A while back I acquired a box of three Walt Disney World brevas cigars. I actually wanted the box, so the cigars were a bonus. I had (and still have) no idea how old they are, or how they were stored, but I figured I'd give one a try after a month or so in the coolidor. Yesterday I opened them up to try one. You'll get to walk through the process with me ...
As I said, I don't know how old they are, but take a look at the original price tag still on the outer cellophane wrapper. How long since three cigars cost $1.80 - especially at Disney World?
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j...116_083309.jpg
Here's the rest of the box, wrapping removed:
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P...127_160524.jpg
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I opened the lid for the first time ... would the cigars be OK? Dried-up mummies? Beetle dust?
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-g...127_160602.jpg
And here's my first look!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...127_160618.jpg
Not too bad so far. I took one out for closer inspection ...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...127_160819.jpg
Still looking good! Outside we go to light it up! As you can see, it lit just fine, and started burning very evenly. Lots of thick smoke. The flavor was fairly mild - dry wood on the draw and creamy sweet on the aftertaste.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...127_162119.jpg
In the sunlight I could see an evenly-spread, white, almost a little shiny, dusting. Plume?
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...127_163019.jpg
You can see it here, as well. Still burning evenly, drawing perfectly, and tasting of wood and cream.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x...127_163027.jpg
Pretty durable ash ...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...127_163632.jpg
But not invincible!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...127_164155.jpg
From this point on I had to smoke really carefully to avoid overheating and the attendant "off" flavor. A couple of gentle purges helped, too. With the right care, some nice baking spice and the tiniest bit of pepper added to the creamy aftertaste.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4...127_164224.jpg
And that was the story for the rest of the smoke, taking us here:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...127_172643.jpg
Took just over an hour to smoke, and it was a very enjoyable hour. Not a knock-yer-socks-off cigar, but a nice memory of simpler times. I'm looking forward to burning the other two, but I'll let them sit and chat with some of my other cigars for a while first. They probably have a lot of catching-up to do ...
