today we hosted the 'first annual Dutch Blind Smoke' at a private club in The Hague. The idea was to smoke 3 cigars, all puros, one Dominican, one Nicaraguan and one Cuban.

Let it be clear, even though I am part of the organization, I didn't know what cigars were to be smoked. My employer, who is not only a distributer but also a shop owner, selected the three cigars from the shop, had all the bands replaced with a white band with a number so nobody knew what he was smoking and in which order.

A selection of about 30 cigar enthusiasts decided to be part of the experiment, including the owner of the La Casa del Habano Amsterdam. We judged the cigars on flavor in three parts, construction and looks on a scale from 1 to 10 and then divided that total by 5 to get the end result.

The result:
3) Bolivar Royal Corona (2006 cigar of the year) with an average score of 5.9
2) Flores y Rodriguez Habano magicos with an average score of 6.5
1) Oliva serie V double robusto with an average score of 7.9
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Was the Bolivar an '06, or were they just stating that it has been "Cigar of the Year" in 2006?
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stating it has been cigar of the year, showing that it wasn't a lousy cigar with a crap reputation that was picked to cook up a result.

I wish we had aged cigars in the shops, but unfortunately we can only get fresh Cubans here, all way too young.
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That's too bad, Ferdie, I guess you just have to age your own?
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I love experiments like this
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Yeah, these types of experiments usually yield some surprises to the participants. Nothing like giving a big thumbs up to a blind rocket.
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Blind taste tests are always interesting. The fact this one had thirty participants is especially fascinating.

Ferdie, what's the general European take on NCs versus CCs?
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So because I'm slow & to be clear, the BRC was a '13?

That said, I've enjoyed the BRC freshies....
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Also interested on this...
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The '06 Boli RCs I bought in '06 were magic by 2011....these were apparently freshies, E.J.
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12 of 13 I think, I will get the box code today
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It depends on what part of Europe. For example, Spain and Belgium are very traditional markets with a high "Cubans are better than anything else" attitude but Germany and The Netherlands are on the forefront when it comes to a more open mind on NCs. More and more people start to appreciate the flavors of NCs and especially the better construction of those cigars.
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March 13,
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Where is LCDH in Amsterdam?
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