Deep Dive: Bolivar Belicoso Fino

[bassistheplace]

and they age so well...

[Chucko8]

I’m a fan. I enjoy the interplay between coffee, creamy stout and liquorice which can be obtained!

[CigarsBourbon]

The box I’ve been smoking from is by far the darkest wrapped BBF I’ve ever seen. 
The flavors are all baking spice. At the mid point it tastes and feels like a bowl of rich royal chocolate pudding. There’s a texture and viscosity to the smoke. They are void of the classic cuban “twang” though. 
It’s quite enjoyable, but nothing like the full bodied leather and white pepper I’m used to getting from BBF and other Cubans in the past. 

[Kaptain Karl]

BBF + Old Fashioned=heaven. One of my favorite drink and cigar parings. 

[DaBoot]

My favorite Cuban cigar.
 Nuff Said

[MattxG]

It wasn't in the poll, and I don't think I have seen it mentioned yet, but I definitely get this subtle flavor I could best describe as "malt" from a BBF.  To me it's always been that thing that makes people insist on mentioning Guinness when talking about BBF.  I was looking for "malt" or something like that in the poll but didn't see it.  

[HawkI84]

19 hours ago, MattxG said:

It wasn't in the poll, and I don't think I have seen it mentioned yet, but I definitely get this subtle flavor I could best describe as "malt" from a BBF.  To me it's always been that thing that makes people insist on mentioning Guinness when talking about BBF.  I was looking for "malt" or something like that in the poll but didn't see it.  

What you get as "malt" I think I get as "sourdough" - which is why I went with bready or whatever it was as one of my descriptors. I love the sourdough/stout/liquorice/earthy interplay BBF has.

[NSXCIGAR]

In the vast minority but I'm not a fan. BBF to me is just indistinct. Leather/Guinness, sure. Just a mush of whatever it is. 

As @El Presidente has reminded me many times I find the Mag 46 and RyJ Beli all very similar in this regard. Those three all perform very similarly for me. 

However, with 10 years the old school Boli raisin dried fruitiness starts to come out. Can also say there is a sweetness and more pronounced licorice that appears with a 10 year Mag 46. Don't have enough experience with the RyJ Beli. 

I'll take a Famosos that already has the complexity. 

 

On 5/17/2022 at 2:20 PM, MattxG said:

I was looking for "malt" or something like that in the poll but didn't see it.  

I haven't found malt in the BBF but I do find it in the Famosos. Malt, semi-sweet baking chocolate and prune is the Famosos. 

All I get with BBF is the leather/Guinness thing. Boring...

[Capn_Jackson]

I know it’s been a couple months since the last post on this, but I love the BBF and wanted to jump in.

Do you like  Bolivar Belicoso Finos?

A favorite. This was my first Habano, back around twenty years ago. While I don’t get the same flavors in the more recent production as I used to, I still thoroughly enjoy a BBF, and it has such sentimental kind of value.

Where does it stand in the ranks of the other existing Belicoso's and even Piramides?

The only similar format cigars I’ve had are RyJ Belicoso, which I didn’t care for, and Monte 2. I really enjoy the Monte 2, but the BBF wins for me if they go head-to-head. 

Have you noticed a blend/flavour/body change over the years? If so, approximately when?

The flavor profile has changed, to me, over the past twenty years. There was probably a ten-year gap where I had zero Bolivars, unfortunately, but I still remember a slightly different profile back in the early 2000’s.

How long does it take you to smoke a  Bolivar Belicoso Finos?

This one takes me about an hour and forty-five, to two hours.

[Jerryvonkramer]

This has to be considered in the very, very top rank of CCs.