slowsmoke

Took the kiddos to pick some strawberries at a local farm. Beautiful afternoon. We will now be eating pounds of them for the next week.

Great review. You've definitely touched on things that are familiar in my HUHC memory... looking forward to the next one.

Wrapper on this is a lovely light brown, with some dark mottled spots. Hardly smells of anything. Cold draw was firm, almost needing perfecdraw. Tasted like a dry crusty brownie. Now that I think about it, it looked like one too. First puffs were all dark choc. And it just kept getting richer. This is easily one of the chocolat-i-est cigars I’ve ever had. It was dark, but creamy. Incredibly smooth retrohale, and I do not retro much. Around 2/3, I get definite salt, and it makes me think of sea salt chocolate treats. Occasional milk choc, but not very sweet. Occasional dry wood. Mostly just gooey dark choc. Into the last third, it randomly starts to get bitter, I ash and realize it’s tunneling. A couple touch ups keep it in line, but the flavors go wiley. Espresso, char, and for the first time I taste tobacco. Overall, this was a 93, even with the wonky finale. I suspect they’re about as good as they’re gonna get, at this age, and I am just fine with that. Great smoke.

Pres started a thread not long ago about MMC vs. HUHC vs. RYJPR, and what I took as rather strong response for the RYJ convinced me to order up. This is one of those boxes that has lived up to the hype. ROTT they felt crispy and ready to go, so I gambled, and it was great. Now barely a month later and a third of the way through the box, they are just getting better. In the spirit of the weekend comp, some pontificating on the half corona format. I have come to love them. Much of it is psychological. With young kids etc., I rarely have more than an hour to burn. On the occasional weekday where I get home a little before the circus, it is exactly what I reach for. These royales aren’t significantly cheaper than a beloved BBF or RASS, and I am tempted to reach for one of those. But I tend to smoke them faster because I feel rushed, and then I feel bad when life intervenes and I have to scuttle it after 30 mins. For whatever reason I feel more satisfied if I only get 30 minutes with a half corona. And if I do happen to get the full hour, nice and slow, these will go the distance. Full disclosure, the first one I clipped today was plugged solid. Not even hint of air through it. I was surprised, because every other one has been flawless. I set it aside and grabbed another, which was as expected, perfect. Poured a healthy Diplomatico, with a few ice cubes, cuz I’m classy like that. First puffs are crisp aromatic cedar, and light toasted tobacco. The finish has a little twang, that melds with the sweet rum. Those flavors don’t change much at all for the first half, continue to get better. Halfway, the finish develops a wonderful rawhide thing, like a big suede jacket. I also get some dry tobacco leaf. I think I’m imagining things, I’ve never held a raw tobacco leaf. Then, ah yes, we did occasionally use them for other purposes, many, many years ago. In the last half, there is some sour/bitterness, but nothing offensive. Nothing I would call elbows or youth. Only at the very end does it start to get hot. And hey, the thing was only three and a half inches to start with. I change my mind on the best scale to rate cigars just about as often as I smoke them. But I’ll say this was a 90. Or a 9. Or very good. Here’s to hoping two more boxes from a recent 24:24 deal-o-rama continue the hype

Beautifully written. Thank you for sharing. All you can do now is make her proud.

This may sound silly, but the first Quintero Favoritos I had (and I believe I reviewed for a weekend comp) was probably the best plain tobacco flavor I've ever had. I loved it. I immediately bought a box, and, well, they've been close, but not quite there. In my mind it is still kind of a reference for what classic cuban tobacco tastes like, as opposed to dominican or nicaraguan or whatever. Otherwise, I'd say Fonseca No. 1.

Perhaps smaller than what you're looking for, but I was blown away at how good the RYJ Petit Royles were ROTT. And they continue to be.

Congrats, that is one hell of a prize. Please let us know how they smoke!

Scored this box of 10 not too long ago. This is the second one out of the box. Wrapper smelled like cedar, of course. Perfect light draw, cold draw was dark choc brownies. First puffs were a dark chocolate covered walnut, then some peanut. Then some brownie/bready finish, but all still dark bolivar style. Second third was all earth, leather, coffee bean. Occasional light cocoa powder. Twangy finish. I let it go out in the last third, and the relight may have added to some harshness. Either that or they just need more time. It's gonna be hard to let these rest much longer.

This can be found for $40-ish, and when you do find it at that price, you buy it. I love giving it to friends who are not big fans of Zin, it always impresses. Biale Black Chicken

I picked up a fiver of these years ago out of curiosity. One was enough

These Dos Equis ads are legendary His personality is so magnetic, he can’t carry credit cards. He once gave a pep talk so good, both teams won.

These popped up on 24:24 just a few months ago, and I'm already halfway through the box. Wish I had bought four boxes. They are perfect little smokes. Nothing fancy to look at, medium brown, a little spotted. Slightly spongy, very light draw, if I didn't know better I'd suspect they were underfilled. But the damn things just burn perfectly. First puffs are deep wet leather. And wet, danky tobacco leaf. It sticks to my tongue and mouth. First half is awesome cuban tobacco, earth, minerals, dark chocolate. In that order. Last half brings savory char, and an ashy flavor that reminds me of reminds me of Murphy's draught. Obviously the same as the Guinness Pres mentions, but I think of Murphy's as a more "ashy" flavor than Guinness, and I love the stuff. It produced so much smoke. It was getting cold and big puffs of smoke sank to the ground and rolled across the patio. A+

I think I got that same sampler as you, and they were awesome. All the same flavors I loved in BBF. They immediately went on my "buy a box" list. Though I don't think I've ever seen any with MSU code again.

BBF. Old or young, never fail to satisfy. But I have a box of Coronas junior that are perfection right now. I’ve been gushing about them so much I think the forum is probably sick of hearing it by now 😂