San Cristobal de la Habana El Principe

[Hohenthal]

Some time ago Smithy recommended these to me, so as a little

Tribute to Smithy, yes, you will be missed,

here is my review:

Nice thin, tensile colorado wrapper,

solid construction with a slight restriction on the draw, just as I like it

and, as a matter of fact is harder to find in recent production.

Good slight barnyard smell at cold and a quaility tobacco cold draw.

Flavours in the

first third:

Dry cocoa powder and light coffee plus a seven spice mix, an occasional bitter edge.

2nd third: more sweet spices, now easier to delineate -

cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, most certainly nutmeg, and a distant pepperiness,

quality toasted tobacco

and a (bitter-) sweet note which Rob always calls molasses, and in most cases of SCdlH Principe I agree with that, however this one was more like liquorice to me but I guess it's a quite similar perception of

the odd San Cristobal sweetness nonetheless.

last third: the toasted tobacco verges more and more towards malty cereal,

more pronounced and creamy coffee flavours and, just at the end,

a beautiful exotic perfume note reminiscent of patchouli

as I sometimes find in good Montecristo's, in particular in Especial No. 2.

Moreover, a cigar of great charm and deligthful complexity,

I would rate the first half with its occasional bitter edge 89-90,

but in total, as it just got better and better,

a solid 92 - and well deserved!

Cheers,

Alex

[SerieT]

i love having one with a morning coffee and the newspaper...cool review!

cheers,

t

[Rye]

Great review! Reading makes me want to light another!

[Hubba]

I traded for a 5er of these recently.....awesome little smoke, definately box worthy.

[bigharpoon]

Great review, I'm waiting on my box to show up. I love the flavors of SCDLH and the El Principe is a perfect size for when I don't have lots of time to enjoy a cigar.

[seamus]

Great smokes. Great with a nice coffee.

[Mxmike]

Agreed,great smoke with coffee

[jimbo1]

nice review, smoked my last one a few days ago, need to restock.

[tmac77]

the San Cristobal line is a favorite of mine and underrated in the main.

[Hafner32]

the San Cristobal line is a favorite of mine and underrated in the main.

+1

[seamus]

Puffing on one now. Needed something quick and not too heavy, fit the bill perfectly.

[Lant63]

Is the El Principe the best of the marca?

[MattW]

I had my first yesterday and was a bit disappointed, was primarily earth and leather flavours, went very bitter during the 2nd half. However after reading this review and the comments I feel I might have got a bad stick, maybe I'll try another sometime soon.

[stigmata]

sometimes these take a little time to come good with a rest.

but theyre glorious cigars.

i had a box recently with amonia even 10 months in.... but when it snapped out of its harshness (i was trying one every couple of months) all i can say is sensational.

Other boxes are ready to smoke ROTT.

Ive never had a bad stick...

If youre getting some harshness... they need more rest

[BH2876]

Thanks a lot guys, now I need to buy a box of these too dang it.

[manicdvln]

Thanks for the review, always wanted to try the El Principe, but hard to find a shop that has it since it's very unpopular brand. And the size is perfect for us in the cold tundra of Canada.

[Ramrod918]

I enjoy these also thanks for the review.