I made a few impulse buys at the Cigar Depot on Dexter Lane last week. I figured every once in a while I should pay retail price for some name brand cigars, just to abreast of what’s out there on the market today. I picked out brands I had heard of on some of the online cigar forums like HerfersParadise.net and ClubStogie.com.



Comacho Havana Churchill
Size: 7 x 48
Price: $4.5

I smoked this cigar on my back porch (a rather cool January evening in Memphis), with a glass of sangiovese (I wish now I had broken out the Glennfiddich, instead), while reading a primer on Calvinist theology (shorter westminster catechism).

Upon lighting the cigar, at first I feared I had made a big mistake. I didn't like the taste at all. The cigar was not strong, but it had a very bitter taste to it. Kind of like my experience with Montecruz cigars a few years ago. It also smoked too much and took a while to really "get going".

I smoked it quickly to get about a quarter inch of ash on the tip, then I sat it down for two minutes to let it cool off. When I picked it back up, there was a noticeable improvement. The bitter taste dissipated into a mellow, maybe even sweetish, flavor and proceeded to burn smoothly and evenly until the end. All in all, not a particularly distinctive cigar.

Not bad, but also not worth the $5 I paid for it -- I don't think I'd put in the same category as a CAO Gold or a Punch Rare Corojo, which are similarly priced.