The White Band Project Review #1

This is the first of six blind reviews, 3 from me and 3 from Matt from Matt’s Cigar Journal.  Click here for the rules to the contest.  Note that all cigars Matt gave me to smoke were from the same manufacturer, so hopefully after smoking all three I can put it together…

Cigar #1 is a very rustic looking cigar.  The wrapper is wrinkly and muddy brown but finished with a nice cap.

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The White Band Project

So last year, Matt (of Matt’s Cigar Journal) got together and conducted a little blind review contest.  It was a lot of fun for us (here are the results) and we wanted to do it again this year.

But we decided to change it up and instead of blindly reviewing three random cigars; we thought it would be fun to review three different cigars from the manufacturer of our choosing.  Camacho Cigars did something similar a while ago with their own cigars, called the Black Band Project, and we thought it’s be fun to do a take on that ourselves, and since Matt and I date and label our cigars with white bands we call it the White Band Project.

So over the next few weeks Matt and I, who will have exchanged cigars today, will review one of three sticks given by the other and at the end we will try to guess the cigars or at least the manufacturer.  There are a few agreed-on rules for the contest.

1. Pick three different cigars from the same manufacturer.
2. Altadis and General are excluded due to the breadth of their lines.
3. Matt can’t pick Pepin and I can’t pick Kelner.  Those are too obvious.  🙂

This should be a lot of fun, so stay tuned (or RSS’d)!  Also here’s Matt’s announcement.

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Three Blind Cigars Wrap-Up

Now what everyone has been waiting for… the results of the Blind Review Challenge that my buddy Matt of Matt’s Cigar Journal and I participated in.  Basically we gave each other three cigars, one inexpensive, one medium priced and one super premium and we had to try to guess as much as we could about the cigars.

The idea of this little experiment was to see if we could properly identify a cigar without the bias associated with the band (price, manufacturer, etc.).

Results:

What was so interesting about this whole thing was that we still found a way to bias our reviews and tastings.  I know Matt is a huge Pepin smoker, he loves everything the guy makes.  So as I was smoking his cigars, I often found myself thinking, “which Pepin cigar could this be?”.  Matt also incorporated bias into his reviews but in a different way.  He kept trying to pick out Pepin-like characteristics in the cigars that I gave him.

How is this?  Well, let’s share the results.

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Blind Review #6

This is my first part of a series of blind reviews that I am doing with my buddy Matt from Matt’s Cigar Journal. We each exchanged three cigars and the goal of this little “experiment” is to conduct an unbiased review of these cigars and hopefully try to guess what it is we are smoking.  Plus, not to embarrass ourselves too much already. 

Blind Cigar Review #6

The last of the blind reviews!  The moment of truth is near, as Matt and I will soon see if we really know what we are talking about!

I definitely think I have smoked this cigar before…

This cigar has the lightest wrappers of all the cigars given to me.  It has a light brown wrapper that is somewhat oily and with just a few visible veins.  There is some inconsistency in the color of the wrapper down the length of the cigar.  There were also a couple of water spots.

The cigar has some slight give when pressure is applied, but is not too firm.  The cigar draws easily.  It did tunnel a few times, but it corrected itself quickly.

This is kinda Pepin-y, I get that taste in the back of my tongue, a subtle acidity that I get with most other DPG sticks.

This does not have a lot of the spice as I expected though.  There is also a slightly dry woodiness, leather and just a bit of light coffee.

I’m not entirely sure if I am letting the fact that Matt picked out the cigars affect my train of thought.  Matt’s a big Pepin nut, so I am beginning to wonder if I am predisposing myself to think he is giving me Pepin cigars.

I did enjoy this cigar but it really confused me.  We’ll see how off I am.

I am going to go out on a limb here and guess a DPG El Rey de los Habanos cigar.  Or not.  😉

Here’s the link to Matt’s review of the 3rd cigar I sent him.

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Blind Review #4

This is my first part of a series of blind reviews that I am doing with my buddy Matt from Matt’s Cigar Journal. We each exchanged three cigars and the goal of this little “experiment” is to conduct an unbiased review of these cigars and hopefully try to guess what it is we are smoking.  Plus, not to embarrass ourselves too much already. 

Blind Review #4

This cigar looks somewhat similar to the 1st of the three mystery cigars.  It’s a dark oily looking cigar but a lot cleaner looking than the first mystery cigar.

At the onset after lighting, I notice some similiarities between the 1st and 2nd mystery cigar.  There is some acidity present, but there is just a touch of underlying sweetness.  This cigar is more powerful than the first, but not with a lot of forward spiciness.  This cigar is starting to remind me of a Pepin-made cigar

It doesn’t have the rustic qualities of a Don Pepin Garcia or the outward spiciness, and it doesn’t have the complexity of a Tatiaje Cabinet cigar.  There is pervasive leather with just a touch of earth and wood on the palate, but it is not dry.  There is some coffee notes on the exhale as well.

I enjoyed this cigar but I kept wondering how much more expensive this cigar was from the 1st mystery stick.

I think I have decided that this is the premium cigar of the three as the quality of the wrapper seems to be of high quality and it is smooth and balanced although not overly complex.

I’m really going out on a limb here but I am guessing the 601 Oscuro Limitada (Green Label) from EO, Pepin-made.

I hope I’m close.

PS – I forgot to take pictures. 

Here’s the link to Matt’s review of the 2nd cigar I sent him.

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Blind Review #2

This is my first part of a series of blind reviews that I am doing with my buddy Matt from Matt’s Cigar Journal. We each exchanged three cigars and the goal of this little “experiment” is to conduct an unbiased review of these cigars and hopefully try to guess what it is we are smoking.  Plus, not to embarrass ourselves too much already.  🙂

Blind Review #2

This is the least pretty of the three mystery cigars.  There is quite a bit of unevenness in the color of the cigar.  There is also a few “chips” missing from this dark robusto.  The wrapper is very dark usually indicative of a Maduro or darker leaf like a Sungrown Ecuadorian Sumatra.

At first it has a little bit of sweetness, so I start to think maybe this is a straight Maduro-wrapped cigar.  But very quickly I get overwhelmed with acidic notes, very similar to the aftertaste you get with orange juice.

I start thinking based on the condition of the wrapper and the acidic notes that maybe this is the bundle cigar.

The draw is also easy so it helps me narrow down my search.  I’m not getting a lot of smoke, so the burn isn’t the best it can  be either.  This has to be the bundle cigar.

I begin to think this is something like a Honduran Maduro due to the acidic notes and slightly woody, but not dry, finish.

The overall taste, the strength is mild, safe of the middle, not much depth or complexity, but a very consistent flavor.  It is not something like a Flor de Oliva Maduro because it does not have that “sweetness” that is usually present there.

So as I begin to doubt my abilities at guessing I run through a myriad of possibilities, but eventually I settle on either a Perdomo Fresco Maduro (although the wrapper should look better) or a Hoyo de Monterrey Maduro.

I hope I’m close.  Yeesh.

PS – I forgot to take pictures.  😦

Here’s the link to Matt’s review of the 1st cigar I sent him.

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Three Blind Sticks – The Blind Review Challenge

It’s time to put money where my mouth is, well not really. I was chatting with my good buddy Matt at the store a while back. And as always we were waxing philosophic on how well we new cigars, general tastes of wrapper types, and even cigars by country of origin. Then the idea struck us to see if we really knew what the heck we were talking about.

So I’m teaming up with Matt from Matt’s Cigar Journal to put together a fun Blind Review Challenge. Matt will give me three cigars and I will give him three cigars. To be fair, we each will pick one value cigar, one everyday cigar and one premium cigar to give to the other person.

The cigars bands will have been removed and replaced with blank blands with a number 1-6 (I will label the odds, Matt the evens). Only I will know the identity of the cigars I gave to Matt (and vice versa) and will not disclose their identity until after the Challenge is complete.

We will each write a review for the cigars that we were given. We will also try, if possible, to determine the wrapper type or country of origin. If we feel crazy or confident, we may even give a stab at guessing the cigar itself.

We will link each others reviews for the week until all six cigars have been smoked. After that we will reveal the identity of the mystery sticks to see how close or far we really were.

Check back soon as the first two reviews will be out later this week!

Matt’s Intro to this Challenge

The Reviews (links will be added as they are posted):

• Cigar #1
• Cigar #2
• Cigar #3
• Cigar #4
• Cigar #5
• Cigar #6

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