This Diamond Crown maximus 2 I got from a friend who brought it with him from the States, as Diamond Crown isn’t for sale in The Netherlands. The aroma is deep and heavy while the cigar looks good with its oily wrapper. And the band, damn, it can compete with the Opus X band, colorful with loads of details. This may be one of the better looking cigars I’ve ever seen. The predraw is light and releases some sweetness.

The cigar stars off with leather and soon some citrus which progresses to a wood flavor approximately an inch from the top. Halfway I can taste coffee and later on some chocolate.

The smoke is quite thick, the ash white and firm. The draw is fine, and I had no problems with the burn.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes.

Appearance: 9 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 6 / 10
Aroma first part: 9 / 10
Aroma second part: 8 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10

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This cigar is not available on the Dutch market but yesterday my cigar buddy Smokey and me were in Antwerp, Belgium at a nice cigar & liquor shop called Huis Verloo and they sold some Quai D’Orsay cigars.

The aroma is manure, but it is not a heavy smell, just a light aroma. The wrapper is light and pretty with just some light veins. The predraw and draw are a bit hard though.

The first flavor that comes to mind is some nutmeg with a little vanilla. It’s all soft and pleasant even the leather that comes by after a while is not pronounced or heavy. Halfway the cigar it gets creamy, which I like and beyond the creaminess I could taste nuts.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yeah, they are not too expensive and a very good smoke.

Appearance: 7 / 10
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 8 / 10
Aroma second part: 8 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10

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This Navarre is a completely French puro, completely made out of tobacco which was grown in Navarrex, in the southwest of France. They released a petit robusto and a robusto from their crops of 2003 and later, but the 2005 crop was so good that they had enough good wrappers to create a huge double corona and that’s the one I smoked today.

The cigar has a nice sweet aroma, a bit like honey and a nice light and smooth, oily wrapper. The flavors go from sweet to a bit leather, all light but tasteful. The honey, which I could smell, comes back in the flavor. There is not a lot of progress in the cigar, but the flavors that are noticeable are consistent throughout the whole cigar, which is good for a 3 hour smoke. Close to the end though, when the turning point comes in sight there is some citrus noticeable soon followed by some pepper.

I guess that the cigar was a bit to moist, the (pre)draw was a bit difficult, the ash was inconsistent and fell of way to soon (I could not make cone’s bigger then 2 centimeter) and halfway the burn problems started, I had to keep on puffing, the cigar needed too much work to keep lit, I had to light it several times to get the burn going again.

Would I buy this cigar again? No, it is a nice cigar but overpriced.

Appearance: 9 / 10
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10

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It may look like I stopped smoking or stopped updating my blog, but I’m not. I have been slow with updating my blog lately, that is true, but I smoked some nice cigars in the meantime and I posted reviews of most of those cigars on a Dutch internet forum. Unfortunately, the sponsor of that board, Sasja van Horssen, owner of NPU cigarshop and The Longfiller company, used all of his influence to get me banned from that board, because I dared to counter on his insults. Instead of looking for a solution like real adults, Sasja got me banned and all my posts have been deleted, among which all the reviews I wanted to translate and post here. My apologies for not posting them sooner, now they are lost forever.

To all the readers of my blog who also visit and post on sigarenpraat, I would really appreciate it if you would put “FREE DON FERNANDO” in your signature.

EDIT: Sasja van Horssen decided to close the forum. Smokey and I took over sigarenliefhebber (thank you Rene & Levenslust for your cooperation) and we will continue to inform Dutch cigar aficionados with news, tips and reviews.

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As you may have read, last October I got to smoke two El Cobre by Oliva cigars, a torpedo and a robusto. The El Cobre is a very heavy cigar, nicknamed ‘the lobotomizer’ and ‘el muerto fuerte’ and till this month only available at Brian Shapiro’s shop but now Non Plus Ultra in Den Bosch will start selling them too. As the torpedo’s were not available, I ordered a bundle of toro’s. When I got them last Thursday I thought that there was a mix up, as there toro’s look more like coronas to me with the 152mm length and ring 46.



The El Cobre cigars have a very nice appearance, dark wrapper and a sophisticated black and copper band. The wrapper has some nice veins which give it a strong and rough look, the aroma is heavy and full but the cigar does feel a bit hard, rolled to tight and that causes the predraw to be kind of heavy. The cigar was a bit dry though, so hopefully it will improve if I let them rest for a while in my humidor. The predraw gave a black pepper flavor.



The pepper is also clearly there when I light the cigar. It’s like being kicked in the balls, this cigar is heavy, very heavy. There was a piece of paper at the bottom of the bundle warning me, it said “super fuerte” but I thought I was a big boy, until I lit the cigar, damn, what a power. To the palate again, heavy black pepper with leather and after a couple of centimeters a few hints of dark chocolate. The pepper is so strong it completely overpowers the chocolate and all other flavors, if there were any. I do notice that the pepper is not really consistent, with some puffs the pepper is stronger then with the next puff or the puff before, sometimes is heavier and spicier then the other time.



At about ¾ of the cigar I start to feel light headed, like I drank too much wine in a short period of time. This cigar is beating me, it’s too strong for me. I felt like Michael Spinks in a fight with Mike Tyson (Spinks was the reigning champion in the light heavyweight champion who had the idea that he could beat Tyson back in 1988, “the fight of the champions” lasted 91 seconds). I try to take control and keep on smoking, but like a fish on a line, I know I will lose the fight anyway. This cigar got me and it got me good.



The draw is heavy, maybe because the cigar is too dry. The smoke is white, but it could be fuller and the burn is pretty and straight. The ash is fantastic, strong and firm. It breaks only once.



Would I buy this cigar again? Yeah, just to remind me that I am only human.

Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 7 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10

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