That is awesome! Enjoy, nothing better than family time!

ZRX package is all set here and I'll drop it in the mail Monday afternoon........I'll post tracking Tuesday am when I get home from work....
hope your feeling better and it wasn't the flu

Here's my first review, gents.

Cigar #1 looks to be a 6x52 shade-grown. It has a triple cap and aroma is lightly sweet. Not infused-crap sweet. But like a gentle waft of baking bread-smell sweet, with very faint tobacco notes. Well-constructed, firm without being over packed.

I decided on a punch-cut, which gave the perfect amount of draw. Toasting and lighting go off without a hitch. First inch has sweet, light tobacco overtones, with some bitter acrid undertones. After the first inch, the bitterness resolves and the flavor deepens through the first and second thirds. Aroma reminds me of what I imagine bread baking at a barbeque would smell like. Thick, copious smoke. Grey ash holding on nicely. Retrohale is a nice, spicy compliment to the thick, meaty-sweet flavor. Razor sharp burn line.

Honey flavor blossoms at the 2-inch mark. Flavor deepens beyond baking bread to something else. Something more meaty. Like a crusty honey-glaze on a cut of poultry. The ash held on firmly until nearly the 3-inch mark. Spiciness builds significantly into the third third. Nicotine (or possibly lack of sleep) hits. It is pleasant, but don’t ask me to do my taxes or brain surgery. Third third ramps up in spice until it seems like it’s from a different cigar. Very interesting. I put it down with an inch left to go. Temp has dropped outside and my fingers are going numb. Great cigar.

My guess is that it is DE UC Shade...

As usual, I love how the lack of a band increases my mindfulness as I smoke. Thanks, Chazbo! I look forward to reviewing the other two!

Fun read, great review NW!

rmann - just dropped off buddy. 9505 5000 0696 8070 0001 72 eta wednesday. let me know if i missed with the homemade stuff. hope you enjoy

Thx, Shaun. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to taste all that Kohnhed describes in his reviews, but I have fun trying. I just finished another cigar tonight (Surrogates Bone Crusher) while visiting with a friend. Much different experience. I wasn’t as mindful of the flavors because I was focused on my friend and the conversation. Super enjoyable, but in a different way.

Wow...and this is why I didn't play. This is way out of my palate's league. That is some review.

Got a great looking group of cigar from Phil today that included the 3 mystery cigars, PSD4, and a PAM 64 in a fancy square tubo that looks really nice. Also, was a 32 ounce can from Hyperion Brewing of Oatmeal Stout, that should hit the spot! Looking forward to reviewing these cigars. Thanks Phil!!

Just Relax's landed today. Very nice indeed. Bottle of homemade wine, salsa, and peach butter. Along with the three mysteries were 4 other fine cigars.

Ypetryna, yours goes out tomorrow.


David

ZRX box in transit.....9505 5141 8127 8071 1342 17.......due to arrive Thursday

Glad to hear it all made it safely.

Ypetryna,
Package went out today. When looking up your address, I realized that I sent to you last year for this. Hope you like the cigars. Pretty sure that they are all different than the ones I sent last year.

David

Package went out to tampa today. Didn't have a thing local but had something local from tampa. Maybe that still counts.

looking forward to it brother. you sent some excellent smokes last year so im sure i'll enjoy. thank you

DK

Received my package from NWStogie today. Johnson’s Teriyaki Sausage Stix, Deadman’s Reach Coffee (smells amazing), and my five cigars. The two banded are a Davidoff Madison Avenue Exclusive?? And a River Oaks Royal. WOW. I’m really excited to try these.

This was a top-notch box, Matt. Thank you very much. I’m looking forward to doing these mystery reviews!!

Rock on, Brother. I picked up the Davidoff in the Madison Ave Davidoff shop last summer. Let me know what you think of it.

You got it. 👍

Just Relax...number 1 is in the bank. I will post up the review tomorrow.

Yaro, package arrived today.......some nice looking trout flies and floating "fly" worms........they look great, did you tie those yourself?
Nice work! You must have some abundance of patience.
Also some nice looking smokes......looking forward to that Johhny O.....damn that's one long cigar.....
Also the RASS, I've only smoked a couple of Cubans, but never one of them
I'll dig in and smoke one or two of the mystery cigars this weekend and post up the reviews.......Thanks for the oppurtunity

Mystery Cigar #3

Prelight: 5x52ish Robusto; beautiful light tan wrapper with a few veins and almost invisible seams. It feels very soft and smooth to the touch. It reminds me of a nice habano wrapper. It has a very nice pack with some decent weight to it.

First Third: After initial light up the wrapper cracked at the foot and up the side about a half-inch. It looks like it’s gonna affect the burn...maybe should have waited a few more days before reviewing. Right off the bat it has some Cubanesque qualities, but without the twang. Predominant flavors are leather, wood, nuts, and an aged tobacco taste. Creamy smoke. Some of the more subtle flavors that I get on occasion are cinnamon, mild pepper spice, hay, and cognac...oh my! Strength feels like it is leaning more towards medium at the moment. A slight oil-slick now on the tongue and back of the throat.

This thing has a perfect draw and sends billows of smoke throughout the room. The retrohale is smooth to the nose and gives off a slight wood and leather finish. Burn line is definitely off a bit from the crack, but it looks like it’s gonna correct itself...what a cigar! I close my eyes and slowly inhale the waft from the room through my nostrils in an almost meditative state...not bad. I would say that the aroma coming off this cigar is similar to the taste profile. Second retrohale reveals a slight cocoa finish...where did that come from? Burn line is perfect now. This is one of those cigars that you can sit down in the ashtray and come back to 5 minutes later and it will still draw perfectly. I retrohale again and it's not cocoa that I was tasting, but something else...can’t place it.

Second Third: The flavors are still the same as the first third with the addition of a slight hint of maple syrup on the finish of a couple pulls. There is something very subtle going on in the background that I can’t quite identify yet...maybe raisons? Still can’t identify the flavor that I’m getting from the retrohale either...man, I suck at this.

Final Third: Burn line is still perfect. I would say the strength is around medium-full now. The major flavors have not changed much throughout this entire smoke. Still predominantly leather, wood, nuts, and aged tobacco taste. The more subtle flavors have shifted to cocoa. Nothing else really changes down to the nub. Total smoke time was an hour and twenty minutes.

Draw - 2
Smoke Output - 2
Burn - 2
Construction - 2 (not taking off for the initial crack)
Taste - 1.5 (It needed something more to offset the leather and wood notes)
Total 9.5 out of 10

I really enjoyed this cigar and think it’s most likely the “10+” smoke. Blind guess would be a high-end Fuente. I really hope it’s the yard-gar though...hahaha!