RH-5554 vrs. Kristoff
Up above (post #101) I speculated that, based on both the look of the cigars and the descriptions of the blends and flavors, that the Blendlab RH-5554 might be a Kristoff stick in disguise.
Well, yesterday I had a smoke off between an RH-5554 and a Kristoff I got from a B&M. Both have been sitting in the Humi since last Thanksgiving and it was a nice day yesterday so...
Just like the photos I posted, the cigars LOOK very very similar, twisted cap, shaggy foot, even the way the wrapper is on and the vein structure all look similar. The Kristoff was just a little bit darker but if you had these unbanded in your humi, you would not be able to tell them apart easily at first glance.
I started off with the Kristoff. It was a great smoke. Exactly like the Kristoff blurb I quoted above from the Mothership and almost exactly like my review of the RH-5554. Great spice and tobacco flavors that changed and evolved throughout the stick. Lots of lovely smoke, strong ash, etc.
I smoked the Kristoff to just a bit past halfway, then cut off the cherry and blew out to clear the smoke and set it aside.
Cleared my palate as best as I could with some water, and crackers and then fired up the RH-5554. The big difference was the RH-5554 was, very noticeably, not packed as tight as the Kristoff. Although almost the same size, clearly less tobacco in this one. Consequently, the cigar was squishier, draw was much looser, and the ash not as firm.
Other than that, however, I could have been smoking the same stick. The flavors were almost identical. I would say that the Kristoff was just a bit stronger (from more tobacco?) and the RH produced a bit more smoke. But I could not really point out any flavor difference between the two - even the very noticeable pepper at the start that slowly changed about an inch in was just the same.
Smoked the RH down to the nub then fired up the left-over Kristoff. Now a re-lit cigar like that is never going to be quite as good , but i wanted to go straight from one to the other and, sure enough, my initial impressions held.
So, after the taste test I am more convinced than ever: If the RH-5554 is NOT from Kristoff, it sure as heck must be coming from the same factory/farms/rollers or whatever that does produce the Kristoffs for Kristoff!
So, if you are a big Kristoff fan but the price is too high and you see some RH-5554 here going cheap, give them a try and let us know what your think.