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When Rob posted this little contest i figured what the hell, its a good time to delve into a cigar that I usually just either say Meh...or needs more time. In the case of the RACF, its one of those cigars where everytime i smoke one im wowed. But for some reason when i dig into my cooler, I always seem to reach for something else, because in my mind, the RACF is a great cigar, a powerhouse, and one that i feel needs more time. Well its time for me to check up on this and see how its progressing. I smoked this cigar saturday night at the Rib n Reef's cigar lounge in Montreal. I used the smallest punch on my creedo triple punch cutter. This cigar was paired with a G&T. First third : Took a few draws for the flavours in the cigar to wake up. I feel that is always the case when it comes to cigars in the Britanicas size. Once i smoked through the "bulb" the cigar started to open up. I'm getting deep dark cherry flavours from this cigar. the cigar is producing volumes of smoke. I'm glad that i deceided to use a small punch on this cigar rather than a traditional cut. the cigar is smoking beautifully. Second Third : The dark cherry continues to be dominant in this cigar. This cigar is definitely on the full side on the power scale. As the second third goes on, the dark cherry starts to disappear and i'm not getting what i would call an Amaretto Liqueur flavor in this cigar. This is a first for me. Its like a mix of almond and fruit. Almost like a Fruit and nut chocolate bar minus the chocolate. Last third : Power has been turned to 11 on this one in the last third. for a cigar that has 6 years on it, its still a mongrel. Its defenitly not acting its age in the last third. You'd expect a cigar with 5 + years of age on it to be more refined in the last third. not this one. It throws up both middle fingers and yells at you NOOOOO i dont want to grow up! Stewed fruit, burnt almond in the last third. Overall impressions : Its a great cigar, no doubt about it. PCC have done a great job as usual with ther Regional program. Like most if not all PCC cigars, they are blended to be aged long term. This cigar is defenitly built to be aged long term. If you can find a box of these, i defenitly recommend buying it. Its very good now, but will be amazing with a couple more years under its belt. Final score : 92

BRC...for some reason i just never reach for these when im in the mood for a Robusto. RASS and PSD4's are staples for me, Everything about the BRC looks appealing to me...the aroma at cold, the dark wrapper. so why do I pass these over all the time? Well I picked one up, packed in my caddy and finally deceided to put flame to it. I punched this cigar with the medium punch of my creedo 3 punch cutter and light it up. First third: FIrst puffs were just pure coco. Dark chocolate in spades. Cigar was producing tons of smoke as well. It was burning beautifully and even. after the first few draws on this cigar, I knew right there and then I was in for a real treat Second Third : I am absolutly enjoying every puff of this cigar. The dark chocolate flavours continue, and i am now getting espresso flavors in the mix as well. As i am smoking this cigar i am thinking to myself why havent i reached for this more often? why do i always overlook this when considering what box to buy next? I am enjoying this cigar so much so, that i forgot to take any more pics of this cigar! Last third: What can I say. this cigar has exeeded my expectations, its blowing me out of the water. Dark chocolate, espresso, coffee beans. Its very coparable in flavour to a BBF, but more on the the midium side rather than the full side like a BBF. Conclusion : Just wow. This cigar changed my mind about the BRC's. I will probably look to pick up a box of these rather than buying D4's like i usually do. Overall score : 94

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.