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Hey Adam, haven't been logging in much in the past month or so due to the birth of my son and the rear end accident that my fiance was in a couple of weeks before he arrived.  As a result it looks as though I've missed a few very nice reviews.  Glad I had the chance to catch up.

The review on the Tanios may well be the impetus behind my purchasing my first box.  They've been on the, 'must try', list for some time now.

I agree completely on the Fonseca, they smoke much better with the tissue paper off.  (See some of us do read what you write!)  Seriously, these are the smokes I go to in the morning just like you wrote.  Great, consistant little smokes and priced right.

And as for the Jonny-O, I've only smoked one, and again agree completely with your writeup.  The one I smoked was about a year and a half old, and it would have benefited from more down time.

Anyway, thanks for keeping the reviews coming.  Hope to be able to post one of my own when time allows for both smoking and writing!  LOL 

Here's a review of a 98 or 99 Dunhill Esplendido.  A bit unusual of a cigar, but I got two in a large mixed box at an auction.

I removed this beast from it's individual little box.  8.5" x 50 ring.  It was a beautifully wrapped natty with no visible veins or soft spots.  The cap with also nearly perfect; smooth and almost a triple cap.  The cap cut cleanly, but I did notice 2 large stems under the cap that did not effect the burn.  Pre-light draw was good, but the lack of any distinctive flavor set me up for the coming mild cigar.

The cigar lit easily and took 3 or 4 draws to get enough smoke through the body of behemoth to get a good taste.  The cigar started with notes of cedar and a little grassy, but very mild.  Burn was perfect with no touch-ups necessary.  As I smoke this monster I enjoyed the creamy flavors, but kept looking for more.  A little more power or a change in the flavor profile would have been nice, but neither were in the cards. 

I finished the cigar in about an hour and a half while sipping a Mich Golden on the patio and talking to my wife about her day.  Burn was flawless the entire length of the cigar and it never got bitter or acrid.

Overall I'd give the cigar a 6.4, with high marks for it's appearance, construction, and creamy smoothness.  While a good cigar, I kept waiting for something to happen with this cigar that never came.  I could compare it to the large Diamond Crowns that I have smoked, but just slight;y less creamy.  It was very mild and a great cigar to smoke to wind down a long day.  I have another one of these and will smoke it when I have an extra two hours to unwind.

'97 BBF

Nice looking cigar that had been well kept for its approximate decade of storage.  No veins or hard / soft spots.  Xicar slid right through this baby and the pre-light draw revealed nice, mellow flavors right from the git-go.  Ease of draw was perfect.

First few puffs produced gobs of chewy smoke that brought with it that rich, smooth taste that can only be found in an aged Boli.  Ginger, nutmeg, and salty spice, all blended together perfectly with none overpowering the other.  A perfectly balanced flavor profile.  These flavors maintained throughout, building during the second third of the cigar.  The finish was medium in length with the spices having kicked up a notch or two. 

Overall, a very pleasurable 70 minutes of smoking for this one. Rating: 9.0

05 Partigus 8-9-8 varnished

Good looks and feel, no soft or hard spots. bit of a stem found after cutting, was just small piece and easy to remove. pre light draw was fine.

first few puffs were over powered by the pizza I had for lunch. after few minutes could start to get a taste for this beauty. lots of earthy tobacco flavor. this was a medium-full strength cigar to my tastebuds. burn was fine with a twotone grey ash. ash held on for about an inch, was driving so lost the ash on a few sharp turns. I was tasting a bit of spice as well but was not sure how much was from the parti and how much was from pizza. smoked this one to the nub.

overall, a very solid 8.5 for the cigar and a 6.5 for me eating spicy food right before smoking it and trying to review it.

Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label Lancero.

From the recent production of 100 boxes of 25.  The cigar was astheticly perfect with no veins to be found in the wrapper, nor any soft or hard spots present.  A perfect triple cap sat atop this puro quite nicely, and my Xicar double balde cutter snipped it off with ease.  Pre light draw was flawless and revealed some of the typical DPG Blue Label flavor notes that I had come to expect, hardwoods, black pepper, earthy leather dark roasted coffee were all present.

These flavors remained in one combination or another throughout the 70 or so minutes that I managed to nurse this cigar, with the second third revealing the most in terms of balance and smoothness.  Yet at no time did they ever manage to mary all together in the way that would have optomised this smoking experience. The finish was on the short side which was something of a surprise.  The mottled ash held for approximately an inch and a half at a time.  And at no time were there any burn issues to speak of.

My overall impression is that this cigar holds much promise for the future. In my experience Pepin's cigars benefit greatly from about a year of aging.  This cigar seems to need this time to truly come into its own.  The promise is definitely there, and were this review to have been written a year from now, I imagine that it would have been filled with glowing descriptives.  That said, it was still an enjoyable smoke and one that I look forward to trying again down the road.

Final score:  7.8

I was gifted one of these cigars by a fine BOTL and considerfed myself very fortunate when the opportunity to purchase a box came along shortly thereafter.  Now I won't have to worry about not having any of these delicous cigars around in the future!

96 La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No. 4

All I can say is wow! This was a great cigar. Only problem with it was a small crack in the foot.

Pre-light draw was great with no hint of draw problems. first few puffs were a sweet mix of toasted tobacco and a floweral taste. settled into a nice mix of flavors, I picked up a combination of tabaco, honey, appel, coffee, chocolate, and a floral taste that was constantly changing character with each slow puffs. one puff would be slightly more honey, the next for coffee, and so on, as each flavor slowly and repaetedly showed it self.

draw was perfect, burn was straight as an arrow, and the ash stayed on for a solid 1.5". smoked this till my fingers were burning. my only regret was that was the only one I had. I hope the #3's I have turn out 1/2 as good. I rate this one a 9.745, best I have ever had.

Damn Adam, ISO fo sho!

VSG Tres Mystique

Wrapper was nice and dark, almost a light maduro, roll was good, no veins or blemishes. weight was good with no soft or hard spots. xicar sailed right trough it.

Prelight draw was spot on, bit of spice noted in draw and smell.

first few puffs were all peppery spice, reminded me of an Opus XXX. Then setleed in to a nice mix of spicey chile pepper with bits of white and black pepper. never vaired from this flavor until the very finger burning end. this little bugger restored my trust in VSG's last few before this one have had burn and draw problems. this one had a perfert burn and draw.

this was a good but not great cigar, construction and burn were great but was a bit of a one dimensional spice bomb. I give it an 8.01

Well after the week I had I needed something new to try last night, so I went with a Monte Petit Edmundo that I had recently got from a great BOTL.

Construction: this is a short (4.5") little fatty (52 gauge). A break from my normal sizes. The wrapper was clean no veins, blemishes, or cracks, and was a nice medium brown color thoughout. I could detect no soft or hard spots and the cutter sailed through it with no trouble at all.

Taste: the pre-light draw was good, maybe just a bit loose, with a nice tabacco taste. the first few puffs almost knocked me off my chair, I had not had a thick gauge freshy in a while and the flavor punch from this one was a solid right hook. The flavors I found were of toasted tabacco, red peppery spice, ceader and a hint of black pepper. This was on the strong side of medium, and has the potential to be very good with ageing.

Burn: was straight and true till a hot spot started at about 1/2" left on the cigar. So I tossed it before really getting to nub it completely. All in all I give this one a 8.37 with a chance to be a solid low to mid 9's with proper ageing.

Hemi Classic Maduro

Construction: nice dark wrapper with a large vein running down the length of the cigar, several small veins and bumps all over the wrapper. In addition a few silver specs of PLUME! :)  A few small nicks and some tears at the tip.

Draw: pre-light draw was very firm, almost plugged. First bit of the cigar was very hard to draw from, but eased up after the first inch or so.

Taste: the tastes were all sweet floral fruity tastes, I could not really discern any true flavor from this the tastes were all mixed very well. Very mild smoke.

Burn: bit of a crooked burn (the vein burn slower) that stayed consistant and did not really effect the overall smoking experience. I never did touchup this burn because it was not that bad.

I have to give this a solid 8.94  :bigup: