5 Nights in Britalia

[mealstrom]

I've been fighting the two halves of myself - the half that wants to keep my Britalia cigars forever to look at, and the half that way dying to see what they tasted like. Then I thought "Hey, I'm not going to live forever" so figured I'd try them all out. I'm going to smoke one of each every night this week and let y'all know what they taste like.

Night 1:
Brazilia Campeao 2002
The cigar started out really good, with a taste very reminiscent of a Piranha. A good bit of flavor with just a little spice. It's a mild-medium cigar with a light taste. Woody with small amount of spice. The draw was pretty tight in the beginning, but since it's a figurado I pretty much expected that. I just clipped it a little to give it a better draw.

Although the first third was pretty good, it mellowed out quite a bit by the second third. Oddly enough it started to get a bit grassy toward the middle. Even though there was a candela diamond on the wrapper I know this didn't have anything to do with it. It just really mellowed out into a mild woody-grassy taste.

The third portion actually ended up getting a bit boring. It stopped changing flavors and turned out to be pretty bland. I was pretty disappointed at the end.

Conclusion: Although it wasn't a bad cigar, it was more a novelty or for decoration than actual smoking. Laughing (Not that I had to tell any of you that. I'm sure you'd all pretty much expected that.)

For some reason my pics aren't showing up when I look at the message.

 

[gpugliese]

Here you go:

You linked the gallery page, not the image itself.

 

[TexaSmoke]

Pretty cool. I'm interested in what you think of the others. I almost bought that set (I'm a sucker for novelty cigars), but never have been a big fan of CAO. Anys have fun.

 

[mealstrom]

Thanks gpugliese!

I've never been a big fan of CAO myself (love a few of them, but overall just not impressed) but I'm also a sucker for novelty cigars.

 

[Volusianator]

I smoked the Bratalia and had to pitch it 1/3 of the way through, I just couldn't take it anymore. Hopefully you'll have a different experience.

 

[Halon]

Holt's has the sets on sale now for $60 if you want to replace your set.
Just FYI


TYLER

 

[mealstrom]

Night 2:
Brazilia Trombeta
This cigar held much more promise for me during the prelight draw. Much more body. I thought that there might be some draw issues due to the odd shape and size, but it was perfect not only during the prelight draw, but also throughout the entire cigar. Obviously it takes some skill to roll these, so I was impressed.

After emptying my lighter toasting the foot (and what a hell of a foot it was!) and lighting the cigar I finally got down to it. The draw was perfect, but oddly enough I got barely any smoke through. Normally I would expect this if the cigar was plugged, but it drew through just fine. It just had to be the shape and I decided to keep going. Initially I got a very strong leathery flavor with undertones of chocolate. I wouldn't say it was sweet, but there was just a touch of it deep down in there.

As I smoked it I had to keep relighting, as you'd expect with such a huge-ended cigar. But except for that the cigar burned perfectly - straight as a razor and without any sort of runners. I touched up here and there, but that was mostly my OCD and not the cigar. Sure enough, the further I got down the cigar the better the draw became. Actually, let me correct that by saying that the draw stayed the same but the amount of smoke I started getting through it was much more copious. Still a good amount of flavor to it.

The end of the cigar it just died. I hate that it happened because it was smoking perfectly, but the taste just went completely bland on me. I kept puffing through, hoping that it would build up a bit toward the end but it never did. After a bit I just ended up pitching it, which was a shame since I'd hoped to nub it. I figured that pulling all that tar and such through that huge foot down into the tiny little head would cause the flavor to change as I got to the end, but it didn't.

Just for info's sake it took me almost 2 hours to smoke and I was drinking a glass of ruby port.

Conclusion: Better than Night 1, but still more decorative and novelty than anything.

Oh, and someone please let me know if I'm making a faux pas by posting all these pics on the thread. Thanks!

Tonight's victim

That's one hell of a cherry!

Started to unravel - I think due to the heat

Just kept unravelling

As far as I could take it before pitching it.

 

[Rich K]

Those pics are great, man. It just sucks that those cigars haven't really been treating you very well. They sure are pretty to look at, though.

 

[smokem94]

Very cool reviews and pics....thanks!

 

[TexaSmoke]

Nice Review, hae fun with the other three.

 

[CWS]

Review and pics are great and appreciated So far, you are saving me money.

 

[jwintosh]

excellent reviews! thanks!! good looking smokes, though i may have to pass....

 

[mealstrom]

Night 3:
Italia Campione 2006
I was much more impressed by this one. Very strong leathery flavor with slight woody undertones. The cigar had perfect draw and burned perfectly, so construction was great. Good volumes of smoke with quite a bit of flavor.

Unfortunately, just like with the others the taste started to die out around the middle. Fortunately just toward the end the leathery taste picked back up and gave me enough flavor to finish it.

Conclusion: Best one I've tried so far. Just a bit more complex than the other two. But still a little one-dimensional. Another pretty looking cigar with not a lot of great taste.

2 down, 3 to go

Tonight's victim

Good solid construction - the ash fell off onto my lap right after this. :headroll:

 

[Electric Sheep]

Man, I am LOVING this thread...I wanted to buy that set, but now I'm able to live vicariously through your posts!

Thanks!

 

[mealstrom]

Night 4:
Italia Tromba
See Night 2. Exact same experience. :sadstare:

3 down, 2 to go

Tonight's victim

 

[Irritech]

Very cool post!:bottle:

 

[mealstrom]

Night 5:
CAO Britalia
Well, the journey ends tonight! I ate a nice meal, got myself a nice glass of Ruby Port, and sat down with the cigar. I love the appearance (of course, I'm always a sucker for barberpole cigars) and the band is cool as hell. On the left it has Feito a Mano and on the right Falto a Mano - nice touch I thought!

The pre-light draw was a little tight, so I had to clip both ends pretty far up. After I got the draw perfect it was a very light draw, with not much flavor to it. At this point I was a little worried that I would be disappointed by this one. I guess since the others fell so flat I was expecting more out of this combo.

This one seemed to be the opposite of the others though. It started out very light without much flavor, then started gaining complexity toward the middle. In the middle I definitely had a strong flavor that I can only describe as... well.... Britalia. :laugh: The taste was a very interesting combination of both Brazilia and Italia. I was pretty impressed.

The flavor changed once more when I got toward the last third that I was very happy with. But then right toward the end it fizzled. Although this cigar gave me great hope toward the middle, unfortunately it seemed to follow the path of the rest.

Conclusion: The cigar was very interesting and would make a great novelty cigar if they sold it on its own. (NOT for the $20 or so that it costs for the set though!) If it was a $5 - $8 cigar I'd probably buy it as a novelty, but not as a general smoke.

This was a very interesting experience, and even though I was disappointed in the cigars themselves I'm very glad to have smoked them. It definitely satisfied a curiosity of mine!

Thanks all for indulging me on the journey.

The journey ends - CAO Britalia

A thing of beauty

Cool band

 

[Headbanger]

Thanks for sharing. Nice pics too! :thumbsup: I think you saved a LOT of brother some money. Those sticks are super fat.

 

[CWS]

Great thread. Thanks for the reviews and the pics.

 

[Wasch_24]

I agree, awesome thread and nicely done bro.

Seems like this set is better suited for looking at then smoking.

Thanks for taking one for the team. :rofl: