Most expensive cigar I've had (yet)

[smilnex]

Hello folks, relatively new member here and have been quietly enjoying everyone's posts and stories so decided to write my own.

A bit of background - I'm a 25 year old; recently engaged, Scotman living not too far out of the Scottish Highlands. I enjoy primarily Cuban cigars, good Scotch whisky and do quite a bit of fieldsports.

Last week we booked a big family trip out to a lodge in the Highlands to unwind after not taking a break in some time and with COVID restrictions relaxing. So, I packed a few cigars and headed out on the 150 mile journey (my apologies in advance to the metric crowd).

The lodge was situated on a bank next to a river with a hot tub over looking which was the perfect little spot to enjoy a smoke. As this was our first gathering since our engagement I decided to go for a Cohiba Piramides Extra which I purchased at UK retail price (around £50 or $70ish USD) to mark the occasion. I do have some older cubans in my humidor that may out-price it, but this is the most expensive one I've had as of yet.

Initial smell on the nose was distinctly floral with a hint of cedar from the humidor. Cold draw reminded me of the toffee we used to get as a kid at school which was a welcomed surprise. First light didn't bring much other than some light sweetness which tied in nicely with the retrospective cold draw prior. It slowly intesified over 10 minutes or so into this lovely browned butter flavour with a hint of vanilla on the retrohale. These notes continued throughout much and such the same with the addition of a woody note as the cigar made it's way up to my fingers.

All in all, a great cigar with flawless construction. The pivotal flavours harked me back to 10 year old me enjoying some toffee at school or my grandmothers butterscotch at lunchtime. A bit of a surprise but provoked some much needed reflection.

Here's a few photos to accompany the story.

Thanks for listening,

Steve

[Nino]

Welcome to FOH Steve ! - Nice review.

It's never too late to remember childhood toffee 🙂

[gustavehenne]

My mother hails from Aberdeen and I know the surrounding area - it is probably the most beautiful on Earth. Sadly, I can't understand most of the Doric

I've had a few Piramides Extra's and they are fantastic but if I whack price into it I get a little uncomfortable as I also love the Dip 2 which I think is very very close to this one. Most expensive I've smoked is the BHK54 which I (stupidly bought in the UK) for some £200 or thereabouts... It was phenomenal but was it worth that much... No.

Enjoy

p.s. - beautiful lodge!

[RDB]

Nice story. Obviously, you'll be buying your cigars here in future!

[Connoisseur Kim]

Welcome to FOH!

[smilnex]

Quote

My mother hails from Aberdeen and I know the surrounding area - it is probably the most beautiful on Earth. Sadly, I can't understand most of the Doric 

I've had a few Piramides Extra's and they are fantastic but if I whack price into it I get a little uncomfortable as I also love the Dip 2 which I think is very very close to this one. Most expensive I've smoked is the BHK54 which I (stupidly bought in the UK) for some £200 or thereabouts... It was phenomenal but was it worth that much... No.

Enjoy 

p.s. - beautiful lodge!

@stevenhaugen small world! I agree, Royal Deeside and Balmoral is absolutely stunning. To be honest, most Doric speakers don't understand half of what they say😂

I have a Diplo 2 in the humidor that I've had for a number of years. I'll have to give it a try soon and compare notes to the Piramides!

Cheers

 

55 minutes ago, RDB said:

Nice story. Obviously, you'll be buying your cigars here in future!

@RDB aready have! I've received H Upmann Mag 54, Epi #2, Partagas E2 and have also snapped up a box of JL No. 2 in a recent 24:24!

Flawless service so far!

[Meklown]

Stunning. Stayed in lodges next to loch Lomond and loch Ness in separate trips before and hot tubbing in the Scottish weather is simply fantastic. Congrats to you and welcome to the community

[westg]

Nice review...a good looking example as well 🌴😎

[smbauerllc]

Very nice, and welcome from Wyoming.

When I was in the navy we did a large exercise with several other countries navies, around the UK and North Atlantic area, and saw many pictures and gun camera videos from our jets of Scotland and Ireland, and they both looked gorgeous.

That lodge is gorgeous as well.

Would love to visit there someday.

We were supposed to go to Spain, Scotland, Italy and the UK, but everything except the UK got canceled for some reason. Real shame.

I definitely didn't get to "see the world" like the navy advertises. Only went to England twice and that was it except for floating around the Cold, rough North Atlantic for months on end as a show of force to the Russians (got buzzed at very low altitude by a Russian nuclear bomber which was interesting), and floating around the Mediterranean sea and Persian gulf doing missions in Afghanistan and Iraq during the war on terror.

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[smilnex]

8 hours ago, Meklown said:

Stunning. Stayed in lodges next to loch Lomond and loch Ness in separate trips before and hot tubbing in the Scottish weather is simply fantastic. Congrats to you and welcome to the community

The Trossachs are beautiful too. I've only been a handful of times but it's a great part of the country. You're correct about hot rubbing and Scottish weather, especially in winter!

I'm a true scotsman, 18°C is more than enough in summer

 

8 hours ago, smbauerllc said:

Very nice, and welcome from Wyoming.

When I was in the navy we did a large exercise with several other countries navies, around the UK and North Atlantic area, and saw many pictures and gun camera videos from our jets of Scotland and Ireland, and they both looked gorgeous.

That lodge is gorgeous as well.

Would love to visit there someday.

We were supposed to go to Spain, Scotland, Italy and the UK, but everything except the UK got canceled for some reason. Real shame.

I definitely didn't get to "see the world" like the navy advertises. Only went to England twice and that was it except for floating around the Cold, rough North Atlantic for months on end as a show of force to the Russians (got buzzed at very low altitude by a Russian nuclear bomber which was interesting), and floating around the Mediterranean sea and Persian gulf doing missions in Afghanistan and Iraq during the war on terror.

That's an excellent story. You must be incredibly proud of your service, the North Atlantic is no joke.

I used to live up near RAF in Kinloss and have fond memories watching the jets come and go. They used to practice around the Moray Firth quite often which has some stunning countryside. Shame they closed the base around 10 years ago but I think they still have active operations at Lossiemouth.

That's a shame about your UK leg of your trip. We may be a small country, but there's some truly epic places to visit here. Hopefully you'll get to visit soon! I know I'm missing my yearly dose of American love with this whole covid nightmare that's been going on.

My best wishes to you out there in the Wyoming.

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk
 

[smbauerllc]

7 hours ago, smilnex said:

That's an excellent story. You must be incredibly proud of your service, the North Atlantic is no joke.

I used to live up near RAF in Kinloss and have fond memories watching the jets come and go. They used to practice around the Moray Firth quite often which has some stunning countryside. Shame they closed the base around 10 years ago but I think they still have active operations at Lossiemouth.

That's a shame about your UK leg of your trip. We may be a small country, but there's some truly epic places to visit here. Hopefully you'll get to visit soon! I know I'm missing my yearly dose of American love with this whole covid nightmare that's been going on.

My best wishes to you out there in the Wyoming.

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk
 

I definitely loved my 5 years in the navy fixing electronics on aircraft weapons systems and stationed on aircraft carriers.

You aren't kidding about the North Atlantic. Even as huge as an aircraft carrier is, we still got tossed around badly. Had to tie everything down so it wouldn't go flying, and had to remove the wheels from our office style chairs or you would be tossed into things pretty hard, lol.

All the pictures and videos from our aircraft flying over Scotland was beautiful, including some amazing looking castles and gorgeous open space, bright green grass. Really disappointed we didn't get to visit there for a few days as initially planned.
 

UK prices for Cigars are just insane. I assume its due to very high taxes on them.

I would definitely be buying mine online from Switzerland rather than paying UK prices for sure

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[smilnex]

UK prices for Cigars are just insane. I assume its due to very high taxes on them.

I would definitely be buying mine online from Switzerland rather than paying UK prices for sure

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They are insane. Some of the highest tobacco taxes around in fact.

I almost always buy from abroad, with FOH being my favourite for Cubans

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[cigcars]

              *Somewhere back in about 2008 or so I ordered a sampler pack of 3 Montecristo No.2 Gran Reservas for $298 from Mitchell Orchant in the UK. That was the most expensive cigar purchase I'd made. And to date I still love the regular production of Montecristo No. 2.

[Chas.Alpha]

A Siglo VI. 

I don’t get out very often... 😔

[B44]

Welcome to FOH!! And what a strong start!

[Edicion]

Nice review and great photos

[smilnex]

11 hours ago, cigcars said:

              *Somewhere back in about 2008 or so I ordered a sampler pack of 3 Montecristo No.2 Gran Reservas for $298 from Mitchell Orchant in the UK. That was the most expensive cigar purchase I'd made. And to date I still love the regular production of Montecristo No. 2.

The Monte 2 is a classic. Mitchell Orchant is now CGars Ltd in the UK I believe. One of the major vendors here - they have a great selection albeit expensive.

 

7 hours ago, B44 said:

Welcome to FOH!! And what a strong start!

7 hours ago, Edicion said:

Nice review and great photos

Thank you everyone. Glad to be here!