Ferrero Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 Have a great weekend all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctorossi Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 Nice review, guys. Hopefully this adventure will help cure Ken of his shocking apparent anti-RG bias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartolomeo Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 My take on 3 smoked so far.....Tasty, toasted coconut and some bitter chocolate, small size, I would buy at $12-15 a stick but that's not what they retail for so must look for sales 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btort910 Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 Interesting that the ones out of the humidor outperformed the dry boxed cigars. 10 days too long? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesKPolkEsq Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 Free Kenny! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NSXCIGAR Posted August 18, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted August 18, 2017 I'm with @Bartolomeo on this one. I haven't smoked one of these yet, and I probably won't be any time soon. Love everything about this cigar except the price, especially for a cigar that's probably exactly in line with Ken and Rob's scores--a 90/91 with the potential to get up to a 93/94 in a few years. There are just too many sticks for half that price that score identically with the same with the same potential right now. I will say I would seriously consider picking them up if they were scoring 93/94 right now as I am more than willing to pay more for that kind of quality, but alas, there are other much more reasonably priced options. Unfortunately, I really doubt Rob is marking these up much at the $195 point he quoted, so I don't see these going below $180 really ever. I think HSA has really pushed the price point too high for this cigar. It's not a popular vitola, it's a very low-selling marca, production totals are a bit above average and the cigar seems to be falling into the very good but not great category. Also coupled with the fact it's an Asia RE and readily available to pretty much everyone that wants them. Count me as a lost customer on these. With all the factors listed above it will be interesting to see how long these kick around. As I mentioned in another thread, 08 PL Belicosos Extra are still very much available for 33% less than these 88s and are smoking great now coming in at least around 92/93 points and certainly still improving as PL typically does. If these are blown out after 18 months I guess HSA is smarter than I ever imagined, but I just see interest in these really waning after the initial hype is over. The X-factor is if the Asians just go nuts over the 88 thing and just scoop them up for that goofy reason. Otherwise, I just think these are priced out of competition for what they are. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophistic Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 puh, good that they have chosen the asia-pacific market and not germany for a RE 88. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMonk Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 Good job, gents! Haven't smoked any of my singles yet, but I honestly don't have very high expectations for this one... which I guess explains why I only bought a few singles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alloy Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 I bought a box from 24:24 and let it sit for two weeks. Now I have one left, but I bought another box. I like them. Even if they are rather expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusguy Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 The last RG RE (first ever) was the German PP and that took 4 years to sell out at 10 euro/stick. I think the 88 will be around for quite a while... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabes Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 Like @NSXCIGAR and @Lotusguy have alluded to, what would you rather have at this price point? Cohiba Lanceros, Sir Winstons or RG88s? CoRos are cheaper and even RA Celestiales Finos are similarly priced. I feel that the price is also a slap in the face to those that truly love the RG marca on its own. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugu Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 I'll bite my lip as to the price policy, as I have impolitely expanded on that before. But thanks for a once more nice review, gents! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Dude Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 Awesome Julius Sumner Miller reference @Ken Gargett! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimi68 Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 So much for dry boxing another furphy like plume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrickEwing Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Anyone with extensive AP regional experience care to rank the offerings life to date? I've had a few from the past, but like some of the commenters above I have passed on the RG thus far due to price. Curious if anyone has gone through the whole lineup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapaDisco Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 14 hours ago, PatrickEwing said: Anyone with extensive AP regional experience care to rank the offerings life to date? I've had a few from the past, but like some of the commenters above I have passed on the RG thus far due to price. Curious if anyone has gone through the whole lineup. I don't have an objective listing for you, but my subjective impression of the AP Regionals is uniformly positive; I've never had a bad one. I'm born with the same skepticism of many here about the whole marketing angle, but I've been happy with every box of any Asia Pacific Regionals that I've bought (most from Rob, others from Hong Kong and Duty Free). I'd like to focus my collecting a bit more, but the Regionals and Rob and Ken's reviews keep putting all sorts of cigars onto my 'buy' list, and it's great fun experiencing these and sharing them with friends. For example; most of my pals are typical biggish ring gauge smokers, but when I rolled up with a cab of Encantos, that skinny thing blew a lot of minds. All I need now, is more storage time, more patience, and more credit cards . . . And Rob really didn't sound like he should be smoking anything for another week or two! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David88 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Nice review! The performance of the dry boxed cigar were interesting, it does seem that cigars are perform well 'fresh' now as long as they have acclimatised. They may be pricey, but at least they are an unusual release. I'm tired of seeing petit robustos and fat monoliths being released as REs so I picked up a box to put away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimi68 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 On 19/08/2017 at 5:00 PM, dimi68 said: So much for dry boxing another furphy like plume? another thing with Dry-boxing fresh cigars that comes to mind, doesn't that just go against the grain of allowing boxes to acclimatize? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 On 20/08/2017 at 3:14 AM, PatrickEwing said: Anyone with extensive AP regional experience care to rank the offerings life to date? I've had a few from the past, but like some of the commenters above I have passed on the RG thus far due to price. Curious if anyone has gone through the whole lineup. I believe the Asia Pacifico releases are blended for the long-term. In the last ten years they all share a similar story, i.e. not yet peak-palatable 'right off the truck', so to speak, but years later they are much sought after and lamented. For example, the Por Larranaga Belicosos Extra, Robustos and of course the much-acclaimed Ramon Allones Celestiales Finos. In regards to the '09 Celestiales Finos, I distinctly remember 'gnashing of teeth' when some boxes were put up in 2015 on a 24:24 sale and members missed out. The only recent example to buck this trend that I remember, personally, is the '14 Diplomaticos Bushidos, which was great from the get go, and kudos to anyone that can source this now. I have every confidence that if you are a fan of the Rafael Gonzalez marca, then this release won't let you down in the long-term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBird55 Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 I smoked one today, enjoyed the flavor, but has the potential to be something special in 3 or 4 years, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.e2a46b57b5880109ddf171d1b6f9daea.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now