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So [mention=2756]mkz[/mention] gifted me an incredible "sampler" a while back (from his epic thread in the photo gallery subforum) and I've had a hard time keeping my hands off the cigars. Yesterday I finally gave in again and smoked my second stick from the pack, an old Troya Universales. Now, I should start out by saying that this was probably the cigar I had the least hopes for. About a year and a half ago, I was sitting in the José Martin Airport with a shitty-rum hangover lighting up the worse cigar I've ever in my life. It was a Troya that came in a plastic tube. Format: Universales / Short panatela / 38 x 5.3". Technically discontinued in 2005 but replaced with the same exact format (?). Pre-light / appearance: Overall uniform color, with a couple of small water spots near the cap. Toothy veins on the back. Filling looks good. Very little, if any, smell on the foot. Straight cut, doesn't appear dry or brittle and the filling looks good on this end too. Not much in terms of pre-light flavors but perfect draw. Light up / first 3rd: Salty vegetables on the very first puff. After this, the cigar alternates between nothing and very faint notes on the front of sweet bread. Little there on the retro, no spice. The finish has a pleasant and warm earth, once again combined with a distinct saltiness that goes well when the front produces sweetness. Burn has that characteristic shortfiller jaggedness but sticks close to a razor line. About an inch into it, flavors start picking up on the finish. Once again, salty vegetables. Second 3rd: Something tickling appears on the retro but is only there for a few drags. The front sweetness is now more pronounced but also spottier. Again, once it is there it makes up a beautiful duet with the saltiness that comes in after but I can also imagine that this has lost some over the years, and is only a fraction of what it once was. Mild but the finish has improved from "not unpleasant" to "enjoyable". Salty earth, hints of vegetables. The retro picks up once again, salty. Its a saltiness different from that which I've experienced with old cigars, it is more... Fitting? Draw flawless, burn now straight as an arrow. Final third: Big burst of spice on retrohale, almost out of the blue. Front not as prominent, no more sweetness (or at least my palate is not good enough to pick it up anymore). Has become more medium in body now continues to ramp up. Becoming very salty and briny, almost to the point of harshness. This is where I leave it. Final thoughts: The best Troya I've ever smoke but lets be honest; that isn't saying much. When it comes to the construction, I am extremely impressed. Beautiful bellowing smoke, PERFECT draw, great burn line throughout the cigar (especially after an inch or so into it). For being a machine-made cigar, construction is outstanding and better than many hand-rolled sticks that I've had recently. The flavors were spotty and weak at times but also gave glimpses into a beautiful blend of sweet and salt, earth, and hints of vegetables. The more I try turn-of-the-century machine-mades, the more I am sad to see that they are all but gone (at least in that quality). Thanks again to mkz for this smoke!

Very nice presentation box of 20 cigars. Fairly cheap. Machine rolled Cuban cigar with short filler and precut. Honestly, I bought these cigars on their price and the Corona in the name. Was surprised (but not shocked) when I found out that these are not Corona sized but Universales. Cooler name and very nice shape - perfect for winter. Comes with some hard plastic friction tubes with a rubber knob. Prefer it to the aluminium tubes as they're not crushable in my pocket. Oh how many times I've had to take wire snippers to a tube to save a cigar with the Jaws of Life. Prelight Ritual Moments ANYWAY, Back to the cigar: Took it out during work with a can of Schweppes Ginger Ale. We lit it up on my break in the heated shed which was very nice. Left the door open so my legs were freezing but the hot air was blowing continuously on my head. That thing could've heated an entire baseball stadium. ANYWAY, Back to the cigar. Very toothy wrapper as expected from a machine roll and very sweet, cedary draw that reminded me of the nectare of a Sprite. Kinda like what honey from heaven would taste like. Or if you licked Tinkerbell. I could actually feel a retrohale on the cold draw which was odd but pleasant. Enjoyed it very much. First Half Great first bit. Tasted like what San Pelligrino if they made a Marachino cherries flavour. Brilliant smoke and pumping out record smoke. I would be taking full draws without getting any sort of harshness. Mouthful upon mouthful of smoke later, you could feel a cedar taste creep up on your palate and tell you that there is SOME complexity with the cigar. It was absolutely brilliant. Flavour was on every time with no surprises or sudden changes of heart. Retrohale had no harshness but does bring out the woodiness more than the sweetness. Nearing the second quarter, the cigar started to really intensify with the flavours as all pistons were pumping. I can tell it has some nicotine/ tannic polymers/ nitrosamines that normally makes cigars harsh. But that was masked by the continous sweet aroma of the cigar. Tasted more like black forest cake near the end... Less like Maraschino Cherries. Second Half I wanted to review this cigar in quarters. But the subtle changes were too gradual to justify typing out these long winded paragraphs FOUR TIMES for this cigar. On top of that, I was with my supervisor who was talking for a bit. Lucky I even remembered to snap these pictures! ANYWAY, Back to the cigar: Still strong with sweet tang. I am really enjoying the hell out of this cigar. It's something that has produced an ass kicking which was surprising considering the sweetness. It was gradual so I didn't even notice. The strength came in the form of a woody zap that reminds me of engraving maple wood or cooling maple sap in the snow. As a child, I would take a stick, put it on a wooden board layered with snow, and pour maple sap over the board. The sap would harden and you would roll it around in the snow to create a lolly that was absolutely delicious. That's what it tastes like right now. Damn I missed those. The retrohale continued to bring out a strong wood taste that masked the sweetness. I stopped retrohaling because the nostalgic beauty of the cedary maple candies outweighed any sort of need to taste burnt wood. It gradually faded away, unfortunately and the cigar started to taste more like the retrohale. It got bitter near the end but not something I could taste. It was kind of like burning plastic... But it was a good kind of 'gasoline' taste. Something I can't describe too well in words. I didn't bother retrohaling at this point. It ended quite small and I would've nubbed it if my break didn't end 15 minutes ago... Final Thoughts A great, predictable, know-what-you're-getting cigar. I stocked up on vintage RA Belvederes for this winter but I think these will dominate what I'm going to smoke for the next little while. These are too good to put down. 45 minute smoke time and would've easily gone to 55 if I cared to nub it. If I was taking my time smokin this cigar, it would've stretched up to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Absolutely brilliant. Red Stagg bourbon has a taste profile very similar to the first half of this cigar. I would buy a bottle just to pair with this cigar. Call them 2013 heroine/crack/PCP/meth, etc. But I call them my winter smokes and perhaps even my summer smokes. Rating: 87/100. Only thing it lacks is complexity which is why I can't justify giving it a higher rating. Contest Part Will give 3 of these cigars (a whole whopping three!?!) to anyone who can guess the box code of this cigar. Date is not needed. But guess the box code. (CaptainQuintero... you're banned from guessing. And so is anyone who KNOWS the box code of this cigar!) Hint 1: They're not an old box code.