big_bish
04-04-2001, 08:58 PM
Since the weather was good today, I decided to sit in the courtyard and soak up some sun with a cigar. I picked out the Series S Esplendido from my humidor and lit it up.
WHile the cigar was beautiful, with a smooth medium brown wrapper with little veins and some oil, it had a hard draw. This was quite annoying to me. It encountered some burn problems too and had to correct it every few minutes with my lighter so it wouldn't get away from me.
For the small amound of smoke I could pull into my mouth, the flavor was decent, nothing great. It was woody with a hint of coffee flavor. I would call this cigar mild -> mild/medium.
Overall I give this smoke a B-. It tries real hard to be a great cigar but the construction problems were a real bother.
big_bish
hey big_bish,
I am waiting for some Partagas Serie S to come to me in the near future, I heard very good things about them from people and your review just cooled me down a bit... I will let you know as soon as I'll get my hands on them!
cv
big_bish
04-16-2001, 07:56 PM
You may have better luck with other cigars from this line because their shapes aren't nearly as radical as the esplendido. I've heard wonderful things about these as well, and pending you review, I'll probably try them again.
big_bish
LAST EDITED ON May-31-01 AT 04:02 PM (CDT)[p]big_bish,
I smoked one of these tonight. This is my second shape test out of the Serie S line sample. I have already had (and posted on) the Perfecto as well, which I liked...
Well. First of all, you are exactly right on the external appearence of this stogie. Is beautifully made, wrapped in a gorgeous dark leaf, no veins, no soft/hard patches, great looking. I cut the cap worried about your review and the possibility of having some bad surprises. Instead, the pre-light draw was smooth and easy, tasting was quite light and just a bit of pepper. Burning was easy enough, but not immediate. Here we go...
I passed the first inch, the burn is really even, the ashed are still there, firm and thick, light grey in color, and they do not seem to think about falling off at all!
Tastewise, this cigar is medium to full bodied, some toasty coffee flavor, earthy, somewhere after the first 1/3 some chocolate flavor showed off for a while; it is providing mouthful of smoke and overall is a very good cigar, long finish, tasty.
At 1/2 the ashes are still there... It is quite impressive to see half stogie and half ashes on it! I am wondering when will they decide to fall off...
Took off the band. I am going to burn my fingers, and this stogie is still doing great. Taste is improving in richness, and is not getting too hot. Sipping slowly helps not to heat it too much, and though it is becoming a bit dry and some hints of ammonia showed off (youth?) it is still enjoyable.
I have to let it go... I will need my fingers tomorrow morning!
Overall, a very good cigar, almost perfect on all sides except for the taste which is very good but not great: 8.5/10.0 due to some lack in the taste department, but a resounding 10 on construction, burn etc!
Give'em another chance, big_bish, you may just have got unlucky with your first one!
cv