Chris, being the good man that he is, decided to send me a wood carving knife to work on a block of briar that I have. we were on skype talking about making pipes and things like that, so he just had to send me something.
inside that package was a 5-cigar ziploc with 5 cigars, no bands, only numbers written on the outside.
was on skype that friday night when I got home from Idaho and opened the package, so asked if he wanted me to review them or anything (no note in the box, he's a man of mystery).

no real directions, just a "tell me what you think" reply, but figured I'd give it a whack to just review them when I had the time.

I'll update this as I smoke 'em. :-)
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Cause that's all I want is another opinion on some smokes that I regularly keep around the house. Have fun with the detail knife, need anything else you know were to get me :-)
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cigar #1

Sailchaser Challenge #1

fairly small cigar, roughly 4 1/4" and 40 RG.
dark maduro wrapper.
clipped the end, pre-light draws are your typical heavy/thick maduro wrapped cigar.
lit easy enough with a match outside the hotel. it's a little breezy, but nice out here in Oklahoma behind the nazi-Marriott chain hotel.
taste is a bit on the harsh "typical" arturo fuente maduro flavors that i grew to hate. that's the only flavor you got, the typical AF marduro flavor.

burning uneven right now, don't have a torch to touch it up. i'll probably lose 2 lbs from spitting while i smoke it. i know a lot of ppl have that issue with some cigars, just makes you want to spit all the time.

first knock of the ash after "touching it up" with a match. :-) no real flavor changes. ashy, a little coffee grounds note on the finish. dark maduro overtone.

about an inch into it. status quo.

y'know, it dawned on me that i've never seen an AF cigar this size, not that i'm proficient in my sizing of non-cubans (there's so many), but this could be a cigar i've had in the past, a CAO Brazilia Pirahna. the flavors it does have are pretty stout. while it's been 6 years or more since i had one of those, i'm leaning toward that particular cigar.

half done. i really haven't smoked much in the past month, and haven't been smokin too many cigars the past 3 to 4 years.

i will say this little guy hasn't gone sour, or just to total crap like a lot of nons have a tendancy to do (other than some of the new stuff put out now - which is amazingly good, btw).

this does bring out the carmels in the diet coke i'm drinking. other than that, it's still the same, about an inch of smokeable cigar left.

getting to be unsmokeable now... yep. went sour with about 1/2" left.

overall. straight forward earthy tobaco maduro wrapper flavor with a slight coffee finish.

i'll give it a 5 out of 10. i'm not much for the earthy flavors of some non-cubans, they make me spit all the time.
i think it's a CAO Brazilia Pirahna
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Very Nice. We will need pics as you proceed.
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Are you at the Marriott in OKC?
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planned on it, but out of town on business.


nope, down in Lawton/Ft. Sill... Fairfield Inn.
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Sailchaser Challenge cigar #2

photos will be posted when i find my damn cable to the camera to download them. :-)
robusto in size, rounded head, non-cuban in appearance and initial flavors.
very solid cigar to the touch, hefty, full of tobacco, was afraid i wouldn't be able to draw on it, but it draws good enough (not tight). wrapper shade is kinda wild, it almost looks like a barber pole type cigar, but that's just how different the wrapper color is from one side of the leaf to the other. photo taken of it.

initial flavor was a strong coffee grounds finish with a little amonia up front. white, solid ash (just to describe it, i've never been one to worry what color or how long of an ash i can keep - doesn't matter to me, doesn't change the smoke at all in my books).

it's got a weird finish to it now. it's a light spice, but a cool spice. the up front flavors are a bit powerful/in your face, and i exhaled out the nose once and will only do it that once - pretty harsh.

nicely rolled, outter wrapper has a nice velvety look to it up close, no major veins. burning a little crooked, but nothing that bothers me.

not much to say about the flavors - it's a solid older non-cuban, of which company, i don't know. smoked an inch of it so far, no real changes to the flavors. hoping it does change soon or it won't make it much longer here.

just ashed and it revealed why it's burning crooked. got a little bit of a bunch up on one side.

was just daydreaming and started to overpuff. brought out some stronger coffee and eather flavors, and a little more harshness to the tongue.

for some stupid reason, i keep wanting to say that this is some type of Fuente Opus X or something - that's what it's reminding me of. nice in appearance, solid construction, greatly lacking in flavors that appeal to me other than a spice that you have to search for through the harsh earthy tones and slight coffee on the finish.
i don't know if there was an Opus X robusto size or not, but that's what i'm leaning toward right now.

i'm freezing, can hardly type. weather in KC is typical. warm one day, high winds and hail the next, clear and cold the next, possible snow later in the week. typical... :-)

so, the verdict on this one is that it's a nicely made cigar. looks are deceiving though, as the taste gets pretty boring and isn't anything to write home about to beginwith.
if you could taste a cigar before buying, i don't think this one would come off the shelves. i'd give it a 3 out of 10.
sorry, chris, this one ain't my cup o' tea.
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The whole intention of this is to share a few sticks. The lengths that Curly is going Thurough to review these is above and beyond. It is nice to get and compare the difference in peoples taste. The same sticks were given to me about a year ago and I learned a lot about flavors when I sat and compared these sticks with what other people thought in person. Curly thanks I am re smoking the same sticks and re evaluating my taste to see if I am missing any flavors.
Thanks Curly Cut for help:-)
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