Cigar Weekly

Zippy The Pinhead · 01-20-2007, 04:01 PM

A few days ago I received the January 2007 installment of the CI cigars-of-the-month sampler.

Last month, they put in a CAO Brazilia "Gol" robusto, the Fonseca Habana Seleccion robusto, the Gispert Churchill, and the Oliveros XL Double Corojo. This month (January 2007), it was the above-mentioned Graycliff, the Carlos Torano Virtuoso, the orange (Rocky Patel) CI Legends series, and the Cubita Dark Natural Churchill.

So far, the three I've tried have been pretty forgettable cigars: the Fonseca, the CAO Brazilia, and now the Graycliff.

CI's flyer that accompanies these cigars states that the Graycliff robustos sell for $150/20, or $7.50 per cigar. Say what you will about certain other high-dollar cigars, but in my view, I think it is not unreasonable to expect something good from a $7.50 cigar. That is an expensive cigar to 99% of we cigar smokers.

The appearance of the Graycliff was nothing special. The bands had been glued on with an abundance of adhesive, which was also visible on the wrapper around the bands. It turned out that the amateurish application of the band was just a sign of things to come, as this cigar was quite underfilled. When I gripped it to remove the bands, I found it felt spongy. I didn't squeeze very hard, but the sides of this cigar could be easily compressed by 1/8" or 3/16" with minimal pressure.

Flavor-wise, the cigar tasted like a mild-to-medium Dominican.

Call me a philistine, but I was totally underwhelmed. I admit that I had a spicy lunch again, washed down with a couple beers, and maybe that dulled my already-dull palate, but I've enjoyed other cigars after similar fare, so it's probably wrong to blame the food.

I suppose there could be a psychosomatic element at work here: so far all the CI sampler cigars I've tried have been crappy, so maybe now I expect them to be crappy even before I smoke them, thus making it difficult to like/enjoy them. Yes, I'm paranoid, but is it unreasonable to wonder if a cigar seller might use a "cigars-of-the-month" club as a marketing tool to move cigars that are otherwise not selling well? Cigars that are not moving well because they, well... suck?

Anyway, hope springs eternal. I have yet to try the orange band legends or the Torano, so maybe I can find a silver lining.

View Poll Results: How would you rate the Graycliff Vintage 1999 robusto overall on a scale of 1-10?
1 Awful	1	5.56%
2 A little better than awful	0	0%
3 Below average	2	11.11%
4 A little below average	4	22.22%
5 Average	4	22.22%
6 A little above average	2	11.11%
7 Above average	1	5.56%
8 Good	3	16.67%
9 Very good	0	0%
10 Excellent	1	5.56%
Voters: 18. You may not vote on this poll

01-20-2007, 04:01 PM	#1
Zippy The Pinhead Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Out to lunch Posts: 266	Graycliff Vintage 1999 Robusto from 1/2007 CI Sampler A few days ago I received the January 2007 installment of the CI cigars-of-the-month sampler. Last month, they put in a CAO Brazilia "Gol" robusto, the Fonseca Habana Seleccion robusto, the Gispert Churchill, and the Oliveros XL Double Corojo. This month (January 2007), it was the above-mentioned Graycliff, the Carlos Torano Virtuoso, the orange (Rocky Patel) CI Legends series, and the Cubita Dark Natural Churchill. So far, the three I've tried have been pretty forgettable cigars: the Fonseca, the CAO Brazilia, and now the Graycliff. CI's flyer that accompanies these cigars states that the Graycliff robustos sell for $150/20, or $7.50 per cigar. Say what you will about certain other high-dollar cigars, but in my view, I think it is not unreasonable to expect something good from a $7.50 cigar. That is an expensive cigar to 99% of we cigar smokers. The appearance of the Graycliff was nothing special. The bands had been glued on with an abundance of adhesive, which was also visible on the wrapper around the bands. It turned out that the amateurish application of the band was just a sign of things to come, as this cigar was quite underfilled. When I gripped it to remove the bands, I found it felt spongy. I didn't squeeze very hard, but the sides of this cigar could be easily compressed by 1/8" or 3/16" with minimal pressure. Flavor-wise, the cigar tasted like a mild-to-medium Dominican. Call me a philistine, but I was totally underwhelmed. I admit that I had a spicy lunch again, washed down with a couple beers, and maybe that dulled my already-dull palate, but I've enjoyed other cigars after similar fare, so it's probably wrong to blame the food. I suppose there could be a psychosomatic element at work here: so far all the CI sampler cigars I've tried have been crappy, so maybe now I expect them to be crappy even before I smoke them, thus making it difficult to like/enjoy them. Yes, I'm paranoid, but is it unreasonable to wonder if a cigar seller might use a "cigars-of-the-month" club as a marketing tool to move cigars that are otherwise not selling well? Cigars that are not moving well because they, well... suck? Anyway, hope springs eternal. I have yet to try the orange band legends or the Torano, so maybe I can find a silver lining. __________________ Disco oil bussing will create a throbbing naugahide pipeline running straight to the tropics from the rug producing regions and devalue the dollar! http://www.omnicron.com/cgi-bin/yow?