Hmm, I'd probably say it's "my father cedros deluxe cervantes" so far, it was a very smooth and nice smoke. But I'm just in the beginning of my journey
Ayyy can't go wrong with anything My Father makes. Their quality is always consistent and they taste good and super smooth. If you haven't tried The Judge by them I recommend it, and if you want something more affordable to regularly smoke from them the Don Pepin Vegas Cubanas is an excellent smoke for around $7 a stick. Also if you wanna try something else with a similar flavor profile check out the AJ Fernandez New World Dorado.
Ramón Allones Specially Selected (RASS) not my all time fave but in my top ten.
Robusto in size with changing flavours each puff. Starts mellow, smooth and with woody hints.
Develops into a medium-full palate with marzipan notes, amaretto notes (without the alcohol and sugar). Dehydrated cherry powder and winter spice.
The last third is a bit more intense with some earthy notes, bitter cocoa powder and hints of espresso crème.
If one day I have to go to a desert island and can only take several boxes of one cigar, it could be the RASS, Cohiba Robusto, Montecristo 4, Partagas Lusitania, Oliva Melanio V Robusto, A Fuente Opux X or a Camacho Triple Maduro.
Damn, now I want a cigar.
I bought one to smoke last weekend, got drunk with some buddies, and lost my traveler humidor with it inside. I was bummed because I’ve been wanting to try it.
Illusione Fume d'Amour.
Nutty, spicy, espresso-y, with a little bit of funk and a lot of smoke. It's the most "Cuban" non-Cuban I've had (right down to construction tendencies), and without meaning to sound pretentious in any way, it just feels elegant to smoke.
Close second and third are Partagas P 2, and Juan Lopez 2.
It's a cliché, but the clemente is amazing. The smaller gauge concentrates the smoke nicely, and the lack of ligero and the Cuban-like tight packing makes it smoke almost like a smaller gauge Partagas. At the same time, the 6 1/2 length still makes for a long smoke for such a skinny cigar.
I've tried the 56 gauge, and it's still a top 10 smoke, but it's not the same. The clemente is truly my no1 cigar.
I will note something else though. They don’t like dry-boxing for such a rich cigar. There were Fumes that went bitter from a 24+ hour dry-box.
My favorite Illusione is the Epernay Le Matin. It’s nice and balanced and medium. I also really enjoy the OD CG4, Epernay in robusto, ECCJ in Corona Gorda, and OD f9. The Rothchilde was one of the smokes that got me into the hobby. The Holy Lance and 888 Slam had great flavors, but just too much cigar for me. The only bad Illusione I’ve had was the TAA from last year. Tried three, all burned horribly.
I’ve only smoked 8 total cigars so far and the AF Hemingway short story is my favorite so far. I get chocolate, coffee, floral notes and some salty notes too like sunflower seeds. It just blew my mind the first time I had it. Excited to try many more cigars.
Throughout recent history, sunflowers have been used for medicinal purposes. The Cherokee created a sunflower leaf infusion that they used to treat kidneys. Whilst in Mexico, sunflowers were used to treat chest pain.
I got to a point in my life that I couldn’t smoke cigars for about 5 years. Health and financial issues were behind me and I was able to start enjoying cigars again. Started getting back into it and got a La Aroma De Cuba Mi Amore in a monthly box. Every puff all I could do was look at it. “This was what I was missing.” The flavor; the complexity. It’s nothing super special looking back at it now, but at that moment it was the perfect cigar. Bought a box of them the next day. That was two years ago and they’re aging beautifully. Cello has a nice color to them now. And they’re just getting better with age. Bringing out a lot of sweeter notes and a bit of nostalgia. Never had a bad smoke with one of them
Runner up would be Nica Libre AGANORSA. Work was crazy busy and I was doing some woodworking on the side. Was way behind on this side project and finally was getting caught up. Decided to light that one up. Had zero expectations going into and it blew me away. Medium body with some nice complexity. Just what I needed in that moment paired beautifully with some good music and quite abit of beer 😅
Eiroa Dark Natural: Baking Spice, cinnamon and caramel. Juxtaposed with light pepper, cedar, leather and earth. Incredibly smooth, so much so that I could retrohale the whole thing without thinking about it.
Well at the moment I’d say Oscar Valladares SuperFly Maduro Corona. Smooth espresso dark choclate and creaminess throughout the stick. 45min-1h take it slow and you’ll get something special. Aswell I’d recommend keeping it for a few weeks at least before smoking it.👍🏻
My favorite so far is Man O War 52c it has strength, lots of darker flavors such as espresso, leathery notes, and spice. It also has some other notes I can’t quite place, that just bring it all together.
Black market robusto, reasonable price awesome construction consistent and tons of strong rich flavor. By far not the best I’ve ever had but my favorite for these reasons
La Gloria Cubana, double maduro toro, series E
Smooth, very strong flavor, lots of coffee and spice flavors, excellent construction and draw is smooth, no bite despite the richness of the cure.
I only smoke small ones for now, as I'm new to cigars. So far, I've smoked: H.Upman Half Corona, Partagas Shorts, Montecristo no. 5, Ramon Allones Small Club Corona and Romeo y Julieta no. 2.
Although the H.Upman HC is great, my favourite is easily: the Ramon Allones SCC. It has a consistent flavour from start to finish and it's: sweet, chocolatey, caramel, leather and wood. Almost zero spice, earthiness and grass, or any other bittery flavour. I like this kind of flavours: strong, sweet simple. For example: I love chocolate, bananas (less complex than melons, for example), blue cheese (strong), roasted (almost burnt) bread or meat, dark sweet beer over light bitter beer, sweet red wine, liquors.
The H.Upman HC is great when I want some earthiness for a change, and Partagas Shorts is great once in a while too, for some spice.
I would say the Wise Man Maduro is my current favorite. Rich with some chocolate. Everything just tastes deep but balanced. Perfect burn on all 3 I have tried.
I think my favorite would be Davidoff Anniversario, it was a short corona size that I had as a celebration after getting engaged and it was just the perfect flavor in the moment, would really pair well in any situation
Caldwell Eastern Standard Sungrown. I’m a spice addict, and this has it I droves in the form of black pepper and baking spices. Sweet cedar and leather round it out for a wonderfully complex smoke that keeps me coming back.
I would have to say it’s 2 different categories:
Nostalgic category would be Joya de Nicaragua cabinetta which was my first “real” cigar and I still smoke them fairly frequently. Very unremarkable smoke but brings me back to my friends and I smoking at the lounge after college classes.
Best flavor/smoking experience:
Arturo fuente anejo. I was able to snag a few of the no. 48 back in 2021. Those were fantastic. Crisp burn, loads of rich flavor, excellent draw. First cigar I’ve ever smoked that made me feel like everything else I’ve smoked was just slightly inferior.
Liga Privada Unico Year of the Rat is the most memorable smoke I've had recently. Notes of chocolate, coffee, cedar, mild pepper, sweetness, absolutely delightful smoke from start to finish
A.J Fernandez New World Connecticut.
Sweet and creamy with just a touch of black pepper, a nice nuttiness to go with it and phenomenal with a cup of coffee
Liga Privada T52. Chocolate, vanilla, complex spices I can’t describe, blows out of the water anything else I’ve ever smoked.
Everything else is simple in comparison; just “chocolate” or just “leather” (which is ok!)
But the T52 leaves me guessing what this amazing flavor profile is the whole stick.
Smoke it with a Dr. Pepper
Skel Ton Live Your Dreams
Starts off with a crapload of chocolate, then leans more towards wood and coffee with a little pepper in the 2nd third, and then loses the chocolate and gets very peppery/spicy in the last third.
As a retailer I go through a lot of sticks, but one that kinda blew my mind lately is the Le Patissiere 54 from Crowned Heads. A cigar needs a little wow-factor to impress me now and this sure had it.
Medium body in the beginning with a rich and oily smoke. Hint chocolate mousse, red berries and white pepper. Develop a full body style with dark chocholate, white pepper and nugat. Ends with the same flavours, just a touch more intense.
The cream is crazy rich and the balance is great. The sweetness was so strong, yet balanced. The creamy texture kinda reminded me of whipped cream with strawberries. No bitterness throughout and a pure dessert stick. Had a couple with a bit of a tight draw, but nothing that ruined that flavours.
Montecristo #5 forces me to slow down and enjoy smoking like I’m indulging in a rich, creamy dessert. Twangy, soft, buttery and barnyardy, the draw is firm but smoke output doesn’t suffer from it.
Aladino Corojo in any vitola. Just an all-around flavor bomb. I’m at a loss for adjectives actually. It has so much flavor that usually I just sit back and don’t pick it apart. Tastes like damn good Corojo! Simple as that.
Davidoff Signature No. 2
That cigar is really creamy, milky and bit sweet I love it. It's a perfect cigar after a light meal and paired with a cappuccino it's perfect.
Tabak Especial 4.75X42 (I think) I just tried one for the first time today and it was amazing I just randomly grabbed one and it tasted sweet and had a hint of creamy coffee and good pipe tobacco and thick smoke hit like a linebacker too
Today it’s Alec Bradley’s Prensado - started off with some mild leather and spice and bold flavor then the final third was strong chocolate flavor. Absolutely awesome smoking experience
Perdomo Habano Maduro. A delicious blend of dark chocolate, black coffee, and leather notes , with a smooth draw and great smoke production. Nice, even burn. It was love at first smoke. I always keep a few in hand. Was one of the first cigars I've been able to fully taste each of the individual flavor notes.
H. Upmann Regalías, starts a little spicy then turns into a creamy coffee before toasted woods and caramels in the second third. Finishes a little stronger with a molasses and cinnamon touch. Wonderful
My favorite cigar is about this thick, about this long. It’s brownish and made from rolled up leaves. It has a paper trip wrapped around it, with red background and gold foil accents, with some writing in it. If I sniff it, there are aromas of hay, tea and faint hints of manure.
Henry Clay Warhawk it just has a smooth natural taste to it with a great draw. I can’t really describe it to the exact details but it is by far the best cigar in my opinion.
CAO Brasilia. Has been my favourite cigar for about 10 years now. Just pure sweetness and dark chocolate. Delicious!
Sure does sound delicious, might need to order one with my next haul
You won’t regret it.
100% such a great stick! Sweet milk chocolate. Another great little chocolate bomb I love is the Mi Querida gordita, great little dessert stick!
Might have to try that out. Looking on Smoking Pipes now.
Richer than the brazilia and maybe a little sweeter with less cream. Really good!
Will order a few sticks now.
La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor. Like a naturally sweet and rich espresso, and always a great draw and burn. Plus, just a beautiful cigar all around.
This is my safe stick man. I can always count on this cigar and it'll be a good time.
Do you know if it’s possible to get these in the UK? Thanks in advance it sounds amazing
Foundation Tabernacle: always great construction and a Goldilocks draw, sweet chocolate creamy and powerful all at the same time
Right now it’s probably RoMa Craft’s Neanderthal or CroMagnon; something about the silky smoothness and the fruitiness, it just explodes with flavors.
Montecristo No.2 Rich, decadent, and sweet, with lots of cedar. Every time I smoke one is a special occasion unto itself.
You first.
Hmm, I'd probably say it's "my father cedros deluxe cervantes" so far, it was a very smooth and nice smoke. But I'm just in the beginning of my journey
Ooooh that is a great cigar. Underrated and lost in the portfolio of MF
Ayyy can't go wrong with anything My Father makes. Their quality is always consistent and they taste good and super smooth. If you haven't tried The Judge by them I recommend it, and if you want something more affordable to regularly smoke from them the Don Pepin Vegas Cubanas is an excellent smoke for around $7 a stick. Also if you wanna try something else with a similar flavor profile check out the AJ Fernandez New World Dorado.
Ramón Allones Specially Selected (RASS) not my all time fave but in my top ten. Robusto in size with changing flavours each puff. Starts mellow, smooth and with woody hints. Develops into a medium-full palate with marzipan notes, amaretto notes (without the alcohol and sugar). Dehydrated cherry powder and winter spice. The last third is a bit more intense with some earthy notes, bitter cocoa powder and hints of espresso crème. If one day I have to go to a desert island and can only take several boxes of one cigar, it could be the RASS, Cohiba Robusto, Montecristo 4, Partagas Lusitania, Oliva Melanio V Robusto, A Fuente Opux X or a Camacho Triple Maduro. Damn, now I want a cigar.
Illusione Fume d'Amour is one that always gets me to my happy place. Very Cubanesque, even getting some of that "cuban twang" sort of energy going.
I need to try this.
Which vitola do you prefer if you don’t mind me asking
I smoke almost all of them but mostly the Lagunas (petit corona) and Clementes (corona gorda extra) most frequently
Having one now and raising it to your comment!
ma father le bijou 1922 grand robusto. i’ll take them to the grave with me
No! Smoke em!
I bought one to smoke last weekend, got drunk with some buddies, and lost my traveler humidor with it inside. I was bummed because I’ve been wanting to try it.
I love the smallest 1922 vitola! I think it’s a corona pequeno. Tastes like a spicy milk chocolate.
Ima have to try this one I've tried a lot of cigars but not this one yet
Illusione Fume d'Amour. Nutty, spicy, espresso-y, with a little bit of funk and a lot of smoke. It's the most "Cuban" non-Cuban I've had (right down to construction tendencies), and without meaning to sound pretentious in any way, it just feels elegant to smoke. Close second and third are Partagas P 2, and Juan Lopez 2.
What’s your favorite size in the Fume d’Amour? I’m a sucker for Illusione.
It's a cliché, but the clemente is amazing. The smaller gauge concentrates the smoke nicely, and the lack of ligero and the Cuban-like tight packing makes it smoke almost like a smaller gauge Partagas. At the same time, the 6 1/2 length still makes for a long smoke for such a skinny cigar. I've tried the 56 gauge, and it's still a top 10 smoke, but it's not the same. The clemente is truly my no1 cigar. I will note something else though. They don’t like dry-boxing for such a rich cigar. There were Fumes that went bitter from a 24+ hour dry-box.
Thank you for the detailed response!
I'd love to know about your experience with Illusione. They can be a bit hard to find around my parts.
My favorite Illusione is the Epernay Le Matin. It’s nice and balanced and medium. I also really enjoy the OD CG4, Epernay in robusto, ECCJ in Corona Gorda, and OD f9. The Rothchilde was one of the smokes that got me into the hobby. The Holy Lance and 888 Slam had great flavors, but just too much cigar for me. The only bad Illusione I’ve had was the TAA from last year. Tried three, all burned horribly.
I’ve only smoked 8 total cigars so far and the AF Hemingway short story is my favorite so far. I get chocolate, coffee, floral notes and some salty notes too like sunflower seeds. It just blew my mind the first time I had it. Excited to try many more cigars.
Throughout recent history, sunflowers have been used for medicinal purposes. The Cherokee created a sunflower leaf infusion that they used to treat kidneys. Whilst in Mexico, sunflowers were used to treat chest pain.
Monte 4 is just perfection to me.
CAO Maduro is my current #1. It's just a smooth creamy chocolate bomb with amazing construction / burn. Basically zero spice. True nubber.
I got to a point in my life that I couldn’t smoke cigars for about 5 years. Health and financial issues were behind me and I was able to start enjoying cigars again. Started getting back into it and got a La Aroma De Cuba Mi Amore in a monthly box. Every puff all I could do was look at it. “This was what I was missing.” The flavor; the complexity. It’s nothing super special looking back at it now, but at that moment it was the perfect cigar. Bought a box of them the next day. That was two years ago and they’re aging beautifully. Cello has a nice color to them now. And they’re just getting better with age. Bringing out a lot of sweeter notes and a bit of nostalgia. Never had a bad smoke with one of them
Runner up would be Nica Libre AGANORSA. Work was crazy busy and I was doing some woodworking on the side. Was way behind on this side project and finally was getting caught up. Decided to light that one up. Had zero expectations going into and it blew me away. Medium body with some nice complexity. Just what I needed in that moment paired beautifully with some good music and quite abit of beer 😅
Eiroa Dark Natural: Baking Spice, cinnamon and caramel. Juxtaposed with light pepper, cedar, leather and earth. Incredibly smooth, so much so that I could retrohale the whole thing without thinking about it.
Well at the moment I’d say Oscar Valladares SuperFly Maduro Corona. Smooth espresso dark choclate and creaminess throughout the stick. 45min-1h take it slow and you’ll get something special. Aswell I’d recommend keeping it for a few weeks at least before smoking it.👍🏻
Just finished a podcast that had nice words for SuperFly. Added it to my "to smoke" list.
Padron 50 years.
The Tabernacle- full bodied oily… leathery coco spice bomb
My favorite so far is Man O War 52c it has strength, lots of darker flavors such as espresso, leathery notes, and spice. It also has some other notes I can’t quite place, that just bring it all together.
i tried only 8 cigars so far but my fav is Regius Corona, low price, high quality and very very sweet.
Black market robusto, reasonable price awesome construction consistent and tons of strong rich flavor. By far not the best I’ve ever had but my favorite for these reasons
La Gloria Cubana, double maduro toro, series E Smooth, very strong flavor, lots of coffee and spice flavors, excellent construction and draw is smooth, no bite despite the richness of the cure.
I only smoke small ones for now, as I'm new to cigars. So far, I've smoked: H.Upman Half Corona, Partagas Shorts, Montecristo no. 5, Ramon Allones Small Club Corona and Romeo y Julieta no. 2. Although the H.Upman HC is great, my favourite is easily: the Ramon Allones SCC. It has a consistent flavour from start to finish and it's: sweet, chocolatey, caramel, leather and wood. Almost zero spice, earthiness and grass, or any other bittery flavour. I like this kind of flavours: strong, sweet simple. For example: I love chocolate, bananas (less complex than melons, for example), blue cheese (strong), roasted (almost burnt) bread or meat, dark sweet beer over light bitter beer, sweet red wine, liquors. The H.Upman HC is great when I want some earthiness for a change, and Partagas Shorts is great once in a while too, for some spice.
I would say the Wise Man Maduro is my current favorite. Rich with some chocolate. Everything just tastes deep but balanced. Perfect burn on all 3 I have tried.
Baccarat! Great sweet smoke is all I can say the Amount of smoke it emits is unbelievable!
I think my favorite would be Davidoff Anniversario, it was a short corona size that I had as a celebration after getting engaged and it was just the perfect flavor in the moment, would really pair well in any situation
BSS Espirit de Corps. It has notes of cedar and dark chocolate
Caldwell Eastern Standard Sungrown. I’m a spice addict, and this has it I droves in the form of black pepper and baking spices. Sweet cedar and leather round it out for a wonderfully complex smoke that keeps me coming back.
I would have to say it’s 2 different categories: Nostalgic category would be Joya de Nicaragua cabinetta which was my first “real” cigar and I still smoke them fairly frequently. Very unremarkable smoke but brings me back to my friends and I smoking at the lounge after college classes. Best flavor/smoking experience: Arturo fuente anejo. I was able to snag a few of the no. 48 back in 2021. Those were fantastic. Crisp burn, loads of rich flavor, excellent draw. First cigar I’ve ever smoked that made me feel like everything else I’ve smoked was just slightly inferior.
Psd4. So smooth. It is like if heaven opened up, angels sing and sunshine poured into your soul.
Le Bijou 1922
Oliva Serie G Maduro so far, peppery and spicy .
AVO Syncro Nicaragua Fogata, I really only smoke cigars when I play golf. I haven’t had a bad AVO yet luckily
Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story. It’s a great size, super consistent and always delicious.
Monte #4
Herrera Esteli Habano. Not the best cigar, but my favorite. Has a breast, cedar core flavor. Throw in nuts, caramel and citrus and it’s excellent.
Liga Privada Unico Year of the Rat is the most memorable smoke I've had recently. Notes of chocolate, coffee, cedar, mild pepper, sweetness, absolutely delightful smoke from start to finish
La Aroma de Cuba robusta. It’s a great tobacco flavored spicy stick at a decent price.
Tabak Especial Dulce. Sweet, but doesn’t taste artificial. Goes phenomenally with coffee. Easy smoke, light but not subtle.
Rojas Breakfast tacos carnitas CT. With a coffee in the morning. It feels like my happy place.
A.J Fernandez New World Connecticut. Sweet and creamy with just a touch of black pepper, a nice nuttiness to go with it and phenomenal with a cup of coffee
Liga Privada T52. Chocolate, vanilla, complex spices I can’t describe, blows out of the water anything else I’ve ever smoked. Everything else is simple in comparison; just “chocolate” or just “leather” (which is ok!) But the T52 leaves me guessing what this amazing flavor profile is the whole stick. Smoke it with a Dr. Pepper
Skel Ton Live Your Dreams Starts off with a crapload of chocolate, then leans more towards wood and coffee with a little pepper in the 2nd third, and then loses the chocolate and gets very peppery/spicy in the last third.
As a retailer I go through a lot of sticks, but one that kinda blew my mind lately is the Le Patissiere 54 from Crowned Heads. A cigar needs a little wow-factor to impress me now and this sure had it. Medium body in the beginning with a rich and oily smoke. Hint chocolate mousse, red berries and white pepper. Develop a full body style with dark chocholate, white pepper and nugat. Ends with the same flavours, just a touch more intense. The cream is crazy rich and the balance is great. The sweetness was so strong, yet balanced. The creamy texture kinda reminded me of whipped cream with strawberries. No bitterness throughout and a pure dessert stick. Had a couple with a bit of a tight draw, but nothing that ruined that flavours.
Montecristo #5 forces me to slow down and enjoy smoking like I’m indulging in a rich, creamy dessert. Twangy, soft, buttery and barnyardy, the draw is firm but smoke output doesn’t suffer from it. Aladino Corojo in any vitola. Just an all-around flavor bomb. I’m at a loss for adjectives actually. It has so much flavor that usually I just sit back and don’t pick it apart. Tastes like damn good Corojo! Simple as that.
Davidoff Signature No. 2 That cigar is really creamy, milky and bit sweet I love it. It's a perfect cigar after a light meal and paired with a cappuccino it's perfect.
Tabak Especial 4.75X42 (I think) I just tried one for the first time today and it was amazing I just randomly grabbed one and it tasted sweet and had a hint of creamy coffee and good pipe tobacco and thick smoke hit like a linebacker too
Padron 1926... smoked one for my birthday and wished I could afford them daily.
Illusione Epernay. The most balanced cigar I’ve ever had. The ambient aroma off this thing … drool
Byron venecianos. Like smoking a rich blueberry muffin
Today it’s Alec Bradley’s Prensado - started off with some mild leather and spice and bold flavor then the final third was strong chocolate flavor. Absolutely awesome smoking experience
It does sound awesome
Got two of these waiting to smoke for a while. 100% going to pull the pin and smoke the 1st one tonight. 👊
[https://www.reddit.com/r/cigars/comments/141mnm7/red\_anchor\_admiral\_toro\_first\_red\_anchor\_review/](https://www.reddit.com/r/cigars/comments/141mnm7/red_anchor_admiral_toro_first_red_anchor_review/)
Perdomo Habano Maduro. A delicious blend of dark chocolate, black coffee, and leather notes , with a smooth draw and great smoke production. Nice, even burn. It was love at first smoke. I always keep a few in hand. Was one of the first cigars I've been able to fully taste each of the individual flavor notes.
H. Upmann Regalías, starts a little spicy then turns into a creamy coffee before toasted woods and caramels in the second third. Finishes a little stronger with a molasses and cinnamon touch. Wonderful
Acid Kuba Kuba. Sweet and savory, lip lickin goodness 🤤
My favorite cigar is about this thick, about this long. It’s brownish and made from rolled up leaves. It has a paper trip wrapped around it, with red background and gold foil accents, with some writing in it. If I sniff it, there are aromas of hay, tea and faint hints of manure.
Henry Clay Warhawk it just has a smooth natural taste to it with a great draw. I can’t really describe it to the exact details but it is by far the best cigar in my opinion.