We heard you the first time.

Just Relax: Sorry about the late follow-up to your final review. I’m not lurking as much, these days. And for some reason, the email alerts are hit and miss.

Drum roll...

1. Isabela Cigar Shape-Shifter. Mid-range at $9 online. Gave the Katman some serious wood, with a 100 rating. A different cigar for me. Jury is still out.

2. Eighty5 Boa Vida. Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson’s cigar company. High end at $18 from my local shpo and about $17 online. First one I had was gifted to me at my local lounge. Amazing cigar experience for me.

3. Edgar Hoill Everyday Hustle. Low-end. Discovered last year when Phil222 sent it to me in the mystery review. I believe that I, too, thought it was the high end. Loved it & vowed to buy s box. (A box of 24 is currently on sale at the mothership for about $10 more than a decent CBid price.) By the typical fiver, these run about $5.75 for this vitola.

Great reviews, my friend. Glad you like the coffee. If you like that, Ezra has a coffee of the month club. Good stuff.

High End is the Yard Gar and the low end is the #1???..............Wow....I also guessed that my low end was the high end..........is there a trend here?

I did that last year too...

The 85 was a very good cigar. I was secretly hoping that was the one I would be able to pick up for a song and was going back and forth on this being the high end. I let the appearance dictate my decision.

The Everyday Hustle was a pretty good smoke. I think that's a fair price for the cigar. I tend to underrate high end stuff so figured this was the gotcha cigar of the group.

I agree on the shape shifter. It was very memorable and not what a typical cigar tastes like. It would be a once a year when the mood is perfect cigar. Definitely not a normal rotation choice.

Very good choices and I really enjoyed smoking and thinking about these. I really hope yours turn up.

Friendly PSA: Nic 3K's from 3 or more years ago are NOT the Nic 3K's that they sell today. There has been a steep, disappointing decline in the past year and a half. Was a time that I thought this was the single best value available from auctioneer.....and I have smoked over a half dozen bundles. Now, the old flavor is gone...new flavor is not entirely objectionable, but not very good - and worse, it is impossible to get one to burn even close to even.

To first say – been congested for the last few weeks, and unable to kick it. hard to find subtle flavors. All 3 had a been prevailing earthiness and leather to them. i also may have swapped the #'s for the torp and toro, if so my bad.

Appearance
#1 – Churchill, possibly a Colorado wrapper. Good construction but 2 large veins throughout the wrapper.
#2 box pressed torpedo, jet black wrapper, possibly maduro. Good construction
#3 toro, darker wrapper, possibly missing a pig tail cap. Good constution.

Initial thought are the Toro is the high end, the box press is the mid range and the Churchill is the yard gar off the initial appearance.
In smoking order:
Toro- stowed this little rascal away on a trip. Smoke last Saturday at a bar in Omaha. Pair with Macallan 12 y.o. 1st 3rd flavors were leather and earth, the smoke was cool, I did not pick up much spice, which is always my 3rd biggest prevailing flavor. The macallan might be culprit there. 2nd third I think I am getting some espresso on the retro hale, and I tad of spice with the bitter. No burn issues, and I first suspected it it was some kind of a drew estate, but I usually get huge smoke outputs from them, and this isn’t that much so now im not sure. The final third the cigar became passed around in a group while I went to the bathroom and became very hot and never recovered. Thoroughly enjoyed up until this point. Ended up nubbing at about an inch. I would guess an Nica rustica sure to size and pigtail, and similar to one I had years back. Congestion probably from the flight and being tired didn’t give me much more apart from earthy leather, and coffee was always on mind with retro hales, spice could have been there, but also could have been from the scotch. The heathens who helped themselves also enjoyed this one.

Torp- sweetness is coming off this thing like none other. Based off appearance and shape, I really wanna guess this is an MB3, but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a padron. Heavy sweetness off the cold draw and I may have cut too severe of an angle because it’s a tad wide open. the wrapper smells like vanilla bean. The 1st third is full of earthy sweetness. Getting a side that is lagging on me, and could be the cut. Open draw is getting it a bit warm, so the smoking is slower. The sweetness does not go away, and its pleasant. A couple retrohales and I’m picking up milder pepper, almost like ground white pepper, not at all in your face. Same profile throught the entire 2nd third, but needed a relight and then later a cut. After trying to relight, bitterness and heat became he prevailing taste. This was then fed to the charcoal grill as a sacrifice for my stupid cutting.

Churchill
Entirely reminded me of RyJ. A lot like a Viejo, but it wasn’t box pressed so it cant be that but I think its in the family portfolio. Paired with a hell or high watermelon. Throughtly enjoyed this one the most out of the bunch. Complete medium as I was nubbed, and I was still fully fine. The flavor profiles remained the same with the eathry leather throught the smoke. Retrohales were noticeable with spice, first developing from a mild white, to a more direct fresh ground black towards the end, but none of it was too intense. This lasted for 3 periods of the sharks – knights game and was a great smoke. I think there could have been some sublte floral hints, but after grilling a for a few hours earlier, subtle hints were difficult to pick up on. It truly did remind or RyJ so that will be my official guess. A 1875


so the guesses based on look

Yard - churchill
Mid - toro
High - toro

and taste

Yard - torp
Mid - toro
High - churchill

been a long time since i nubbed a churchill and fully enjoyed. thanks for the smokes. also loved the beer man.

curiuos to see how i failed.

Yaro, glad to see you back and doing better. Got your PM but your box is full.

Guess based on looks, you were dead on (assuming it was same as first guess - check typo on second reference).

Toro............High End - Dirty Rat, apparently the give-away fantail on cap broke off. Had my first one in a prior Mystery trade and really liked it.

Torp............Mid Range - Herrera Estelli Norteno, Don't let these get too hot, V cut way to go. Since I am not very nicotine tolerant, I smoke these (and the rat above) very slowly - I think it tastes better that way. A solid mid priced cigar that you can occasionally get a good deal on. My first one of these was after a chest cold and no cigar for several weeks. Thought it was a great cigar - still like em but no cigar is as awesome as after a hiatus. Sorry it had opposite effect after your cold.

Churchill...........Low End (mainly because the Churchill size is not popular and I bid low). Hoyo de Monterey Excaliber maduro from General Cigar (your RjY 1875 guess would have been dead on guess if it was an Altadis brand. I bought these because a friend smokes nothing but these and in his mind he has settled into the perfect cigar and does not experiment. The concept fascinated me (as i rotate alot and dont go for a lot of General Cigars) so I tried one. I liked it enough to snag a box of these at a good price ($74.50). I guess if you went by retail price, you would be paying mid range - but I wouldn't. I figured I would do my friend a favor and offer to do a box split with him but he then indicates that he only smokes toro size! Got to admire someone who knows EXACTLY what they want and is willing to pay for it.

Cleared the box out, sorry.

The fantail would have been a dead giveaway for sure, would have dragged out one I have to compare had it been there but I wanted to fully guess, not compare and contrast. Woulda figured for more smoke thou from a DE, maybe it didn't like the flying.

I have never had an norteno, and don't recall an esteli, so more curious now to try the Miami. Really was thinking mb3 or a padron from smell and construction, but forgot to count the caps. I'm just **** with torps.

I'm wierd, I get congestion for weeks are time, but no cold really. Just ****s up my ability to taste. Ain't no one got time to be sick.

That churchill surprised me. That's an AJ blend no? I do like his stuff. May have to try the other sizes. Really thought it was a 1875 lol

Thanks again man

I think this Hoyo is an original legacy brand with a broadleaf Connecticut Maduro wrapper. You are thinking of the AJ collaboration on Hoyo La Amistad, which I have never had.

Another great collection of blind reviews. I think we will get at least one more straggler in to finish this off.

better late than never

glad you are feeling better

Found! This is a copy and paste of an email I sent to Ypetryna.

I was moving furniture in the living room when I happened to look on the mantle shelf, above the fireplace. There sat your finger bag of cigars, along with your envelope.

The bag and cigars were a little worse for wear, with lots of kitty tooth marks. Every cigar had holes poked in them. Some were missing small chunks where they had been chewed a bit. I should’ve taken a picture.

I went from the triumphant feeling of finding them to a sinking feeling in my gut when I realized what condition they were in. Not wanting some miss out on some fine cigars, I decided to attempt a resurrection.

I started out with some AJF Shadow Kings, which are one of the tastiest inexpensive cigars, based on my palate. I misted them with distilled water, carefully removed their caps and then carefully unrolled their wrappers. Once they were off, I misted them to get them uniformly damp. Then, using some cigar glue, I either patched with the wrapper where I could or actually re-rolled another wrapper onto the damaged cigar.

Cigars are now resting for a couple of months, in my humi, rehydrating.

My wife thought I was crazy, with the potential for cat spit, etc. I figure the process of burning them while I smoke them will kill anything, so it won’t be a big deal.

One of my cats will go nuts when I come in after having a cigar, attempting to smother my face with his grooming. But he’s not the climber. The other one who could care less is. Definitely cat chewing. And I have a vague recollection of your cigars and the mantle, now that I’ve found them.

That’s the story. Don’t know how they will smoke. I’ll let you know how they are when I do.

Thx again for the cigars, Brother Yaro. I’m sorry I misplaced them.

Forgetful Mattster

that darn cat!

that's quite an extra layer of mystery added to the Spring Mystery Cigars saga...hope the three mystery smokes withstood the carnage and didn't turn into cat rockets...


is Frank still withdrawing?

Almost there...

Glad to hear you haven't kept them in your OUCH all this time.....8-[

Me, too. I'd have a lot of 'splaining to do.

Poor deprived kitty cat just wants a relaxing smoke. Did he/she indicate which ones tasted high, mid, and yard gar?

Nope. She's saying nothing. Delta: I will let you know if my cat turns up with your daughter's keys...

After sharing this, I couldn't wait anymore. Since the MB3 needed the least amount of repair, I decided to smoke it. Tasted great!

Here is a link to a photo of the others I repaired:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/b4tHZPodrckZjfh49 

The CH was in the worst shape and I ended up rolling an entire wrapper onto it. The others were able to be patched.. As you can see, I opened Yaro's envelope and got the bands, so there is no more mystery to me regarding what they were before they met Maple the cat.

The real mystery will be how the rest of them smoke. I will post up when I do.

Mattster the Repairer

Fantastic twist Matt. Glad they were found!