This cigar has almost ruined me. It is 99% perfect! It has a perfect earthy taste, perfect burn, stays lit and has a great but not a perfect draw (the Gurkha Evil draw is better). The cigar lasts about an hour and a half. There is no after taste, so much so that it seems you can smoke one all day. The cigar almost ruined me because any time I go to smoke a different cigar I know it won't measure up. Consequently, my small humidor has become almost empty. I have to thank my friend who has graciously shared several of these masterpieces with me. I will note that the first one I had was improperly rolled and had no drag, so that communist work ethic can rear its ugly head.
CS Rating 5.0
Diamond E
Wow, Diamond E, a CS 5, Rudyard Kipling worthy, is quite a rarity. I will definitely have to score one and see how it suits me. Was it a dark maduro wrapper or a lighter one?
ReplyDeleteEl Alcalde
The lighter one.
DeleteDiamond E
I still have about 30 of them in my Humidor, Diamond E, if you run out. And if El Alcalde ever finds himself in Oklahoma I am only a phone call away. I try to keep them stocked!!!
ReplyDeleteGMTARONDOR!
Thanks, if your humidor ever runs out of space for these cigars, now you know, I have soom storage space that you can use!
DeleteLMAO!!! Noted! I have no problems sharing with any ALONSO!
DeleteI'll be very interested in how the others smoke. My experience with Cuban stogies is that the quality is inconsistent at best due to poor quality control and the lack of aging.
ReplyDeleteI've had boxes where a handful of the stogies are terrific and the rest are plugged. In general, even if they're not plugged, the draw is much too firm for my taste. It's a shame to let that great tobacco go to waste, but what can you expect from Communists.
The great Cuban cigar masters have left the island and are making cigars elsewhere. I'll put a San Lotano Connecticut or Oval, PDR Clasico, Gran Habano Cabinet Select, Padilla 1932 or Hybrid, Alec Bradley Prensado, Opus X Forbidden, etc. against anything coming out of Cuba right now, even more so considering the price-gouging that goes to support lovely Communists running the island. So just because you won the PowerBall with one stogie, does not mean that you will win it again next week. The odds may be a little better, but not by much.
Mamey
I have smoked the San Lotano Connecticut, Gran Habano Cabinet Select and the Padilla 1932 and they are not close to being as good. The communist may screw up the construction of the cigars from time to time, but the Cuban soil is still number one!
DeleteDiamond E
Mamey,
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to disagree with your evaluation. I have smoked MANY of these cigars and always bring a several back with me when I am overseas. I have yet to smoke one that has disappointed me. I have smoked 2-3 in a row since I enjoy them so much. I do have to say that the draw is easier at times with other cigars but not too firm where I am turned off. I wish I can say otherwise being a Cuban myself whose family lost EVERYTHING there when they fled in the early 60's. I have smoked the Alec Bradley Prensado and think it is an excellent cigar. I will try the others you have noted. Maybe its just a personal taste but I agree with Diamond E Its a 5.0 for me as well.
GMTARONDOR
GMTARONDOR
DeleteDoes the Alec Bradley Prensado get close...never had one...do you recall smoking the Punch Rare Corojo? How do they compare?
Diamond E
The Bradley Prensado was a really good cigar and would recommend it to anyone! I have smoked the Punch Rare Corojo with you...really good cigar but a 5.0? No..4.0! Perhaps! It lacks the CUBAN SOIL! LMAO!!
DeleteGMTARONDOR
Agreed the Punch Rare Corojo is a 4.0. I was interested in knowing how you rate the Alec Bradley Prensado to the Punch Rare Corojo(if you can remember)...
DeleteIs it earthy like the Punch Rare Corojo or more spicey like the My Father?
Diamond E
I feel the Prensado to be a little bolder cigar and I dont recall it being spicey like the My Father. I would need to smoke another to give you an honest opinion but I do remember it being really freaking good! Right now I would place it a tad higher than the Punch Rare Corojo!
DeleteWith all due respect to Diamond E, you have only smoked one more of these stogies than the GIMP, so you really can't opine on quality control, si? Suffice to say, I bet that you've NEVER had a plugged San Lotano, Gran Habano, or Padilla--EVER! Well that's not my experience with these Cubans. What's more the draw is too firm on 80% of the ones that I've smoked.
ReplyDeleteGMTARONDOR has enjoyed a bigger sample, and his opinion is entitled to more weight, so I'm curious about his opinion on the above mentioned cigars. At least he acknowledges the firm draw, so we can now work on exposing him to the great non-Cubans on the market. I'm confident that a blind taste test will cure him of this ways.
Mamey
You are incorrect Mamey, I have smoked probably 5 or 6 of these masterpieces...so I do know what I'm talking about...
DeleteDiamond E
I am VERY OPEN to non-cubans on the market. I do have some favorites like the PUNCH Rare Corojo and I am a Padron 1964 addict! There is always some of those in my humidor for myself and a friend! I dont like smoking or drinking alone! I will head out TODAY to the CIGARBOX and see if I can purchase the ones noted by Mamey! From my discussions with Diamond E your opinion holds alot of weight!
DeleteI have several memoriable experiences with Diamond E and most of them include some Zacapa rum and Cohiba siglo 6!
So why didn't you say so? All you say is that it's "earthy." This is true, but I also find them to be creamy, which you have said in the past that you don't like. I don't think it's fair to give a cigar a 5 based on 5-6 stogies, but that's your right.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your empty humidor, but you may want to do yourself a favor a buy some Alec Bradley Prensados and Gran Habanos Cabinet Select(if you can find them).
Mamey
Please read the original post, the term used was "several".
ReplyDeleteI have had the Gran Habanos Cabinet Select and another non-contender...but that was based on one, but that was enough...kind of like the Cuban Cohiba Siglo 6, one was enough to rank it a 5, if was that good!
LMAO!! Sibling rivalry at its best!!!
DeleteThe only way this can be settled is with 4 Cubans (I'm throwing in El Alcade), the cigars in questions and some ZACAPA!!!!
You gotta tip your hat to Diamond E for his lightning rod posts. This one will rock the cigar world from now until the much anticipated Tampa Cigar festival. Not having smoked the CCS6, I cannot render an opinion on the vaulted CS rating. However, GMT unhesistatingly vouches for the rating and that helps. It appears that Mamey is questioning DE's rating process for concern that the 5 was a knee-jerk reaction. But I cannot tell if Mamey is questioning the rating itself.
ReplyDeleteEl Alcalde
You'll excuse me if I'm not impressed with this review, but, to put things in context, this is the same Diamond E who gave the uber-wimpy Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Prensado Oscuro #3 as CS rating of 5. Enough said on that.
ReplyDeleteThe 5 rating means a perfect cigar and even Diamond E admits that even the Ghurka Evil has a better draw. I have not only tried these cigars but also the top of the line in the Cohiba label--the Behike and was less than impressed, especially given their exhorbitant cost!
Remember, when comparing the San Lotano Connecticut, Padilla 1932 and Hybrid, Alex Bradley Prensado, and Gran Habano Cabibet, etc. you're paying at most $10/stick and you're GUARANTEED a cool, even burning cigar with a great drag. If you say that this is the case with these Cubans you're lying to yourself--0and spending a lot of money to do it. Even the Communist sympathizers at Cigar Aficionado had to admit that the Alex Bradley Prensado was the best cigar of the year!
Mamey
Mamey,
ReplyDelete1) Good Point! I will be down rating the Monterrey Excalibur Prensado Oscuro #3. This one is that much better. PO3 Still beat any of your forementioned cigars.
2) No such thing as a perfect cigar, just "All World"
3) I thought we were rating cigars, not cost per stick. In that case the Flor de Oliva-Gold at $2.50 per stick beats any of you forementioned cigars.
4) Should we just let Cigar Aficionada do your reviews, in that way you can stay consistent and provide another uniform critique. Smoke one, then comment.
Diamond E
It's not all-world in my view if the draw is not great, but you're entitled to your opinion. These cigars also tend to burn hot after awhile and cannot be "nubbed", which is also important to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how many SL Conns, AB Prensados, or Gran Habano Cabinets you've smoked, but I did NOT compare them on the basis of cost. I DID say that they were a consistently better smokes and cost much less to boot. Also, see my review of the Cohiba Behike, which is the top of their line. This is consistent with my experiences with current Cuban cigars. I just referenced CA to show that eveb Commie-loving pinkos know that there are better cigars than the over-rated Cubans.
Mamey
Hmmm
DeletePost at 1:57
... but I did NOT compare them on the basis of cost. ...
Post at 1:14
Remember, when comparing the San Lotano Connecticut, Padilla 1932 and Hybrid, Alex Bradley Prensado, and Gran Habano Cabibet, etc. you're paying at most $10/stick and you're GUARANTEED a cool, even burning cigar with a great drag.
Has Mamey smoked a CCS6? Also, I think Diamond E would need to provide something more than a "not as good as CCS6" to downgrade the HdM. Perhaps smoke another one and explain why the rating change.
ReplyDeleteEl Alcalde
Thanks for taking my comments out of context--maybe you can do the same for Romney in his next presidential campaign. If you read the entire post, as well as subsequent comments, it is 100% clear that I was making a head to head comparison on the basis of quality---the great price on my suggested smokes is a lagniappe! Of course, you never deny that the Cubans are a rip-off but, hey, why deal directly with the issue when you have a straw man handy?
ReplyDeleteMamey
Mamey, have you smoked a CCS6? If so, how would you rate? I am definitely intrigued
ReplyDeleteEl Alcalde
LMOA!
ReplyDeleteI'm almost sorry I gave DE the cigars now!!! And for clarification they are Siglo 5's!! Sorry...my bad!
GMTarondor
WAIT!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI rarely read other reviews before posting, but becasue of its rating I chose to do so on this one. It's size was being discussed as 5 7/8 X 52, which did not sound right. So I measured the Length ~7 inches and the Gauge ~44, which makes what I smoked not a XI!, but a Siglo V!
Webmaster, can you make the change?
Whether these are 5th century or 6th century cigars, I have smoked at least a couple of boxes of them and am not impressed. Sure, they are all-world at times, no doubt about it, but I've had the same consistency issue with them as with the Cohiba Behike, which I have previously reviewed.
ReplyDeleteWhat's more, I've given them to other experienced cigar smokers and they have not been impressed either. The quality goes from all-world to plugged and everything in between. Why play Russian roulette with cigars, especially at nose bleed prices? Go with the San Lotano Oval or Connecticut, Padilla Hybrid or 1932, Alec Bradlet Prensado, PDR Clasico or Oscuro, or the Fuente Hemingway or Opus X and you won't look back!
Mamey
Mamey,
ReplyDeleteCan't tell... have you smoked a Cuban Cohiba Siglo 5 or not?
Diamond E
I am not sure at this point what you smoked, or whether it's a Siglo 5, 6, or 60, but it's obviously taken a toll on your mind.
ReplyDeletePOP QUIZ: What do you think the term "century" refers to in the above comment?
a. The Gimp in "Pulp Fiction"
b. Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo",
c. Obama's pet name for his teleprompter,
d. Mitt Romney's brand of hair color
e. Siglo in English?
Relevance?
DeleteSo SIZE does matter!
ReplyDeleteEl Alcalde
Yes, of course, especially the size of your trumpet.
ReplyDeleteMamey
Thanks.
DeleteBased on its taste, and not on other people's opinion or its cost, what would you rate it?
Diamond E
Diamond E, have you tried the Siglo 5 Maduro?
ReplyDeleteHasuki
No, have you?
DeleteNo, just a polite question
ReplyDeleteHasuki
4.5
ReplyDeleteMy CS Rating is 3.5(just like the Cohiba Behike), primarily because of its inconsistency and draw issues. That aside, I don't particularly enjoy getting ripped off by Communists, especially when there are better alternatives.
ReplyDeleteMamey
Thanks for the feedback!
DeleteDiamond E
The Pop Quiz answer is "a"
ReplyDeleteAt this point I want to try the CCS 5 or 6, and then weigh in with an imfoed and conclusive opinion
ReplyDeleteEl Alcalde
The Webmaster has made the requested correction.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteDiamond E
I like Lisbeth Salander.
ReplyDeleteMiss Kitty
I have not had the quality issues Mamey has had with this cigar. Of all the ones I have smoked so far 20-30 none have given me an issue. Again, I want to note the firmer draw on this cigar in comparison to the others (ie. Gurkha's) I have smoked. Again, this is not really an issue with me. And although I have bought some (yes..the price is higher than I want to pay), most of them have been given to me by my customers and/or vendors from overseas!
ReplyDeleteI have been unable to find the cigars Mamey has recommend I try locally. I guess I should go online and buy some. Does anyone have a site they use and like?
GMTarondor
GM, all I can say is that I'm I'm going to send you $20 to buy me some PowerBall lottery tickets. I'm at the Tampa Cigar Festival with TOB and AK47, who provided me with a Siglo 3--same result: nice at first, turning bitter the last third and a draw that is way too firm. Definitely not worth $25. I have. Ever, EVER had a problem with the cigars I recommended, all of which you can get at Cigarbid for less than $10.
ReplyDeleteMamey
GMT...yes, CigarBid is the ticket. And it's fun to swing a deal. I'm looking forward to try a CCS 5 so that I can chime in
ReplyDeleteEl Alcalde