Expert: James Yee - 5/19/2007

Question
Hi James, I was on the island last week. I tasted a Robaina Famosos. A quite good cigar to my taste. Since I'm no expert, I'd like to have your appreciation between the Robaina Famosos and the Monte Cristo #4, I'm a bit tired of that one...

Also, I brought back 4 boxes of "Cohiba Robustos Seleccion" for a friend. I got these at the tienda of the hotel. There were no such boxes at the airport free duty shop. One of the cigars (the Cohiba) had been tampered with and the wrapper is cracked. Do you think that cigar is smokable?

The boxes had "POS" printed on, what is that factory?

Thanks!

Answer
Hi JF, long time no write.  ;)

I'm happy to hear that you visited Cuba last week.  As for Vegas Robaina... it's one of my favourite brands!  I'm quite fond of the Unicos and Clasico sizes but the Famosos is also a great little cigar.  Compared to Montecristo, Robaina cigars are typically softer in strength and much smoother in flavour.  It's considered to be a mild-to-medium bodied brand and can be comparable to certain Romeo y Julieta cigars such as the Prince of Wales, Cazadores and famous Churchill.  Robaina cigars age very well but the wrappers on aged batches will usually produce a soft velvet-like sheen rather than an oily, glistening wrapper such as Montecristo (this is more common and visible on darker batches of Montecristo).  Regardless, they still age incredibly well and the velvety sheen is a positive for the brand.

A cracked wrapper can easily be repaired and the cigar can definitely be saved.  What you need to do is purchase some "Cigar Dr.", pectin or vegetable glue.  Cigar Dr. can be found at any reputable cigar store/tobacconist while pectin can be found in your local supermarket.  Simply apply a bit of the Cigar Doctor (or pectin) under the cracked wrapper and gently press the wrapper leaf against the cigar.  This will seal the cracked wrapper seam and the Cigar Dr. will act like a glue and hold the cracked wrapper together.  The cigar can be smoked immediately but if you've applied too much Cigar Dr., try to wipe up as much of the excess as possible and let the cigar sit in your humidor until the residual liquid dries.

The "POS" code is the new factory code for the Partagas Factory.

Hopes this answers your questions.  As always, if you have any more questions, feel free to just ask.

Regards,
James