We know what we're doing!!! Brad and I both nailed the first review AND the 2nd!! He was right thou, leave the tasting up to us pros. ;-p
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Fine, fine... I'll leave you to your fun. Go smoke some cigars, then! :-)
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Roger.
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Uhhh....it's Dan. :-)
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Received the prize that Dan (Dball) sent for my lucky guess. :-) Thank you so much!!!

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BTW J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!
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sweet Joe
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Sorry everyone, no review for me this week as I have come down with something awful.

:-)
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Get better soon, man!!!
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Slavac has review #3 done, Kelly said he'll be out for a bit...
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My head is out of the barrel. Review #3 is in your inbox :-)
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Now we just have to :-) on Balls
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He's an alright guy, just slow is all :-)
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Slavac Cigar #3
*************

Cigar: Mystery Cigar 3
Setting: Back deck on a 70 deg night with AdamC.
Drink: Left Handed Brewery Milk Stout

Initial Impressions: This is one of the longer of the 10 cigars I was sent, however it is VERY veiny cigar, probably one of the most vein riddled I've ever seen.

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Cut and pre-light draw: Hard draw but not as bad as #1.
The first 2 inches of the cigar appear supple to the touch, the rest of the cigar has periodic knots throughout, usually under the knots.

Lit easily using my tri-torch.

Draw after lighting: Difficult, but not hard. Guillotine cut. Flavors of wood and tobacco with a vaguely sweet finish that I can't pigeonhole into a particular flavor.

First Third: Tastes a bit off. Unpleasant but not horrid. Draw is tight with very little smoke. Ash is strange, very strange. Looks a bit like a series of hourglasses stuck atop each other at different angles. Developed a burn spot 1" down from the cherry which burned through. At this point I don't hate this stick, but I don't like it.
Lost ash at 1". Burn is uneven.
Flavors of wood, tar and oddly enough, faintly of freshly baked bread.

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^Burn spot during First Third.


Second Third: Draw easing, smoke increasing. Flavor is more harsh, with maybe a hint of pepper? Some tar flavor building. Lost its ash again with 1" of buildup. Burn remains uneven.
Flavors remain the same though I lost the fresh baked bread component.
Toward the end of 2/3 I noticed some more harshness at the back of the palate. Cigar has begun falling apart: trying to lose the main leaf wrapper.

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^Funky ash and falling apart.

Third Third: Ash lasts only half an inch at a time. More palate burn returning.
Flavors remain the same and unremarkable. Wrapper continues to disintegrate.

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^Damage evident here. 3/3.

Final Impressions: This cigar lasted about 50 minutes and wasn't enjoyable for more than 2 of those.
Would I buy again: Certainly not.
Would I smoke again: I'd give this one another try to see if I got a dud, but odds are I'd pass.
Overall Rating With 10 the highest possible and 0 the baseline: 3.5/10

Final Thoughts: Look elsewhere.
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Flat4boxer Cigar #3
****************

Okay folks sorry for the delay. My head cold is finally cleared up and I was able to enjoy some cigar time for the first time in a week this morning.

Unknown cigar #3 is a light brown, firmly wrapped stick that is roughly 6 1/2 - 7" long. Small veins cover this non-oily wrapper. Overall appearance is A+.

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Pre-light

After cutting off the end, the draw seems as if it's going to be a struggle to smoke. Not unlike Brads first cigar.

Light

Draw is very tight and a low volume of smoke. I want to say it tastes of cedar but my newb palet knows no better so that's what I'm sticking with. The smoke is not overpowering, almost mild is the best discription.

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First 3rd:

Draw continues to be tight. I get the home made draw tool out and start poking away hoping to free up more smoke. Little is accomplished so I just continue puffing away. It forms a tight gray ash that struggles to hang on. (slight breeze out today) A mouth full of smoke is hard to come by. Shame, because what I do get is very tasty. Burn is very even, no touch ups required.

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Second 3rd:

The tight draw continues until finally it was as if I'd burned through the "plug". Smoke comes more freely and I really get the full taste of this stick. The dedar notes mentioned above continue and slightly mix with a woodsy flavor. A touch of leather is introduced here and there. The cigar is very enjoyable at this point.

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Third 3rd:

The very smooth cedar flavor continues and the woodsy complexity seem to blend nicely as we near the finnish. This is yet another stick that I nub to the end.

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Overall I have to give this cigar a 8.7/10

It would have scored a bit higher had I not run into the initial draw problem.

I would recommend this stick and will look to pick up a few to throw in the humi for later enjoyment.
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What they smoked:

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2000 Partagas de Partagas #1

Slavac score: 3.5
Flat4boxer score: 8.7

Clearly... there's something going on here with these cigars. I asked Brad how he was storing them because, while it's no secret habanos have draw issues, not EVERY one should.

Turns out his humidor is around 70% (which it far too high for habanos... NCs seem to be able to tolerate high RH a bit better).

From now on, he's gonna drybox them a bit before smoking them. That should make it a little better. A bad draw can really ruin the smoking experience...
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Love PdPs!
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I love me some PdPs as well. Almost all of my 99-00 ones have been pretty plugged. If not for a draw tool I don't think I would like them. Once you get them opened up they really shine!!
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One of my favorites also. Dry boxing these helps tremendously.
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When I was smoking NCs, I found they smoked better in the high 60s, low 70s... I find habanos to be best around 60-65, personally.
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Yup. Going to drybox the remainder before I smoke'em and see if that helps. I also have a fancy dandy draw tool now.
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