marc j. schneiderman

Vegas de Santiago is a puro Costa Rican cigar. I reviewed a sampler on
a previous post and now have a couple of boxes/bundles of the Churchill
under my cigar smoking belt.

The construction does vary a bit. Cigars are generally a bit under
filled but not inappropriately. The feel is that of a recently hand
rolled cigar, as opposed to some of the machine bunched mass produced
high end cigars that plague the market now.

The flavors are unique as one would expect from a puro from Costa Rica.
Rich tobacco flavors abound in a medium body smoke. There is some bottle
variation in the strength of the cigar so expect some inconsistency in
strength. There is little build up in flavor during the cigar as
smoked, with flavors consistent throughout the length of the cigar.

The rich flavors do abound. I generally do not prefer a medium or mild
cigar but this cigar has so much flavor that I really enjoy it. A
definite change of pace and a cigar I wholeheartedly recommend.
Certainly bang for the cigar buck as the cigar costs about $1.70/stick.

CigarBaron

mlf

Marc - an excellent review!!

I have had an opinion for some time that limiting the range of tobaccos
available to blend a cigar does not necessarily improve it. The VdS, from
your review, indicates that this may be true. Since they limit their blend
to the tobacco they grow, they have a narrow palette to choose from.


Michael Fermanis fermanis@RICEsprynet.com
New Orleans, Louisiana USA (Remove the RICE to reply)
================================================== ===========

skyhawkxp

Thanks for the review Marc. Always nice to have an inexpensive AND
flavorful cigar in the humidor.
--
SkyhawkXP
Remove SPAM from address to reply

jeremy

That is interesting, as I bought 400 of the robustos for the rodeo last
year and the colour variation was minimal. Also the cigars are quite
tightly rolled, but draw and smoke nearly perfectly without exception. I
gave away 375, mainly to people who are experienced cigar smokers, as it
is part of the way our booth raises money for the Sunshine Kids, ply
them with free food drink and cigars and they will spend a lot of money
at the auctions :-)
The worst comment was that one burned unevenly, and a few of the leather
tongues claimed they could not taste it at first, but changed their
minds about an inch in. A few came back shaking their heads in disbelief
saying, "This is a pretty good cigar"

What I took home was from a bunch of different bundles, as we put the
cigars out in buckets on the tables and bar. There are very few pocket
stuffers, most people just take what they want to smoke right then, or
ask permission to take an extra one. I have yet to find a loose roll and
I cannot tell if two cigars came from different bundles. maybe something
has changed, I sure hope not.

BTW, with a year on them, they are really good.
JJ

marc j. schneiderman

I agree. However some puros, i.e., Cuban cigars, demonstrate a wide
range of flavors within the relatively narrow spectrum of the Cuban
flavor cigar. I believe I might be somewhat off base with the puro
aspect of the Vegas de Santiago. I think they may use other tobaccos in
the filler, making the cigar not a true puro.
CigarBaron

marc j. schneiderman

I just bought another bundle of 50. I'm quite impressed with this
cigar.
CigarBaron

marc j. schneiderman

Sorry if I mislead. There is no color variation in the wrappers, and
all have a nice oil sheen. The variation is in the roll and somewhat in
flavor. This is not necessarily a bad thing. All cigars I've smoked
have had effortless draws. Some were a bit more spongy than others.
Interesting that after I wrote the review, the next two cigars I smoked
today, from the same bundle, had tighter rolls, albeit, still with
superb draws. I again highly recommend this cigar. And, ordered
another bundle of 50 after writing the review. Thanks Jeremy for
recommending this cigar to me.
CigarBaron

jim the newbie©®

Thanks for the review Marc ... but that cigar is a spam cigar and always
will be a spam cigar with a very questionable past.

I do value your opinion and review on it though Marc since I know yours
were purchased by you and were not sold in a mass quantity or given away
for free all with the hopes of rave reviews with the resulting dreams of
enormous sales.

--
Jim the Newbie©®

"Jim the Newbie", and all parts of are protected by copyright and trademark
laws under U.S. and international law.
© 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 All Rights Reserved

miss elaine eos

Agreed -- good smoke, good deal. Thanks for the great re-review.

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miss elaine eos

Interesting business model you have there

Misc "we're gonna be *RICH*!!!"

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