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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 May 6, 2007
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: $11.00
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Great flavor and burning cigar.
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Cons:
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Too mellow, almost cannot taste the complexity
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I found the MB3 Churchill a great cigar in every sense. I like the semi-round shape, and the construction was perfect. The wrapper is dark, smooth, oily and perfect. The pre-light aroma was good, plain tobacco, almost "barnyardish". No surprises, but lots of promise. Lots of dense, gray smoke and a gray, salt and pepper ash that hung on until I knocked it off at about two inches. I find the MB3 smoother than the originals and slightly more mellow." The flavors were rich, creamy and varied, with hints of oak, cedar and good solid tobacco. For my budget, these are slightly over-priced, but I'll definitely buy a few to have on hand. I wish it were stronger so you could pinpoint the particular flavors more. I think it is a great morning cigar. Not too strong.
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I LOVE CL!
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bobbyg29
CL's Mad Cigar Scientist
Registered: April 2007
Location: Mesa, AZ
Posts: 1719
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Review Date: Sat July 14, 2007
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Would you recommend this to someone? Yes |
Price you paid? In US$: $10.00
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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Great flavors in first half, flawless construction
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Cons:
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bitterness in second half, price
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Oliva MasterBlends 3
Robusto
5” x 50
$9.50
ATMOSPHERE: Smoked at Cascade B&M in Portland, Oregon paired with a Crater Lake Golden Ale.
PRE-SMOKE:
Scent: Cocoa and rich tobacco aroma from the wrapper, more cocoa and nice earth from the foot.
Appearance: Flawlessly smooth dark chocolate brown wrapper. Perfect! Moderate box press.
Feel: Perfect give to squeeze throughout cigar.
Pre-light draw: Very slight tingle on the tongue after my punch cut. Bitter chocolate and rich earth on the draw.
SMOKE:
Taste & Flavor: This cigar started out with fantastic flavors of rich dark chocolate, a tiny hint of spice, and light wood in the background. At about the 1/3 point I began to pick up a slightly bitter vegetal flavor that reminded me of endive. It was still very pleasant at this point. But slightly after the half way point the bitterness intensified and became unenjoyable. I thought maybe I had just overheated the cigar from smoking too fast but the bitterness remained even after letting it rest for a couple of minutes.
Strength: Medium bodied.
Feeling: Perfect give to chew and box press shape was very comfortable in hand and mouth.
Scent of smoke: Tons of bluish, white smoke with a buttered toast and cocoa aroma.
Heat: A little on the fingers in the second half consistent with the idea that I overheated it.
Draw & Burn: Perfect, deliberate draw. Pretty even burn.
Finish: Long an chewy finish with nice wood (oak) and bread flavors in first half. Became unpleasantly bitter in the second half.
OTHER:
Ash: Slightly flaky white ash.
Duration: Smoked to about final 1” in about 1 hr.
CONCLUSION: I absolutely loved the first half of this cigar and had jotted down a score of 9 on my ICRS sheet but then disaster struck and the flavor turned unpleasantly bitter. Given (i) that I have really liked the MB I and II, (ii) the rave reviews other CL members have given this, and (iii) and the wonderful first half I am going to go with a working hypothesis that I just overheated the cigar and it couldn’t recover. So I am definitely going to pick up another one of these to smoke in a few weeks and make sure I take it slow before making a final judgment and recommendation.
FINAL RATING: 6/10 (for now!)
Cheers!
Rob
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Contributing Author and Resident "Cigar Science Guy", Team Stogie Fresh
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