Cigar #1, Cuban H.Upmann Naturales tubos, early 1980s (6.1" x 37) - premium/rare
Image courtesy of enerjay
bfreebern said: Tasting: Prelight was a little tight, but it opened up after I lit it up. Had a couple veins, but didn't affect the burn in anyway. The burn stayed razor sharp. Ash was a dark gray and never got hot. Sweet, herbal/floral, nutty flavors are what I got from this one. Nice mild cigar. I'm guessing a Flor de Cano or some other cheaper Cuban.
bfreebern guessed: Origin: Cuban -
Price: everyday -
Age: 3 years -
Marca: Flor de Cano -
Rating: 5/10
BlindedByScience said: This one is a rather rough looking PC or slightly smaller cigar. My calipers put it at almost exactly ½” or a 32 ring. Sans cap or end, it’s about 5 11/16” long (about 144.5 mm). The wrapper gives off almost no aroma or scent at all. Draw is noticeably tight, maybe tighter than I like, but perhaps not too tight. The pre-light draw tastes very much like nicely aged tobacco, with no noticeable tastes or flavors other than well-fermented, good quality tobacco. There is no ammonia taste, or smells, whatsoever. Pre light, this smoke strikes me as a very “quiet” cigar; as mentioned there is virtually no discernable aroma from the wrapper at all and the pre light draw tastes are very, well, bland. Nice, but subtle.
A glass of ice water will be tonight’s beverage. To the torch we go – lights nicely, burns like a champ. “Subtle” is the way this smoke progressed, to the point of being almost…bland? It smoked very one dimensionally; subtle, slight tastes of leather were about all I got from this one. Halfway, no real change. Nice, not offensive, but nothing interesting; no complexity, no development I could discern. Very, very mild; I could inhale the smoke effortlessly. Back third – more of the same; perhaps a tiny bit of saltiness starting to come through but no additional development. I put this one down with about ¾” left and called it good. Due to the small ring, I smoked this one very slowly and carefully, so it didn’t get hot. Smoking time about 50 minutes.
BlindedByScience guessed: Origin: Cuban -
Price: everyday -
Age: 4 years -
Marca: La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No. 4 -
Rating: 6/10
Brickhouse said: From the get go on this cigar I was pulling strong earthy tones, almost to the point of dusty if you will. There was no spice to be found, but it lacked complexity. I was searching, and at times possibly over analyzing the cigar looking for things that just were not there.
While it did lack complexity and the earthy tones being very prominent, it didn’t sink the cigar. It did produce an abundance of smoke to fill my taste buds, this I liked. But as I progressed, the taste did not seem to change or surprise me in anyway. I thought it was very one dimensional staying in the Earthy, Woody, and Vegetative area. Pulling the smoke through my nasal and exhaling did not please me either. It was my last ditch attempt to figure something out about this cigar that maybe I had missed. It wasn’t there.
As I finished, I thought I picked up on some chemical taste that led me to believe it had not much age on it. Though being a smaller gauge and the rate at which I was smoking it, I may have been the cause of that by heating it up too much. But for this reason I concluded that it was no older that 2 years.
It did however remain consistent throughout. I don’t want to come off terribly negative here. I did enjoy the smoke, it treated me well, it just didn’t have that “it” factor if you will that I look for and the lack of complexity was boring to me. It seemed as though it was supposed to be a good cigar, but I just wasn’t getting it. This made me think it was a Cuban, as with most ISOMs I fail to understand why I’m supposed to be impressed. I'll be the first to tell you that my experience with ISOMs is very limited. Or maybe I over analyzed it and it just isn’t my type of smoke.
All in all, it was a cigar. Duh, you say, right? Well, what I mean is, I got what I expect to get from any cigar I smoke. I didn’t feel as though I was treated to a special experience that would make me beg for more. I enjoyed the time outside to think of nothing but the cigar, and that is always a plus, it was fun.
Brickhouse guessed: Origin: Cuba -
Price: everyday -
Age: 2 years -
Marca: Por Larranaga -
Rating: 6/10
enerjay said: Tasting notes: When i role the smoke in my mouth I get a nutty flavor,as I exhale through the nose I have a hint of vinila.
enerjay guessed: Origin: dominican -
Price: everyday -
Age: 5 years -
Marca: ?? unknown -
Rating: 8/10
insight said: *** insight is sick, passed on this cigar review ***
insight guessed: Origin: n/a -
Price: n/a -
Age: n/a -
Marca: n/a -
Rating: n/a
grateful1 said: It was a very earthy smoke - no dicernable notes of a particular taste. A rather tastless cigar in this respect. A tight draw that
loosened up after a little poke. It was a 'dry' smoke as it didn't illicit more thatn a tobacco note.
grateful1 guessed: Origin: Cuban -
Price: everyday -
Age: 5 years -
Marca: La Gloria Cubana Md'O -
Rating: 5/10
NorCalCigarLover said: 5 3/4 inch, 36 ring. Rough wrapper, veins, greenish spots. Strong, dark, wet wood. Not a lot of flavor but balanced without a lot of spice. A very slight sweetness/perfume taste. Black pepper, espresso with a touch of orange.
NorCalCigarLover guessed: Origin: Cuban -
Price: Everyday -
Age: 10 years -
Marca: Hoyo de Monterrey -
Rating: 4/10
sinnyc said: I know we are not supposed to examine the cigar but I couldn’t help but notice some three dimensional white powderya stuff on the body of the cigar. I find it hard to believe that Moki would send out moldy sticks so I am going to assume it is plume When I opened the bag there were gentle hints of the aroma I often find when opening a box of Cubans - but I am not going to let that lead me anywhere just yet. The construction of this cigar is a bit rough and the wrapper leaf is just starting to come undone about halfway up the body.
It lights easily but the draw is tight so I am having to work it a bit harder than I would have liked. It is so narrow that I can say with certainty I have never smoked one before. The cigar is mild and the taste is quite light – simple tobacco - but there are hints of something in there I can’t put my finger on just yet. Currant? Cherry? Something berry-ish but very subtle. I am not getting any spice or wood or nuttiness at all. Strangely, the smoke is almost refreshing. The smoke off the foot has very faint floral touches. It is such a gentle smoke; I am guessing now that this cigar has some age on it, maybe a lot, but I am afraid I am being led astray by the white stuff I saw on the body. I wish I could take this test blindfolded.
I am liking it just fine for a Saturday morning smoke. I can’t see it as a post-meal smoke at all – far too light - but it has a subtle, non mouth-drying smoke with that flavor I can’t quite pin down – which is great since it keeps me intrigued with a cigar that I might otherwise find a bit too mild. It is too light to be Nicaraguan and doesn’t have the mouth I think of with DR cigars. Although the gambler in me is saying that this is not a good bet, I am going to say this is a Cuban cigar with some age – maybe 5 to 10. Because I am guessing Cuban I am now trying to think of what it might be and I can’t think of many brands that make such a narrow gauge. I don’t think it’s a Trinidad and the only other brand I can think of that makes very narrow gauges is Vegueros, so that’ll be my pick. The flavor stayed consistent throughout although towards the last 1 to 1.5 inches it started to get a touch bitter, probably because I had to draw fairly hard the whole time.
Overall I enjoyed this cigar. It grew on me as I smoked it and I would certainly smoke another.
sinnyc guessed: Origin: Cuba -
Price: everyday -
Age: 7 years -
Marca: Vegueros -
Rating: 7.5/10
Smokyballs said: Earthy, sweet with lots of cedar. Full flavor, dark chocolate, light white pepper. Outstanding cigar!
Smokyballs guessed: Origin: Cuban -
Price: Premium -
Age: 22 years -
Marca: La Gloria Cubana -
Rating: 8/10
tone-ny said: Lancero vitola with a natural wrapper this cigar was an aged specimen. Clean draw on this cigar, its ash was medium grey to black in appearance. Burn was even and consistent throughout and did not need touch ups at all.
Overall tasting of this cigar was an undertone of cinnamon and vanilla, thus giving it a sweetness that was very pleasing. This sweetness remained till the very end. When nosing this cigar it had a mild spice to it initially as it progressed it reminded me of menthol/eucalyptus, pleasing as the cigar matured through the smoking of it. A very well rounded cigar all around and although I am not a frequent smoker of lanceros this was one was a very fine example of the vitola. For my tastes this was a mild to medium bodied cigar. I would take a cabinet of these from the period as this example was an excellent representative.
tone-ny guessed: Origin: Cuban -
Price: Super Premium -
Age: 20 years -
Marca: Cohiba -
Rating: 8/10
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Results Summary
Origin: 8 Cuban, 1 non-Cuban
Price: 0 budget, 6 everyday, 1 premium, 1 super-premium
Age: High: 22 years, Low: 2 years, Average: 8.875 years
Marca: La Gloria Cubana: 3, Por Larranaga: 1, Flor de Cano: 1, Hoyo de Monterrey: 1, Cohiba: 1, Unknown: 1
Rating: High: 8/10, Low: 4/10, Average: 6.25/10
Cigar #1 was actually a:
Cuban H.Upmann Naturales tubos, early 1980s (6.1" x 37) - premium/rare
Who nailed it: Smokyballs, tone-ny came the closest!
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Commentary
Well, almost everyone (except for Enerjay) thought this cigar was Cuban, and they were right! Interestingly, the two who came the closest in terms of guessing the origin and age of the cigar, Smokyballs and tone-ny, were also the two that enjoyed this cigar the most.
Also interestingly, although almost everyone thought this cigar was Cuban, no one got the marca correct, these were a crusty old 1980's box of H.Upmann Naturales, which waited in a tube for almost 25 years for you guys to smoke 'em.
I thought this might be an interesting cigar to start the testing off with... and indeed it was. I was impressed that so many people got that it was Cuban, and also found the range in ratings to be interesting. I wonder if we'll get consensus on any cigars, or if taste will be as disparate as was displayed here.
Not a very good average rating of 6.25/10... so perhaps those of you who did not like this cigar, don't spend a lot of money on very aged cigars! Those of you who did love it... I hope you have an understanding wife...
All in all, well done, gentlemen! Cigar #2 is coming up, should be intriguing!
