Puffstuff J. Fuego Corojo #1 Taste Test

[puffstuff]

I really appreciate this guys.

Al

 

[Mr Peat]

Well...going to secure my spot for my review right now. I've been itching for a cigar and guess its time to try one.

I finally smoked both of these cigars the other day. Both in the same day. My first impression of them was that they was very young. They did remind me of a DPG and had a similar smell I thought to the El Rey de los Habanos Inc label of cigars. Both of them was very unique with similar profiles. One thing that stuck out to me they had what I would call a peanut butter taste to them and some other unusual taste I couldn't place my fingers on. The burns was pretty good except the Churchill one had some channels in the filler so a couple of times I had to do some major corrections. I wouldn't say these are fancy cigar smokes, but if I wanted a cigar to smoke while I am puttering around in the yard of something, I wouldn't think twice in smoking the Coronation sized one. I did smoke both of them down to 1/4" nubs as they did hit the right spot for me.

As noted before...they did have some major veins in the cigar. But the construction of them seemed to be really nice. Unfortunately, I didn't take actual notes on them as I have a lot on my mind right now, but its still better than Macanudo, Cusano, and a few other brands I can think of. So all in all, I was pretty impressed by them. For a final thought, I did have a thought that came to me when I smoked the Churchill. It reminded me of a fresh farm rolled cigar.

Again...thank you Al for the opportunity and looking forward to finding out what these are. Judging what they are without knowing the brand, I'd give these like a 7 out of 10 scale. I'd like to revisit these when they get some age on them and then do a proper review. :thumbs:

 

[enerjay]

First AL thanks for the fine smokes and letting me join this little blind taste test.

The Cigar, looks like 44x5

Foot of the cigar look GREAT

Plenty of draw before and after the light

Burn was smooth and even all the way. :thumbs:

This cigar reminds me of a Monti number 5, but my pallet is not that great yet. Fine cigar no less.

This cigar was a very nice mild/medium body cigar, look great with an even burn all the way.
Mild in my book. Smoked about 1:25 minutes. I will take a BOX

 

[humboldtflyer]

Alright... So I went to the oyster festival on Saturday to check out the festivities. It was quite enjoyable even though I am not all that huge of an oyster fan... I had a few oysters and a few more beers to accompany them. Anyways... I get home and settle down for the evening and decide to light up the Churchill cigar since I had plenty of time to burn and it was such a beautiful evening...

Well then, on with the review!

This cigar was wrapped very well, it had small veins and the cap was near perfect... The foot looked good but I was afraid it was going to be a bit tight. Cut the cap perfectly and took my prelight draw and found it to be earthy sweet but the draw was definitely on the medium/tight side...

Light went great with no problems, burn smelled sweet/nutty to the nose...

So, for the first 3rd of this cigar I would say that it was a bit tangy and bitter to the front of my palate and definitely had a leathery taste to it... Medium bodied and average amounts of smoke... Getting to around the two inch point of this cigar the burn started to get quite uneven... touch ups were necessary.

The second third of this cigar is where things got really interesting... it still was predominantly tangy and bitter on the front of the tongue but there was a very interesting transformation happening. It was really starting to take on a citrus flavor to me... It was strange but I would have to relate it to like orange peels and grapefruit... Draw started to loosen up...

So for the final portion of the cigar I would say that the bite started to smooth down, but there was still a great citrus flavor and nice sweet smell through the nose. Draw loosened up more but it still burned unevenly...

Overall: Cigar was quite nice... Mild to medium body, medium depth of character, uneven burn, enjoyable... 7.9/10

Thanks Al!

 

[rob300c]

I just finished these two... back to back!

I started with the Churchill.
A very veiny stick with a sloppy triple cap and a fragile wrapper.
After clipping it revealed a plug on the side of over packed filler.
I was getting a draw so I fired the sucker up.
Almost like a RyJ Churchill but lighter in flavor.
A predominant red wine flavor throughout.
Nosing was pleasant and had a Cuban-y feel to it.
It started canoeing on me so I clipped past the plug.
I still couldn't get enough smoke through it for a good idea of the flavors, the wrapper cracked on me...
I struggled through it but the flavors were muted and I made it to the 1/4 mark before pitching it.
Not bad, not great.
The stick has potential.

The PC was constructed about the same with a rough veiny wrapper and a sloppy attempt at a triple cap.
I couldn't discern too much on the pre-light draw as the previous stick muted the flavors.
This stick also reminded me of the RyJ Churchill but raw and slightly tannic.
Perfect burn and draw on this one.
No real complexity developed it was just straight forward tobacco with slight milk coffee and red wine flavor.
I nubbed it and wish I had experienced this smoke first!
Definately has some potential and ageing might make this a fabulous smoke.
I would revisit this with some downtime in the humi but I would not be scrambling to pick up a box.
It would depend upon the price point here...

These were not given much of a rest so I wouldn't mind trying them again under better circumstances.
These have potential to be good and if the price dictates I would recommend people trying them!
The were on the lighter side of medium in flavor but I am a little nicoteined out right now!

Thanks Al for the opportunity.
I'll upload some pics later.

-Rob

 

[tasman]

Thanks Al for the smokes!

I thought both were well constructed and oily with some veins.
They both had a good draw, I had the CG size for lunch and the churcill size after dinner.
Both burned very well with a lot of smoke. Both had an even burn from beginning to end and they had a nice gray ash to it.
The only thing IMO is they had no taste? Just a mild smoke and I couldn't really taste anything?

Maybe they would get better with time? :thumbs:

Regards Dean

 

[humboldtflyer]

So last night I smoked the corona. First impressions were a little on the blah side... Construction was good but the cap was a little rough. Prelight draw was a bit tight and there wasnt much aroma...
The smoke was nice and thick but the flavor was not something I was enjoying... All I can explain was that it tasted dirty the whole time... Every once in a while I could tell that there was some sweetness trying to come through, but it seemed to fail and dissapoint me. Burn was uneven. My wife was saying how the exhaled smoke smelled sweet to her, but I just wasn't getting it... I put it out with about 2 1/2 inches left...

 

[Ginseng]

Ohh,

This is shaping up to be interesting indeed!

Wilkey

 

[Rob_k]

1st review: Small Corona
Let me start out by saying thanks to Al for sending these. Upon arrival, the smokes were packed, and no damage occurred. I allowed them to rest in my humidor for a week, at 67 degrees and 65%RH.

First 3rd: I removed the cap, took a pre-draw, and noticed an earthy, woodsy taste, which was confirmed after lighting, more woodsy, cedar than expected. The smoke was plentiful and a very nice draw, I did notice a little bitterness as well.

2/3: More of the same, but leveling out, the bitterness is gone, now I notice an earthy, nutty taste. No burn issues, nice draw, and a nice aroma, very pleasant experience so far.

final 3rd: Nutty to earthy to a leather flavor, burns a little hot for me (but I tend to smoke a little fast), again. no burn issues or re-lighting, very pleasant flavor profile.

Conclusion: Smoke lasted about an hour, was outside, enjoying the sun. For a smaller smoke, it changed enough to keep me interested, ti burned a little hot, but for a smaller cigar, this is acceptable. All in all I would rate this a 2.75 out of 5 cigar, not the best, but not a dog rocket either. If this is a bundle cigar, it is very good for it's class, a nice smoke to hand out to the occasional smokers or fishing/golf buddies looking for a cigar.


2nd review: The Churchill

This smoke was a (in my opinion) a larger version of the small corona. I won't bother typing all of the above again, the biggest difference was in the smoke time, about 2hrs. The flavors were very similar to the corona, the construction was very nice, and a slightly tighter roll.
I would rate the cigar the same as the corona, 2.75 out of 5.

Al, again, I thank you for the opportunity to review and try these.



added churchill review and correct some spelling errors.

 

[Martin2D]

Alright, I'm smoking the little corona right now and I can say I'm very pleased by this little guy. Upon light I was greeted by a nice blast of full flavor. The first third mellowed to a medium flavor, with a YOUNG one dimensional flavor profile. However, the intensity of flavor is increasing in the last half of this stick and the young flavor disappeared. Very tasty, much more satisfying then the sticks I've tried in the price range I think this one will be in ($4). Definitely a worthwhile smoke that I very much enjoyed. Thanks Al.

 

[parade]

After a few days resting in the humi, I decided to start with the corona size cigar Al sent. The wrapper was a darker brown shade with lots of veins. It was very firm to the touch. It didn't give off a lot of aroma. The pre-light draw was as expected, a little on the tight side and I can taste a hint of cocoa.

The cigar started off a little peppery with some cocoa taste. After the first inch, the peppery taste went away to a slight sweetness to go with the cocoa, chocolate taste. The sweetness continue to pick up until about half way point of the cigar. It gave way to a little tanginess and more of a coffee taste. At about 1/3 left, the tight draw, although opened up a little, was starting to give me a headache so I decided to put it down.

The burn started off a little off requiring a little touch up, but it did start to burn pretty evenly after a while. The ash wasn't very solid. The tight draw took away some of the enjoyment of the cigar. If the draw on this one is not the norm, I would consider buying it again (maybe $5, 6 or less). I would say that I still enjoyed the cigar!

 

[Seth]

I smoked the churchill last night. Burn was nice and even with a good draw. I found it to be med - mild and the taste similar to cigars I enjoy from the Villazon factory in Honduras. Smoke lasted welll over an hour.

I am not one to be able to identify many flavors in a cigar. It is just whether I enjoyed it or not, which I did. I would not hesitate to buy more of these if the price it right.

Thanks for the chance to review these Al.


Seth

 

[tkoepp]

OK I have decided to torch the CG up tonight... On with the review.

Appearance:
This stick has a nice milk chocolatey color, slightly oily sheen that accents a tightly wrapped cigar, the foot nosed of youngness, but could not pick up any ammonia. The cap was an attempt at a triple cap, although effective, a little sloppy. The cigar had no tooth and was pretty veiny.

Cut and Prelight:
I cut the cap with my Palio, and it went clean and crisp. The draw on this cigar is just the way I prefer, a nice and loose draw with a slight bit of resistance. It had a "barely there" sweetness about it but could definetly pull that young tobacco flavor that I noticed before, I would have to classify it as barnyard/grassy. It also had a bit of coffee, of which I enjoy as well.

The Cigar:
It lit perfectly and started out with a great clean burn, mostly dark grey ash with some periods darker and lighter. Good crisp and clean burn until after the first third, then it seemed to become a little wary, then later towards the last part of the cigar, it evened out.
The flavor of this cigar is definetly one dimensional, the flavor profile remained constant throughout the whole cigar. A medium to full bodied cigar that was long on the palette, it seems like this cigar was trying to have an old world kind of taste, but to me the youngness seemed to prevail. I did notice the grass and coffee tastes again. I also tasted a slight bit of carmel, but then it faded away not to return.

Conclusion:
I think this cigars "youngness" spoiled this cigar from me really liking it. It was a decent cigar, defiently would buy some, if the price was right and immediately bury them in the cooler. Its profile is one dimensional, but it remained constant (so that is not a bad thing). I paired this cigar with a bottle of water as to not confuse the flavors, but I could see this with a nice dark blend of coffee to accent some of the flavors of the cigar.

I would have to give this cigar a 88. And would pay between $4-5 per stick.

 

[Putz Mulligan]

For the PC:

Wrapper is reddish brown and had a nice rolled feel with some moderately sized veins. The foot looked packed but not tight.

I punched instead of cutting as this is my preference.

The taste of pre-light was sweet like faint burnt sugar with a nice draw. The cigar burned consistently throughout the entire experience and was very consistent as the ash only dropped in the final third.

The first few draws brought hints of cucumber and pomegranate, refreshing and clean. Plumes of smoke were pronounced. After a few minutes this lead to hints of basil on the front palette of the tongue with a slight hint of spice on the back of my throat. Half way through the first third things turned for the worst, the refreshing flavor turned acid and became very bitter on the front of my palette and stayed for it's entirety.

I was forced to lay 'her down in the middle of the final third.

Of note: the construction was excellent though the ash was mottled and not white and with some aging could be a decent smoke.

Thanks Al for the opportunity! CH to come later!

 

[Maggs44]

I fired up the corona today after letting it rest for a week. I'm thinking maybe a rest of 6 months or more was needed. Here goes...

The cigar was closer to a petite corona measuring 4.5 inch and about a 42 - 44 ring gauge. At first look, this cigar looks great... the wrapper is redish brown and was well rolled. A closer look showed a couple good sized veins.

The cigar lit ok, and had a nice draw, but the burn was uneven from beginning to end. It did stay lit, but canoed the entire smoke. I don't think it was too moist as it stayed lit all the way.

Now for the taste. I wanted this to be a good smoke, as it is a gift from a fellow BOTL, and I don't like to sound ungrateful. The first couple puffs produced a harsh somewhat bitter taste in the back of my mouth. There was a hint of spice and slightly woody and creamy. The harshness faded after an inch or so, but since I wasn't drinking anything, the original taste of that lingered throughout. I was hoping the smoke would improve so I smoked it down to 2 inches. The tatse did improve, but couldn't overcome the initial harshness... maybe cleaning the palet with a hearty beer or a whisky may have helped. Also, my expectations may have been too high and that influenced my review.

I will let the larger one rest about 6 months and see if some age will help...

I still want to thank Al for the smokes and the opportunity to participate in the blind taste test.

 

[wanlail]

I had the corona today while I relaxed for the first time in about two weeks. I think today was the first time i've had a half day off. After clipping the cap and test drawing, it was a little too tight for my taste, so i grabbed my draw poker and opened up a few channels until the draw was perfect. It lit easily and burned perfect for the first two inches.

At that point, it began to tunnel due to a stem that just wouldn't burn. The flavor was good with the light coffee and caramel like taste. Although it tasted a little young, I didn't find it offensive. My sister sat outside with me and commented on how good the cigar smelled, which she doesn't say too often. Overall, it would have been a great smoke other than the slight problems. Thanks again Al, I can't wait to try the churchill sized smoke, which i'll hopefully get to on Sunday if i have the day off.

 

[mmburtch]

Al, thanks for the opportunity to review these cigars for you. I hope my inputs will along with the other 29 help you or your vendor. I have not read any of the reviews in this thread yet, and won’t until I have had an opportunity to review the Corona. I want my reviews to be truly blind, and not affected by someone else’s opinion. I look forward to reading the rest later.

The Churchill

This cigar was very pretty to look at. It had a silky smooth, chocolate brown wrapper, with prominent but not ugly veining. The cigar had a nice tight bunch at the foot, and a triple cap on the head.

The prelight draw war relatively flavorless, and rather tight. It appeared that there might be a plug about an inch and a half from the head.

I absolutely loved the first inch of this cigar. It opened with chocolate and leather, with a moderate amount of smoke, and transitioned into something tangy that reminded me of a balsamic reduction.

Unfortunately, that’s where things went south for me. The cigar started to take on a flavor that reminded me of Zippo hits, that first draw on a cigarette that pulls in all the flavor of the lighter fluid. It brought back a few memories, and would have been fine if it hadn’t continued. It did however, and became a stronger and less pleasant flavor as I went along. I smoked down to about the half way point, hoping that this would pass, but it didn’t and I had to put it down for good.

Based on this cigar alone, I probably wouldn’t run out to buy these, but might at some other time pick up one or two to determine if the plug was responsible for the flavors I experienced, or if that’s the profile and it is simply not a profile that matches up well with my palate and flavor memories.

The Corona

This was a much more enjoyable experience.

The cigar construction was essentially identical to the Churchill. Nice dark natural wrapper, some veining and a triple cap.

Prelight draw was good, and had flavors of pepper and strong tobacco. I walked around with it in my teeth for a few minutes while I got ready to light it, and was surprised by how much pepper flavor snuck into my mouth. There was no doubt this was going to be a strong full flavored cigar.

I toasted the foot, and got the fires burning. Initial flavors were predominated by pepper, but there were hints of leather and earth underneath.

The pepper lasted until about the half way point, where it subsided and became a background flavor. At this point, the flavor that was dominating was strong tobacco, with earthiness.

In the final third of the cigar, it smoothed out some, which actually surprised me. The flavors were still tobacco and earth, but were much mellower than before.

I spent just over an hour with this cigar, and thankfully I was sitting down. This sucker was a nicotine bomb extraordinaire! (Satchmo, if you’re going to smoke one of these I’ll have to ask for your car keys. :laugh: ) This cigar was full flavored and full strength. I was able to expel smoke through my nose a couple of times, but it burned (worse in the first half). At one point, smoke tried to get into my lungs, (the hazards of being a former cigarette smoker) and I nearly lost a lung.

All in all this was a very good cigar. Perhaps a tad too strong for me to smoke regularly, but certainly worthy of having in the rotation. I would have to assume based on the construction, the flavor profile and where it came from that this is a Pepin creation. It certainly lives up to the reputation. Thanks for letting us do this Al, and I look forward to seeing what we smoked.

 

[insight]

Thanks again Al for the chance to try these out, I have been letting them rest for a bit and figured tonight was a good night to try one out. I just sat down with the CG after a long day so here are my thoughts.

The wrapper was very veiny, with a solid and firm construction and a skewed triple cap. I really didn't detect anything notable with the prelight draw, other than the draw seemed a bit tight.

The first third of the cigar was characterized by a grassy flavor with that familiar aftertaste of young tobacco. The burn was very even and consistent (and stayed that way throughout the smoke). The second third had a very slight overtone of cocoa but it was really dominated by the amonia flavor of young tobacco. This flavor profile was pretty consistent down to just past the 2 inch mark, when the wrapper split down the side almost to the head.

One thing that struck me was the cigar was very one dimensional. Even when exhaling through the nose there wasn't much complexity to the cigar. I would characterize it as definitely being on the mild side of medium and fairly base in flavor, at least for now. I think it would be worth revisiting after some downtime but for now it just didn't really do much for me. I will report more once I have a chance to try the churchhill.

Edit: Yeah I suck, it took me way too long to do my follow up review and I must apologize. Just got caught up. Anyways.... I enjoyed the churchill much more. I didn't take comprehensive notes but I found the cigar to be very nutty, with some leather hints in the second half. The first half was very mild and easy on the palette. The second half had a bit more kick to it, much more notable than with the smaller version. I got down to the last couple of inches and they closed the lounge on me. My overall impression is this cigar (line) benefits from a little downtime and is pretty decent smoke if you have the time for a churchill. I would have to revisit the smaller one to compare again.

 

[tomthirtysix]

Smoked mine over the weekend. Started off with the Churchill Friday night. Beautiful wrapper, nice chocolate brown, very few veins. Nice cap, and no soft spots. Clipped the cap, and off we go.

Prelight draw was a little looser than I normally like, but not enough, seemingly, to be a problem. No real discernible tastes. Flame to foot, and it lit without a problem. The burn was straight throughout the entire smoke, never had to touch-up at all. The ash was medium to dark gray, nicely ribbed, and held firm the entire time. The ash fell only two or three times throughout the course of this big smoke.

As far as flavor goes, there were hints of nuts that came and went throughout the smoke. Seemingly no rhyme or reason, from beginning to end, it would come, stay for a couple draws, then leave. This remained constant the entire smoke, which lasted just over an hour and a half. I put it down with about an inch and a half left, because it was starting to turn.

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I smoked the corona Saturday afternoon. Again, a beautiful chocolate wrapper, with very few veins. This cap was a little on the sloppy side, but no worries. Took the cutter right to it, and that solved the problem. Prelight draw was tighter than the Churchill, but not too tight. This was perfect, and had a slight spiciness to it.

Well, that was deceiving. The first half of the cigar really had no flavor. But the ash stayed solid the entire time. At the midpoint, I actually tapped the ash off because I had to run back upstairs for a minute. I was a little upset because I wanted to see how long I could get it to go.

But, dropping the ash may not have been a bad thing. When I came back to it, the smoke had a nice cedar taste to it for the remainder of the cigar. And again, the ash stayed in place for the rest of the smoke. It didn't fall until I put the cigar down for good, with well under an inch left.

I really enjoyed the second half of this one, and maybe with some more down time, the entire smoke would have been flavorful, instead of just the last half. Depending on the price point, I might grab some of these and let them sit and revisit them. This one burned for probably about 35-40 minutes.



I should probably add that these were kept for just about a week at 65% before being sacrificed. Al, I want to thank you for the opportunity to review these for you, and I hope my reviews helped. I really look forward to finding out what the deal is with these.

 

[imaman]

So here's my very first cigar review. The first one I smoked was the corona. Since I'm fairly new to cigar smoking ,and try to smoke the milder cigars , I was a bit apprehensive when Al mentioned these wouldn't be mild.First of, both the corona, and the churchill had a nice solid feel to it. The wrappers felt a bit silky and oily. The draw was very good on them, with a very even burn.
The corona seemed medium bodied to me, but it was very smooth. As for the taste, I guess I haven't mastered the art of tasting cigars. So no earthy, cocoa, peppery etc. values for this cigar. The closest I can compare it to is a nice creamy cup of coffee. I smoked this one till my fingers started burning. A very enjoyable cigar for me.Depending on price, this could be a everyday cigar for me.
The churchill started out like the corona, but the furter along I got, the taste went south. Halfway down I can only describe it as bitter. I had to put it down. I don't know if these are the same cigars, but the corona beat the churchill hands down.


Gerard.