Cohiba 1966 2011 RE Review

[Puros Y Vino]

Cohiba 1966 Review

Appearance: Dark chocolate brown. Spongy but no soft spots. Good pinch and it bounces back.

Aroma at cold: Cocoa hay, earth

Smoking Notes: Playing pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here album on the iPod to drown out Toronto traffic whizzing past my back deck. Trusty Canon 20D by my side to bear witness to my second ever 1966. A glass o fHennessy VSOP is also involved in the festivities.

First Third

Fresh tobacco off the light. Minty,smooth draw, slight caramel, semi sweet, earthy tones, very nice sofar. Loads of smoke, nice tangy notes, creamy smoke, more caramel, slight burnt sugar on the finish, very fresh tasting cigar, almost floral, pure smoking pleasure and I've barely got a half inch of ash to show for it. Even the smoke has a floral aroma to it. A quickswig of Cognac to clean the palate. The Hennessy is a gift from the wife on a recent trip through Denver for work. some more mint. Almost every draw ends in a sweet tanginess. I've been keeping this particular 1966 in a wineador for the last 6 months. temp/humidity a steady 64F/68RH "shine on you craaaazzyyyyyyyyy diiiaaamond!!!" floral notes, almost chocolatey flavours developing, and the finish reminds me a cashew butter, very smooth,creamy, not in your face but there.

More caramel, sweetness abound, a bit more cashew, back to floral minty flavours. Enjoying this 1966 a lot more than my first. Some sleep did it good! This is what I expect from the Cohiba brand! More tangy goodness, tangy tobacco to be fair. A bit of molasses, some vegetal notes as well. Almost donethe 1^st third. "Come in here dear boy, have a cigar,you're gonna go far" I sure will, have two thirds to go!! more tanginess. Lots of soft, creamy flavour out of this cigar. Quite and epicurean delight. A bit more molasses, tangy tobacco,loads of smoke persist. This cigar lit like a champ and continues toburn like one. I hate relights.

Ash is flaky, black and gray. Hmm..nice salty note on top of molasses. Interesting. END

Second Third

More floral notes, smoke emanates like Mt Pinatubo, a slight nutty taste develops, not cashew, almost likehazelnut, bit of cocoa too. Ash remains as I lift the cigar off itsperch. More molasses, sweet finish, a bit more cocoa. This cigar isvery refined thus far. If I weren't taking the time to review it I'd be completely lost in it and the Pink Floyd that is echoeinng in myears. A nice little salty note. No hints of pepper at all in this cigar. My first 1966 was strong. A bit of toasty tobacco appears,but sweet finish still persists. "Shine on you Craaaazzzzzyyyyy Diaaaamond!!" some molasses and a hint of bean. I seem to get that "bean" note a lot from Cohiba. The aroma off the smoke isalmost mushroom like. Wish I had some steak to go with it. PinkFloyd ends.. The Cult Electric begins. Great album. The cognac seems to hold its own and not to interfere with the cigar. More toasty tobacco.

The ash is slightly askew now. Odd. Tangy tobacco still around. Really like that taste. Reminds me of a Cazadore. Wow. Old Nova SS just zips by! Navy blue with dual white stripes down the centre. Engine sounding like it means business. The cigar persists to keep a sweet profile. Slight burnt sugar to boot. Somemore vegetal notes. The toasty tobacco reappears. A sip of Cognac is greeted with some earthy woody tones. The cigar smoke smells of sauteed mushrooms again. Love it. Toasty tobacco and even..toast? A quick touch up helps clean up a slightly bad burn line and reinvigorates the smoke output. Molasses toasty tobacco persist. The cigar is still fresh on the palate. A slight pepper burn makes its first appearance. Burnt sugar. A lot of toasty tobacco and pepper ping pong ensues on the last 5-8 draws. Beans! Beans return! Hardly a beck and call worth repeating but it must be transcribed for thissake of this review.

Just watched the trailer for the Great Gatsby. Looks promising. Has a more polished Boardwalk Empire look to it. A slightly tart note from the cigar. Followed by pepper. The cigar still has this "fresh" profile to it. Very appealing. The flavours are now a bit more subtle. No real tobacco buzz thistime around from the cigar. Nice toastiness, molasses giving way toa bit of salt. More beans and tangy tobacco.

Lots of bean still. Almost seems like I'm smoking a BHK54 which isn't a bad thing. I'm thinking I need to get another box of these and just lay them down for 5 to 10 years. A little more molasses with beans taking over as the finish. When Isay beans here's what I mean. Take a kidney bean, that is wel lcooked in a chili for instance. The skin is almost sliding off. Gnaw on that a bit and that's the flavour I'm getting. Without anyspicy notes of the chili. A very earthy, starchy taste. Almost donethe 2^nd third. Very engaging cigar to say the least. END

Third Third

Still a lot of beans. Floral finishnow. Did a quick touch up. It's helped to keep this from fizzlingout. I hate relights. The cigar leaves a clean taste on the palate which is great. Wow really rich bean flavours. Its so dark out hereI have to be really careful I put the right end in when I go for adraw. A little bit of anise..nice sweet hit. The smoke on thiscigar is really prolific. It has a life of its own. Some more toasty tobacco. Pepper has become the finish on the draw now. The cigar is hot to the touch and there's still about an inch or so to smoke. Going to slow down the draw a bit to see how it goes.

The Cognac is done. Wont do another pour. It really didn't affect this cigar which could be indicativeof an ideal pairing or a bad one. Whenever I drink Camus Borderies Cognac, almost every cigar gets a sugar boost. The Hennessy behaves a bit like a Champagne in that it cleans the palate and prepares you for the next draw. The cigar has cooled down a bit but has not goneout. Some toasty tobacco. I feel a tobacco buzz now. Very slow buildup. My last 1966 did that to me as well. I guess a big cigar like this will bring that on. The BHK56 I smoked two days agobehaved similarly.

More mushroom aroma off the smoke. Toasty tobacco and beans on the draw. Drat! Cigar going out. Touch up needed. OK..back to normal. Some floral notes backed up by beans. Wow! strong pepper on the draw . Very beany finish again. Toasty tobacco and beans. More beans. That seems to be the dominant flavour on this third. I wonder what in the blend is giving me that flavour? Anyone else ever taste "beans" in their cigar? Is that Ligero? Volado? Beanado? Serious tobacco buzz going on right now. Almost done. Getting a burn on the lips. A bit more anise, pepper,beans. Very rich cigar in this last third. The cigar continues to smolder like a volcano. Impressive. On a windless night the smoke eases its away across my laptops' screen. The flavours are a bit muted these past few draws. Toasty tobacco for the most part. The smoke is giving off a sweet aroma now. I'm done. This thing is spinning my head like a dryer.

FIN

Final Thoughts:

Cohiba is Cuba's flagship brand. You expect great things from its' regular lineup and consequently, you should expect magnificent things from it's Edicion' Limitada releases. This is my second 1966. My first one was about six months ago. I wasn't too impressed the first time around. This second sample was far beyond what the first one showed me. I was really please and almost wish I wasn't reviewing it as I would have rather just kicked back, listened to Floyd and just float away. But, that would be doing my fellow FOH's a disservice. They need to know, they DEMAND to know what the deal is out there with Cuba's latest offerings. So. Color me impressed. This is a fine example of what an LE Cohiba should be.

POINTS: 96

[Orion21]

[maverickdrinker]

Fantastic review frank. What a journey!!! Thanks for sharing. Btw, who is pink Floyd and why is he pink? LOL

[canadianbeaver]

I thought Pink was a Lady?

Shine on you crazy cannoli.

Brilliant, Frank!

[shrink]

Now THAT is a great, entertaining review!

[isa]

Very nice review, thanks

[Duxnutz]

Awesome review. Like you the first one I had didn't have any wow factor for me. Scared to revisit but think I just may now!

[amosnaim]

Great review. Thanks

[CanuckSARTech]

Awesome Frank. Thanks for sharing.

I have yet to delve into mine. I was wanting to let them sit for six months or so. I may be dipping into them and having one later on next month, now that I got the backyard all re-landscaped and done over the last few weekends, and next month I have my daughter's baptism and some other celebrations (wedding anniversary, Father's Day, big pig-roast BBQ with classmates, etc., etc.) I definitely have some reasons and opportunities to try these out, so I'll give them a go.

Your review has definitely left me wanting for one, that's for sure. The "cigar hunger" has definitely crept in after reading this!!!!

[jimsta10]

Hi,

Just wondering how these are smoking now...Curious to see if the price is worth the punt.

 

Cheers

[dicko]

33 minutes ago, jimsta10 said:

Hi,

Just wondering how these are smoking now...Curious to see if the price is worth the punt.

 

Cheers

I had one a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome. 95+ points for sure.

[Fuzz]

Definitely well worth the chase if you can find some for a reasonable price.

[westg]

Nice review, will revisit this weekend when it warms up a little ..

[TheMonk]

Lovely review, cheers!

[Dimmers]

Have been sampling once every year. Had my last one a few months back. Rather full and harsh,no real sweetness. So very different to prior examples which somewhat aligned with Franks view above.Will check back again next year.