Ramón Allones Celestiales Finos OMA AGO 09

[ayepatz]

I’d like to thank our wonderful friend @JohnS for gifting me this cigar. It’s another example of a cigar that I would not have had a chance to sample but for the generosity of a fellow FOHer.

Construction seems impeccable.

Pre-light - cut with a small punch. Easy draw with hints of tea, hay and cedar.

1st third - Boom! Wakey-wakey! Starts out pretty strong. Almost NC-like ashy flavour. Settles over the course of this first third, with stonefruit/apricot, doughy bread and cedar coming to the fore. I don’t yet get the leather, chocolate, or cocoa that John alluded to in his informative video review here:-

 

2nd third - cream, stewed fruit, and leather coming through now, strength settling to just under medium. Hints of cherries. Still no chocolate or cocoa for me.

3rd third - cream and stewed cherry-fruit predominating. Burn has been good throughout, with only one relight necessary - my fault for letting it go out. Quick purge, and it’s leather, cream, and stewed cherries all the way. Still not much in the way of chocolate or cocoa, however that might just be down to my weird palate, which rarely gets those flavours, even in Montecristo. 

Summary - A very enjoyable cigar. Unlike most cigars, this almost smoked backwards in terms of character, by which I mean that the first third was all elbows and knees like a young cigar, and things just got progressively smoother throughout. I concur with John’s assessment that these still have long legs for future smoking. Thoroughly enjoyable now, but the next five years should definitely see further maturation.

[JohnS]

Great reference review @ayepatz! Cheers mate! ?

[alloy]

Great and spot on review! I have two left out of a fiver I bought. Each of the three I smoked were just like your review. Should I keep my last two for five more years?

[garbandz]

great review.  thank you.

[ayepatz]

59 minutes ago, alloy said:

Great and spot on review! I have two left out of a fiver I bought. Each of the three I smoked were just like your review. Should I keep my last two for five more years?

I haven’t smoked enough of these to be sure that this cigar was representative generally, but, judging by what others have said, you should see further improvement on these. I’d reassess in 12 to 24 months, and see how it goes.

[joeypots]

I won't go so far to say that you couldn't give the RACF away when it came out. It was available for a long time. Watch the below review below and tell me if you would have bought a box back then. 

 

[earthson]

To the end of infinity, I will chastise myself for not grabbing a box upon release. Not that I'd have any left at this point...

[ayepatz]

On 8/15/2018 at 9:44 PM, joeypots said:

I won't go so far to say that you couldn't give the RACF away when it came out. It was available for a long time. Watch the below review below and tell me if you would have bought a box back then. 

 

Yup. A fair point. ?