Burned, melted rubber deliciousness?

Blackguard

So I caved in and bought one of those trust-us-we-won’t-tell-you-what-you’re-gonna-get-but-you’ll-love-it grab bags from another catalogue. $12 for 13 cigars. Immediate regret, yes yes – two good cigars and a bunch of lousy ones (including a nude house brand – I have no idea what I’m smoking!). I grabbed one I’d never had and went for my nightly walk. The first third wasn’t bad, and was what I like in a Dominican cigar – toasty, buttery, creamy, nutty, but a little too mild, even for a Dominican. But very suddenly, about 15 minutes into it, it started tasting like a tire fire. You know that jackass neighbor who peels out at 5:30 in the morning, or that skinny guy who does doughnuts in the Jack in the Box parking lot*? That thick, grey smoke that lingers and gets up your nose? It was like that. It didn’t get any better in the second half. It was the first cigar I couldn’t finish. I stammered home and looked up what I just smoked, expecting the typical defensive posturing cigar catalogues take when selling cheap cigars (“why pay for fancy packaging? This stuff is as good as the expensive stuff, trust us!” etc.) – but it wasn’t! It actually got a 92 in CA and isn’t exactly cheap. My question to you guys – is this a common ailment indicative of a particular flaw in a cigar? Or are my rookie cigar tastes just not refined enough to appreciate “gusto del caucho?” I did a search for “rubber” on these boards and found one entry that sounded like my problem, and a lot of entertaining conversations about something completely different. *If you are that guy, I’m sorry about your penis.

j0z3r

stephen_hannibal

I'm interested to know what Cigar you're talking about. (I've had some nasties namely the CAO Gold Maudro... tasted like shite!)

clearlysuspect

Yep. Sometimes you just get a bad stick. First post I ever made on these forums was about how badly I hated the Padilla Series '68. It was horrible! I wanted to gag, it tasted horrible, I damn near threw up. Turns out, I like these cigars. I just got a bad stick.

stephen_hannibal

Blackguard

For the record, it was a Bauza. I didn't mention the brand because I'm convinced it's not the cigar's fault - Bauzas get good reviews, plus it's described as "medium to full" but the one I smoked was very, very mild. I'm chalking it up to a bad batch. I'm just glad I didn't get responses like "burned rubber can only mean one thing - you smoked beetle poop."

clearlysuspect

kaspera79

Blackguard:

For the record, it was a Bauza. I didn't mention the brand because I'm convinced it's not the cigar's fault - Bauzas get good reviews, plus it's described as "medium to full" but the one I smoked was very, very mild. I'm chalking it up to a bad batch. I'm just glad I didn't get responses like "burned rubber can only mean one thing - you smoked beetle poop."

...Hold on there, I have personally smoked over 300 Bauzas, mostly Robustos. And loved every one of them. Been smoking for over sixteen years and would never turn one down. Something bad happened to that stick because Fuentes, who makes that stick does not put out a bad cigar ever. I have tried nearly every cigar and Bauza is one of my favorites. Not that I am the measuring stick of great cigars, but I feel the one you smoked is not a fair representation of Fuentes or Bauza. Try them again sometime, ( I'm glad you didn't say Nording).

alienmisprint

stephen_hannibal