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Cohiba Black

This is an experiment I've wanted to do for a while -- I enjoyed the first Cohiba Black I got as a random choice at a local show.  Bought because of the fancy tube packaging and name recognition, which receives a lot of hate for using the Cuban company name, "not as good" still sounded pretty good so I wanted to try it.

It has a super dark wrapper, one would think a pepper stick - but it was like the Guiness of cigars, deceptively smooth as I recall.

I saw these same cigars on an auction site for like $3.  I have heard rumors that auction sites get seconds or these somehow didn't pass final inspection.  So I bought a few to compare with one in the tube.  Visually they are almost identical with the exception of the non-tubed being a lot more compressed, from the foot it looks like the same amount of tobacco in a smaller ring gauge.  

I used a PerfectDraw on the cheapie to get the draw a little looser.  The flavor seemed to match that which I remembered from the tubed, but all in all it was unexciting - no great tastes but a decent burning aroma.  It also got a little peppery on the back of the tongue, enjoyment lessened as the cigar progressed .. bad sign IMHO I've had plenty of cigars go the opposite direction.

Even though the tastes are similar, the tubed one seems to be a more enjoyable pleasant smoke, even tastier I would say, I wonder why that is...  the tightness of the cigar seemed to be the only difference, but these were from two different places completely.  The tubed could have been aging for who knows how long, and perhaps the looser wrap and tubing caused a better fermentation?   I wonder how these tighter wraps will react over time in that case -- maybe fermentation is slowed in these bulk packages, I wonder if they will loosen up in a normal humidor environment...    

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