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Author
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ilovecl
Banned
Registered: April 2007
Location: I LOVE CL
Posts: 4332
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Review Date: Sun August 12, 2007
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Great flavor, burn and appearance!!!
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Cons:
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Very powerful!!
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PRE-SMOKE
Scent of wrapper: Very little pepper and spice,
Scent at foot: Some leather, cedar, and a little more pepper.
Wrapper: This stick had a nice triple cap, medium brown smooth, almost perfect wrapper with a few very small visible veins.
Feel: It had a nice firm feel to it and not realy any soft spots, it felt as though it may have a tight draw.
Tongue: The cut was very smooth, there were no stems poking through after the cut. I did get some "tingle" on my lips and tongue.
Flavor on draw: I got some strong spicyness, and some leather along with a very little cedar.
SMOKE
Strength: WOW!!! This thing lets you know it means business right off the bat! I got some powerful spiceness/pepper combined with what I would describe as buttery cocoa!! It is full of all kinds of flavors. The flavors went back and forth a few times. It had a very good blend/combination of flavors bundled all together!! This thing has a very full flavor profile.
Burn/Ash: This stick had an almost perfect burn from start to nub. The ash held for about 1-2 inches and was a light gray with little flake.
Scent of Smoke: The scent was a very smooth light smell. It smelled of pure tobacco.
Heat on fingers/Mouth: I really did not notice any heat issues until I hit the 2 inch mark. I did start to get some heat on my lips at that stage.
Draw: The draw was another great thing about this. I thought it would be tight, but ended up being next to perfect all the way through.
Finish: For a strong flavored, full bodied stick the finish was smooth and short. It did leave some nice spice behind along with a nice toasty tobacco flavor though.
I have to tell you this cigar kicked my butt. I had to go take a 30 minute nap to recover from this. It started to hit me about half way through and kept on coming!! I even had a nice big meal before I went out to smoke this guy. It had some awesome flavor changes and strength changes. I would rate this on the ICRS as a solid 9!!! I would say a 9.25 if it did'nt hurt me!!!
I will definately buy a box of these when they come available. I believe the retail prices are going to be around $8-12 a piece. I believe also Ashton and Pepin have a hand in the making/blending of this killer stick!!!
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I LOVE CL!
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Pablocruze
New Member
Registered: May 2007
Location: Fort Thomas KY
Posts: 4
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Review Date: Tue August 21, 2007
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Great review John! Out of all the cigars that I smoked from the RTDA, this one really stood out. Ashton adding a Pepin Garcia to it's line. How wild is that! The man is everywhere.
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bobbyg29
CL's Mad Cigar Scientist
Registered: April 2007
Location: Mesa, AZ
Posts: 1719
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Review Date: Mon September 3, 2007
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: $8.25
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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flawless construction and burn, aroma
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Cons:
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harshness, "green" flavors
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Ashton San Cristobal Clasico
Robusto
5x50
ATMOSPHERE: Smoked on a late morning on my patio paired with iced tea and Stogie Fresh 5 on my iPod.
PRE-SMOKE:
Scent. I only picked up a very mild earthy/tobacco aroma from the wrapper. The foot was much more potent with a rich chocolately, earthy scent.
Appearance: This cigar had a dark chocolate oily, and slightly veiny wrapper with a flawless triple cap. The band is an elaborate and colorful. The overall presentation and construction of this cigar are fantastic and pretty much what you would expect from a Ashton/Pepin collaboration.
Feel: Slight give when squeezed…perfect.
Pre-light draw: I got an immediate peppery tingle on my tongue after my punch cut. The pre-light draw was peppery and earthy with a hint of chocolate.
SMOKE:
Taste & Flavor: This is where things got disappointing. This cigar started out with a mixture of dark chocolate, coffee and pepper flavors. In the first 1/3 the pepper was overpowering and the cigar was a little harsh. I could not expel the smoke through my nose in the first 1/3 because it was too harsh and uncomfortable. This is very rare for me since I can usually use retronasal olfaction with even with the strongest cigars. After the first 1/3 in calmed down a bit but was still a little rough around the edges. At about the 1/3 the chocolate became very bitter but still enjoyable. At about the ½ point I picked up some nice cedar flavors and in the final 1/3 I detected some roasted nuts. The final 2/3 was definitely better than the first part of the smoke.
Strength: This cigar was definitely both full bodied and full flavored. At about the ½ way point I started to feel it in my stomach.
Feeling: Perfect resistance for chewing and nice chocolate and spice flavors from the wrapper..
Scent of smoke: The cigar had an extremely pungent aroma that I noticed almost as soon as the flame hit the head of the cigar. It produced TONS of creamy white smoke with a sweet, baked bread aroma. It left a very strong aroma on my clothes after I was done.
Heat: None at all.
Draw & Burn: Perfect draw and razor sharp burn.
Finish: The finish with long and peppery with flavors of dark bitter chocolate and an kind of herbal spice.
OTHER:
Ash: The ash was white with black ridges and held very well.
Duration: Smoked to final 1” in about 1 hr 15 min.
CONCLUSION: The San Cristobal has the potential to be an unbelievable cigar with incredibly complex flavors but in my opinion in it not ready for prime time yet. I have heard others use the phrase “it tasted green” when describing a cigar and that is exactly what I felt about the San Cristobal: the flavors, although nice, were a little rough and sharp and did not blend well together. The first 1/3 was quite harsh and I did not like that I couldn’t expel smoke through my nose. I think the flavor profile of this cigar would benefit greatly from more aging to allow the flavors to marry a little more and some of the harshness to dissipate. As to be expected of an Ashton/Pepin product the construction and burn were flawless. I would recommend that everyone give it try now but as it is still a good cigar but I think in 6months to a year it could be out of this world!
FINAL RATING: I would give the first 1/3 a 6 and the final 2/3 an 7.5 so my total score is:
6.8/10
Cheers!
Rob
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Contributing Author and Resident "Cigar Science Guy", Team Stogie Fresh
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havanitascigars
Very Active Member
Registered: April 2007
Location: mission viejo, ca
Posts: 642
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Review Date: Thu December 6, 2007
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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complex flavor
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Cons:
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needs more aging
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I have a similar assessment as the two reviews above. This cigar definately kicked my butt. I smoke strong cigars regularly, but this one gave me a heady buzz. I had to stay seated after smoking it. IMHO the cigar was too young and still had too much ammonia. I am going to pick up a few more, but let them sit for 6 months to a year before smoking them. I think this cigar will be phenomenol with some proper aging.
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"I came here to kick ass and chew bubble gum... and I am all out of bubble gum."
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tmoney
Very Active Member
Registered: March 2008
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 652
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Review Date: Sun March 16, 2008
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Smooth smoke, complex flavors
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Cons:
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None
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I agree that this cigar is very strong. This thing kicked my ass, but it is a great cigar.
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"Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
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