Por Larranaga Belicosos Extra - Asia RE - Thoughts?

[Ken Gargett]

12 minutes ago, Lotusguy said:

Smoked one tonight - it was very bland
 

i am convinced these fall into what i think of as 'fine line' smokes. this is based partly on those i've smoked and from reading various reviews and other thoughts. there is obviously a heap of variance. but i think that the good ones are mild, subtle, complex, refined. the poor ones are bland, mute. so for me, all they lack is that litle extra to tip them into that subtle finesse etc etc. the poor ones are not dirty or poor construction or unattractive flavours.

not sure if this is making much sense. i guess for me, there is a fine line between those refined smokes and those bland ones. we just have to hope that our cigars fall on the right side of that fine line.

[Lotusguy]

i am convinced these fall into what i think of as 'fine line' smokes. this is based partly on those i've smoked and from reading various reviews and other thoughts. there is obviously a heap of variance. but i think that the good ones are mild, subtle, complex, refined. the poor ones are bland, mute. so for me, all they lack is that litle extra to tip them into that subtle finesse etc etc. the poor ones are not dirty or poor construction or unattractive flavours.

not sure if this is making much sense. i guess for me, there is a fine line between those refined smokes and those bland ones. we just have to hope that our cigars fall on the right side of that fine line.

The ones I've smoked were mostly great so far. This one got more flavorful after I cut it again towards the last third but still fell into your latter category. On average, still a great cigar for me and I'm happy to have another full box stashed away

[godpheonix]

the beauty of cigars hey? No two are the same, especially when you factor in that its hand made, quality of the leaves, different rollers, climate, storage, aging will vary from cigar to cigar and ultimately the smoker ( the cut, the lighting up, the draw....so many variables!).  I'm surprised that a lot of cigars do end up tasting close to the same to a point where we can't really discern the differences.

I guess it is the good, the bad and the ugly sides of cigars!

[Luca]

23 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

i am convinced these fall into what i think of as 'fine line' smokes. this is based partly on those i've smoked and from reading various reviews and other thoughts. there is obviously a heap of variance. but i think that the good ones are mild, subtle, complex, refined. the poor ones are bland, mute. so for me, all they lack is that litle extra to tip them into that subtle finesse etc etc. the poor ones are not dirty or poor construction or unattractive flavours.

not sure if this is making much sense. i guess for me, there is a fine line between those refined smokes and those bland ones. we just have to hope that our cigars fall on the right side of that fine line.

I am yet to have a bad one yet Ken. Although when I think of it - I did have one with a pretty poor draw. Taste was there though!

[planetary]

On 3/27/2017 at 10:23 PM, Ken Gargett said:

i have not had one since rob and i did the review (i am assuming rob and i did a review though i don't specifically remember, only vaguely). i bought a box (for those enjoy those sort of things, the code is EMA JUL 08) at the time which suggests that i must have really loved them at the time.

so did rob and i get it wrong? did we get lucky last time or did i get unlucky this time? will try another soon and am hoping for a much better experience.

Ken, you did not just one but two reviews out of EML JUL 08.

The first review was in December of that year.  You didn't score it, but Rob rated it 88 and Smithy 85.  Aging notes (paraphrased): Don't touch for 12-18 months. At their best in 5 years.  

The second review was in 2012.  All three of you were 90-91.  Aging notes (paraphrased): Another 4-5 years (total of about 10); if caramel builds, we will have a classic.

So it sounds like hopes were high, but there was something about it which left y'all with doubts. 

[Ken Gargett]

1 minute ago, planetary said:

Ken, you did not just one but two reviews out of EML JUL 08.

The first review was in December of that year.  You didn't score it, but Rob rated it 88 and Smithy 85.  Aging notes (paraphrased): Don't touch for 12-18 months. At their best in 5 years.  

The second review was in 2012.  All three of you were 90-91.  Aging notes (paraphrased): Another 4-5 years (total of about 10); if caramel builds, we will have a classic.

So it sounds like hopes were high, but there was something about it which left y'all with doubts. 

thanks for that. really interesting. i am now really puzzled because that is no way encouraging enough for me to buy a box. i wonder why i did? what convinced me?

[SirVantes]

Had one of these this evening. While not bland, it only really got going at the 2nd third. In the 1st third, the classic PL caramel was swamped by a heavy, almost savoury note. Very one dimensional.

The caramel arrived at the 2nd third, but it never quite achieved the balance to tip it into the 90 point range. I'm not sure whether more time will allow the caramel to emerge more fully, or if it's already on the wane. I've not tracked the early development of these, so I have no baseline.

Put me down in the Disappointed camp.

[godpheonix]

1 hour ago, SirVantes said:

Had one of these this evening. While not bland, it only really got going at the 2nd third. In the 1st third, the classic PL caramel was swamped by a heavy, almost savoury note. Very one dimensional.

The caramel arrived at the 2nd third, but it never quite achieved the balance to tip it into the 90 point range. I'm not sure whether more time will allow the caramel to emerge more fully, or if it's already on the wane. I've not tracked the early development of these, so I have no baseline.

Put me down in the Disappointed camp.

but you can't really base an opinion on one cigar, right? we are talking about cigars here, no two really a like and such. i had 3 , one each year for the last 3 years, they are getting better in my opinion. the last was really good and i'm thinking of digging in more this year. but we'll see, i'll update my findings once i have a few over the next months.

[SirVantes]

56 minutes ago, godpheonix said:

but you can't really base an opinion on one cigar, right? we are talking about cigars here, no two really a like and such. i had 3 , one each year for the last 3 years, they are getting better in my opinion. the last was really good and i'm thinking of digging in more this year. 

I suppose you could treat that one cigar as a data point, in the larger picture comprising the aggregate experiences of various tasters.  One cigar does give me something to start with towards finally determining yea or nay (I know I do get excited when Ken or some other reviewer says "I've not had one of these before" and then goes on to give a high 90s score - so I get similarly disappointed when my own first taste of one scores low).  I'd be keeping an eye on further reports, for sure!

[Rhino]

I would love to try them but considering the price I'm not moving on them yet. PL is a brand I love so the more the merrier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk