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The Evil Dr. Moki's Group Blind Taste Test #1
- Thread starter moki
- Start date
moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
Cigar #3, non-Cuban Cabaiguan WCD 120, 2007 (4 5/8" x 42) - everyday/rare
Image courtesy of enerjay
bfreebern said: Nice colorado wrapper, no major veins. Pre-light draw was a little tight, but it opened up nicely. The firm ash was speckled light gray. Flavor started out medium and stayed medium. The smoke was thick and rich with loads of leather, pepper, and earth.
bfreebern guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 1 year - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 7/10
BlindedByScience said: A smaller vitola, but a very nice looking cigar. Exactly ½” or a 32 ring, and 4 ½” (~113 mm) long, sans cap. The wrapper is a nice uniform light brown color. Pre light wrapper aroma is very simple tobacco flavors, with pre light draw a little tight but not bad at all. Pre light tastes are very nutty and very pleasant. Throwing caution to the wind here (and due to a particularly “Monday like” Monday), the beverage of choice tonight will be a gin and tonic. Flame on…!!
The draw on this small smoke was really tight; much tighter than I like. It started out with some nutty flavors, some spice, but nothing really remarkable. Second third revealed strong grassy flavors, as the nutty flavors ran and hid. The draw just kept tightening up and I had to draw lots harder than I would like to have; I’m afraid it made the smoke burn lots hotter than I would have liked. Didn’t really yield up any more complexity or better flavor development. By the time I got to the back third, the draw was so tight I gave it the stainless steel “ram rod” treatment to no avail. Wrapper starting to come loose, hot, grassy flavors, but nothing remarkable. I gave up with about 1 ½” of smoke left. Hot, bitter, grassy flavors at this point; a real let down, IMHO. About 45 minutes from flame to end.
BlindedByScience guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 2 years - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 5/10
Brickhouse said: The perfect amount of spice for my taste from the get go. This cigar was singing to me the first half. Everything about it was right in the zone. About half way through the spice mellowed out, or maybe I just got use to it. I was having a lot of trouble picking out certain aromas on this cigar, to do so would be a complete guess, so I'll just stay away from it. It was very pleasing though, however I thought it lost some of its alure on the back half. By no means did it seriously down grade it, but I don't think it held the expectations it gave me in the first half. Basically it went from being an 8 to a 7. I found it reminiscent to the Monte #2.
Brickhouse guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 10 years - Marca: Montecristo - Rating: 7/10
enerjay said: First 1/3 was nutty, lite hint Honey. Last 1/3 the cigar turned a bit more earth, still with some nutty flavor
enerjay guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: everyday - Age: 2 years - Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey - Rating: 8/10
insight said: This cigar was a bit plugged so my tasting notes are more limited. The cigar was characterized by a somewhat earthy tobacco flavor with a little spiciness but nothing overpowering. As the cigar progressed there was a slight creaminess to it and the tobacco flavor remained dominant. In my experience it was fairly one dimensional but not unpleasant.
insight guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 1 year - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 5/10
grateful1 said: This cigar was mild to medium in strength. Slight spice with a woody undertone. Full smoke and nice flavor...somewhat dry yet consistent. If this is not cuabn..it has a lot of tones...I'm still not positive as there was a taste that was not quite right. Also - as Tonie walked in the smoking room - she said: 'that's cuban!' So I'm biased on that end.
grateful1 guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 2 years - Marca: Sancho Panza - Rating: 5.5/10
NorCalCigarLover said: 4 1/2 inch, 43 ring. Light colored wrapper, smooth, no veins, beautiful looking with slight manure smell. Full flavored cigar, grassy, char broil and woody. A nice balance of spice and flavor all the way through the cigar. Burned clean with a slight tightness on the draw, long hanging ash.
NorCalCigarLover guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 3 years - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 8/10
sinnyc said: This cigar is firm from head to foot with a very lightly veined and lovely café au lait colored wrapper.
Initial tastes upon lighting are mild pepper and toasted tobacco in a medium strength. As it gets going there is a very light, almost citrusy, tang over the top of a fine, creamy base on the draw that I like. I taste some gentle leather and faint coffee tones on the exhale. It reminds me of a milder Partagas Short. The fairly firm, medium-gray ash shot with darker gray lasted until almost halfway through. The citrus is gone now and the cigar has settled in to the very pleasant creamy base described above. Although that initial touch of citrus confused me, I believe this is Cuban. I quite enjoyed this smoke and wished it lasted longer.
Boy I hope this turns out to be some uber-inexpensive, US market cigar. I’d smoke ‘em whenever I needed a 20 minute stogie. I enjoyed this cigar and would rate it a 7.9 with more to come with some age. I would love to smoke more.
It reminds me of a Trinidad but I don’t think that’s right as there seems to be some “body” missing in the smoke compared to the Coloniale and Fundadore. Maybe an HdM?
sinnyc guessed: Origin: Cuba - Price: Premium - Age: 2 years - Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey - Rating: 7.9/10
Smokyballs said: Sweet cream, shaved milk chocolate curls. Lots of wood, light pepper.
Smokyballs guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 4 years - Marca: Por Larranaga Petit Corona - Rating: 8/10
tone-ny said: This was another natural wrapper bordering on a claro. This cigar was also an aged specimen circa 1998-2000. This cigar had a clean draw and its ash was a light to medium grey in appearance. Burn was even and consistent throughout, this cigar has been stored at a very favorable humidity and smoked well.
Initial light had an initial spice to it over the first few puffs of it and was quite enjoyable. Not a harsh spice, but a mellow spice taste to it. The undertones were of a licorice, berry/currant taste after the spice subsided. This cigar had a creaminess to it with hints of hazelnut and coffee. This creaminess was evident till the end. The cigar in my estimation was in the mild to medium range and an extremely enjoyable cigar. I smoked this till it was a small nub.
When are the dog rockets coming?
tone-ny guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 9 years - Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey - Rating: 8/10
.....
Results Summary
Origin: 10 Cuban, 0 non-Cuban
Price: 0 budget, 5 everyday, 5 premium, 0 super-premium
Age: High: 10 years, Low: 1 years, Average: 3.6 years
Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey: 3, Bolivar: 4, Por Larranaga: 1, Sancho Panza: 1, Montecristo: 1
Rating: High: 8/10, Low: 5/10, Average: 6.94/10
Cigar #3 was actually a: non-Cuban Cabaiguan WCD 120, 2007 (4 5/8" x 42) - everyday/rare
Who nailed it: Absolutely NO ONE!
....
Commentary
God, how I love this cigar. Not just because I enjoy the taste of this brand, but also because no one ever gets it right in blind taste tests. Every single one of our participants were fooled into believing it was Cuban. The most marca votes went to Bolivar, and after that, Hoyo de Monterrey. Very interesting, no?
This is actually a recent production (2007) special release vitola of the Cabaiguan blend. Those of you who liked it, you should try the Cabaiguan Coronas Extra -- very similar taste profile. The blend is the same, the differences are just because of the vitola.
Looks like we threw our testers a nice curveball here! In terms of cost, it was split between "everyday" and "premium." While these are not exact terms, I'd consider this to be "everyday" in terms of price. Most people seemed to enjoy this cigar quite a bit, and it has the highest rating so far, and no one seemed to hate it, the ratings were fairly consistent!
The two who scored it the lowest (Insight and BlindedByScience) noted that the draw was tight... I bet that affected the rating somewhat.
It'll be interested to see what cigar #4 brings, won't it? Will the testers regain their composure under the stress from the Evil Dr. Moki's rack of blind tasting pain???
Image courtesy of enerjay
bfreebern said: Nice colorado wrapper, no major veins. Pre-light draw was a little tight, but it opened up nicely. The firm ash was speckled light gray. Flavor started out medium and stayed medium. The smoke was thick and rich with loads of leather, pepper, and earth.
bfreebern guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 1 year - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 7/10
BlindedByScience said: A smaller vitola, but a very nice looking cigar. Exactly ½” or a 32 ring, and 4 ½” (~113 mm) long, sans cap. The wrapper is a nice uniform light brown color. Pre light wrapper aroma is very simple tobacco flavors, with pre light draw a little tight but not bad at all. Pre light tastes are very nutty and very pleasant. Throwing caution to the wind here (and due to a particularly “Monday like” Monday), the beverage of choice tonight will be a gin and tonic. Flame on…!!
The draw on this small smoke was really tight; much tighter than I like. It started out with some nutty flavors, some spice, but nothing really remarkable. Second third revealed strong grassy flavors, as the nutty flavors ran and hid. The draw just kept tightening up and I had to draw lots harder than I would like to have; I’m afraid it made the smoke burn lots hotter than I would have liked. Didn’t really yield up any more complexity or better flavor development. By the time I got to the back third, the draw was so tight I gave it the stainless steel “ram rod” treatment to no avail. Wrapper starting to come loose, hot, grassy flavors, but nothing remarkable. I gave up with about 1 ½” of smoke left. Hot, bitter, grassy flavors at this point; a real let down, IMHO. About 45 minutes from flame to end.
BlindedByScience guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 2 years - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 5/10
Brickhouse said: The perfect amount of spice for my taste from the get go. This cigar was singing to me the first half. Everything about it was right in the zone. About half way through the spice mellowed out, or maybe I just got use to it. I was having a lot of trouble picking out certain aromas on this cigar, to do so would be a complete guess, so I'll just stay away from it. It was very pleasing though, however I thought it lost some of its alure on the back half. By no means did it seriously down grade it, but I don't think it held the expectations it gave me in the first half. Basically it went from being an 8 to a 7. I found it reminiscent to the Monte #2.
Brickhouse guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 10 years - Marca: Montecristo - Rating: 7/10
enerjay said: First 1/3 was nutty, lite hint Honey. Last 1/3 the cigar turned a bit more earth, still with some nutty flavor
enerjay guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: everyday - Age: 2 years - Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey - Rating: 8/10
insight said: This cigar was a bit plugged so my tasting notes are more limited. The cigar was characterized by a somewhat earthy tobacco flavor with a little spiciness but nothing overpowering. As the cigar progressed there was a slight creaminess to it and the tobacco flavor remained dominant. In my experience it was fairly one dimensional but not unpleasant.
insight guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 1 year - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 5/10
grateful1 said: This cigar was mild to medium in strength. Slight spice with a woody undertone. Full smoke and nice flavor...somewhat dry yet consistent. If this is not cuabn..it has a lot of tones...I'm still not positive as there was a taste that was not quite right. Also - as Tonie walked in the smoking room - she said: 'that's cuban!' So I'm biased on that end.
grateful1 guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Everyday - Age: 2 years - Marca: Sancho Panza - Rating: 5.5/10
NorCalCigarLover said: 4 1/2 inch, 43 ring. Light colored wrapper, smooth, no veins, beautiful looking with slight manure smell. Full flavored cigar, grassy, char broil and woody. A nice balance of spice and flavor all the way through the cigar. Burned clean with a slight tightness on the draw, long hanging ash.
NorCalCigarLover guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 3 years - Marca: Bolivar - Rating: 8/10
sinnyc said: This cigar is firm from head to foot with a very lightly veined and lovely café au lait colored wrapper.
Initial tastes upon lighting are mild pepper and toasted tobacco in a medium strength. As it gets going there is a very light, almost citrusy, tang over the top of a fine, creamy base on the draw that I like. I taste some gentle leather and faint coffee tones on the exhale. It reminds me of a milder Partagas Short. The fairly firm, medium-gray ash shot with darker gray lasted until almost halfway through. The citrus is gone now and the cigar has settled in to the very pleasant creamy base described above. Although that initial touch of citrus confused me, I believe this is Cuban. I quite enjoyed this smoke and wished it lasted longer.
Boy I hope this turns out to be some uber-inexpensive, US market cigar. I’d smoke ‘em whenever I needed a 20 minute stogie. I enjoyed this cigar and would rate it a 7.9 with more to come with some age. I would love to smoke more.
It reminds me of a Trinidad but I don’t think that’s right as there seems to be some “body” missing in the smoke compared to the Coloniale and Fundadore. Maybe an HdM?
sinnyc guessed: Origin: Cuba - Price: Premium - Age: 2 years - Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey - Rating: 7.9/10
Smokyballs said: Sweet cream, shaved milk chocolate curls. Lots of wood, light pepper.
Smokyballs guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 4 years - Marca: Por Larranaga Petit Corona - Rating: 8/10
tone-ny said: This was another natural wrapper bordering on a claro. This cigar was also an aged specimen circa 1998-2000. This cigar had a clean draw and its ash was a light to medium grey in appearance. Burn was even and consistent throughout, this cigar has been stored at a very favorable humidity and smoked well.
Initial light had an initial spice to it over the first few puffs of it and was quite enjoyable. Not a harsh spice, but a mellow spice taste to it. The undertones were of a licorice, berry/currant taste after the spice subsided. This cigar had a creaminess to it with hints of hazelnut and coffee. This creaminess was evident till the end. The cigar in my estimation was in the mild to medium range and an extremely enjoyable cigar. I smoked this till it was a small nub.
When are the dog rockets coming?
tone-ny guessed: Origin: Cuban - Price: Premium - Age: 9 years - Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey - Rating: 8/10
.....
Results Summary
Origin: 10 Cuban, 0 non-Cuban
Price: 0 budget, 5 everyday, 5 premium, 0 super-premium
Age: High: 10 years, Low: 1 years, Average: 3.6 years
Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey: 3, Bolivar: 4, Por Larranaga: 1, Sancho Panza: 1, Montecristo: 1
Rating: High: 8/10, Low: 5/10, Average: 6.94/10
Cigar #3 was actually a: non-Cuban Cabaiguan WCD 120, 2007 (4 5/8" x 42) - everyday/rare
Who nailed it: Absolutely NO ONE!
....
Commentary
God, how I love this cigar. Not just because I enjoy the taste of this brand, but also because no one ever gets it right in blind taste tests. Every single one of our participants were fooled into believing it was Cuban. The most marca votes went to Bolivar, and after that, Hoyo de Monterrey. Very interesting, no?
This is actually a recent production (2007) special release vitola of the Cabaiguan blend. Those of you who liked it, you should try the Cabaiguan Coronas Extra -- very similar taste profile. The blend is the same, the differences are just because of the vitola.
Looks like we threw our testers a nice curveball here! In terms of cost, it was split between "everyday" and "premium." While these are not exact terms, I'd consider this to be "everyday" in terms of price. Most people seemed to enjoy this cigar quite a bit, and it has the highest rating so far, and no one seemed to hate it, the ratings were fairly consistent!
The two who scored it the lowest (Insight and BlindedByScience) noted that the draw was tight... I bet that affected the rating somewhat.
It'll be interested to see what cigar #4 brings, won't it? Will the testers regain their composure under the stress from the Evil Dr. Moki's rack of blind tasting pain???
moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
Brickhouse
J.C. Newman owes me royalties.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2006
- Messages
- 10,172
Haha! Awesome!
I gotta say though, I'm proud that I gave it a high rating....I can still call myself a Pepin whore
Looking forward to #4.
I gotta say though, I'm proud that I gave it a high rating....I can still call myself a Pepin whore
Looking forward to #4.
Seanholio
Don Quixote
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2007
- Messages
- 1,219
grateful1
Oh My!
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
- Messages
- 19,728
Fiancee.....at this rate....ahhh...nevermind
Astounding...
Although I have never smoked a WCD, I have smoked several other Cabaiguans and haven't liked any of them. I found them all to have a light, papery taste and dry mouth of smoke.
Of course you send us a limited run cigar (like 2000?) that we can't get lol - sneaky bastige! Too bad, I would have bought some of those.
Well done! You snookered us all on that one. We just got Moki'd! :laugh:
Although I have never smoked a WCD, I have smoked several other Cabaiguans and haven't liked any of them. I found them all to have a light, papery taste and dry mouth of smoke.
Of course you send us a limited run cigar (like 2000?) that we can't get lol - sneaky bastige! Too bad, I would have bought some of those.
Well done! You snookered us all on that one. We just got Moki'd! :laugh:
moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
Welcome to the joys of blind taste tests, and the inconstancy and individual nature of taste!
moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2005
- Messages
- 9,894
Absolutely. My poor smoke was almost completely plugged by the time I gave up. I'm afraid drawing as hard as I had to made the stick burn hot, masking a lot of it's taste.
Beyond that......got me (us) again, Moki...... :laugh:
#4 next....we shall see.
Cheers, guys - B.B.S.
Strayvector
Like what you smoke, smoke what you like
- Joined
- May 30, 2005
- Messages
- 3,369
What a great twist. From the sound of the reviews, I'll have to stop by the local shop and pick up one of these. I've only ever had one Cabaiguan, and that was over a year ago. Time to revisit this one when I get back to Tucson.
Smokyballs
The nap master
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2005
- Messages
- 2,514
The size didn't seem quite right but I could come up with a cigar at the time. The sad truth is that I should have nailed the origin and brand because I love Cabaiguan. I got a box of Robusto Extra, Guapo and Imperiales in my humidor! I wonder if Pete would have got it!
Brickhouse
J.C. Newman owes me royalties.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2006
- Messages
- 10,172
Yeah, I thought about that to....how interesting would this one have been had Pete been able to participate? hehe
moki
el Presidente
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,418
For what it's worth, I got him plastered in Las Vegas, and gave him one of his cigars to smoke blind... and he did get it right!
tsmckenney
Mick
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 2,954
For what it's worth, I got him plastered in Las Vegas, and gave him one of his cigars to smoke blind... and he did get it right!
Moki - The Original Cigar Forum Rock Star
NorCalCigarLover
The Wine Guy
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2004
- Messages
- 5,898
I should have figured as much ...... I wrote off the Cabaigun's a while ago as I didn't care for the few I had tried, from what I remember it had a completely different taste profile. I must say, I was stumped by this cigar and I kept telling myself that I hope it turns out to be something I can add to my humidor.
Nice job Moki, and thanks for turning us on to another fine smoke :thumbs:
Edit: oh, and if anybody has a fiver they can spare ..... let's talk.
Nice job Moki, and thanks for turning us on to another fine smoke :thumbs:
Edit: oh, and if anybody has a fiver they can spare ..... let's talk.