StogieNinja
Derek | BoM June 2014
Bolivar Royal Corona
A BLIND MAN'S PUFF REVIEW
This cigar was send unbanded and the review written with no knowledge of what the stick was or even who sent it. You can read more about how this works here
Vital Stats:
Vitola: Robusto
Length: 4 7/8"
Ring Gauge: 50
Country of Origin: Cuba
Wrapper: Cuba
Binder: Cuba
Filler: Cuba
Distributor: Habanos S.A.
Price: $9.00
Age: 2 years
Contributed by: Emmett (rhetorik)
Appearance: 86
Very sloppy cap, but a nice slight box press; what looks to be a very thin wrapper, the color of dark brown leather; while streaky, which to me indicates a lower-quality an inexpensive leaf, the wrapper is nevertheless quite nice smooth, visible veins are seemingly flat. Little to no tooth. Some glue visible around the top half, which detracts from the overall appearance.
Construction: 88
Appears well constructed no major soft spots; uniformly firm throughout, with slight give.
Aroma: 88
Aroma of leather, sweet hay, and barnyard
First Third: 91
First draw is perfect; Copious smoke, and loads of sweet mocha leather, coffee, and nuts. From the first puff, it's very smooth, with lots of sweet cream. It actually reminds me a lot of a smooth, sweetened, iced coffee with cream. At half an inch in, a little bit of wood joins the sweetened iced coffee, and the leather picks up a bit.
Just Getting Started
This is turning out to be a very nice smoke on a warm spring day! Ash is beautiful and dark grey, with perfect lines running through it.
Beautiful Ash
At an inch in, a nice warm spice rounds out the flavors iced sweetened coffee remains the flavor of the day leather wood and spices round it out nicely. The savory spice is what is missing from most cigars with this profile, and is quite satisfying. Flavor is a solid medium, and strength is medium as well. Burn is wandering a bit, but ash is beautiful and dark, and holds for two inches.
Second Third: 93
At the start of second third burn has begun to boat about half an inch, enough to concern me, and so I touch it up. At the start of the second third the flavors remain similar, wood, leather, coffee, and pepper, but a delicious milk chocolate shows up. The spice on the lips from before morphs into a light black pepper on the tongue. Still a touch of spice on the lips, and not too much pepper on the palate, it's a very well-balanced smoke at this point. I'm quite pleased with the transition and flavors and complexity in the stick so far. Draw remains sublime, with just enough resistance to satisfy, and full, delicious billows of thick smoke. Flavor is now a medium full and strength remains medium.
Sweet cream, leather, rich toasty nuts, and sweetened iced coffee remain the primary flavors. Retrohale gives toasted nuts wood, slight black pepper and salted caramel. At exactly the halfway point I identify another flavor - it's literally the flavor of a burnt, toasted marshmallow. I know that sounds weird, but it's actually quite delicious.
The Halfway Point
Final third: 89
At the final third cigar suddenly begins to tunnel severely, and abruptly dies. I cut and relight, and after a few puffs, it's back to the deliciousness that was before. Sweetened iced coffee with cream, nuts, light pepper and spice, and some creamy chocolate remain the flavors of the day. I smoke this until it grows hot, and let it go out at about an inch. Flavor remained medium-full up to the end, and the body never crossed that medium point.
The End
Draw: 96
What can I say? It was perfect throughout. Just the right amount of resistance, never tight, never loose. Just perfect.
Burn: 82
Burn wandered too much, and the canoeing detracted from the experience. Fixable, but still distracting. The tunneling that caused the relight was also exasperating.
Conclusion/Overall Experience: 91
Surprisingly delicious. Based on the streaks in the wrapper and the sloppy cap, I was prepared for something mediocre, but this proved to be anything but. I really enjoyed it. I actually am hoping this is some cheap bundle stick, but based on the experience, Im guessing I wont be that lucky!
Post-reveal Note: The above is an unedited review, and is exactly as submitted to BMP. I'm pleased that my notes match my previous experience with the Boli RC. However, I'm a bit ashamed that I didn't recognize the profile! This is one of my favorite sticks, and I've smoked a couple on extraordinarily memorable occasions. Goes to show how a blind review can throw you when you're concentrating so hard on identifying flavors. Thanks again to Emmett for providing the experience!
To see how my review compares with the group consensus, check out the group review at Blind Man's Puff
A BLIND MAN'S PUFF REVIEW
This cigar was send unbanded and the review written with no knowledge of what the stick was or even who sent it. You can read more about how this works here
Vital Stats:
Vitola: Robusto
Length: 4 7/8"
Ring Gauge: 50
Country of Origin: Cuba
Wrapper: Cuba
Binder: Cuba
Filler: Cuba
Distributor: Habanos S.A.
Price: $9.00
Age: 2 years
Contributed by: Emmett (rhetorik)
Appearance: 86
Very sloppy cap, but a nice slight box press; what looks to be a very thin wrapper, the color of dark brown leather; while streaky, which to me indicates a lower-quality an inexpensive leaf, the wrapper is nevertheless quite nice smooth, visible veins are seemingly flat. Little to no tooth. Some glue visible around the top half, which detracts from the overall appearance.
Construction: 88
Appears well constructed no major soft spots; uniformly firm throughout, with slight give.
Aroma: 88
Aroma of leather, sweet hay, and barnyard
First Third: 91
First draw is perfect; Copious smoke, and loads of sweet mocha leather, coffee, and nuts. From the first puff, it's very smooth, with lots of sweet cream. It actually reminds me a lot of a smooth, sweetened, iced coffee with cream. At half an inch in, a little bit of wood joins the sweetened iced coffee, and the leather picks up a bit.
Just Getting Started
This is turning out to be a very nice smoke on a warm spring day! Ash is beautiful and dark grey, with perfect lines running through it.
Beautiful Ash
At an inch in, a nice warm spice rounds out the flavors iced sweetened coffee remains the flavor of the day leather wood and spices round it out nicely. The savory spice is what is missing from most cigars with this profile, and is quite satisfying. Flavor is a solid medium, and strength is medium as well. Burn is wandering a bit, but ash is beautiful and dark, and holds for two inches.
Second Third: 93
At the start of second third burn has begun to boat about half an inch, enough to concern me, and so I touch it up. At the start of the second third the flavors remain similar, wood, leather, coffee, and pepper, but a delicious milk chocolate shows up. The spice on the lips from before morphs into a light black pepper on the tongue. Still a touch of spice on the lips, and not too much pepper on the palate, it's a very well-balanced smoke at this point. I'm quite pleased with the transition and flavors and complexity in the stick so far. Draw remains sublime, with just enough resistance to satisfy, and full, delicious billows of thick smoke. Flavor is now a medium full and strength remains medium.
Sweet cream, leather, rich toasty nuts, and sweetened iced coffee remain the primary flavors. Retrohale gives toasted nuts wood, slight black pepper and salted caramel. At exactly the halfway point I identify another flavor - it's literally the flavor of a burnt, toasted marshmallow. I know that sounds weird, but it's actually quite delicious.
The Halfway Point
Final third: 89
At the final third cigar suddenly begins to tunnel severely, and abruptly dies. I cut and relight, and after a few puffs, it's back to the deliciousness that was before. Sweetened iced coffee with cream, nuts, light pepper and spice, and some creamy chocolate remain the flavors of the day. I smoke this until it grows hot, and let it go out at about an inch. Flavor remained medium-full up to the end, and the body never crossed that medium point.
The End
Draw: 96
What can I say? It was perfect throughout. Just the right amount of resistance, never tight, never loose. Just perfect.
Burn: 82
Burn wandered too much, and the canoeing detracted from the experience. Fixable, but still distracting. The tunneling that caused the relight was also exasperating.
Conclusion/Overall Experience: 91
Surprisingly delicious. Based on the streaks in the wrapper and the sloppy cap, I was prepared for something mediocre, but this proved to be anything but. I really enjoyed it. I actually am hoping this is some cheap bundle stick, but based on the experience, Im guessing I wont be that lucky!
Post-reveal Note: The above is an unedited review, and is exactly as submitted to BMP. I'm pleased that my notes match my previous experience with the Boli RC. However, I'm a bit ashamed that I didn't recognize the profile! This is one of my favorite sticks, and I've smoked a couple on extraordinarily memorable occasions. Goes to show how a blind review can throw you when you're concentrating so hard on identifying flavors. Thanks again to Emmett for providing the experience!
To see how my review compares with the group consensus, check out the group review at Blind Man's Puff
