Cohiba Siglo II

Cohiba Siglo II

5" × 42

Made in Cuba
Paid: $17 CDN from local B&M.  Just cracked open the box for me.

Drink: Diet Pepsi

After trying my first Cohiba last night, the Panetela, I was very excited to get this one lit.

Once again, the construction is perfect.  The draw is great, and smoke is very creamy.  This cigar pretty much gave me the same experience as the Panetela.  The taste is identical, of rich tobacco, leathery flavour, though the Panetela seemed to have a stronger flavour.  The same spice was left on the tip of my tongue when it was finished.  The only addition was that of wood to the profile.  Again, no harshness, or ammonia at all.

Very nice cigar from start to finish, though I expected more in the way of flavour.  That may be due to how young the cigar was.  Definitely a medium strength cigar, that needs to be taken slowly to avoid getting overwhelmed by the tobacco.  I will try, and get my hands on several of these to put away and age.

In my opinion, as a new cigar smoker, I would recommend these to others new to cigars.  You won't be turned off.

Cohiba Panetela

Cohiba Panetela

4½" × 26

Made in Cuba
Paid: $9 CDN

Drink: Water

I set out with the intent to smoke a Siglo II, but already smoked a Bolivar Corona Junior today, and decided to grab this one instead, as I didn't want to over due it.

This is my first Cohiba, and I am very impressed.  The construction is flawless.  It lights, and burns flawless.  Everything about this smoke was flawless.  The draw seemed a little tight near the beginning, but opened up quickly. 

The flavour was a nice, smooth, rich leathery-tobacco.  I have never had a cigar that tasted like this.  Very distinct.  Not even a hint of harshness, despite it smoking so fast, and being a very small vitola. In the end, it left a nice taste of spice and sweetness on the front of my tongue.

I have one more of these, but don't think I'll buy anymore, only because it's to small.  It felt like it had a 15 minute smoke time at best.  Great smoke, just not enough of it.  Plus the price is a little steep for such a short smoke.

  

To date, this is the best cigar I've had.  I don't know what else to say.  I now understand why the Cohiba is the pinnacle of cigars.  I can't wait to try Cohiba's other cigars.  I would recommend this to any beginner.

Noris Corona

Conona 4 1/3 x 38

Made in Dominican Republic
Paid: $60 USD for a box of 25

I picked these up last year from the local shop on resort in Punta Cana (Barcelo Premium Resort).  I tried a few local brands like Vista Real, Santa Ana, and this one, Noris.  Noris is a local cigar company in the Dominican Republic, in the Bavaro area near Punta Cana.

The construction is very nice.  The wrappers are a claro color, perhaps a Connecticut shade wrapper, but I couldn't confirm that.  Some of the cigars have a blue/green tinge in spots on the wrapper, mostly seen in the vein lines in spots.  A little google research shows this has something to do with chlorophyll retention, and does not appear to affect flavour.

I've had about a dozen of these, and they burn great, and seem to get better every time I smoke one. The draw is always perfect.

For the price, these are great cigars.  Very mild.  The flavour is very sweet, with no harshness.  The aroma they give off is great.  A sweet, almost vanilla flavour is in the smoke,  like burning incense.  

Shortly after starting the last third, I find they tend to get harsh quickly, possibly from me drawing to hard on them.  Seeing as you end up paying only a few bucks per stick, it's not hard to put it down, and walk away.

If your in the Dominican Republic, and see them kick around, I suggest you grab a few for a couple of bucks, and give them a shot.  I found all the local brands I tried were decent.  The price of cubans isn't much cheaper there, and the chance of counterfeits is high, so you might as well go for something different.

Bolivar Corona Junior

Bolivar Corona Junior 
4 3/8 x 42

Made in Cuba

Paid: $7 CDN
Age: Purchased yesterday from local B&M

Drink: Water

In my hunt to find a petite corona to buy a box, and put away, I'm giving this one a try based on good reviews.

The draw, and construction looks perfect.  The burn was was fairly uneven, and had to be corrected drastically twice.  The smoke was really thick, and cloudy.

The inhale was much better then the exhale.  The dominant flavour was a toasted sawdust aroma, much like cutting a bunch of 2x4's.  Not quite that pleasant but close.  I could tell this cigar was young, as I did detect a slight ammonia aroma throughout, but it didn't nearly detract from the smoke, like I had with the Montecristo Open Junior the day before.  Pretty one dimensional flavour wise.

This cigar left a mild mushroom after taste on my tongue, which I was unsure if I enjoyed or not. (EDIT: I've finally come to learn that mushroom taste is earthiness.  Had a buddy help me out with that, cause he thought I was crazy, so we shared a cigar.)

It felt like a mild strength smoke, and the last third seemed the most enjoyable.  Despite the burn issues, and slight ammonia odor, I found this smoke pleasant, and would consider revisiting again down the road.  I think a little time on this cigar would make a huge difference.

Right now I would rank the Montecristo No 5 way ahead of this one, but I have still yet to try the Partagas Short, or Siglo I, which are next on my petite cigar hit list.

Montecristo Open Junior

Montecristo Open Junior
Petite Conona 4 1/3 x 38

Made in Cuba

Paid: $10 CDN
Age: Purchased today from local B&M
Drink: Diet Pepsi

These have been sitting at a local B&M in an open box for awhile.  I've checked out the reviews, and the common theme was it's a beginner cigar.  As such it's received poor reviews from everyone who is a seasoned cigar smoker, but I've never heard from a new smoker... which I am.  My local B&M tried to steer me away from this purchase, as he thought it was too mild, and has not had good feedback from customers.

The draw was fairly tight, and the burn was uneven from start to finish.  Gave off decent smoke.  It burned quick, and lasted about 45 minutes.

The first half was OK.  It's very mild.  There was no harshness to it, and has a predominant woody flavour, and that's about it.  By the second half, it went out about 4 times, which ruined it for me.  I ended up putting this cigar down at the last inch.  The second half appeared to have no flavour at all.

I don't know if I would call this cigar smooth.  My main beef with this smoke was the unbelievably strong ammonia odor it gave off.  I have heard people complain of the smell with other cigars, but yet to ever experience it myself.  Made it very difficult to be around the lingering smoke, and made the experience on the whole unpleasant.  I understand this is from being a young smoke, but it's been sitting in his humidor for about a year now.

I simply cannot recommend this cigar.  If this was handed to me a year ago as an intro to cigars, I would not think to continue, and assume cigars were not for me.  Perhaps with a few years of aging the ammonia will go away, and become enjoyable. With the Montecristo No. 5 in the same size and price range, the Open Junior is disastrous, and really doesn't have a niche if it lack's flavour for a seasoned smoker, yet to young to be enjoyed by a new comer.

Quintero Londres Extra

Quinter Londres Extra

Petite Conona 4 7/8 x 40
Made in Cuba

Paid: $5 CDN
Age: Purchased  about 6 months ago at Holy Smokes (Run out of Loblaws Superstore)
Drink: Ice Water & Diet Pepsi

I'm not going to bother going long on this one.  It's a piece of crap. Move on with your day, if you don't care to read more. 

The guy recommended these, along with the Guantanamera brand as a 'good beginner smoke'.  So I bought two.  I smoked one that day, and I was disgusted.  Had this been my first cigar, I would have never picked up another cigar again.  Anytime I here someone at a cigar shop recommend me these, or the Guantanamera brands, I immediately do not trust their opinion.  I think they are just trying to move a crappy product out on the back of my inexperience.

Six months did nothing to change my opinion, or make this cigar any better. It's really, really bland, and flavourless.  By the end you just taste cigar ash.  It's very mild, and if you told me it was filled with paper, I would not be surprised.  I didn't even taste a hint of tobacco, nor feel the affects. 

I will give it some positive feedback.  The smoke is super thick, and the ash hung on till the half way point, as you can see in my pics.  The smoke left no lingering bad odor (Thank God), and it left no bad after taste in my mouth.  It didn't hurt the pocket book to much either.  

Another positive... it's no longer in my humidor!!!; There will never be another.  I still have two Guantanemera's left, and I'm not looking forward to smoking them. 

In my opinion, if your new to cigars, spend the extra $5 to $10, and go with the respected names, like Bolivar, Montecristo, etc...  The Por Larranga Panetela's, while slightly smaller, are super cheap in this cigar's price range, and far superior, if your looking for an everyday decent cheap cigar.

Casa Magna Colorado Pikito

Casa Magna Colorado 
Pikito 4 3/4 x 42
Made in Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan

Paid: $9 CDN
Age: Purchased late 2010 from the Cigar Studio.
Drink: Ice Water & Diet Pepsi

Bought this a couple months ago on the recommendation of my local cigar store, with the tag of being Cigar Aficionados 2008 Cigar of the Year .

The First Two Thirds
Very smooth.  I was told it's a medium to full strength, but it came across as mild.  I had no problem taking in deep long draws, and got very subtle peppery sensations in the nose on the exhale.  Overall I got a mild woody, and sweet flavour, but it was for the most part bland, and unexciting.

Gave off nice thick smoke, but the burn was pretty uneven, and I made numerous corrections.  The draw was also very tight.  Twice I got the cutters out, and opened it up a little more, but it didn't seem to help much.

For the most part uneventful, and I was left very unimpressed.

The Final Third
This is what made the cigar a happy ending.  For the first time I actually tasted subtle, very sweet caramel tastes every few draws.  I've never had that taste in any cigar, EVER!!!  I was very excited.  The lingering smoke also turned very sweet with a caramel aroma.  I ran to my small powder bathroom, and hot boxed myself for a bit to fully enjoy it.

This was also my undoing.  By the very end I was really feeling the nicotine, as I was drawing to quickly to re-experience the caramel flavours.  I never had a sick feeling, but went to bed shortly after.  I woke up the next morning with a hang-over type headache, deep in the center of my eyeballs.  I've never had this happen before, and not sure if I can attribute it to the cigar.

Overall
I was happy to finally taste a caramel flavour in a cigar.  If the whole cigar was like that I would do my best to obtain this cigar in quantity.  For now I'm going to go by another pikito, and the Robusto version, and let it sit in my humidor, and revisit this cigar again next summer perhaps.  Maybe age will make it even better.

Cusano 59 Rare Cameroon Robusto Review

Cusano 59 Rare Cameroon 
Robusto 5x50
Made in Dominican Republic
Wrapper: African Cameroon
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Domincan with a wrapper leaf.

Price: $10 CDN - These were on special, regular $12.

Age: Purchased early February from Cigar Studio, and sat in my humidor for a few weeks.

Drink: Ice Water & Diet Pepsi with Spiced Rum

The cigar lit well, but my torch lighter started to die, and I had to get the flame right on it to get it going.  This also caused an uneven burn right off the hop.  The first few draws were harsh. My first thoughts were, 'This is going to be brutal'. After it settled down, I got a predominant wood flavour, like cedar.  It also had a sweet taste in there with some spiciness.  The burn also evened out nicely by itself after several more draws.

I found I had to really slow my pace.  Taking shallow to medium draws, and not letting to much in or out my nose really allowed the wood flavour to come out, and be enjoyed.  Otherwise a nice full draw came off as really caustic, and harsh.  

At about the half way point, I got a little distracted, and slowed down for a bit. I was surprised it went completely out on me.  After the relight, it was crap tasting really harsh, and ashy.  I ended up digging out the ash to about the last third, and gave it another relight.  This worked, and the wood flavours were out again, but I still kept getting the occasional harsh draw.  A few times I had to gargle some water, and breath in some fresh air to clean out the taste.  I also got a really dry for the final third.

The smoke that came off was fairly thick, but had a fairly bad aroma, one I would relate to a stinky cheap cigar.  I often enjoy the aroma of the lingering smoke, and have no problem temporarily walking through the house with a cigar, but not the case here.  Definitely one I would keep out doors.

I smoked it down to the nub.  All in all I would say it was an OK experience, that may have been better had the cigar not gone out half way through.  The predominant flavour is definitely woody, with sweetness, and spice from start to finish.  I got a moderate nicotine buzz near the end, that bordered on uncomfortable. 

There is nothing that would make me want to go out, and buy more, especially considering there is so much out there to try, and the expense involved.

My Cigar Smoking Credentials

Practically None.  I'm in my mid thirties, and never smoked a cigarette in my life, other then a drag here or there in my teens... to see what my friends were enjoying so much.  It disgusted me (and still does to this day).

I started smoking cigars about a year ago, mostly local brands purchased from the Dominican Republic, like Santa Ana, Vista Real, and Noris.  In total I have smoked less then 50 cigars in total.  Now that my supply of cigars from the DR have run low, I have begun purchasing cigars from local humidors in the Greater Toronto Area.  I've bought based on their recommendations, reviews read online, and price. (Cigars are disgustingly expensive in Canada.  Cohiba BHK 52's and Padron No. 45 are selling in the $100 range).

My hope is my experiences will be useful to other new comers to the hobby from someone who is not a connoisseur, or expert, as I have found my experiences vastly different from those who do regular reviews.

Enjoy