Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo
Binder: Dominican Habano 2000
Filler: Dominican Habano 2000, Piloto Cubano, Habano 92, Dominican Broadleaf
Strength: Medium
Size: 5.75 x 54 Toro
Price: $16.50
My cigars received 4 months of naked humidor time.
BACKGROUND:
From Cigar Aficionado:
“Tobacco veteran Eladio Diaz is releasing his first regular-production cigar brand and it’s being distributed by Arango Cigar Co. Called Before & After, the cigar is made in the Dominican Republic at Diaz’s factory.
“A Davidoff of Geneva alum, Diaz left the Swiss company in 2021 and went off on his own to start his factory, Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera. Diaz gained some attention when he produced cigars under contract for Freud Cigar Co. Last year, he released a limited-edition anniversary smoke with his name on it, and now Before & After is a full-fledged brand in normal production.”
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
PerfecDraw. Without one, you are alone in the rain. Asleep at the wheel. An unfortunate son. A welfare wife. An unrighteous brother. A single Ronette. A cheeseburger looking for paradise. Bulgur wheat on a bun.
Heavy stick. And one that tugs tight at that Ecuadorian wrapper smell of exotics.
Unusual start for a tube with these leaf stats. Dry shower of phantom Nicaraguan nibbles: tart lemon, root beer and malt, buttery whole wheat toast, wet grass, and brown paper bag. Odd.
The tartness is off-putting.
How often have we been hornswoggled by Davidoff. Yeah, I know. And this guy was a part of it. The intense overpricing. The illumination that this is the only cool non-Cuban cigar that guys with dough smoke. Davidoff has never been a consistent blender of magical tobacco torches. And the consumer gets to pay exorbitant fees to find out which blends work, and which don’t. Granted, in this glorious time of mass price gouging, a $16 stick is no longer outrageous. Still…
I don’t feel the love. After more than half a century smoking cigars, one does accrue the talent for recognizing the blender’s intent very early in the voyage. It’s not magic, it is repetition.
And it ain’t getting better. A month ago, I smoked one and felt it would do well. I might be wrong.
An inch in and it is a liquor store cigar.
I just put on Paul Simon Live in Hyde Park. 2017. He was 76 at the time. His voice is completely shot. The arrogance of super achievers. You gotta know when to take a bow and say goodbye. I hear ya, I hear ya…
Waiting. Of course, the cigar is built like a tank and burns like the Maccabees’ oil lamp.
I taste the lightness of the Dominican. But the punch of the Corojo seems to have been destroyed in this house fire. The Habano should be weighing in…it is not.
This feels like a giant mistake. After an April release, reviewers would normally have jumped all over this cigar. Only a solitary review by HW. It was swaddled in love. I must disagree.
If by the halfway point this cigar has not kicked into gear, I’m outta here.
Star Wars is being re-released in Ojibwe. The language of the Anishinaabe people that are located through most of Canada.
This cigar is a nothing burger. Not a hint of being a premium blend. It revels in the neighborhood of a $3 shadow blend by Patel or Gurkha or Booth. Pirates all.
I’ve wasted my time and yours.
Mic drop.
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“Nobody does it better it, makes me feel bad for the rest“. Yeah, it’s James Bond but it applies to you, Phil. Keeper of the flame Grand Poobah of the brothers and sisters of the leaf.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your reviews and I’m going to put on my Dad hat here and encourage other lovers of your prose to pony up some bucks to keep this site, and you, of course, alive. I can say this because I sent you 100 bucks last month and I’m sure there are others who are generous and put their money where their mouth is. You know the ones that actually send money to the NPR station or the PBS station but they listen to and watch Applies to you great and if you’re not a miser and you’re a contributor, then fuhgidaboutit! 😝
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Thank you, Kevin.
It’s true. The great majority of smokers are taking this service for granted.
I get it. We are getting tapped, without remorse, by price gouging ass wipes.
It is nuts trying to keep up with cigar prices.
I’m just fine going away. I can pack up my tent and smokers can count on the industry sites to inform you.
Will the cigar industry bloggers be brutally honest? Of course not. They have relationships. That familiarity cannot be jeopardized.
So, please DONATE HERE.
It’s either that or in 2025, I go FEE BASED SUBSCRIBE ONLY…or I shut ‘er down for good.
Thanks for your friendship, Kevin.
Phil
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Phil,
You have one of the few websites (not just cigar related) that I would happily subscribe to.
Other than annoying clickbait links, subscriptions seem to be the only way writers can be compensated for their efforts.
Please keep up the excellent work. I would be very sad if you decide to shut it down.
Jeff Byrnes
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Hi Jeff,
Thank you. I’ve been batting around somewhere between $1.95-$495.00 per review if I go subscription. I could finally make up for all the dough I lost doing this fakakta thing of ours. I’d go off into the sunset waving a gay pride flag and saving up for my transition to Monopole Κουνάβι.
I was born 500 years too soon.
Thanks again, Jeff…
Phil
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Hi Phil,
You’re doing a great thing, reviewing all the cigars you and pointing us towards the best! Virtually all of my favorite Blends are due to your recommendations, and I’ve become quite a cigar snob due to you. . . . I really can’t thank you enough!
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Thank you, sir…
Phil
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