Got another review here today. This is a traded stick from a great BOTL, and a fellow CF member to boot.
He and I have done a number of trades now, and these were included a couple times before. These Partagas Piramides were the first of H S.A.’s Edicion Limitada program, and as was the standard at the time, were cigars that were not in the normal portfolio of the brands chosen (the top 5 Habanos brands), and were made using wrapper leaves aged at least 2 years (which is longer than normal, and in later years of the program, this changed to being all leaves being used aged to this minimum).
Past their prime though? Let’s see…
Reviewed Cigar: Partagas Piramides LE 2000
Box Date: Nov 2000
Factory / Manufacture Code: RAR
Packaging: 25-box, standard dress box
Price per cigar: N/A (trade; from Bahrain Ritz-Carlton)
Length: 6 1/8″, or 156 mm
Ring Gauge: 52
Format: Piramides
Weight: 14 grams / 0.5 oz
Construction/Appearance & Pre-Light: These are a slightly rustic, mangy looking cigar. They have that circa-early-2000’s Partagas wrapper – leathery, wrinkled, bark-like in appearance, but with a lovely toasted tobacco aroma. These early EL’s don’t seem to have quite the level of wrapper that’s been used in more recent years. That said, the wrapper on this one wasn’t too bad – it was slightly dull and matte-looking, but this piramide was nicely symetrical and had some beautiful bunching to it. There were some slighly veiny spots, but no soft or hard spots – the weight and construction of it felt quite nice.
After clipping the head, the draw on this was slightly more resistive than I wished for. At cold, there were hints of old wood, all-spice, and a tinge of anise root / black licorice. Hmmmm – interesting…
Opening Impressions: After a lighting up and initial draws, the draw was actually quite nice when lit. There wasn’t a ton of smoke with this, and it wasn’t overly viscous on the palate. Slightly citric-acidity there on the taste profile. Smell of fine and overly-dried herbs burning.
First Third: Into the first third, this showed some hints of pepper on the couple of retrohales I gave this cigar, but it was extremely finite. This cigar was very minimal on the powerhouse presence of pepper that my last one of these had (to the best of my recollection – my Cigar Dossier is packed up somewhere).
Frankly, I was already a bit disappointed with this cigar at this point. I was hoping for a bit more. It seemed to be looking at me, longing to be smoked, leaving me eagerly anticipating that which would come to pass. But…meh. There was a dark, old wood tone in there – almost like an old chunk of walnut wood was slowly being burned. A fragrant-ness that was there, but not of the blowing-your-socks-off-kind. And, since that wasn’t there, that aged refinement that some cigars get, gloriously aged LGC, QdO, old-school Monte or HdM, this cigar just simply didn’t have that there either. Almost like the seco leaf, which imbibes that in a cigar that’s aged for a decade or longer, almost like it was forgot to be put in this cigar. There was none of that perfumey, tea-like, aromatic class to this cigar. And, being a Partagas, I was really hoping for one or the other.
Second Third: Into the second third, things somewhat continued. I began to notice that the burn was not impeccable. I had to do a number of relights, and if I left the cigar alone for more than a minute, it easy petered out. Got me thinking it was kinda like a hot date gone wrong – and if I left her alone for more than a moment, she’d wither away and die on me. Got to be that feeling that it was almost a chore to keep her entertained. Gawd, I hate that!
But then…
Some improvement!
About mid-way through the cigar, started to get a tinge of candied orange peel. That citrus, sour, orange rind tone, being smacked back and forth on my palate by some wet, aged, old leather. The smoke’s lack of viscousness continued. Beautiful, rich, white ash. Minimal smoke between puffs, but a decent amount with each pull.
And suddenly…
White pepper. Ahhhhhh! Just a few hints of it, fading in and out, but it was there. Not the dense pepper that I was hoping to get, but it was showing up for the event finally.
Final Third: Into the final third, it just kept growing and carrying on from the middle of the cigar. White pepper, sour preserved orange rind, dark walnut wood smoldering in the fireplace, some wet leather drying over the hearth.
Damn, this was starting to get better and better. Then…it was done.
Finishing Comments / Overall Impression: I wish the whole cigar was like the 2nd half. This was almost a night and day cigar; like two cigars wrapped in the same wrapper. I was thinking in the first half about how 14 years might have been too much for this blend, how it’s Partagas essence might be all but evaporated into the hands of time. But then, the 2nd half of the cigar made me a believer again. If it was all like that, man, with the aged refinement hopefully coming into play more, it could have been wonderful.
Alas, it was just what it was.
Final Score: 88
Total Smoking Time: 1 hr and 35 minutes
Date & Time Smoked: November 9th, 2014; lit up at 3:50 pm, done at 5:25 pm
Paired Beverage: Havana Club Anejo 7 Anos and Coke
Last Meal: Meat & cheese cracker plate lunch, w/ elk meat summer sausage, 12:20 pm
Smoking Conditions: Climate-controlled garage, 21 degrees Celsius, 72% RH
Thanks for reading my review. Hope you enjoyed it.
Cheers all.
Lights, Sirens and Cigars 