Partagas Salomon II Especialidad, 1996
Warning!!! This review is extremely long – even by my standards. Read at your own peril and any complaints about how long it is will be laughed at as you have been duly warned!
I received this cigar as a Christmas gift from a fellow brother of the leaf. Actually, more accurately, Melly did with the understanding that I needed to smoke it along with her in order to write a review about this cigar. So I started this review long before I finally torched the cigar. Amazingly, there isn’t too much out there about this particular cigar, though I can tell you why. They are very, very rare.
The story of the Especialidad II 1996 goes something like this… A tobacconist in Germany wanted to carry a special edition Especialidad in a limted edition humidor out of his shop. 100 humidors capable of holding 50 of these cigars each were made – with one exception. The size of the cigar was slightly too large for the humidors, so about a 10mm cut was made at the foot of these cigars, so they could fit into these humidors, thus becoming the Especialidad II. There seems to be some thought that the Especialidad was originally a regular Partagas Salomon, with the name Especialidad being added to these specially requested cigars for the humidors.
In my research and discussion with others on this cigar, there has been no definitive history of this cigar. 3 people in the know gave me 3 different answers – or I should say the same answer with “something” different in each. For example, one claimed there was no Especialidad – only the Especialidad II. Another claimed that an Especialidad was in existence much as Edicion Limitada are in existence now. Yet another one claimed that not all of the Especialdad’s created were part of that limited humidor series, thus the distinction of the Especialidad II for those that were in the humidors.
Further research on this particular cigar, I discovered photos of the Especialidad II, which shows a flattened foot, instead of a perfecto one, where it was obviously cut in order to fit into the humidor. This is where whether this cigar I am reviewing comes into doubt. It did not have this flattened foot but did have the correct band of the 1996 Especialidad. So, it now becomes somewhat open for debate. Was it an Especialidad I if you would – that this is an Especialidad that never made it into one of those 100 humidors? Was it a normal Partagas Solomon that was re-banded, since according to some there was only one Especialidad?
In the end, it does not matter. Nor, do I really care to see debate about it following my review. I only bring this all up because I want to share my experience with this cigar – and part of that experience included the research as I shared above. Also, as you will find out in my review, the quality of this cigar was second to none – so in the end, no matter what this cigar truly was – it was an awesome cigar, shared to me by a close friend as a gift – and one truly appreciated. That’s what counts about this cigar – nothing else.
Originally, I was going to smoke this cigar with Melly on Saturday. Was even going to get some pictures made to commemorate the occasion. However, where we were on Saturday, we ended up being extremely busy and did not get a chance to smoke this cigar until Saturday night.
It was about 9 p.m. and it was the coldest night here in Alabama this year (and last) and I know broke some records. The last we had seen it was already 30 degrees and still dropping – so it was definitely cold – VERY cold. As I stood outside on the porch – since there was some who were not appreciative of cigars inside (and the fact I didn’t want to ruin my experience with this cigar surrounded by cigarette smoke) I used a V cutter to snip the end. Normally I would use the Xikar – but it being dull, it is tearing the ends of cigars up and I didn’t want to blemish this cigar.
The roll on this cigar looked perfect! No blemishes, firm in the hand and the perfecto shape simply looked awesome. I definitely did not want to blemish this cigar at all. The cut went smoothly and I torched the foot. Slowly I rotated the cigar and puffed slowly to get it started… the foot did catch, but I was getting no smoke.
Checking the end I could see the small cherry that had developed under the flame and so I pulled heavy and hard… Nothing. It was plugged – and plugged hard. I called in for a coat hanger. I did some careful sighting and poked the cigar down through the cut, hoping to break through the lug, to loosen up a smoke hole. I was done. I puffed. Nothing. Still plugged.
Despair, I decide to break apart my V cut, so using my teeth, I carefully bite through the cap on either side of the cut to get a “flat” end, hoping the extra space may allow smoke to flow past the plug… I bite, I spit, I puff… nothing.
Using the coat hanger one last time I try once again to poke through the plug… On pulling it out my fingers slip and I split the very end of the cigar about an 1/8 inch from my already mangled smoking end. I draw anyway hopping to salvage this cigar… Nothing.
I call in for the knife. I cut right below the rip I made with the hanger, leaving the largest and most mangled head of a cigar I have EVER smoked… I draw… the ember is gone. I re-light the cigar and… I have smoke!!!!!!!! Lots of it.
So here is where the review starts after all this so far you may begin to wonder if it was all worth it? Without a doubt it was. A light nutty taste dominated the first part of the cigar, slowly making way for tastes of leather and caramel with hints – just the barest of hints of cinnamon. Full bodied yet smooth as silk, this cigar proceeded to smoke like a dream – despite the awkward way I had to smoke this cigar due to the large – way too large end that I had created. The burn was incredible! Even despite the large cut I had made, it burned slow and evenly and the ash formation was simply inspirational.
The cigar had smoked down to almost the half-way point. It was about 40 minutes later now and I was in heaven – even if heaven was cold that night. I hadn’t flicked my ash off yet and the formation was second to known that I had ever seen. The rich yet mellow tastes of leather and caramel and nuts mixed with the minty, numbing of my lips which happens on a good Cuban cigar to me and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.
And then I started to notice a char and ash taste. I went ahead at that point and flicked my ash and then had to shake my head as I realized where the char and ash taste had been coming from… The cigar due undoubtedly to the mangled end I had created had tunneled – and had tunneled deeply and quickly. Though the wrapper leaves had only burned down to almost the half-way point, the filler leaves had burned almost 2/3 of the way down.
I put the torch to the wrapper leaves to try and get the cigar back to even and a couple minutes later it about even again… I draw… the magical tastes of earlier are gone. Hot smoke billows out and the char and ashy tastes are more pronounced. I decide to call it and enjoy what I had and not let a bad ending combined with a bad start deter from the smoking experience I had with this cigar. I set the cigar aside and let it burn out while finishing drinking my water, watching the clear night sky with the moon about half full and reflected on this cigar and some of what I wanted to say about this cigar and smoking experience.
Despite the frustration of learning about this cigar and to find out what exactly it was… despite the plugged start that ultimately led to me butchering the head of this cigar… despite the tunneling that had occurred due to that mangling… it was a damn good cigar. The flavor this cigar produced was simply second to none to me. The tastes were mellow but right there – bold and in your face, without over powering you. The smoke itself was full-bodied, not just able to taste it but nearly chew it as well. The experience, though at points was that of despair, made the highlights of this cigar stand out even more. The construction – with the exception of the plug and as found out afterwards looking at the roll in cross-section – was superb. In the end it was a great experience.
Over the weekend I wondered if my above thoughts and comments I knew I would write were true or whether perhaps since it was such a nice gift from a good friend if perhaps I was giving it more of the benefit of the doubt than it deserved. But I have never given a false thumbs up on a cigar no matter the source and had even written reviews about cigars that were not up to the full par they were capable of from this and other sources. I go back to the point that the cigar first started drawing smoke until I discovered the tunneling. During that time, it was the simply the best. It is that time and that time only that I have decided to rate this cigar. This means I am not taking into account that it was plugged and I had to butcher it. I am not taking into account the tunneling – mainly because I am positive it was my fault with the cutting of the cigar that did it more than any construction flaw. Just between those times, so judge for yourself what score you would of given to it with all that went “wrong” with this cigar. Personally I am giving this cigar a 99. I truly wanted to give it a straight up 100 but as good as this cigar was – and despite not trying to put in the above into my scoring, it has to loose at least 1 point from perfection, as after all it was not a perfect cigar and had gone through war to be smoked.
Thanks for reading.
Warning!!! This review is extremely long – even by my standards. Read at your own peril and any complaints about how long it is will be laughed at as you have been duly warned!
I received this cigar as a Christmas gift from a fellow brother of the leaf. Actually, more accurately, Melly did with the understanding that I needed to smoke it along with her in order to write a review about this cigar. So I started this review long before I finally torched the cigar. Amazingly, there isn’t too much out there about this particular cigar, though I can tell you why. They are very, very rare.
The story of the Especialidad II 1996 goes something like this… A tobacconist in Germany wanted to carry a special edition Especialidad in a limted edition humidor out of his shop. 100 humidors capable of holding 50 of these cigars each were made – with one exception. The size of the cigar was slightly too large for the humidors, so about a 10mm cut was made at the foot of these cigars, so they could fit into these humidors, thus becoming the Especialidad II. There seems to be some thought that the Especialidad was originally a regular Partagas Salomon, with the name Especialidad being added to these specially requested cigars for the humidors.
In my research and discussion with others on this cigar, there has been no definitive history of this cigar. 3 people in the know gave me 3 different answers – or I should say the same answer with “something” different in each. For example, one claimed there was no Especialidad – only the Especialidad II. Another claimed that an Especialidad was in existence much as Edicion Limitada are in existence now. Yet another one claimed that not all of the Especialdad’s created were part of that limited humidor series, thus the distinction of the Especialidad II for those that were in the humidors.
Further research on this particular cigar, I discovered photos of the Especialidad II, which shows a flattened foot, instead of a perfecto one, where it was obviously cut in order to fit into the humidor. This is where whether this cigar I am reviewing comes into doubt. It did not have this flattened foot but did have the correct band of the 1996 Especialidad. So, it now becomes somewhat open for debate. Was it an Especialidad I if you would – that this is an Especialidad that never made it into one of those 100 humidors? Was it a normal Partagas Solomon that was re-banded, since according to some there was only one Especialidad?
In the end, it does not matter. Nor, do I really care to see debate about it following my review. I only bring this all up because I want to share my experience with this cigar – and part of that experience included the research as I shared above. Also, as you will find out in my review, the quality of this cigar was second to none – so in the end, no matter what this cigar truly was – it was an awesome cigar, shared to me by a close friend as a gift – and one truly appreciated. That’s what counts about this cigar – nothing else.
Originally, I was going to smoke this cigar with Melly on Saturday. Was even going to get some pictures made to commemorate the occasion. However, where we were on Saturday, we ended up being extremely busy and did not get a chance to smoke this cigar until Saturday night.
It was about 9 p.m. and it was the coldest night here in Alabama this year (and last) and I know broke some records. The last we had seen it was already 30 degrees and still dropping – so it was definitely cold – VERY cold. As I stood outside on the porch – since there was some who were not appreciative of cigars inside (and the fact I didn’t want to ruin my experience with this cigar surrounded by cigarette smoke) I used a V cutter to snip the end. Normally I would use the Xikar – but it being dull, it is tearing the ends of cigars up and I didn’t want to blemish this cigar.
The roll on this cigar looked perfect! No blemishes, firm in the hand and the perfecto shape simply looked awesome. I definitely did not want to blemish this cigar at all. The cut went smoothly and I torched the foot. Slowly I rotated the cigar and puffed slowly to get it started… the foot did catch, but I was getting no smoke.
Checking the end I could see the small cherry that had developed under the flame and so I pulled heavy and hard… Nothing. It was plugged – and plugged hard. I called in for a coat hanger. I did some careful sighting and poked the cigar down through the cut, hoping to break through the lug, to loosen up a smoke hole. I was done. I puffed. Nothing. Still plugged.
Despair, I decide to break apart my V cut, so using my teeth, I carefully bite through the cap on either side of the cut to get a “flat” end, hoping the extra space may allow smoke to flow past the plug… I bite, I spit, I puff… nothing.
Using the coat hanger one last time I try once again to poke through the plug… On pulling it out my fingers slip and I split the very end of the cigar about an 1/8 inch from my already mangled smoking end. I draw anyway hopping to salvage this cigar… Nothing.
I call in for the knife. I cut right below the rip I made with the hanger, leaving the largest and most mangled head of a cigar I have EVER smoked… I draw… the ember is gone. I re-light the cigar and… I have smoke!!!!!!!! Lots of it.
So here is where the review starts after all this so far you may begin to wonder if it was all worth it? Without a doubt it was. A light nutty taste dominated the first part of the cigar, slowly making way for tastes of leather and caramel with hints – just the barest of hints of cinnamon. Full bodied yet smooth as silk, this cigar proceeded to smoke like a dream – despite the awkward way I had to smoke this cigar due to the large – way too large end that I had created. The burn was incredible! Even despite the large cut I had made, it burned slow and evenly and the ash formation was simply inspirational.
The cigar had smoked down to almost the half-way point. It was about 40 minutes later now and I was in heaven – even if heaven was cold that night. I hadn’t flicked my ash off yet and the formation was second to known that I had ever seen. The rich yet mellow tastes of leather and caramel and nuts mixed with the minty, numbing of my lips which happens on a good Cuban cigar to me and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.
And then I started to notice a char and ash taste. I went ahead at that point and flicked my ash and then had to shake my head as I realized where the char and ash taste had been coming from… The cigar due undoubtedly to the mangled end I had created had tunneled – and had tunneled deeply and quickly. Though the wrapper leaves had only burned down to almost the half-way point, the filler leaves had burned almost 2/3 of the way down.
I put the torch to the wrapper leaves to try and get the cigar back to even and a couple minutes later it about even again… I draw… the magical tastes of earlier are gone. Hot smoke billows out and the char and ashy tastes are more pronounced. I decide to call it and enjoy what I had and not let a bad ending combined with a bad start deter from the smoking experience I had with this cigar. I set the cigar aside and let it burn out while finishing drinking my water, watching the clear night sky with the moon about half full and reflected on this cigar and some of what I wanted to say about this cigar and smoking experience.
Despite the frustration of learning about this cigar and to find out what exactly it was… despite the plugged start that ultimately led to me butchering the head of this cigar… despite the tunneling that had occurred due to that mangling… it was a damn good cigar. The flavor this cigar produced was simply second to none to me. The tastes were mellow but right there – bold and in your face, without over powering you. The smoke itself was full-bodied, not just able to taste it but nearly chew it as well. The experience, though at points was that of despair, made the highlights of this cigar stand out even more. The construction – with the exception of the plug and as found out afterwards looking at the roll in cross-section – was superb. In the end it was a great experience.
Over the weekend I wondered if my above thoughts and comments I knew I would write were true or whether perhaps since it was such a nice gift from a good friend if perhaps I was giving it more of the benefit of the doubt than it deserved. But I have never given a false thumbs up on a cigar no matter the source and had even written reviews about cigars that were not up to the full par they were capable of from this and other sources. I go back to the point that the cigar first started drawing smoke until I discovered the tunneling. During that time, it was the simply the best. It is that time and that time only that I have decided to rate this cigar. This means I am not taking into account that it was plugged and I had to butcher it. I am not taking into account the tunneling – mainly because I am positive it was my fault with the cutting of the cigar that did it more than any construction flaw. Just between those times, so judge for yourself what score you would of given to it with all that went “wrong” with this cigar. Personally I am giving this cigar a 99. I truly wanted to give it a straight up 100 but as good as this cigar was – and despite not trying to put in the above into my scoring, it has to loose at least 1 point from perfection, as after all it was not a perfect cigar and had gone through war to be smoked.
Thanks for reading.
