Vegueros Tapados, My new favourite cheapie

[99call]

Well.........hold your horses,  PLMC RGPC still hold that title, and with some ease, but still

I've been thinking about buying them for some time, and I'm glad I did.  Every single image I saw of them online, the cigars looked lovely, nice wrappers, well rolled, razor burn, nicely packed........I was always thinking, 'Jesus!   how bad can they be?".   When @El Presidente put up tins with the hard sell on the 24 "This must be what a cow tastes when it eats, you need a check up from the neck up if you buy these cigars" or something to that affect.........I thought "I'm in!"

I tin arrived the other day, and as soon as the apocalyptic heat in the UK passed (the cigar could have basically lit itself), I got outside and fired one up. 

Again every cigar in my tin, is crafted really well, and puts lots of other brands to shame.  I thought the tin would smell grassy, but it was more barnyard, tannic, woody, and floral. It immediately gave me a bit of confidence there would be a bit more to this cigar. 

The cigar was a revelation, my first thought was jeese 'this tastes a little bit like an unripe Des Dieux'.  And whilst and unripe Des Dieux can be quite unpleasant, my first thoughts were positive intrigue. 

What was really unique about this cigar was that it was doing a sort of Fonseca 1 thing, of creamy marshmallow, woodsy, vanilla.    But the woods were tamped back and the Vanilla, was like a hyper realistic vanilla,  sour, leathery, green, floral unsweetened vanilla.   This is an aspect which always reminds me of long format ERDM with is that smell when you walk into a steamy botanical gardens,  a sort of balmy, vegital, tropical note. 

The cigar had a razor sharp burn, had copious smoke output, and ashed at my command, I was liking and respecting this cigar more and more. 

The retro had a milkiness that that was trying to put my finger on.   In Sendai, Japan, they have a local delicacy called a Zunda shake.  So it's basically sweetened fresh soya bean paste with a touch of salt, that gets blended with vanilla ice cream.   Sounds semi unappealing right!?  trust me it's A, gorgeous, and B, very addictive.    In combination with this there was a little coffee which added a distinct tiramisu vibe. 

In conclusion, I really don't think this is a bad cigar at all, and like the PIcadores, or Fonseca no 1 the cigar has got an unusual blend, but I don't think that qualifies it as bad, rather the given smoker just has to say......"Yeah.. not for me". 

I can't really recall my memories of long format old school Vegueros, but I remember not being smitten in anyway shape or form........I can't say that about the Tapados.   They have graduated from random purchase into,  i'm a genius, and I totally knew what I was doing. 

[yossie]

26 minutes ago, 99call said:

Zunda shake

Sounds insane..

[99call]

3 minutes ago, yossie said:

Sounds insane..

I thought exactly the same thing,  then post trying it, I was basically an addict

[yossie]

3 minutes ago, 99call said:

I thought exactly the same thing,  then post trying it, I was basically an addict

Maccha for sweets e.g. with milk was also thought ridiculous, but they're now quite popular . So maybe you're right. 

As to Vegerous, I've been interested in the ones.  I had smoked several before rebranding, but never do the new ones. Thanks for letting me know your impression. I'll probably try once the price gets cheaper.

[TobaccoRoad]

I bought a can of each Tapados (ARS ABR 18) and Mananitas (MTS JAN 20) a while back. I agree the construction was not bad at all, pretty good actually. But the flavors were just not in my wheel house. Just woody and grassy with very little else, maybe my palate isn't fine tuned enough to pick up the subtle flavors. Did not seem to be the type of smoke that would improve with age so I burned through them. My cigar buddies that like to bum CC's liked them well enough so that's where a fair portion went. I bought them both around August of 2020 and I recall the Mananitas being a little better than the Tapados even though (or maybe beause) they were really young. They're still available and relatively affordable. I may take another run at them. Worst case I'll give them to my cigar buddies and preserve the habanos I'd rather smoke. 

Edited July 21, 2022 by TobaccoRoad

[99call]

7 hours ago, TobaccoRoad said:

Did not seem to be the type of smoke that would improve with age so I burned through them

Mine were March 22, and my gut call would be the same to some degree.      I think this blend is the kind of cigar that may shine as a freshie, or with 10 years down, but the intervening time might might not be the best.   Cigars like Des Dieux, Coloniales are similarly like this,  you get a brief window into what they've got/potential, then they close up, only to blossom a decade down the line

[El Presidente]

From this time on......you are officially doing all of my 2424 tasting notes for Vegueros  

[99call]

46 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

From this time on......you are officially doing all of my 2424 tasting notes for Vegueros  

It does always make me laugh when (as a customer) you are full of panic trying to navigate the 2424 like a black run slalom course, aware the finger ninjas are about to pounce, then when I saw what you wrote,  I just thought 'Yes!....touché!' that gets my money.   

I'm enjoying your write up's on Cuaba Traditionales too,  Saying it like it is

 

[PuffDaddie]

Nice review will have to try them.😀