I've been smoking quite a few cigars lately, will be slowly posting my thoughts here and in the Domestic Review forum.. Yes I hear your collective groans, but what the hey. 
I just had the pleasure of smoking a Cohiba Coronas Especiales yesterday. This is one of the moldy cigars that I was complaining about here. Thankfully though the mold doesn't appear to have affected anything. I've since wiped down the cigars and placed them in a spare humidor away from the rest of my precious hoard.
The Quick and Dirty:
An excellent smoke that started off a bit green and grassy, but culminated in an excellent full bodied experience with lots of spice, coffee, cedar, vanilla and toasted nuts. A definite must try! However due to some burn problems I'm rating this an 85.
The Details:
The Coronas Especiales is a 6"x38 cigar with a chocolate colored wrapper. Despite the name this is really more of a lancero or panetela than a corona, just as their panetela is more of a cigarillo. The wrapper has fine veins, tight seams, and a nice triple cap with a little pig-tail. Actually the pig tail is what caught my attention. Lol. The cigar was firm throughout, and the wrapper and foot smelled sweet, like a mix of tobacco and honey. Pre-light draw was tight, with flavors of light pepper and honey.
Opening and 1/3:
The opening was slightly salty, with lots of good leather and spice. The smoke from the get-go was thick and generous, though slightly bitter at the beginning. I've yet to have a bitter Cohiba, so the bitterness was probably because I had lit the cigar directly instead of toasting it due to strong winds. The draw started off firm but thankfully opened up after a few puffs, so I'm guessing that there was a small knot near the foot. Top-quality coffee flavors dominate the finish, and the smoke was smooth and buttery.
As mentioned earlier there is a slight grassy flavor early in the smoke, so perhaps this particular stick is a bit young. The grassiness lasted only for a while and was gone within another 2 puffs or so.
The tip barely gives off any smoke when I'm not drawing, which I've noticed seems to be characteristic of Cohibas. Sometimes it's easy to think that the cigar's gone off, but it's actually still burning healthily. I quite like this characteristic. Retrohaling was a little peppery, with lots of good cedar flavors.
Burn was largely perfect at this point, with no need for touch-ups. The draw had loosened up and became perfect. The ash was speckled grey-white and held for an inch. As always I purged the cigar every few puffs. I find that not only does this improve the flavors, it also increases the volume of smoke.
2/3:
Needed a touch-up near the end of the first third to correct canoeing. The pepperiness of the cigar has been fading in and out. I don't seem to see any other reviewer characterizing this cigar as peppery, so I thought that perhaps I had been drawing too hard. The cigar was completely cool to the touch though (and I had a burn time of over an hour, characteristic of this cigar), so I don't really think that's the case. The smoke remained voluminous and slightly salty - which added interest and complemented the flavors - and was nice and creamy. Chocolate notes had begun to appear in the background, though the finish was still largely dominated by coffee.
The cigar picked up in strength and complexity, with strong earth and leather notes. A sweet vanilla flavor had also creeped in slowly. At this point I put the cigar down for just over a minute and it went out, so I had to relight it.
3/3:
The cigar is now quite strong, with lots of leather and pepper, and with vanilla and coffee in the background, together with toasted almond that had made their appearance towards the end of the second third. The flavors are really very nice. Unfortunately though the cigar went out partway through the final third and I had to relight it again. Once done I happily smoked this down to the final 1/2", at which point it got really hot and started to burn my lips. In all it took me around 1 hour 5 minutes. I had a light nicotine buzz at the end, so I'm putting this down as a medium-strength smoke.
This is definitely a medium-full bodied smoke with a medium strength, probably not something for new smokers. It would've gotten an 89 or 90 had the burn been perfect, but with one touch-up and two relights, I give it an 85 instead.
That's pretty sums it up! Do hope to hear your experiences with this fine smoke!
I just had the pleasure of smoking a Cohiba Coronas Especiales yesterday. This is one of the moldy cigars that I was complaining about here. Thankfully though the mold doesn't appear to have affected anything. I've since wiped down the cigars and placed them in a spare humidor away from the rest of my precious hoard.
The Quick and Dirty:
An excellent smoke that started off a bit green and grassy, but culminated in an excellent full bodied experience with lots of spice, coffee, cedar, vanilla and toasted nuts. A definite must try! However due to some burn problems I'm rating this an 85.
The Details:
The Coronas Especiales is a 6"x38 cigar with a chocolate colored wrapper. Despite the name this is really more of a lancero or panetela than a corona, just as their panetela is more of a cigarillo. The wrapper has fine veins, tight seams, and a nice triple cap with a little pig-tail. Actually the pig tail is what caught my attention. Lol. The cigar was firm throughout, and the wrapper and foot smelled sweet, like a mix of tobacco and honey. Pre-light draw was tight, with flavors of light pepper and honey.
Opening and 1/3:
The opening was slightly salty, with lots of good leather and spice. The smoke from the get-go was thick and generous, though slightly bitter at the beginning. I've yet to have a bitter Cohiba, so the bitterness was probably because I had lit the cigar directly instead of toasting it due to strong winds. The draw started off firm but thankfully opened up after a few puffs, so I'm guessing that there was a small knot near the foot. Top-quality coffee flavors dominate the finish, and the smoke was smooth and buttery.
As mentioned earlier there is a slight grassy flavor early in the smoke, so perhaps this particular stick is a bit young. The grassiness lasted only for a while and was gone within another 2 puffs or so.
The tip barely gives off any smoke when I'm not drawing, which I've noticed seems to be characteristic of Cohibas. Sometimes it's easy to think that the cigar's gone off, but it's actually still burning healthily. I quite like this characteristic.
Retrohaling was a little peppery, with lots of good cedar flavors.Burn was largely perfect at this point, with no need for touch-ups. The draw had loosened up and became perfect. The ash was speckled grey-white and held for an inch. As always I purged the cigar every few puffs. I find that not only does this improve the flavors, it also increases the volume of smoke.
2/3:
Needed a touch-up near the end of the first third to correct canoeing. The pepperiness of the cigar has been fading in and out. I don't seem to see any other reviewer characterizing this cigar as peppery, so I thought that perhaps I had been drawing too hard. The cigar was completely cool to the touch though (and I had a burn time of over an hour, characteristic of this cigar), so I don't really think that's the case. The smoke remained voluminous and slightly salty - which added interest and complemented the flavors - and was nice and creamy. Chocolate notes had begun to appear in the background, though the finish was still largely dominated by coffee.
The cigar picked up in strength and complexity, with strong earth and leather notes. A sweet vanilla flavor had also creeped in slowly. At this point I put the cigar down for just over a minute and it went out, so I had to relight it.
3/3:
The cigar is now quite strong, with lots of leather and pepper, and with vanilla and coffee in the background, together with toasted almond that had made their appearance towards the end of the second third. The flavors are really very nice. Unfortunately though the cigar went out partway through the final third and I had to relight it again. Once done I happily smoked this down to the final 1/2", at which point it got really hot and started to burn my lips. In all it took me around 1 hour 5 minutes. I had a light nicotine buzz at the end, so I'm putting this down as a medium-strength smoke.
This is definitely a medium-full bodied smoke with a medium strength, probably not something for new smokers. It would've gotten an 89 or 90 had the burn been perfect, but with one touch-up and two relights, I give it an 85 instead.
That's pretty sums it up! Do hope to hear your experiences with this fine smoke!
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