I tried one of these for the first time a few nights ago.. the box had been sitting in my cabinet for a couple of months now... I decided to pair it with a glass of Old Pultney 17 ..... turned out to be an excellent choice..

The cigar's wrapper was like nothing I have ever seen before... it looked like a marble cake.. with swirls of dark and light spots all over it... it was extremely oily and had quite some veins all over it.. soft to the touch with no hard spots, and some very nice bunching of the filler leafs..

snipped the head with a pair of sciccors and took a pre-light draw... no tingle, loads of caramel and an easy draw... WOW...

the cigar came to life in a matter of seconds... the first phase was quite woody with lots of burned oak and a medium finish.. although the cigar burned and pulled flawlessly, it wasn't delivering the thick smoke I was expecting...

as the cigar neared the 2nd phase, there was a substantial increase in flavour.. the finish was getting longer, and quite tastier.. much more oak in the back of my mouth.. also, the ash was so strong, that even at 2", it wouldn't break off easily..

the 3rd phase, was a bigger kick than the 2nd.. the finish had become so long.. the flavour so intense and the smoke so thick.. yet the cigar stayed cool and smooth.. never becoming bitter in any way... towards the end, the caramel I had experienced in the pre-draw was back... too bad I was at the nub already....

I enjoyed this cigar very much... non-blind score of 90...

if only it didn't take a good 2 to 3" to start producing a good amount of smoke, this would have been a 93 or even a 94.. I will revisit them by the end of the year..

Thanks for the review. This is what I will be ordering when you get your referral stash ;]

oh..... I see.... and they are going for a good price... did you order them or not yet ??

quote:

Originally posted by salibas007:
oh..... I see.... and they are going for a good price... did you order them or not yet ??

Not yet. Was waiting for your reply to my last email about your name or email address.

Good review sal, thanks...I have a 10 pack sitting and I'm waiting as long as I can to light one up. The tingle you refer to in the pre-light draw...is that generally an indication of strength of the cigar? or the flavor profile to come?

Yes Sam great review indeed glad you enjoyed the cigar.
Glad you stopped in to share it.

NICE REVIEW!!!! I WILL HAVE TO TRY ONE!!!!

All this yelling is making my throat dry.

quote:

Originally posted by Ozz1113:
Was waiting for your reply to my last email about your name or email address.

hey ozz.. i emailed you back this morning... didn't you get my mail ??

quote:

Originally posted by perfectform:
The tingle you refer to in the pre-light draw...is that generally an indication of strength of the cigar? or the flavor profile to come?

not sure what exactly it indicates .. but I find that a tingle in the pre-light draw usually preludes a cigar exhibiting some levels of spice..

Are you smoking the 05 or 07 version? My 05s were quite tannic the first couple years, but are tasting fine now. Won't touch the 07s for a while.

the 07's..

They're probably just too young. Patience is a virtue.

Great review!

Just bought a box for Switzerland, since I leave them with my in laws in Bern, Im still curious as to why they re released them.

The price was not that bad 270 dlls, will leave them to rest a couple of years.

quote:

Originally posted by ROBERTO'S HABANOS:
Im still curious as to why they re released them.

every country that gets an RE has the option of a 2nd release of the same RE.. usually 1 or 2 years later... it has happened with quite a few RE's.. the one I can think off the top of my head is the edmundo dante

Arrived in Bern Switzerland last night, and just got a look at the RA Eminencias ER that I had ordered. And I am quite disappointed, the wrappers are rough and pale, no oils whatsoever.

I had one last night, even do the box code says DEC 2007, and even do they are young, they are also quite mediocre.

Worst part is that I had asked the Vendor RTC that I was requesting a dark and oily box, that was my preference, and it looks like they sent me all the opposite, unless they all looked like these.

Ive seen Jose Piedra Habanos with better wrappers that these. I had also ordered a 10 pack of SLR DC, same thing had requested dark and oily, and received pale and rough.

What got me even more disappointed is that I still had about 10 RA Eminencias from the first release, and they were quite dark and oily. Nothing like these ones I received. And from the 10 I had, my father in laws smoked 8, and finished up all the Punch ER Robustos as well, even do I asked him not to touch these, I bought him a box of Diplomaticos num 2, but he decided to smoke mine instead.

To make matters worse it has been raining since I got here, and will continue raining until I leave. Bummer.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ROBERTO'S HABANOS,

There you go, the reason why I don't buy into all of the hype of EL's and RE's.
Altadis has got a firm grip on
the cojones of a lot of lot of you who are willing to fork out big bucks on inconsistent, mediocre cigars.
I'm not saying that most of the special production humis are below standard, but how many have the wherewithal to afford those strospheric prices!

that's too bad Robert... I really did enjoy the eminencia... but then again.. from your description of the wrappers.. your cigars have nothing to do with the ones I have..

I'll check and post the box date and factory code tonight.. what was your factory code ??

Very nice!