El Baton.

Any thoughts? Won a fiver and wondering what to expect.

You'll probably find aged tobacco in a somewhat cylindrical shape. Never had one though so no promises

smoked one years ago...? ....got nothing, so they obviously did not leave an impression...sorry, #7

Meh. A not particularly good, but not utterly terrible, yardgar.

They landed in the CA top 25 a while back, and they're now inexpensive, so I thought I would try them. I figured there must have been something there at one point. How much would they let a blend slide? Enough.

Same w the Gurkha 125 year anni. I figured that because it is the only Gurkha to make the list, they would want to at least maintain the blend, use it to build on. Improve. Nope. The one I smoked was the worst Gurkha I have smoked. (If that tells you anything.)

Crap, ok. Thanks.

I mean, I like the Brazilia, so I am probably going to love these...

[quote=Stogie1020]I mean, I like the Brazilia, so I am probably going to love these...[/quote]

The champagne of cigars.

El Baton was ok nothing special, but better than the Gurk 125th- even the ones they made 4 years ago.

Yeah it was decent. Nothing memorable

Thanks Gents. My expectations will be low.

[quote=LeeBot]Meh. A not particularly good, but not utterly terrible, yardgar.

They landed in the CA top 25 a while back, and they're now inexpensive, so I thought I would try them. I figured there must have been something there at one point. How much would they let a blend slide? Enough.

Same w the Gurkha 125 year anni. I figured that because it is the only Gurkha to make the list, they would want to at least maintain the blend, use it to build on. Improve. Nope. The one I smoked was the worst Gurkha I have smoked. (If that tells you anything.)[/quote]

CA ratings seem to be driven by ad buying.

^Yeah, you certainly have to take them with a grain of salt. I don't put much stock in them as far as one cigar being #4, but another being #15. The taste of a cigar can't be reduced to a number, and tastes vary too much. But I do usually think that if a cigar makes the top 25, it's not a yardgar (at least not at that time). "Supposedly" the tastings are blind, so if that's true, then some people who supposedly know something about cigars think there is something to it.

I find it somewhat suspicious that EP Carrillo has been making regular appearances at the top of CA's list, and among the ones I've smoked, none seemed worthy...

when I'm looking to try a new cigar, besides getting a recommendation from botl here, I like to check a cigar's bonafides by seeing at least three recognized reviewers scoring it highly...

and even then, I will buy a 5er first, before going all in on a box

From now on, I am just going to ask Delta if I should buy it or not...

that's a lotta pressure, #7...but I'll KISS...buy Brazilia!!!

😁

Just smoked one this morning - they have not improved with age.

Years, and I mean years ago, El Baton came in boxes of 40. They were outstanding. Then they kind of disappeared a while and then came back in boxes of 20 or 25. At that time an e-tailer located on a reservation blew out the boxes of 40 for quite a bit less than the newer boxes. I bought several boxes and wished I had bought more. The old ones were like comparing Dom Perignon with Bud Lite.

[quote=delta1]I find it somewhat suspicious that EP Carrillo has been making regular appearances at the top of CA's list, and among the ones I've smoked, none seemed worthy...

when I'm looking to try a new cigar, besides getting a recommendation from botl here, I like to check a cigar's bonafides by seeing at least three recognized reviewers scoring it highly...

and even then, I will buy a 5er first, before going all in on a box[/quote]

I try to follow reviewers that seem to have a similar palate with me. If possible, I’ll go back and read older reviews done by them on cigars I like or even dislike to make sure we’re on the same page. Doesn’t always work as some of them like / love MSA, which I wholeheartedly dislike. But yah, 5er first on new blends unless I’mma 98.2% certain I’mma gonna like it based upon at least a couple of solid reviews.

Mine are from a January 2017 purchase.