Alec Bradley Retreat

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PerpetualNoob

Young Ape
I don't see a lot of mention of these on here. Maybe they're just "old hat" to most of you guys, I don't know. Anyway, I sparked up a Churchill natural last night. It was the first of five that I got in a combo-pack. What a perfectly pleasant experience!

I'm a slow smoker, so I generally favor toros and robustos. A churchill takes me about two hours, and that's usually more time than I'm willing to devote to a cigar, but it turned out to be just about the perfect amount of time to also watch Black Snake Moan, which I hadn't seen before. I really liked the movie, and the soundtrack, and thanks to the Miracle of Time, I can now look at Christina Ricci without feeling like a complete perv. Like, only 90%, now!

Back to the smoke... Beautiful cigar, great wrap, perfect construction. Lots of thick, smooth smoke, firm white ash, 1-1 1/2 inches. I used a punch on it, and the prelight draw was easy but firm, and stayed that way all the way through. The burn was great, I never had to touch it up or relight. I lit it a little crooked, but it evened itself out within the first 3/4 inch. I also liked the little pull-tab thing on the band, which made it very easy to peel. It wasn't enough to convert me to a full-time Churchill guy, but if the Toros are this good, and I could find them at a reasonable price (two very big ifs, I realize), I could see myself smoking a PILE of these things.

I've had a few irritating, semi-serious burn issues lately, which I've discussed in another thread, so any cigar that I can just light up and smoke without fighting it is going to get a couple steps on the rest of the pack, right out of the gate.

So, I'm curious. Are these so good they no longer even need to be mentioned, or are they just too boring to be worth smoking? Overpriced for what you get? What's your opinion of the Retreat line, in general? Have the Retreats been discontinued? CI, cigar.com, Famous, and JR don't even list them. They have other AB lines, but not the Retreats.
 
I Googled & it is stocked at Thompson's for around $75-80 a box pf 20 plus shipping. The "in crowd" would tell you not to buy from the dreaded "T" vendor, but if that's what you like & that's where they stock em, I'd let the "in crowd" KYA & get em anyhow.

I was a little puzzled as to what the ad writer meant by a Habano Rosado Oscuro wrapper though. :D
 
I haven't had the Retreat nor have I seen them but I had a Tempus not too long ago and gave one to a friend and have one marinating in the humidor. It was a nice smoke, also a Churchill or 'Centuria', and got a 94 in CA. The Tempus, I've noticed, has popped up everywhere, for good reason, to be sure.

Like you, I'm a slow smoker and prefer Toros and Robustos, but man, I had an Oliva Master Blends 3 Churchill a few weeks back that I really really enjoyed and didn't have any burn issues either and I normally do too so maybe I should reconsider Church's.

I'm also a big Christina Ricci fan; she did an awesome job in that movie and I'm not just talking about the topless parts (which were fabulous!). :D
 
kansashat said:
I Googled & it is stocked at Thompson's for around $75-80 a box pf 20 plus shipping. The "in crowd" would tell you not to buy from the dreaded "T" vendor, but if that's what you like & that's where they stock em, I'd let the "in crowd" KYA & get em anyhow.

I was a little puzzled as to what the ad writer meant by a Habano Rosado Oscuro wrapper though. :D
Click to expand...

I know that's where I got them, and through the process of elimination, I have concluded they must have been part of a sampler that has since been discontinued, so I can't look it up and see exactly what was in it, but it's the only one I can't account for. Oddly, Evil Cigar Co. doesn't even list AB on their main page of brands, but searching for "Retreats" pulls up three offerings. I paid about $2.60 each for these, and they were definitely worth that, and to me at least, I'd say they're worth $4, but I don't know how much beyond that I would go, and I probably wouldn't go very far out of my way trying to track them down. There's a whole slew of cigars that I like, once you get up in the $4 range. At $8.50, I might try a 5-er of the Tempus just for the Hell of it, but it's way outside my price range for a regular smoke.

P.S. - Just had a thought: Maybe Evil is the only big place that still carries them, and most of the people on here would rather smoke rolled up newspaper than deal with them, that might be why there's so little mention of them?
 
The Retreat is an exclusive for Thompsons...
I emailed George Sosa of AB about them a while back, here is his response to my email asking how it compared to the Tempus...

"Nowhere near the strength of the Tempus.
The Retreat is a solid Medium Body w/ nice complex flavors. The tempus is full bodied.
I compare it mostly to our Havana Sun Grown w a Central American flavor (i.e. Spicy)."
 
I also saw these in the Thompson catalog as “exclusives” and was interested in them being a fan of Alec Bradley’s cigars. But I am apprehensive from ordering from them since I do not want the phone calls and for they price of the Retreat I would rather get 2 boxes of the Harvest 97. Heck I can get two boxes of Harvest 97 off of cbid for the price of one box of the Retreat.

Sometimes I am turned off by “exclusive cigars” since some companies overprice them because they are the only ones selling them and rely on the name brand for the sales.
 
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