Where's #9 :-)
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I just finisher up #10 today. I'll get it to you tonight or tomorrow Dan!
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Bump!

:-)
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It's all in Dballs hands now. I got all mine finished up a few days ago.
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Yup... I will probably get 9 up tonight and stagger 10 a bit as these are the last two... :-)
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Bump:-)
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I'm dying to know what these are!
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Me too...!

I am putting a calendar reminder on my phone to do at least one of them tonight...
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ApexAZ Cigar #9
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6/25/2012

Well it's been a pretty crazy few weeks and I haven't had a lot of time to do any blind taste test reviews. Today I'm going to tackle #9 to the best of my ability in greater than 100 degree heat. I also noticed that I really can't smell the cigar. Although my allergies seem fine today, I decided to take a zyrtec followed by a dose of flonase several hours prior to this review.

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Pre-light
This cigar is about 5 1/4" long and has a ring guage around 38-40. The natural wrapper has a smooth feel to it with small veins throughout. The appearance is a little rough around the edges, particularly around the triple cap. The cigar feels heavy and very dense.

The pre-light draw seems tight, which I half expected given the solid feel of it, so I decided to leave it out for several hours before attempting to smoke it. I don't really taste anything noteworthy on the draw.

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1st Third
Initial flavors from the first couple puffs are musty cardboard. The smoke is smooth, but not very flavorful. Within the first 10 minutes, the cigar went out and required a relight. The flavor is starting to develop into a semi-sweet wood/cedar flavor. It's freaking hot outside and I'm guzzling my perrier. I will have to switch to water soon. The flavors continue to sweeten and the burn/draw are both excellent.

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2nd Third
20 minutes in and I'm into the 2nd third of the smoke. Flavors are developing nicely into a richer, sweeter and creamier medium bodied profile. I'm really starting to enjoy it. Hints of cedar are still present, but mostly now I just taste sweet cream. This thing is tasty and I'm hoping I don't melt in the heat before I can finish enjoying it. The draw and burn are both excellent and the ash has been dropping periodically after about an inch or so.

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Final Third
I dip into the final third after about 45 minutes. The smoke is still medium bodied and medium strength. The same flavors are present, only stronger. I get some very slight hints of chocolate, but overall it's more of a sweet cream with some cedar. The draw and ash were perfect through the entire cigar.

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Conclusion
All in all, this was a really good cigar! It was mild, but had great flavor. I give it an 8/10 Thanks, Dan!

Score: 8/10

Total smoke time: 65 minutes
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smitty81 Cigar #9
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Ok, here's 9 finally. Sorry for the hold up.

Stick 9

I know you guys don't like my on the road reviews but in between sleep and work, it's all I have time for right now and I want to get this done so Dan doesn't get even more irritated with how long this is taking me.

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Stick 9 appears to be 5-1/4" long with 2 large veins in the wrapper. I guesstimate this is about a 40 Ga. It has a tight construction with a good cap on it. Wrapper is lite in color.

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I enjoyed this cigar with some Jamaican me Crazy coffee. On my first draw, I was getting sweet cream and grassy flavors with a nice spice in the background. The draw was pretty tight on this cigar. but after squeezing it a bit I got it to loosen up a good bit.

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The flavor bounced around from grassy to sweet cream in the first third and then settled down to a nice caramel flavor with that spice still in the background.

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I am having a really hard time picking out that spice I am tasting. Its almost like a molasses or burnt caramel or maybe even a nutmeg kind of flavor. The flavors of this cigar reminded me of warm Bread Pudding. It was pretty frickin good.

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I was having a hard time keeping this one burning and I'm gonna chalk that up to the tight draw which in turn, I am going to assume it had short filler. That is just an assumption based on my past experiences with a few of Dans other cigars I have tried. I could be wrong though as I didn't dissect it at the end.


The caramel/bread pudding flavor remained clear up to the nub. This cigar had really good flavor but due to the burn issues and tight draw, that is going to drop the score a bit.

I give stick number nine an 8/10.

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What they smoked:

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2002 Fonseca Cosaco

ApexAZ score: 8

smitty81 score: 8

9 done and none to go... I got 10 in, but I'm gonna stagger it a bit... :-)
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Thanks for the reviews. I recently picked up some of these and found them enjoyable.
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These were sure good Dan. Probably ranks #2 out of the 10 you sent.
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We are quivering with anticipation Dan
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Bump to the finish:-)
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Geez... you are relentless. :-)

I was in Toronto this weekend and at work now... I'll post the final one up tomorrow evening... :-)
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I say make take another week, keep the suspense alive!
Just before you post, go to commercial!
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Post up one review, a week later the other review, and wait one more week until the big reveal! :-)

Just PM me the answer first! :-)
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:-)
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ApexAZ Cigar #10
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7/4/2012

Well it's Independence Day and the weather here in Phoenix is unusually nice. It's overcast and has been raining off and on this morning, which has given us beautiful 80 degree weather. Given the holiday and the rare nice weather, it only made sense to wrap up Dan's blind taste test by smoking number 10. I don't really have anything to drink so H2O it is.

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Pre-light
This cigar is about 5 1/2" long and has a ring guage around 38-40. It has a nice and smooth natural wrapper with very small veins and a triple cap. Although somewhat light, the construction appears and feels solid and I can't really feel any noticeable soft spots. There are a couple very minor tears in the wrapper, but I don't expect them to cause any issues.

The pre-light draw seems a little tight, but not unsmokable. Scents from the foot and wrapper are musty tobacco. Flavors from the draw bring out a light semi-sweet floral tobacco flavor.

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1st Third
This cigar started out with some medium bodied flavor right off the bat. The smoke is very smooth and has an earthy cedar taste to it. A little deeper in I get a toasty nutty flavor. So far it has been mild in strength, medium in body and not quite as sweet as some of the others that came before it. The burn is excellent and the ash drops after about 2/3". The draw is slightly tighter than I prefer, but it's workable.

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2nd Third
25 minutes into the cigar I reach the 2nd third. The flavor and strength of the cigar continue to be medium and mild, respectively. The cigar still has a musty, earthy type flavor, except instead of cedar, I'm now tasting more coffee and caramel. It is developing more of a sweetness, but not as sweet as some of the previous cigars in the BTT. The burn is still good, the ash drops consistent and the draw is still a little tight.

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Final Third
50 minutes have passed and the cigar hasn't really changed drastically. It's still medium bodied and the flavors haven't really developed into anything different from the 2nd third. If anything, the cigar has become less sweet. I still get some musty, earthy flavor and more coffee with less caramel.

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Conclusion
This cigar had more of an earthy profile (if that makes any sense). It wasn't very creamy or sweet. I liked it well enough and give it a 7/10. Thanks, Dan!

Score: 7/10

Total smoke time: 75 minutes

Dan -- I can't thank you enough for the opportunity to try some of these cigars. To sample all of these cigars, and then write about them has been a wonderful experience. Being able to comment on them without any preconceived notions was very cool and helped to bring some things into perspective for me. Specifically, I learned that people should "Smoke what they like, like what they smoke". Thank you so much for sharing some great cigars. It was a really great experience.
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