As always, when I smoke a pre-release cigar, I feel it is premature to give it a firm assessment rating – therefore, I do a pre-review to provide some initial feedback. With some follow-on smokes completed, it’s time to assess some more cigars. Two of the cigars in this assessment update were originally smoked as IPCPR samples. The third was a pre-release of an exclusive made available to Smoke Inn.
I’ve heard many consider all of these for Cigar of the Year. Here are my thoughts.
San Lotano Oval
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| San Lotano Oval |
Last year, I felt A.J. Fernandez’s new line San Lotano was the revelation of 2010. The San Lotano Connecticut raised the bar on what a good Connecticut shade cigar could be, and the San Lotano Maduro was also a Top 12 cigar in my book. There was considerable hype around the new San Lotano cigar, the San Lotano Oval. When I sampled my IPCPR sample, the cigar started awesome, but by the end it left me underwhelmed. The cigar had good flavors – cocoa, coffee, caramel, cedar, and even some exotic spice. In fact toward the end, I even detected some tea notes. The flavors I felt never fully reached the potential and depth they could have reached. My follow-up experiences were very similar. This is still a good cigar, but falls short of being in contention in cigar of the year.
Here is a link to a pre-review of my initial impressions of this cigar.
Assessment: Nice to Have
My Father El Hijo
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| My Father El Hijo |
This is a limited release exclusive to Smoke Inn in Florida. My initial impressions were positive, and the follow-on smokes were even better. The pre-release I had gave me flavors of coffee, cedar sweetness, and pepper notes. The sweetness was more defined on the post-release cigars I smoked as I got notes of butterscotch and orange on top of the flavors I got on the pre-release. On the post-release smokes, the burn was significantly better as it was excellent. One of the better cigars I smoked in the My Father line
Here is a link to a pre-review of my initial impressions of this cigar.
Assessment: Memorable
Quesada Oktoberfest
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| Quesada Oktoberfest |
The limited production Quesada Oktoberfest provided some very unique flavor. While I got some nice notes of pepper and chocolate, there were honey and nut flavors that helped this go very nice with a beer. The 52 ring Bavarian is still the one I prefer. The 65 ring gauge Uber takes this cigar to the full-strength, full-bodied range. The only issue I see is that I have had some inconsistent burns in the follow-up smokes. Still a very good smoke and one of the better Quesada cigars I’ve smoked.
Here is a link to a pre-review of my initial impressions of this cigar.
Assessment: Nice to Have
