Okay, like Cohiba stated, he helped me out in a Newbie trade, and sent me one of these fine cigars inside. We made a deal to wrtie reviews to see where our tastes lied, so here is my "greenhorn" review:
Smoked; Sunday 24 February, 2008 1440-1530 hrs
(I'm stealing Michael's specs here, I'm sure he won't mind! :thumbs: )
San Cristobal
Guajiro
Length: 6.625 Ring: 46
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Strength: Full
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
I went to my favorite Cigar haunt with a buddy of mine who just got out of the Corps. We perused the walk-in humidor, he made his selections, proceeding to the front counter to pay. After his purchase, with a Zarka torpedo in tow, and I carrying my new Herf-a-Dor packed with my smokes and one of these fellas inside, we went to the lounge to smoke and play some pool.
Initially, I observed a dark, firm, oily wrapper that had a pleasant smell and slightly salty taste. I clipped her triple cap with a funny looking pigtail, and began on toasting the foot. Once I had her lit nice and even, I took a full draw on it. Now, what I am about to say is the ONLY complaint I'll ever have about this cigar, and sadly enough, it was enough to ruin my experience. I drew on it, and it was really really tight, to the point that I was barely getting any smoke out. It felt like I was trying to suck ice cream through a straw, and after a while, my jaw just got tired. For lack of words, it sucked.
I tried rolling it around in my fingers, trying to loosen whatever's in there, but I may have just got a bad one. I had zero complaints about the taste, the flavor was amazing, but my entire experience was stymied by the fact that she was plugged like a mother. I've had some smokes that were hard to draw on, but never like this one...
So, as I'm trying to concentrate on drawing, I wasn't paying too much attention to the flavor and taste. What I DID notice were hints of leather, creamy nutty flavors, and a slight hinting at salty spiciness. I was dissapointed in the amount of smoke this cigar put out, but that was probably due to the draw. As far as the ash, it was firm, and held for quite some time, which is something I really adore in a cigar, because I like to see how long I can get the ash until I have to tap it off.
I will say, even with the tight draw and lack of smoke, I nubbed it because it tasted so good, but I just couldn't get anything out of it! For a full bodied cigar, I can tell my newbie tastes are really changing because this guy was SMOOTH AS SILK to me! The smoke smelled great, and I wished I had had another one that was not as tight. I will definitely buy another one to try them out again, it looks like I may just have gotten a bad apple.
On the plus side of things, I won a pool tournament with my buddy and he had to buy me a CAO Soprano. :thumbs: Whether the Soprano is all hype and branding or not, we shall see when I light her up.
Thanks for reading boys and girls, and thanks Cohiba for sending me one of these beauties. I am definitely going to buy another one to give it a whirl!