Final guesses (drum roll)

#1 something by Roma craft and mid range
#2 pam64 Maduro (high end)
#3 I'm going to risk embarrassment and say it's a Dominican hybrid that I've never had before and was a lower end cigar that out performs its price range and is a good option for someone who likes a very sweet cigar

#1 pepin blue (original) toro
#2 padron family reserve no 45 maduro
#3 puros huerfanos by drew estates.

The fact # 3 didn’t put out a lot of smoke sucks. It must have been a dud. They’re usually more than plentiful with smoke.

I honestly thought I might have been able to trick you with that one. I smoke them a fair amount. Usually the smoke output is absurd.

Good guesses gummy. Glad you enjoyed them. I sent you another pepin blue in corona. I like that cigar very well

---

You had the order correct. Pretty damn close with the padron.

---

Im embarrassed I missed the blue. I've smoked through at least a box and a half of those.

I've never had a family reserve and almost wrote that I could be smoking one on #2 but wasn't sure. For those of you who have had a bunch of them do you find them similar to the standard anniversaries? I find most padrons to be pretty similar but haven't had any family reserves until the other day.

Clintcigar's box landed sometime today. Just saw it on my desk in the basement now. Like most of us, this boy can't count. But he really can't count. The fiver is a tenner....

Nothing in the rest is anything I've had before.

Flores y Rodriguez Connecticut valley reserve with a blue label
Frat Ello gigantic cigar of some sort.
SLR natural broadleaf
La Herencia oscuro
Balmoral oscuro
Flores y Rodriguez Connecticut valley reserve with a red label
El Borracho something.

None of these have crossed my path, so I'm assuming the blinds are gonna be firsts too.

Fratello is The Texan
Balmoral is the Anejo XO Oscuro
Dapper El Borracho

I'll post a pic of the unbanded with the numbers and bands once smoked. 🇨🇮

Enjoy!

👍

Starting on number 1. A short robusto, dark in color but not quite black. Clearly visible seams and veiny leaves. I prefer coronas and short robs so this should be right up my alley. Live posting the review on my phone in the garage. Will edit the post many times.

Pretty strong hay aroma precut.

Cold draw is pretty flat. A little hay/barnyard but not much.

First light very mild, but a harsh bite on retrohale. Not peppery, more just burnt wood. Smells of sweet light wood. Flavor is dry, mild, sweet and fleeting. I've not had this one before.

Ash is very loose and flakey. Flavor is getting richer. Reminds me of a LA Palina black label. Had one of those walking a golf course in Florida and I'm getting memories of that.

Flavor is still pretty barnyard/ hay and overall dry. Less harshness though, usually these flavors are accompanied by hot and harsh. So far it's relatively smooth, but quite dry/astringent.

Seems the prelight draw and the inch-in draw taste pretty similar. It's not bad, I'm gonna peg this one as the yard gar or maybe midrange. Nothing interesting happening as it burns down. But the burn line is razor sharp. Construction has me leaning to mid range. Flavor keeping me on the lower end. It's a one note smoke, I'm about halfway.

Just past halfway and it's changed. I'm really liking this now. Much less dry, more rich. Smoke production is minimal, not in line with the flavor. Lots of dark flavors nothing offensive. Almost fruity, but still kinda dry.

In the final inch its gone a little sour and more horse chit vs hay. I'm putting it down now.

It changed gears once, didn't have the first/second/third. Imma peg no1 as low-mid for now. Will place the peg more appropriately after the others. It was pretty one dimensional, well constructed, and inoffensive.

Glad you enjoyed gummy! I really liked the smokes I got from you. Funny I never smoked Cuban but got both Cubans correct. Lol. I’m gonna have to see if I can find a few more to add to the stash. I do have some just hadn’t tried them yet.

---

Imma do #2 tonight. Another robusto dark brown. Smells like hay and raisins. Jagged single cap. Wrappers got some veins but no tooth. Cold draw is sweet raisins. This might be a RB Genesis.

First light lots of woody flavor. Picking up some of the sweet raisin on the finish. A bit of pepper on retrohale but it's got a creaminess that I absolutely love. Cigars that coat the mouth like this are my favorite. It's like the insides of a Cadbury egg.

An inch in and its still tasting like a confectioners cigar. The burn line is razor sharp but the ash is splitting outward. Tons of smoke coming off the foot while resting. But the wrapper doesn't look oily enough for that. There's a slight sheen ahead of the burn line, but not sweating oil like a DE product.

Loads of sweet dark flavor like the innards of a fig Newton.

I'm still thinking this is an OR Genesis or a Tuxedo. Been a while since I've had either but the flavor vs appearance puts them in the running.

I've been out here for an hour and just hit the last 2". It's starting to get sour. Might be rushing it as I've grown a bit bored. I enjoyed this one too.

I'm gonna say this one's a low end ringer. Appearance isn't above entry level, but flavor and performance are mid-high. May change my mind after #3.

I’m at my local shpo, I’m gonna hit #2 tonight.

Nice reviews danm!

^ditto!

You go get ‘em Z!!!

RMAN443

I smoked #1 blind cigar (April 9)

4 7/8" in by 54

It looks like a sun grown wrapper. Looks like Undercrown Sun Grown

Clod draw
Little tight - cream, leather, nut

First 1/3
Pepper / cream / leather/ nut / toasted taste
Even burn - tightly wrapped - then started burning uneven

This taste like an Undercrown Sun Grown

Second 1/3
Little pepper / big leather taste / nut
The burn evened out

Last 1/3
Cream/ leather/ nut
Even burn

The cigar producted good smoke

It was smooth and good cigar. This should be the mid range cigar.

https://imgur.com/gallery/nZQbnKV 

Blind cigar #2

5x50 robusto light splotchy brown wrapper with a double cap, light glue markings where the band used to be. Almost no veins and barely visible seams. Preflight draw is sourdough and cinnamon. Paired with a Edmond’s Oast Brewing Bound By Time IPA and my Cake Pandora station.

1/3rd : like a salty graham cracker almost zero pepper, it’s very interesting and I love it except it has a weird oaky/pencil eraser finish. Beer is excellent. Burn is wavy and the ash is silver grey with black accents. It’s burning fast and that weird note is beginning to take over the salty graham cracker. Tastes like a Nicaraguan with an Ecuadorian grown wrapper.

2/3rd : no major changes, I miss how this started. The ash is getting stronger by the minute not helping my optimism. The beer is really good! If I’d have paid for this cigar I would have stopped by now to light something else.

3/3rd : some sweetness coming back but no other positive improvements and my taste buds feel shot. Feeling a bit of nicotine sneak in. Close to 2” left and I’m feeling defeated. This tastes like someone tried way to hard to blend something “cubanesque”. Got it to an inch and a half and I’m done.

Guess? Budget cigar. Brand? No clue....really. I’m assuming I’ve never had one before because I don’t remember anything like it. It started really good. But from there not so much.

danmdevries package landed today.

Damages:

http://warriorbreaks.com/misc/cigars/SpringBlindTasting2021_danmdevries.jpg 

1, 2, 3 unbanded mysteries. From appearance only it looks like 1 is high, 2 is mid and 3 is errday.

Stow aways:
Dunbarton Todos Las Dias - had
Boneshaker Full Body Cast - had
Viaje Summerfest 2012 ?? - nh (I've only had the 2020 and 2018)
Crowned Heads Las Mareas Olas ?? - nh


Thank you Dan for the awesome extras! Reviews to come... 🇨🇮

I’ll be grilling soon I will try to get #3 in so that I can open the envelope.

Review#3

The last time I was with a cigar.

She was nude when she came to me. I'm glad. She had beautiful, smooth, dark skin. No visible veins. A square-ish body, but I like that. I think she was Dominican.

I knew she was out of my league as soon as I saw her, but I didn't care. She was mine for a while.

The smell of her foot reminded me of the chewing tobacco at an old country store surviving from the 1940s, the kind with lead paint and a paper calendar from the local drug store on the wall.

I put my mouth on her and breathed her in. At first she tasted like pepper, but that went away quickly. She was smooth and silky. Never harsh.

Although she looked great, beautiful, classy, sophisticated, and performed admirably, we really just didn't click. I don't think it was her fault. She was just too subtle for me. Too sophisticated. I'm a complex guy with simple tastes. It's a shame. It's almost as if part of me knew the whole time that I wasn't good enough for her.

(I thought her ash was a little soft, but I wasn't going to tell her that. Now that we're not together anymore, I don't care.)



So, that's my take on the three mystery cigars.
#1 - Honduran yardgar
#2 - Mid-level cigar - Nicaraguan, Dominican (and maybe some Peruvian, help me out here)
#3 - More expensive cigar - Dominican

That's the final verdict.

And I'm not hedging, BUT, it was a close call for me between 2 and 3. I liked #2 the best. It was more to my taste, and I thought more complex, more interesting. The appearance and subtly of #3 made me think it was probably the more expensive cigar.

Now Ron can reveal that I don't know Jackchit about cigars.😊