The Lost Art of Tobacco, Weekend Review: Partagas Seleccion Privada #1

[PigFish]

 

DAMN... WHAT A CIGAR!

Hopefully you can hang through the review. It is long... too long! I repeat myself over and over again...! I would not give back a second of it.

 

Video review is up...

... beware the 'the wildlife detour.' Thanks for watching!

 

-Piggy

[zeedubbya]

Nice review Ray. Sometimes the overwhelming assault to the senses you get at the end of certain really great, well cared for, aged tobacco is hard to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it. You did a good job with this. I had a mid 90s JLS1 which did this not too long ago. How I will miss this when they're finally gone for good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[99call]

13 hours ago, PigFish said:

 

DAMN... WHAT A CIGAR!

-Piggy

It's like your conducting a personal act of cigar terrorism against me!!!! whats next Quai D'orsay Gran Corona?  Punch Monarch? old Ramon 898?. 

Hats off Sir! you're trying to put David Attenborough out of business too?

 

[JohnS]

Ray...great, great cigar my friend. Nothing more needs to be said!

[LGC]

Nice review Raymond! I smoked some of those a ways back 97’s... but never pursued them. A certain vendor seemed to have an endless supply at one time.

 

I haven’t experienced that kind of richness in any of the newer cigars I’ve smoked(regular production). I honestly don’t know if it will happen.

 

Earlier this year, I met a friend in Kansas City. I brought an 80’s RyJ Celestiales Finos en cello to smoke, one of my favorite cigars... vintage ones. I decided to smoke it before dinner... just to ensure my palate was fresh. Half way in , I kept thinking... mother f*****... I should have lit this up AFTER the dry aged ribeye!!!!

 

[Cep]

Fantastic review thx Ray

[PigFish]

4 hours ago, Brandon said:

Nice review Raymond! I smoked some of those a ways back 97’s... but never pursued them. A certain vendor seemed to have an endless supply at one time.

 

I haven’t experienced that kind of richness in any of the newer cigars I’ve smoked(regular production). I honestly don’t know if it will happen.

 

Earlier this year, I met a friend in Kansas City. I brought an 80’s RyJ Celestiales Finos en cello to smoke, one of my favorite cigars... vintage ones. I decided to smoke it before dinner... just to ensure my palate was fresh. Half way in , I kept thinking... mother f*****... I should have lit this up AFTER the dry aged ribeye!!!!

 

Thanks mate...

Yeah, some of the bandless ones are those that you speak of. As you know, he and I have had a rather 'rocky' relationship... -LOL I tried to buy all that he had at one point, but knowing that I am rather vocal about crap cigars, he said that they would be below my standard and then pulled them from his site... 

I have not experienced anything like this (generally) from cigars post '01. Some '01 were in fact really great cigars. This one was over the top... yet some of what I have from the period can come pretty close.

I never thought I would say the cliche, 'they don't make cigars like the used to,' but I am afraid that I truly believe it now. I have smoked some nice cigars from the 2K's but nothing like this...

Packing, tobacco, maybe even aging... I don't know. Cigars today don't taste like this!

The funny thing is, a lot of people I know would have tossed this cigar. Too much work to smoke is what they would say... Tight packing has a definite correlation to a great smoke. I don't know why, but that is my experience!

-Ray

[PigFish]

13 hours ago, zeedubbya said:

Nice review Ray. Sometimes the overwhelming assault to the senses you get at the end of certain really great, well cared for, aged tobacco is hard to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it. You did a good job with this. I had a mid 90s JLS1 which did this not too long ago. How I will miss this when they're finally gone for good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i totally get that... If you watched the end of the video, I was so overwhelmed with the cigar I actually let it go out. I am going to go back and finish it off today... -LOL

-R

[PigFish]

6 hours ago, JohnS said:

Ray...great, great cigar my friend. Nothing more needs to be said!

 

3 hours ago, Cep said:

Fantastic review thx Ray

Thanks amigos! -R

[ayepatz]

Class. Nice one, Ray!

[PigFish]

9 hours ago, 99call said:

It's like your conducting a personal act of cigar terrorism against me!!!! whats next Quai D'orsay Gran Corona?  Punch Monarch? old Ramon 898?. 

Hats off Sir! you're trying to put David Attenborough out of business too?

 

Pretty sure that is my last of these!

The QdO I believe is from Rob's buddy Wal. I used to smoke a lot of the QdO GC's but as they disappeared I looked for other cigars. Like many, I did not decry a deletion here or there, it was not until that they started to kill everything in the catalog that I considered good, that I became a real Tabacuba hater!

I have some funny stories about the Punch... I HATE THESE CIGARS... -LOL I dislike them so much that I gave all that I had away, typically to those that begged for them as I dislike them so much I would tell people that I thought that they were so bad that they could be fake... -LOL That is Cuban cigars for you. You see, I did not start picking on their QC just last year...!

I am pretty sure that is my last one. Good riddance. I keep it for the hell of it.

Old RA's, that is another story... Still have a couple of cabs of those!

-R

[Habana Mike]

Fantastic review of a great stick! Glad you enjoyed it as much as you did.

Love the hummingbirds too, nice interlude.

These too were a favorite of mine back in the day.

Might have one or two rolling around in the singles drawers, will need to take a look as you've put me in the mood!

[David88]

Great review piggy! Did you finish off the rest of the cigar today? 

I often feel more than a pinch of jealousy when I see reviews of great cigars that are no longer with us. It’s great to live vicariously at times though!

[PigFish]

3 minutes ago, David88 said:

Great review piggy! Did you finish off the rest of the cigar today? 

I often feel more than a pinch of jealousy when I see reviews of great cigars that are no longer with us. It’s great to live vicariously at times though!

Not yet, but as soon as I make my way thought my email and back into the shop... -R

[Fugu]

Thanks for letting us partake, Ray!

Outstanding cigars always need to have a snug draw, I completely agree. And there is no exception to this rule as to my experience.

[Islandboy]

Wow, great review to watch. Although I probably never will, I could almost taste the cigar as you described it. And the wildlife was a bonus.

[luvdunhill]

It seems to me that a tight draw accentuates whatever flavors are in the cold draw, whereas wind tunnel covers these same nuances up.

[PigFish]

... working on the last 2" of the cigar now while in the shop. A little tough after just brushing my teeth. Very spicy now, some lost on me due to the intensity of smoking the whole cigar yesterday. The intense flavor still there. Perhaps I will update thoughts later!

-Piggy

[treberty]

Great review Ray. That is one of my favourite cigars of all time. So complex. I think you nailed it when you said it was floral.

thanks

[clutch5150]

Thanks Ray. Spent the early evening watching your review in the backyard with a Monte 80 year anniversary after you reminded me about those on the vid...I have 2 boxes that have been resting. I enjoyed your review, I have never smoked the Partas you reviewed. 

Curious about the tight draw you had, how do you think it would have done with a little work with a perfect draw tool or something along those lines to loosen things up, or were you just content with this one? Were all the sticks that stiff from your box?  Love try one of those sometime.  Nicely done, great relaxing review SIr.

[PigFish]

1 hour ago, clutch5150 said:

Thanks Ray. Spent the early evening watching your review in the backyard with a Monte 80 year anniversary after you reminded me about those on the vid...I have 2 boxes that have been resting. I enjoyed your review, I have never smoked the Partas you reviewed. 

Curious about the tight draw you had, how do you think it would have done with a little work with a perfect draw tool or something along those lines to loosen things up, or were you just content with this one? Were all the sticks that stiff from your box?  Love try one of those sometime.  Nicely done, great relaxing review SIr.

Thank mate.

I don't use a draw tool, ever!

My cigars are pretty dry. I have to think that stuffing even the finest 'bit' in there would end up shattering the binder. I also don't want a singular 'path' that tunnels the cigar. Like a hole in the binder and wrapper, I have to wonder if this might do more damage than provide a solution but I am talking out my rear, because like I said, I don't use one.

This is the worst drawing cigar I have had in at least 5 years. I never get complete plugs. I just work away at them, like I did on the video. The patient man is rewarded!

Beating a dead horse, dry storage is the key to cigar keeping (MHO). I have never had the complaints of my peers with plugged cigars, yet his one you could have pounded into a 2x4...

Yes, most of these are pretty hard. Not as hard as the infamous '01 Upmann Lonsdale. Those too are a dream to taste as well, but damn, they can be work to smoke.

-R 

[CrankYanker]

Great review Ray. I had a hard cigar the other night. Just worked through it and half way through it opened right up and became really enjoyable.  

[PigFish]

2 hours ago, CrankYanker said:

Great review Ray. I had a hard cigar the other night. Just worked through it and half way through it opened right up and became really enjoyable.  

Everyone has their own style of course. Like others, there is some feeling of liberation when taking a 'bad' cigar and tossing it. One should not smoke bad cigars. So the question for me is always how much effort should I put into a good cigar? Frankly, I don't mind putting some work into a good one if I am rewarded.

You just don't know until you try...

-R

[CrankYanker]

7 minutes ago, PigFish said:

Everyone has their own style of course. Like others, there is some feeling of liberation when taking a 'bad' cigar and tossing it. One should not smoke bad cigars. So the question for me is always how much effort should I put into a good cigar? Frankly, I don't mind putting some work into a good one if I am rewarded.

You just don't know until you try...

-R

Sometimes hard work pays off and a bad cigar turns into a really unexpected good cigar.  Thanks for the input!

[JamesKPolkEsq]

Very enjoyable to watch, made me want to go smoke a cigar! Well done!