These are good cigars...good, but not yet great. I prefer the French release-these are a little mild for me.
Karl
Yes, they look exactly like those other big fat regional release Bolivars that came out last year. Boy, are looks ever deceiving! These, like many Bolivars of late, have this light brownish almost golden type wrapper and they are very mild and for NOW, boring and not very promising. And they do not taste like a Bolivar, in other words, they do not have the typical Bolivar flavor profile of old. This is a marca in decline; only the recent Corona Extras and the outstanding 2006 Royal Coronas have been any good. The vaunted and much beloved BBF has hit the skids of late (bland and papery, mild) and the PCs are mere shells of what they were, and these "special release" smokes are nothing to write home to Mom about. It's sad, actually.
Do RE's generally smoke milder than regular production counterparts?
No, not neccessarily, although it might appear that way. Look, it's not that easy to come up with a brand new cigar. Blending is an art, and the old tried and true marcas and vitolas were made of classic blends that for the most part stood the test of time. Sure, they tweak the blends at times and sometimes out and out change them, for various reasons, such as lack of certain types of leaf. Like when the old corojo leaf was replaced, for example. Anyway, you don't just slap together a leaf of this or two leaves of that and bingo, you have a new blend. On the other hand, maybe that is exactly what is happening, which might explain why many of these "special release" cigars are not that special at all.
Some RE's are pretty strong- PL Robustos & Bolivar Simones have nice full bodied flavor. As for BBFs, the Jube 07 box I have is full bodied & earthy- a far cry from the bland 03 & 04 versions.
There are cigars (blends) that actually seem to increase in fullness of flavor (strength) with age. Choix Supremes are one example that comes to my mind.
I hope that these are another example. I love full flavored cigars.
But the funny thing is, on my palate, certain reputedly "mild" cigars are simply not so. The Quai D'Orsay line comes to mind, along with Fonseca No. 1.
Taste is truly an individual thing.
Posts: 4229 | Location: Virginia Beach, VA | Registered: July 18, 2002
This is a marca in decline; only the recent Corona Extras and the outstanding 2006 Royal Coronas have been any good.
I was actually writing home to mom about this...
The Boli line changed completely in the late-90's. Used to be bold, full bodied, spicy, peppery...someone quite accurately described it as a sort of SZECHWAN flavor...! All of a sudden, it was nothing...almost as if they were sabotaging the line (I've NEVER been a fan of the Royal Corona...always had great expectations but it has never blown any wind up my skirt...but even the Coronas Gigante and Coronas Extra went south).
I had a sort of ridiculous theory: Simon Bolivar was a thorn in the side of the Spanish...and from what I hear they don't (or didn't) even sell the Bolivar line in Spain because the name is so hated. Perhaps when Altadis took control (a Spanish concern?), they changed things so as to manipulate the market by changing the recipe. Sounds far-fetched, but it's possible!! Especially after a few snifters of some good port.
The Bolivar line DID come back strong, however, in about 2003. But as good as the line has become, it's still nothing like it was pre-1998. I have some BBF from 2003 that are outstanding (again, albeit nothing like the ones from the past), and they've been described to me as being nothing more than a chopped-down Monte 2. And if you taste them side by side from comparable box dates, the resemblence is uncanny...so there may be something to that.
For whatever all that is worth, anyway...
Also, like with the EL's, where you really cannot equate or evaluate the cigar alongside other counterparts in the same line, but instead, alongside OTHER EL's, I think that the same is true for the RE's...they are not really anything like their purported brands, and must be considered, instead, alongside other RE's.
___________________ Santa Cabilla...patron saint of Quericæstan. VIVE COULTER (not Ann)! VIVE CPD! Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go...(Oscar Wilde)
Posts: 10308 | Location: Avenida de las Nalgas, Quericæstan | Registered: May 02, 2002
PS: The wrappers on the cigars in the photos are gorgeous!! Silky smooth...the way the Montecristos of old used to be...
___________________ Santa Cabilla...patron saint of Quericæstan. VIVE COULTER (not Ann)! VIVE CPD! Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go...(Oscar Wilde)
Posts: 10308 | Location: Avenida de las Nalgas, Quericæstan | Registered: May 02, 2002
At least you recognize that it was a ridiculous theory. But in most part I agree with you 100% The old Bolivars from the late 90s that had the corojo wrapper were indeed known for their spicy taste, and Sczechuan is a good description of it. But the blend change you speak of occured for more than one reason. First the ligero shortage occured, then they stopped using corojo wrapper. So of course the cigars were going to be different, even after the ligero shortage was over. Bolivars came back in 2001, this is true, but they were already different, and the principle cigars in this comeback were the Pcs and BBFs. the Corona Gigantes never did come back to their pre ligero shortage form, and true, the Royal Coronas were still like the fourth or fifth best robustos. Then after 2003 the marca began to seriously decline, and with the exception of the afore mentioned 2006 BCEs and BRCs, the decline has continued. But I'm sure you know all this, 7x47. As for REs not having anything in common with other cigars in that marca, I must respectfully disagree, at least in terms of one of the REs. The Ramon Allones Belicoso were very much Ramon Allones cigars. But perhaps this is the exception that proves your rule, eh?
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