Cohiba Secretos 888 'Year of the Dog' (VVL)

[Wilzc]

 

One of Tabacaleras 'aged' programs aimed at a certain...  market...

These are apparently 'aged' for 10 years. Now on top of that, a regular Maduro 5 cigar would technically already have 5 years on them, thus making this cigar, from its release late 2018, to be 15 years old!! hah!!  Habanos SA at their finest! I'm actually going to be doing a back to back tasting between these and a regular secretos! Small cigars! why not???

Visually, these are not as dark as the regular Mad5 Secretos. The regulars are darker in colour with strong hints of earth and choc brownies on the shaft. The 888 is lighter toned, chocolatey silky wrappers. Hints of chocolate and brown sugar (molasses) on the shaft.

 

 

First puffs.....   holy...  moly..  guacamoley.... 

I hate it when the only descriptor folks give a cigar is 'smooth', but this really is smoooooothhhhh. This is COHIBA at its finest!, that wheatey-hay and honey with an undertone of chocolates, molasses and malt. Malt!! Footsmoke is ridiculously sweet with cacao about. This is insanity!!!

This 888 delivers everything with such elegance, I'm not even sure the blend is the same versus the regular Mad5. While the regular Mad5 is very upfront about its brownies and chocolate, with a slight coarseness about it, the 888 is just so different! so classy! The honey hints are very earthy, like good Manuka honey. I'm at loss for words really. I came into the review laughing at HSA's marketing ploys....  but wow....  what an amazing smoke..

Second half of the stick a cirtrus tinge comes in, leaning towards darker orange peel sort of citrus. Still mostly the elegant delivery of earthy honey with malts and chocolates. Some caramel. Notes of hardwood?

Well..  I don't care anymore..... I'm just going to sit back and enjoy whatever thats left

 

Final Thoughts: 94. This cigar has hit its stride and should be smoked within the next 3 years! It will blow your panties off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kaptain Karl]

incredible review! This review just makes me wonder what type of unbelievable cigars we could be smoking if HSA blending was in the hands of operations such as the Fuentes or the Padrons! 

[slowsmoke]

Great review.  I am such a fan of the regular secretos, and I had no idea this 888 was even a thing.  I'm afraid to look up what they're going for... ?

[Guantanamera]

Man, I hope the cigar is as good as the review. Nice work!

[TheMonk]

Very entertaining review! While I'm personally never interested in the millions of "limited" editions and jars the Spanish distributor floods the market with, all of which without box codes or dates ?, it seems you really enjoyed this one. Thanks for sharing!

[Chucko8]

Ripper review @Wilzc. Great reading