Well it appears that "First Sergeant" SPIVY has dropped out of "The Newbie Reviews" due to illness, work and assorted other more pressing matters. So I guess we'll continue with the two remaining "volunteers"!
Cigar #2
pembroke 3355's review:
Thanks again to Jay for this chance(to make a fool out of myself. :laugh: ). I had this cigar with a kick ass cup of Jay's rocket fuel. I found this cigar to have a darkish brown wrapper. It was slightly oily to the touch. It did have some noticeable veins in it.
Pre-light draw reminded me of hay. This cigar was constructed well with no real hard or soft spots. The draw was firm but still produced plenty of smoke.
Aroma was somewhat floral. The first 3rd was mild to medium bodied with a small amount of spice and a little twang to it. The burn was good with a medium grey ash that held well.
The second 3rd still remained mild to medium bodied. Still could get a hint of spice and almost like a citrus taste. Smoke still had no burn issues.
The last 3rd it turned into more of a medium bodied smoke. It also was a more earthy salty like twang to it.
I usually like my sticks to have a little more zip to it but found I enjoyed this one. On a scale of 1-10 I would put this about a 7.
I think this was a mild-medium bodied cuban. Possibly a Saint Luis Rey.
Q_THE_COP's review:
Cigar marked as “#2”
This cigar is not the prettiest that I have seen. It was very pronounced veins that even come to points at the end of the wrapper. It reminds me of if a cigar was wrapped in a bat wing (if you can imagine that). The color was a rich dark chocolate brown. The draw was really tight from the pre-clipped head. The pre-light aroma was that of sweet tobacco. Let’s fire this puppy up!!
The first third was a little daunting. Not only was it mostly plugged, but I could not get one side of the wrapper to light to save my life! It took probably 4 lights with the double torch to get it burning finally. When it did catch, that side of the ash split off (imagine an alligators mouth wide open). When we finally had ignition, I tasted flavors of toast, coffee, and cedar in the background. I would describe the body as medium. The ash was dark gray with a little brown mottled in there.
The second third was still a little tight, and I really had to pull on the thing to get any smoke out of it. For a brief minute I could taste some strong earthiness in the smoke. Like you pick up a hand full of moist potting soil and inhaled. As I let my mouth rest for a minute from all the pulling, I just enjoyed the smell of smoke coming from this cigar. I could smell chocolate, and what I thought was something sweet like caramel. Just for a second I thought I smelled what I would call a barnyard smell. But like I said only for the briefest of seconds. Like I was at a petting zoo or something.
The final third got ruined for me, as my girlfriend decided to come over and start arguing with me because she THOUGHT I made her feel stupid last night. Which I didn’t… Geesh. Anyway, whilst arguing with her I let the thing go out. I purged and relit it, but it tasted like ass. So I had to ditch it. There was only about an inch or so left anyway. The draw never did free up during the whole smoke, which was kind of a bummer, because I was kind of enjoying it.
I would have to say I liked this smoke even though it was a bit plugged. It tasted great and I would definitely try another if I ever got my hands on one. I would have to say that this is a Cuban cigar. In my somewhat limited experience in that area, it has flavors that I would equate to one.
Hope you enjoyed the coffee, it is my own "Breakfast Blend", just enough caffeine to get me moving in the mornings.
It seems that both of our reviewers tasted a lot of the same things in this smoke. Sorry you had so many burn issues with yours Q, I have smoked many of these sticks over the years with not a lot of problems, and would classify it as my "go to" "yard 'gar", as it is a very reasonably priced stick that is, generally, consistent from box to box, and stick to stick.
The smoke reviewed is:
An Arturo Fuente Curly Head Delux Maduro
A Cuban Sandwich cigar made with the cuttings of the regular line of Fuente products wrapped in a long filler leaf with a Broadleaf Connecticut maduro wrapper.
As Q_THE_COP pointed out, there are occasional burn issues with this smoke, but at a $1.50 - $2.00 a stick, I like them for a "yard gar", as I don't get too upset if I drop it into the pool, or run over it with the lawnmower.