Johnny O's fresh rolled

[robertsccr5]

too soon. these need to dry down a lot and rest.
the drying part is critical............

I have some very dark and oily robusto with unfinished feet rolled in Aug 2016 and they're seriously hard as rocks. I smoked 5 (a couple fresh and a couple with a year on them) and was not impressed. I did however get a sampler of some other sticks and all were excellent. I had what I recall as a Corona gorda with P109 head and it was very good.

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[Buck14]

Yeah, I realize freshies like Johnny O’s take longer to acclimatize to your humi but when I hear things like...

”wait a couple of years”

”you gotta get through the ‘sick’ period” 

“you gotta dry box them for 30 days”

....my BS-o-Meter rings off the hook.

Those sound like excuses to me.

[helix]

Sometimes these things are what it takes .

[El Presidente]

1 minute ago, Buck14 said:

Yeah, I realize freshies like Johnny O’s take longer to acclimatize to your humi but when I hear things like...

”wait a couple of years”

”you gotta get through the ‘sick’ period” 

“you gotta dry box them for 30 days”

....my BS-o-Meter rings off the hook.

Those sound like excuses to me.

If you are not dry boxing fresh cigars then you are missing out. 

[garbandz]

38 minutes ago, Buck14 said:

Yeah, I realize freshies like Johnny O’s take longer to acclimatize to your humi but when I hear things like...

”wait a couple of years”

”you gotta get through the ‘sick’ period” 

“you gotta dry box them for 30 days”

....my BS-o-Meter rings off the hook.

Those sound like excuses to me.

by all means, keep doing things your way.

what do we know ?

[Buck14]

So, I actually did try dry boxing these Johnnys and here are a couple dry box excerpts from my reviews here on FoH. I dry boxed two different sticks for 2 and 4.5 days, respectively. So my question is how long do you recommend dry boxing these? My remaining JOs are now probably 4-5 months from roll date and have a normal dryness feel to them with only a slightly more spongy feel than my other HSA sticks.  

 

1966:

I smoked this one within 48 hours ROTT dryboxed for almost 2 days.  All cigars, having been freshly rolled within the last few weeks I’m guessing, were extremely wet/over-humidified. This is expected. But I am a ROTT guy at least with new to me vitolas so I took the plunge. Cigar was very squishy and still over-humidified when I lit it up and was an absolute dog rocket. No flavor at all. Surprisingly loose draw.  Wrapper held up fine in 19F temp. Burn was OK structurally but burned very hot. But no flavor at all. I think I’ll throw this review out given the circumstances if it.

Behique 54 Review #1:

Cigars were frozen for 3.5 days direct from room temp on both bookends. Then into Humi at 67rH and around 68-70F for 5 days. This stick was then dry boxed in a non-humidified humidor at room rH of between 37-40 rH for almost 2 days. Stick drew perfectly with the ideal amount of resistance.  Pre-light texture was slightly squishy to the touch but vastly imrpove over the 1966. Couple of touch-ups along the way but ideal draw and good burn. Very light in stregnth, maybe a 1-1.5 of 10 in strength with no complexity. Very one note. The only Cuban I’ve had with less flavor and strength was SLR Regios from SEP 2015 but that stick yielded no flavor at all. I got no “ahhhh Cuba” aroma from the smoke or Cuban taste from the draw at all. The last 40% of the cigar was unsmokeable. 0% flavor profile and really burning hot....dog rocket.

Behique 54 Review #2:

Same as above except dry boxed for 4.5 days. Cigar had perfect consistency to the touch. Lit easily. Draw perfect. Burn good. Strength maybe 1.75 out of 10. Very one note. 52F outside during smoke 37rH. Couple minor touch-ups. But, when I got to the last 40% turned very bitter, harsh, ash-y. Another dog rocket.

[El Presidente]

Custom fresh rolls. My rule of thumb is 2 days for every month less than three that they have been in my humidor. 

Again, Freshies. 

     30 days in my humidor = 4 days dry boxing at under 50 RH 

      60 days in my humidor = 2 days dry boxing at under 50 RH

       90 days in my humidor = should be ready. 

That is just the rule of thumb for my tastes. 

[Diamondog]

Received those cigars Tuesday and smoked the 1966 (shag foot) that night and I can say blew anything regular production or otherwise I have been smoking as of late in fact would be the best cigar of the year albeit early Ive had to date. In fact that is the best custom Ive had probably in 2 or 3 years between Reys, Alex, La China and dare I say Hamlet. Now, thats 1 cigar but damn was it good!

[Buck14]

OK I’ll light another one up this weekend. Clusterf#$k at work the next two days so no fun for 48 hours.

[mk05]

Everyone smokes different cigars, and has different methods. Personally, I never - EVER - drybox. Furthermore, if you don't like the cigars fresh, try a different roller - you will find one that agrees with you immediately.

[cfc1016]

3 hours ago, Buck14 said:

Yeah, I realize freshies like Johnny O’s take longer to acclimatize to your humi but when I hear things like...

”wait a couple of years”

”you gotta get through the ‘sick’ period” 

“you gotta dry box them for 30 days”

....my BS-o-Meter rings off the hook.

Those sound like excuses to me.

Sounds like you're missing out on a lot of great smokes for lack of patience, lol

EDIT: I also find that I like to age habanos around 65%, but I prefer to smoke most of them after they've rested for a month or so at 60-62%.

[earthson]

On March 21, 2018 at 7:15 PM, Buck14 said:

Yeah, I realize freshies like Johnny O’s take longer to acclimatize to your humi but when I hear things like...

”wait a couple of years”

”you gotta get through the ‘sick’ period” 

“you gotta dry box them for 30 days”

....my BS-o-Meter rings off the hook.

Those sound like excuses to me.

You'll eventually (or not) find that those are the facts of life for freshly-rolled cigars. Cigars *are* rolled with wet, wet tobacco as it allows the tobacco to be manipulated without tearing into pieces. The boxes you buy have been sitting - sometimes for years - which allows the tobbaco to 1) dry out (physical change) and 2) cure (chemical change). Unless they're fresh off the table, they need to dry out to resemble what we typically buy in boxes, and they most likely will go through at least one "sick period" while the chemicals do their thing.  Maybe fresh-rolled cigars just aren't for you?

That said, I had one of Johnny's "EL Vigia" last night and, try as I might to divorce myself from pre-conceived notions, I have to say, not only did the flavor profile match a Trinidad Vigia I had about a year ago, but it likely surpassed it, despite being wet and young.

I also had a churchill of his from 2014. The wrapper was that orange-colored rosado like I like to see on Cohiba and Partagas. This churchill could have given any banded released a run for its money - it's aging nicely, well past a sick period its brethren were in last time I checked in a year ago. The flavor profile seemed to be a cross between Upmann, Montecristo and RyJ. Truly a journey.

[Jimmy_jack]

I’ve had various sizes from Johnny. I can say some were amazing out of the box, others are down for a rest. The lanceros and corona extra(?) shaggy are in my opinion excellent. I smoked right through them. The Bhk 52 were the same. I have some 109 and figurados that are sleeping. I always ask for rosado when I can. My .02

[kalibratecuba]

Good Luck with the new Johnny’s!
I got 3 fiver samplers of the WF style in December 2017 and have maybe tried 6 of the 15 sticks and have been pretty underwhelmed so far. One of the sticks was decent but they all seemed to get putrid when you get around the halfway point. I do get Cuban aroma (smoke smell) from them but taste, construction, burn issues are all prevalent and too a lesser extent draw. 
My remaining sticks are buried in my humi and maybe I’ll try one again toward the end of the Summer. 
At this point they resemble Davidoffs in all aspects except for cost (thank god). That sorta moldy, rancid hay taste with all the issues above are what Davidoffs for me are known for - and perhaps Johnny’s at least so far.

Loved reading this. I disagree with the comparison, but I always described Davidoff cigars that way.

I've changed my view, in the last year, to mushrooms and Earth tasting.

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