With all this fuss over the 25 best cigars, what is the lowest score every given by CA to a premium, long-filled, handmade cigar? I saw a 79 for a Perdomo ESV in a recent issue, and it set me thinking.
Posts: 52 | Location: Blacksburg, VA | Registered: January 14, 2008
I like the Perdormo esv, the worst cigar I have ever had was a gran habano. which is ranked higher. It all depends on the individual and I try not to get serious about the ratings
"I do not need ceromonies, because life is phony, inspite of it."
Originally posted by ElCastigador: With all this fuss over the 25 best cigars, what is the lowest score every given by CA to a premium, long-filled, handmade cigar?
Lowest score I remember was 69. Penamil -- a long defunct Canary Islands brand. Issue #2.
Trouble is, I don't think most people are objective about cigars. They just go off half-cocked and say a certain cigar "sucks" because it's not to their taste. Let's face it, say what you will about one cigar or another, but most cigarmakers are earnest and I'd hate to have a thread where people randomly bash cigars. I don't like Puros Indios or Macanudo but they are quality products.
I think we would need to have people state objective reasons why the cigar was bad -- unbalanced or objectionable flavors, poor construction, poor burn, etc.
You already know one of my nominees -- the dreaded CAO Vision. One of my friends bought one to prove me wrong and posted to the thread I'm no longer allowed to. I think he described it as "funky" and "mediocre." Not attributes I expect from any cigar let alonea $16 one.
After that, it's tough. My local B&M got some samples from Cuban Crafters awhile back and I have to say, the Don Kiki brand was one nasty smoke, though I don't remember what it tasted or smelled like.
Truth be told, I think the quality of premium, hand-rolled cigars right at this moment is the best it's ever been in my lifetime.
The other problem is that folks don't go out of their way to smoke bad cigars, nor do they keep smoking one that really is bad-- they pitch it.
It would still be interesting, though, to see what patterns develop in a poll asking about disappointing cigars... not quite a "worst" poll, but one that might inform regarding the hype/price/quality relationship for some brands. (Gurkha springs to mind as well as the aforementioned CAOs).
Maybe we should call it "Most Disappointing Cigar Experience"?
Any responders need to play by the rules, which could be something like:
1. Specify which cigar it was
2. What were you expecting and why did you form those expectations? (High rating in CA? High pricetag? Prestigous brand?)
3. How exactly did the cigar fall short -- and "it sucked" is not an acceptable answer. You must specify flavor, burn/draw, apperance or other criteria and elaborate on specifics. For example, "it just didn't taste as good as I thought it would" is not acceptable but "I was expecting a full-bodied smoke along the lines of Opus X but instead I got a mild, wheaty, grassy kind of flavor" would be good.
4. Did you ever give the cigar a second chance. If so, was your second experience better, worse or the same?
Penamil was a very low score: 69 points from the December 1992 issue. That was before my time, so thankfully I didn't have to smoke it.
My personal worst was a cigar I smoked blind for the CA panel back in 1999. Turns out it was an Ornelas No. 2, aka the Ornelas Vanilla. And I believe that was the last flavored cigar we ever rated. This was terrible. I think my personal rating was 66 or 67 points, and it averaged out to a 72 rating. I remember it tasted like burning perfume.
You can find some of these "gems" in our ratings database.
Posts: 2199 | Location: New York, NY | Registered: April 23, 2002
Couldn't agree more. The worst of the worst is certainly Don Kiki. Too harsh, very heavy on the palate, kicks you in the ass from the first few puffs with zero complexity and zero consistency.
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Posts: 1844 | Location: Egypt | Registered: June 14, 2007
The worst cigar I ever smoked was a Rocky Patel R4. I normaly love RP's and was looking foward to these when CI released them. I was a very inexperienced cigar smoker (well, I still am but this is when I was just started) and saw that CI "immediatly bought the entire stock from RP after Rocky gave them one at a dinner". So I ordered a mazo of 25 to split with my manager at the time. The power of advertising....
The cigar itself was very toothy and felt like I was holding sandpaper between my fingers. The first taste was like wet grass with a god-awful smell that I still can't quite describe to this day. The draw was nice though, but a good draw never makes up for bad flavor. Neither seemed to mellow after smoking 1/2 of it. I thought maybe it was a bad one and tried another one a couple of weeks later. Same result. I called the guy I gave them to to ask his opinion of them. Without any prompting from me, he told me that it was prehaps the worst thing in the world ever to be rolled and that he threw his away. Mine eventualy met the same fate.
I was honestly shocked at this since I actualy love Rocky Patel cigars and ALWAYS have some on hand in my humidor.
---------- Back by request:
Mom: "Twenty dollars for a cigar?!?! Why don't you just set fire to a $20 bill?"
Response: "Get a $20 bill to taste like a Davidoff and I'll light my entire paycheck on fire!"
Posts: 1318 | Location: Medford, NY | Registered: July 18, 2007
Wow, that's just the way I describe the Indian Tabac Fire I tried a year or so ago.
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Posts: 2916 | Location: Boston | Registered: April 16, 2005
Everybody knows...Cuban cigars are lousy, and not worthy of the mystique... Stay away from them, everybody. They're DEFINITELY not worth it, and shouldn't even be considered alongside some of the finer examples of cigars from the rest of the world. They're inconsistent, the quality control is non-existent, the farming methods are rudimentary, the rollers have no incentive to care about the end product, most are counterfeit, so why bother?
Right.
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Posts: 9353 | Location: Avenida de las Nalgas, Quericæstan | Registered: May 02, 2002
Originally posted by ryj7x47: Everybody knows...Cuban cigars are lousy, and not worthy of the mystique... Stay away from them, everybody. They're DEFINITELY not worth it, and shouldn't even be considered alongside some of the finer examples of cigars from the rest of the world. They're inconsistent, the quality control is non-existent, the farming methods are rudimentary, the rollers have no incentive to care about the end product, most are counterfeit, so why bother?
Right.
Couldn't have said it better. "Cuban, Shmuban" right? Excuse me gentlemen for I must go smoke my CAO Vision now. Good day.
My personal worst was a cigar I smoked blind for the CA panel back in 1999. Turns out it was an Ornelas No. 2, aka the Ornelas Vanilla. And I believe that was the last flavored cigar we ever rated. This was terrible. I think my personal rating was 66 or 67 points, and it averaged out to a 72 rating. I remember it tasted like burning perfume.
Thanks for replying, Dave. I've never had a flavored cigar, and I'm not planning on it. Just seems like an insult to the art of the blender. I don't want my cigar to smell like my shampoo.
Posts: 52 | Location: Blacksburg, VA | Registered: January 14, 2008
The worst CC is the D** G****** house brand (censored so as not to give away an online source, but those in the know will know who I am referring to). They do sell these, but actually I received two freebies with a box of PSD4s. Smoked about 1/4 of one and concluded in must be cuban tobacco that has been recycled through a dog.
