OK.....here they are Drnos........
Review of #1:
Two days pass so my head can stop spinning. I pull out this toro gordo, soft and a little underfilled. Draw is predictably easy.
The cigar starts with sweet nutty flavors. All right! This is much more to my liking. A good flavor profile for my tastes.
Burn stays straight all the way thru as the ash shrinks noticably from the diameter of the unburned cigar. About half way thru a little leather taste comes forward as the sweetness fades. This one left my head on my shoulders. No bitterness develops at the end so I smoke it down to about 1" before abandoning it. A good, but not a great, cigar.
This is the third cigar, and I have not found any dramatically good nor bad cigars. Have I thrashed my taste buds? Perhaps. I was tempted to wait on these posts until I smoked the last 3 cigars to make it easier on me. But that would be sort of cheating because my other reviewers posted their reviews as they went.
So here is my third mid-priced cigar, and I know that I have missed something. I reserve the right to re-adjust these ratings at the end.
#1 Graycliff PGX Toro - $14
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Review of #2
Nevertheless, I forge ahead on Sunday with Andy's blind test #2. The wrapper is rough and toothy. This 7" x 54 monster is going to take awhile, so I settle down to watch the second half of the Eagles/Chargers game.
The cigar doesn't look the best, but the pre-light aroma is pretty good. The cut and light deliver a well-drawing cigar that begins with an agreeable sweet and nutty taste.
The burn stays straight on throughout. About 1/2 way the taste changes just a little to more toasty. Beyond the 1/2 way point a little grassiness develops. A very smokeable mild to medium strength cigar.
#2 Consuegra #14 Maduro- $1.80
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Review #3
Head colds have been going around my household, and I've either got a mild one myself or I'm on the edge of getting a big one. But I won't hold up this taste test any longer.
A beautiful triple cap graces this light brown churchill. The clip reveals that this cigar is not too dry, not too wet. The draw is easier than I expected of this large cigar.
The wrapper is fine, some prominent veins are all that keep it from being perfect. Close examination show a few microscopic specks that glisten in the sun. Plume? I don't presume to know for sure. Anything less than my closest examination would have missed them.
It was more difficult to light than most, going out twice before I get the entire end to ash. Smoke is abundant -- smooth, creamy and tasty. Despite its appearance as a fine commie cigar, the flavor does not scream out ISOM to me.
The taste is like cocoa and earth. More like a Cuban than any other place I can figure, but I cannot be sure, especially after tagging one of Eric's P.I.'s as a Cuban (I still think he swapped #1 and #2!).
The taste stays consistent throughout, and the burn stays dead straight. Construction is top notch. The flavor is not the best I have had, but is definitely up there. I did weary of the cigar towards the end; the vitola is bigger than I usually smoke, pressing engagements called, and I think my tasters are a little off.
I would say premium. 7/10.
#3 OpusX PerfectionX - $11.40
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Review#4
This is a very square, very dry maduro torpedo. This thing is so square and so dry that 2 sides are actually concave. I've never seen anything like it before.
The first crispy cut left the draw a little tight, so another cut and the draw is satisfactory. The wrapper is splotchy chocolate, but the flavor is drier: subdued oak flavors with a short finish. Really trying to discern the flavors, but this smooth cigar lacks a strong personality.
What it lacks in personality it more than makes up for in sheer power. Started this one on an empty stomach, but 1/2 way thru and I'm looking for something to settle my poor tummy. Nicaraguan ligero? Not sure, but Andy must like strong cigars because this is the second one that kicked my a$$. This one liked to kill me and ruined me for cigars for two days. (This cigar is why the reviews slowed down!)
Very difficult cigar for me to judge. I've never seen a cheapie with this much potency. And the shape automatically removes it from the bottom tier. But the flavors just did not seem there for a top end, so I say a mid-priced cigar that just is not for me. A 4/10 for people that like them strong. If it's offered to me again, I'd just pass and go hide behind my mother's skirt.
#4 Nestor Maduro - $1.99
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Review #5
Ever since #4, I approach each of Andy's cigars with caution. Another cigar like that and I may not live to tell the tale.
This mid-dark torpedo has a delicious pre-light aroma. The smoke itself has a fine woodsy smell as well.
The cut and draw are fine. No complaints about the construction. The wrapper is a bit of a puzzle: darker than CSW but not quite to normal maduro shade. Probably a sun-grown, I think, but the weight of the wrapper leaf doesn't strike me as particularly heavy.
The flavors are nicely complex, with subtle tones of wood and nuts. The flavors are present from the beginning, no playing coy here.
I enjoy this cigar from the beginning, but tire of it by midway. I don't know if this says more about me or about the cigar. It is not "nub-worthy" so I abandon it.
Just being brutally honest here, I haven't really enjoyed a cigar for the past week. As I wrote above, I have a mild head cold, but nothing major. Before I try Andy's last offering, I am going to smoke a known cigar to see if I am off or if the cigars are off.
Under the circumstances (whatever they are) I give this a 5/10. A very middle of the road cigar.
#5 5 Vegas Limitada 05 - $5
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Review #6
Dark and fat torpedo feels hard but the draw is perfect. The wrapper is not as dark as maduro, but definitely a shade or two darker than Conn shade. This may be a sun grown or corojo.
The taste is earthy, a little charry, but has a fine licorice finish. Flavor doesn't change throughout. Not bad, but not top notch either.
The burn is crooked for the first half, but evens itself up eventually. The flavor is mid strength, but the body is strong. This is a powerful diuretic/bladder irritant! Smoke this close to the facilities. Only two other cigars I've smoked had this effect: the Joya de Nicaragua Antano and the Edge. This must be a nic-bomb like those two.
I call it a mid-priced. 4/10
#6 AF Cuban Beli - $4.75
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BTW......thanks again for letting me play!!....andy
