Great reviews to start this off. Looking forward to #2.
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Great reviews. Right when I saw the word "caramel" I knew it had to be a PL.
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Really enjoyed the reviews, guys. Looking forward to the next one.
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ApexAZ Cigar #2
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4/10/2012

I'm finally back from my wedding in Vegas (woohoo!) and looking forward to reviewing cigar #2 from DBall's blind taste test. I decided to pair it with an ice cold glass of Barq's rootbeer.

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Pre-light
Cigar #2 appears to be something between a lonsdale and a churchill. It's 7.5" long and if I had to guess I'd say the ring gauge is somewhere between 42 and 46. Similar to the previously reviewed Por Larranaga, the wrapper is light and natural and soft and velvety to the touch. The construction appears to be very good with no soft spots and has a nice triple cap with a pig tail. The smell of the tobacco is sweet with some cedar.

I wet the head, snipped the cap and tested the pre-light draw, which feels a little tight and has no discernible flavors aside from tobacco that stand out to me. Hopefully there won't be any draw issues.

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1st Third
I lit the cigar and the draw seems to be fine. The initial flavors I can taste is a mildly bitter cedar and grass taste. It reminds me a little bit of a really mild wheat grass shot. About 1/2" in the flavors settle into a mild bodied charred cedar/wood flavor. The burn is very clean and the ash dropped after about 1/2". As far as strength goes, it seems to be pretty mild to me. The root beer is actually overwhelming my pallet, so I finished it and switched to water in hopes of possibly picking out more flavors from this cigar. I had one draw where I thought I tasted some fruit, like maybe plumb, but that was it.

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2nd Third
I'm about 40 minutes in and the cigar hasn't really changed much. As I progress through, I continue to get a mild-bodied charred wood flavor. Occasionally I get a very subtle dehydrated fruit flavor and some slight cream. The strength remains mild and the burn continues to be very straight, while the ash drops between 1/2 and 1". The draw is perfect.

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Final Third
I finally reached the final 3rd after about 1 hour and 15 minutes into the cigar. I've been smoking slower than usual, but I haven't had to relight or touch up at all and the pace feels right. The cigar is starting to pick up in body and flavor slightly. I continue to taste the cedar flavor, but now the cream is starting to stand out a bit more. As I get deeper into the final third, I start to taste some raisin and some flavor I'm not entirely sure how to describe. The first thing that came to mind was toasted nuts? Not really sure. The cedar is still there, but now starting to lose some of it's dominance to other flavors. I'm continuing to get some fruit flavors that now resemble cherry, which is a new flavor for me. The draw and burn have continued to be absolutely perfect. With about 1" left it began to get hot and bitter, so I decided to call it quits after just under 2 hours.

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Conclusion
Overall I felt this cigar was pretty unremarkable. I don't know if it's the cigar itself or my untrained pallet, but I just didn't get much flavor from it until the last 3rd. It wasn't bad, just not very tasty or interesting until much later in the cigar. I probably wouldn't purchase these, but I would be interested in trying a shorter version if it existed. I'm looking forward to reviewing #3 over the weekend. Thanks, DBall!

Score: 5/10

Total smoke time: 1 hour 55 minutes
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smitty81 Cigar #2
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Ok, on to stick two. It's about 8-9 inches long (didn't measure it). maby a lancero? Construction seems good with some small veins in the wrapper. Wrapper color is lite. Guessing long filler from what was in the cap. Stick smells of cow manure. Draw before light up I am getting a lite hay flavor.

First 1/3rd

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I'm getting a sweet cedar. Draw is a little on the tight side but not bad. It's burning pretty sharp and I'm getting some marshmallow flavor in there too. I am having problems getting smoke to draw even though the draw seems good.

2/3rd

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I am finding that I have to take deeper draws with this stick to keep it burning well. I am assuming its because of it's length? I have never smoked a cigar in this length.

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Taste is a deeper cedar taste with hints of caramel? I am also getting hints of cardboard flavor.

Last third

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I am finding myself drawing harder and harder on this to keep it lit. The hard draw is killing the flavor for me. I purged it and re-lit. I got back the sweet marshmallow and cedar taste. Then it starts getting a little harsh again after a while due to the deep draws. The draw on this cigar is strange to me. It dosn't seem tight but yet I have to draw hard to keep it going. Maby this is just one of those sticks you have to babysit?

Never got to much smoke out of this stick and the aroma of the smoke was just kind of a tobacco smell.

This wasn't really my cup of tea due to the flavor, draw and length. Just not my kind of cigar I guess.
I give it a 6/10
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What they smoked:

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2001 Vegueros Especiale #1

ApexAZ score: 5

smitty81 score: 6

You guys are getting more flavors out of these than I did when I smoked one about a week ago. I'm trying to smoke the same ones you smoke to see where I'm at on them, too. I woulda given it the same rating, if not maybe a bit lower. When I first pulled these out of the cooler, they were OK, now they are a little flat.

Some people have actually referred to these as a "poor man's Cohiba Lancero"... not sure where they are getting that from (and this from a guy who doesn't really like Cohiba...). Not the best example of an 11 year old cuban cigar...
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lol i know what those were :-) D*mnit dan you beat me to it
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Read the first post, punk... Don't tell if you think you know what they are!

:-)

...you were there when I first pulled them out of the cooler... we smoked one on the balcony (and it was pretty damned good, even!). Maybe I should put them back and forget about em for another 11 years, eh? :-)
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You are supposed to wait for him to post anyway. :-)

I had an idea what they might have been, but I was wrong. lol
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The cigar wasn't bad really, just not really interesting until the end, which took a loooong time to reach. I'm not a big fan of the wood/grass flavors in general and that's pretty much all I was getting for most of it. The fruit-like flavors that I got, especially at the end, were very intriguing. If I got more flavors in the first 2/3 I would have scored it higher I think. The fact that it was 11 years old is pretty cool though!
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Yeah... the first one I had was decent, those since have been more than a bit lackluster. Never got the fruit flavors out of this cigar, personally.

One thing I'll do if I really wanna taste the cigar for all it has is that I will pair it with sparkling water... good, neutral palate-cleanser. :-)
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I wasnt gonna tell.. just teasing a bit lol. Maybe they like a higher humidity or something?
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Totally picking on ya... anyway, you already know all the cigars I have... :-)
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Hurry up and smoke #3 Brian, I want to know what it is!
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Something like perrier? Maybe I'll try that. The root beer didn't work out well for me.

Should be able to this weekend, or possibly earlier. Dan, do you want us to pace these, or is a few per week okay?
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Nice reviews!
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Great reviews guys. I don't really like smoking with root beer, it tends to bitter out my cigar. Try cream soda, the sweetness compliments many creamy cigars perfectly. So far both of you seem to be pretty similar with your findings and ratings, this is fun to watch!
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Yeah, that or pellegrino. And it's not thaht the root beer didn't work for ya as much as the Vegueros is a kinda flat cigar :-)


I'm up for a minimum of 1/week. As long as you hit that, I'm fine. If you're a little late, that's no biggie... once you start doing one a month, I may have an issue :-)
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:-)

I only drink mineral water when reviewing a cigar now. It's refreshing and has a crazy good palate cleansing power :-)
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we may also.... These are so interesting to read, you have no idea.
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