts are as permanent as this BB is. People can go back an search for cigars in the database. So even when your thread is burried deep, other people may be reading it.

Emo

 

[dixieland_conjunction]

and I finished with a mood not noticably better; this cigar was at a disadvantage but here is my review:

This cigar was disadvantaged from its birth I'm sorry you had to suffer thrugh one of these. BTW, this is not the most read category. A lot of folks seem to never leave the lobby, so don't feel bad. I've written reviews that none ever responded to. It isn't just you.

Also, x2 on what Emo said

Cheers,
Dixie

 

[txmatt]

Thanks for the encouragement Emo and Dixie!

I have had this cigar in the coolidor for 12 days now. CI/Cbid does really seem to store their cigars wet. I haven't had my humidifier in there for a week and just today it dropped to 64%. I have been opening it about twice daily to boot. I will be adding another 110 cigars +50 cigarillos tomorrow so I didn't add any water today - I bet it will be reading above 70 again on Friday.

Given the above do you think it may have been wet still? Maybe I will try one again in a couple months.

Today another week of bids closes out and I am not even going to look at cigarbid for some time so that I don't need to buy more coolers. Depending on how many I win today and how many cigars get consumed by a group of 10 smokers at the beach next week, I think I will end up with an inventory of about 300 cigars in there. How long do you suppose it will take with the Hygro reading 66-68% steady for all of cigars to reach that? (I did "calibrate" my hygro with the salt water in 2 baggies procedure to veryify it was accurate).

Thanks again,
Matt

 

[emodx]

Thanks for the encouragement Emo and Dixie!

I have had this cigar in the coolidor for 12 days now. CI/Cbid does really seem to store their cigars wet. I haven't had my humidifier in there for a week and just today it dropped to 64%. I have been opening it about twice daily to boot. I will be adding another 110 cigars +50 cigarillos tomorrow so I didn't add any water today - I bet it will be reading above 70 again on Friday.

Given the above do you think it may have been wet still? Maybe I will try one again in a couple months.

Today another week of bids closes out and I am not even going to look at cigarbid for some time so that I don't need to buy more coolers. Depending on how many I win today and how many cigars get consumed by a group of 10 smokers at the beach next week, I think I will end up with an inventory of about 300 cigars in there. How long do you suppose it will take with the Hygro reading 66-68% steady for all of cigars to reach that? (I did "calibrate" my hygro with the salt water in 2 baggies procedure to veryify it was accurate).

Thanks again,
Matt

I don't know how long because I don't know what your using. To give an honest review, I would say 30 dayis in the cooler at a steady RH. If your RH is swinging quickly, you have too much air space, or the humidifer isn't large enough for your application. Probably a combination of the 2. If your cooler is 1/2 full or below, consider adding something to take up air space. Maybe some bubble wrap. You really should try to keep the swings as low as you can. I wouldn't get anal about it and go through anything drastic tho. And if you know you are getting a large shipment in, maybe let them sit out overnight before tossing them into the humi. Just a thought.

Emo

 

[MiamiCubano]

I've always found people who wanted to try this version of the Rosado quite intriguing. To me these types of cigars are the smoked by the same FOG's who walk around in seer-sucker suits, sipping mint juleps and gnawing on candelas. :sign: Having said that, I've tried it once and was throughly put off by it.

If you're looking for a shaggy-foot as a change of pace, make the investment in a gurkha pre-embargo. Or, if you simply must have it, a La Vieja Habana by Drew Estate. IMHO, that is the only thing that resembles a cigar (that one would actually want to smoke) that Drew Estate has ever put out.

But, as for the lack of enthusiasm of your post, don't take it personally. There are too many bastards on here who don't feel it necessary to respond to a thread unless they started it themselves. :sign: :sign: :sign: Just kidding. Seriously, people get busy, wrapped up, short on time and all that other type of generic bull**** people say when they pay no attention to you...just don't take offense to it.

 

[txmatt]

Thanks for the encouragement! I am tasting the wrapper of my next review candidate right now - should post it later today.

The mail reason I ended up getting these cigars is that 1) they were something different 2) they (like most of my lowball bid wins) were cheap. I don't feel much regret disliking a $1.50 cigar. I am really enjoying trying soo many different cigars right now, even if all of them aren't great I am figuring out what I like and don't .

I have a 5er of LVH Cedar Chateau #2's in the coolidor right now. It has to be the most georgeous looking sandwhich I have seen. With the recommendation from you I am even more excited about it. I haven't been tempted by many of DE's other offerings, although I have bid on some of their Industrial Press line as well.

Matt

 

[MiamiCubano]

Honestly, I wouldn't encourage anyone to pick up any product by Drew Estate. I was just saying that, you could do worse than a LVH if you're after the shaggy-foot market. I've tried some of the LVH that were given to me and thought they were ok, but nothing worth of spending my own money on. There are simply far too many superior alternatives.

 

[txmatt]

Honestly, I wouldn't encourage anyone to pick up any product by Drew Estate. I was just saying that, you could do worse than a LVH if you're after the shaggy-foot market. I've tried some of the LVH that were given to me and thought they were ok, but nothing worth of spending my own money on. There are simply far too many superior alternatives.

Actually now that I have had a cigar with a shaggy foot (this was my first), I wouldn't try to seek that feature out again. I had no idea how to light the damn thing! I opened the foot a bit and it took awhile for the filler to start burning. Once it did it, tunneled the rest of the smoke.

I gotta stop typing and start smoking before the boy wakes from his nap!

Thanks again bud,
Matt

 

[MiamiCubano]

That's when you just get a nice good old fashioned strip of cedar, light the whole thing and set your stick ablaze. In dire straits, matches work well. Otherwise, they shouldn't pose any problem.

However those Estrellas you mentioned, they're shaggy foot is a bit different than even some other shaggy foots.

But still, if a shaggy foot truly gave you a problem, let's hope you don't ever come across a pig-tail cap or a chisel. :sign: :sign: :sign:

 

[dixieland_conjunction]

Actually, I think the LVH are pretty darn good. I picked up a box for $23, Not bad considering I think the box itself is worth that (one hell of a work of art IMO :thumbs: )

Also the Victor Sinclar Bohemian Red North Beach (pigtailed, shaggy foot, rosado) was alright. Search for my review. You can surely pick up one of the Ultimate Bohemian Samplers on CBid for cheap.

Cheers,
Dixie

 

[MiamiCubano]

I've tried both reds and the blues of those victor sinclairs. Largely because when I was still new to cigar smoke, about 10 years ago, I would see Victor Sinclairs, picked some up and absolutely loved them. There also used to be a brand called "Defiant" that were in the same vein as Victor Sinclairs. Good cigars.

Now, the "new" VS's are just ok. Actually, I would never buy another one again. I remember the last one I had - a blue - I lit it up in a cafe in one of my travels and -no **** - in no time it looked like I had been smoking one of those novelty-exploding cigars. The thing turned into an absolute piece of dog****, unravelling and burning completely uneven. Terrible, but it was the inspiration of many, many jokes by the other patrons of the establishment.

Presentation, as with the LVH, is fantastic. They should just take some of the effort put into presentation and put it into actually making the cigar itself.

 

[gibu]

I picked up a few LVH a long while back on cigar bid (cigar bid IS the Devil!). I was very excited to try them since they were a dominican rosada. I was on a big rosada kick at the time and what could be better then one from the dominican where a certain big time famous rosada allready comes from? I was very disapointed in them myself, but just because I had expectations going in that were not met. I have a freind that thinks there quite nice, especially the price.

The un-natural look of the bright red wrapper is that they are wine cask cured. It sure makes them look purdy, but I hate the red that comes off on my fingers as I'm smoking them.

I was so disapointed in them at first that I just left them in my humidor forever. Now after some time I don't mind them, there a nice, cheap, long fill cigar, with an ok sort of taste. If only they didn't leave my fingers all red stained.

 

[gregor22]

Thanks, Matt, for the review. I get about an hour per night after my two year old son goes down for the night and I like to read as much as I can from everyone here, and don't respond to a lot. By the way, I completely understand the part in your bio about your "pride and joy". I have a buddy that lives in McKinney, where about are you?

 

[rknicker]

The un-natural look of the bright red wrapper is that they are wine cask cured. It sure makes them look purdy, but I hate the red that comes off on my fingers as I'm smoking them.

I've had a couple of these, and had the same issue with the coloring rubbing off. I'm not so sure that curing them in a wine cask isn't just a cover story for spray painting those wrappers. That is one strange color.