RDB

I’ve certainly been in places that are ridiculously humid. There’s a store round the corner from the cathedral in Cologne where just about everything was mouldy when I visited! Good job the excellent Peter Heinrichs is also in that city.

I’ve had some stellar RAT boxes: perfect looking and rich smelling M2 and Fuerza. It’s a big factory though, and I got both my boxes from our host.

Does anyone know the new code for MOL?

QdO 54 from ASR FEB 19. This was pretty good, and much better than a year ago. Mild, creamy, golden gingerbread, tons of smoke and a good burn. Not that complex but a quality smoke nonetheless.

Great review. Your ashtray fritzes my mind though! Somehow I can’t help seeing the rests as convex rather than concave.

PerfecRepair will sort that out.

Oooh.... now let’s see if Patience is the virtue she’s said to be...

They look v good too. If it was a choice between quality and age then quality every time: an aged box of duff cigars are still no good. But those should be delicious.

It’s pretty consistent until the gas runs out. It’s also easy to adjust via the flip-out knob on the bottom. Congratulations on owning the most beautiful lighter of all time.

Remember these from early December 24:24? PSP La Fuerza (RAT DIC 19) and Unicos (GEM JUL 20). From La Corona and Upmann factories with new codes. Green dots confirmed as a new PSP colour. Couldn’t be happier with these, but will have to be patient!

Burning through some of my less good boxes on the cold nights here. PSD4 from 2014 and Famoso from 2019. Neither delivering anything like what good examples are capable of, but ok for a 20-30 minute smoke.

Well said @JohnS and happy birthday @Connoisseur Kim. You share a birthday with my daughter.

These are very different cigars! JL2 being much fuller bodied, and a completely different flavour profile. Hard to think of them as alternatives. If you don’t know either, why not buy six of each to see what you like, before going for a box?

Thanks @philipl for this interesting and honest set of reviews. In some ways it’s no surprise to see RyJ Churchill, Lusitania and BBF come out well. I don’t think any of the ‘specials’ are objectively better than good examples of classic regular production - just different. I do think you’ve given all these smokes a hard challenge though! All are very young, recently travelled, and I believe smoked in cold outdoor conditions. That’s pretty demanding. Some age would probably mellow out the Cohibas, and perhaps help with burn issues on some others. And mild conditions always bring out more flavour. Thanks again for putting this together, and happy smoking in 2021.

It’s a huge hit. I scored a fabulous psp box from MSU JUN 18 and they have been reliably gorgeous. Rich and full flavoured yet quite smooth and gentle, not as demanding of time as the Lusitania but similarly luxurious. I once had a five year old, nice looking Sig VI and one of these on consecutive days, and the E2 was the clear winner. Tonight’s example: