Lounge Lizards: Cohiba Espléndidos/Veuve Clicquot La Grand Dame 2015/ The best and worst cigars and pairings of the year

[El Presidente]

Great stuff! 

The lizards pair Cohiba Espléndidos with Veuve Clicquot La Grand Dame 2015 & Hine Cigar Reserve XO Cognac. The lizards ring in the New Year with Clicquot and its long history, they review the best and worst cigars and pairings of the year and Gizmo faces another accountability hour with a wild listener gift. PLUS: Cohiba BHK58/BHK59 Rumors and Facts for Habanos Festival XXV, Bam’s Refined Palette, Podcast Origin Stories & Listener Email

 

[LizardGizmo]

We discussed on this episode how challenging Cuban Churchills can be - overfilled, draw issues, burn issues

Question for the FOHers: What percentage of Espléndidos/R&J Churchill/Sir Winstons do you find have construction/draw issues? I'd put mine close to 25%, with the SW being the least troublesome.

[JohnInCleveland]

4 hours ago, LizardGizmo said:

We discussed on this episode how challenging Cuban Churchills can be - overfilled, draw issues, burn issues

Question for the FOHers: What percentage of Espléndidos/R&J Churchill/Sir Winstons do you find have construction/draw issues? I'd put mine close to 25%, with the SW being the least troublesome.

I love Churchills but buy a lot more than I smoke. So hard to find a couple uninterrupted hours outside of vacations. By the time I get around to smoking all mine, I’ll be retired. I think I’ve maybe had 1 bad SW when it comes to construction in my life, and I’ve smoked through multiple boxes of them. I will qualify that by saying most of them are from our hosts and not purely blind buys.  

I haven’t smoked enough Espys or RyJ to comment.  

[MC4]

I mostly smoke RyJ Churchills, and most have been tubos. Never had a draw issue with them.

[El Presidente]

13 hours ago, LizardGizmo said:

We discussed on this episode how challenging Cuban Churchills can be - overfilled, draw issues, burn issues

Question for the FOHers: What percentage of Espléndidos/R&J Churchill/Sir Winstons do you find have construction/draw issues? I'd put mine close to 25%, with the SW being the least troublesome.

No issues on Espys that I smoked in 2024. Winston I had a few that were below par in terms of tight draw. 1 in 8 or thereabouts. R&J much the same as the Winston. 

These were all 23/24 cigars as I smoke them to assess a baseline tasting. 

[BrightonCorgi]

I cannot recall the last Cohiba or any Churchill size cigar that was a dud. Had a share of Sancho Sanchos or As that were plugged.

[KCCubano]

Picked up some Romeo Churchill singles a couple years ago. Not even my perfecdraw could save them. 

[potpest]

Sounds like it could be a storage issue...

[KCCubano]

1 minute ago, potpest said:

Sounds like it could be a storage issue...

Not for me...62/68 in Aristocrat cabinet

[LizardGizmo]

14 hours ago, El Presidente said:

These were all 23/24 cigars as I smoke them to assess a baseline tasting. 

It sounds like it’s time to try newer production of all of them. I have had a range of aged boxes from 02 to 20 and they’re consistently inconsistent in construction - most of the time the problem cigars were overfilled.

[LizardGizmo]

Sounds like it could be a storage issue...

My Cubans are stored at 61rh/70°F. Everything draws, burns and tastes excellent. I recently pulled from a 2020 box of Espléndidos for this episode and several cigars in the box were noticeably heavier in the hand, significantly heavier on the scale and after cutting provided absolutely zero draw. I then looked at my 2014 box and 4-5 were similarly constructed. RyJ Churchills from ‘20 was one of the worst boxes I’ve ever had - nearly all were impossible to smoke.


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[potpest]

 

3 hours ago, LizardGizmo said:

My Cubans are stored at 61rh/70°F. Everything draws, burns and tastes excellent. I recently pulled from a 2020 box of Espléndidos for this episode and several cigars in the box were noticeably heavier in the hand, significantly heavier on the scale and after cutting provided absolutely zero draw. I then looked at my 2014 box and 4-5 were similarly constructed. RyJ Churchills from ‘20 was one of the worst boxes I’ve ever had - nearly all were impossible to smoke.

Sorry Gizmo, I was just busting your balls on this, thought it could be down to the kitty litter. Big fan of the show, you guys kept me entertained and sane while I've been decorating/renovating my house for the last 3 months. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to the latest episodes and working my way through the back catalogue. That's some bad luck, especially with such an expensive box. I don't think I've ever had a draw issue with a Churchill except for a lone Hoyo Escogidos, DC's have always performed well for me as well.

 

[LizardGizmo]

2 hours ago, potpest said:

Sorry Gizmo, I was just busting your balls on this, thought it could be down to the kitty litter. Big fan of the show, you guys kept me entertained and sane while I've been decorating/renovating my house for the last 3 months. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to the latest episodes and working my way through the back catalogue. That's some bad luck, especially with such an expensive box. I don't think I've ever had a draw issue with a Churchill except for a lone Hoyo Escogidos, DC's have always performed well for me as well.

Haha!! I’ll never escape the damn kitty litter

Thanks for the kind words and for listening. Hope the home reno is going as well as home reno can go!!

Agree on DCs - not many issues there.

 

[Chibearsv]

3 hours ago, KCCubano said:

Picked up some Romeo Churchill singles a couple years ago. Not even my  perfecdraw could save them. 

I had this same experience with RyJ Churchill 2017 and 2018s - at least 25% unsmokeable. I'm currently smoking through a box of 2020 that are flawless though. Esplendidos and SW, never had a draw issue clunker. I've had some unravel or burst though. All that said, a Churchill is my favorite sized cigar. When they are right, they are my perfection.

[Fugu]

Certainly not just a storage issue @LizardGizmo. I recall a period, when there were some pretty pronounced overfill-issues with the Winnies (around '15/'16 I think it was, perhaps even a bit later) and I did abstain from full box purchases then, after checking various boxes and trying different singles (a shame since that tobacco was always fine). Even taking into account that young SW usually tend to have a pretty snug draw. Also the odd dud occurring in the RyJ Churchills. Never have I had issues with the Boli, LGC, QdO and SLR Julieta2. Can't recall issues with a 'Spléndido either, but smoke them too sparingly to come up with a decent quota statement... And as for current production ('23/'24) of the three remaining Churchills - no idea.

[SMELTZ]

Most of my Espys, R&Js and Winstons are from 2020, 2021 and 2022 with the only issue being two R&J from a 2020 box.  

[JohnInCleveland]

On 1/4/2025 at 2:19 AM, LizardGizmo said:

Haha!! I’ll never escape the damn kitty litter

Thanks for the kind words and for listening. Hope the home reno is going as well as home reno can go!!

Agree on DCs - not many issues there.

Finally finished the holiday episode and the Hello Kitty backpack thing had me laughing my ass off. Listening to your reviews made me want to rob a bank so I could afford Veuve Cliquot Grand Dame.

Thanks for all that you do, as a guy who drives 50,000 miles a year you guys provide endless entertainment. I’ll send an email sometime if I ever think of something interesting to say.  

Happy New Year to the Lounge Lizards.