Up for review tonight is the Bolivar Bosphorous, a 4.3 x 52 regional from Turkey. There were 2,000 boxes of 25 released in 2014 and 2015. Enough foreplay, let's get into it. DISCLAIMER: This unfortunately turned out to be more a review about under-filled cigars in general than it was about the Bolivar Bosphorous.
Appearance and prelight experience: I grabbed an example from my cabinet and headed outside and clipped the head before I really studied the cigar and was about to light up before I remembered that I should pay attention to how it looks. Its got a nice chocolate brown wrapper with a few veins, though nothing unsigltly. Theres a nice scent coming off the cigar, almost like a really good whole bean coffee. Unfortunately, after feeling it, its under-filled and I'm hoping it doesn't affect the performance. If I would've noticed this before I clipped the head I would've grabbed a different example but I'm stuck now, so let's light this fucker and hope for the best.
First third: Right off the bat I can tell its under-filled due to how ridiculously loose the draw is. I like a loose draw and this is still way too loose, there is zero resistance. Flavor wise, is starting with a paprika type spice and some pepper notes on the back end. Some cedar notes pop in along with some coffee flavors. The paprika comes and goes throughout the first third. As of now, the flavors are just OK nothing too interesting or attention grabbing.
Second third: Thankfully, somehow the draw has managed to tighten up a bit and now offers some resistance, though not much. More wood flavor, and every once and a while a burnt wood flavor shows up that is not very enjoyable. Black coffee and a sourdough bread note show up every once and awhile.
Final third: The draw is actually pretty decent now, but wood and black coffee still dominate the profile. The bread note has changed to a buttered pasta note though which is pleasant. It started burning hot much earlier than what would be desirable and that is directly related to the fucking underfill. With a half inch left its pretty much red pepper and heat and its past the point of when it should've been pitched.
Prelight 8/10: It looks pretty, and smells lovely, but its underfilled and I hate that shit. I don't want to deduct too many points here as I'll also be deducting in the construction category.
Construction and burning properties 20/25: Aside from a wonky burn line in the first third and a point at which it just went out in the final third, it performed well the rest of the way through, so thankfully the underfilling didn't negatively impact the burn too much. The underfill wasn't the worst I've ever experienced, but it's one of those things that I simply detest as it can affect so many other parts of the cigar, and I believe that happened here as well in regards to flavor, which I'll touch on momentarily.
Draw and smoke production 21/25: Like every other Bosphorous I've had, this thing produced smoke like a coal burning locomotive. If I took a deep enough puff I'm sure I'd look like I was a vaping assclown, so that wasn't a concern at all. The cigar drew well after the first third but it really gargled balls to begin with and I didn't know whether it would be possible to get a decent burn going for a while. This is once again related to the underfill.
Flavor 15/30: Meh. I mean, if you like wood and coffee, this particular example would've been right up your alley. I'm wondering if a leaf was simply omitted from this particular cigar in the rolling process as some of the sweet vanilla notes I generally get from the blend weren't present. But if I wanted a one dimensional smoke with average flavor, it would be available from plenty of other cigars that are easier to acquire, cost less, and aren't Cuban.
Value 3/10: This is a category that's tough to gauge. What is an under-filled underperforming stick worth? Certainly not the $12 ea they cost me. At $4 I'd say this particular example would've been worth the cost.
Total 67/100: This is a great example of something I mentioned in my CC primer posting, underfilled and plugged cigars can't be improved with time. While this cigar was at least smokeable and wasn't massively underfilled, it performed far worse than the other examples I've smoked. Generally, I'd say the Bosphorus is a solid cigar that is well worth the MSRP price of $225 and can still be worth your time and money at a secondary market upcharge. I'll be smoking another of these, no later than April (I have a box that I smoke on my anniversary,) to have a review with a more accurate assesment of how these actually smoke instead of the miscarriage that took place here.
Appearance and prelight experience: I grabbed an example from my cabinet and headed outside and clipped the head before I really studied the cigar and was about to light up before I remembered that I should pay attention to how it looks. Its got a nice chocolate brown wrapper with a few veins, though nothing unsigltly. Theres a nice scent coming off the cigar, almost like a really good whole bean coffee. Unfortunately, after feeling it, its under-filled and I'm hoping it doesn't affect the performance. If I would've noticed this before I clipped the head I would've grabbed a different example but I'm stuck now, so let's light this fucker and hope for the best.
First third: Right off the bat I can tell its under-filled due to how ridiculously loose the draw is. I like a loose draw and this is still way too loose, there is zero resistance. Flavor wise, is starting with a paprika type spice and some pepper notes on the back end. Some cedar notes pop in along with some coffee flavors. The paprika comes and goes throughout the first third. As of now, the flavors are just OK nothing too interesting or attention grabbing.
Second third: Thankfully, somehow the draw has managed to tighten up a bit and now offers some resistance, though not much. More wood flavor, and every once and a while a burnt wood flavor shows up that is not very enjoyable. Black coffee and a sourdough bread note show up every once and awhile.
Final third: The draw is actually pretty decent now, but wood and black coffee still dominate the profile. The bread note has changed to a buttered pasta note though which is pleasant. It started burning hot much earlier than what would be desirable and that is directly related to the fucking underfill. With a half inch left its pretty much red pepper and heat and its past the point of when it should've been pitched.
Prelight 8/10: It looks pretty, and smells lovely, but its underfilled and I hate that shit. I don't want to deduct too many points here as I'll also be deducting in the construction category.
Construction and burning properties 20/25: Aside from a wonky burn line in the first third and a point at which it just went out in the final third, it performed well the rest of the way through, so thankfully the underfilling didn't negatively impact the burn too much. The underfill wasn't the worst I've ever experienced, but it's one of those things that I simply detest as it can affect so many other parts of the cigar, and I believe that happened here as well in regards to flavor, which I'll touch on momentarily.
Draw and smoke production 21/25: Like every other Bosphorous I've had, this thing produced smoke like a coal burning locomotive. If I took a deep enough puff I'm sure I'd look like I was a vaping assclown, so that wasn't a concern at all. The cigar drew well after the first third but it really gargled balls to begin with and I didn't know whether it would be possible to get a decent burn going for a while. This is once again related to the underfill.
Flavor 15/30: Meh. I mean, if you like wood and coffee, this particular example would've been right up your alley. I'm wondering if a leaf was simply omitted from this particular cigar in the rolling process as some of the sweet vanilla notes I generally get from the blend weren't present. But if I wanted a one dimensional smoke with average flavor, it would be available from plenty of other cigars that are easier to acquire, cost less, and aren't Cuban.
Value 3/10: This is a category that's tough to gauge. What is an under-filled underperforming stick worth? Certainly not the $12 ea they cost me. At $4 I'd say this particular example would've been worth the cost.
Total 67/100: This is a great example of something I mentioned in my CC primer posting, underfilled and plugged cigars can't be improved with time. While this cigar was at least smokeable and wasn't massively underfilled, it performed far worse than the other examples I've smoked. Generally, I'd say the Bosphorus is a solid cigar that is well worth the MSRP price of $225 and can still be worth your time and money at a secondary market upcharge. I'll be smoking another of these, no later than April (I have a box that I smoke on my anniversary,) to have a review with a more accurate assesment of how these actually smoke instead of the miscarriage that took place here.
