I find the tobacco content to be a little stiffer than you noted. I do find the flavor to be more pronounced than you do - I rarely find these boring personally. As always, there can be a dud or two in any cigar batch. Part of my enjoyment of these is due to their long size I normally save them until I'm with friends - I rarely smoke them alone. Company factors so much into cigar enjoyment. Def. not a $21 cigar (but very few ever reach that category for me anyway) but under $7-8 and for sure under $5 I grab these babies.