This forum deserves this review, and while it may be a re-read for some of you it's a classic and, I feel, a good one. It's all my original content so I feel ok reposting, thanks to the joys of photobucket and the notes app I don't think I lost anything. Enjoy;
The El bubble is an enigma wrapped in mystery. I will do my part to unravel the secrets of this amazing cigar with this review.
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El bubble is an irregular octagon pressed vitola, so is hard to determine a true RG for this cigar, but it is 3.25 inches in length. I believe this is one of those HTF boutique blends made entirely by another better known cigar company but sold under another label; I'm almost sure this is a guten cala blend. I'm far to excited for this cigar, so I went ahead and skipped the usual acclimation period and smoked it rott, straight from @AuTechCoM 's delivery.
Construction is overall amazing; it's almost impossible to believe this is a handmade product from a vegetable- unusual press aside the wrapper is entirely seamless, and lacks any sort of stems or visible veining whatsoever- with a closed foot and a closed torpedo tip it is a quite unique look. The coloration on this cigar is likewise completely uniform and has no mottling or variation at all. Removing the cello I am greeted with a light sweet floral aroma, the foot smelling only slightly less sweet than an ACID blondie,
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To check the prelight draw I go ahead and clip the top with my cutter (yes I know I need a new one so bad, but I'll risk the damage on this cigar just so I can have it now- no way can this wait to tomorrow!)
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its at this point that I realized the firmness I felt before; not a hint of sponginess or give at all the entire length of the cigar was likely due to overpacking- I am not entirely familiar with the nuances of the different styles but believe this to be entubar style rolling. The prelight draw on this thing is impossible. I will likely create a separate new thread later to look into the possibility it was only due to the excess humidity from the company I received it from because nobody has ever posted about humidity before me on cigarbum before; I am the first person to ever consider that, so will create my own thread. Anyhow, I used a metal skewer as a poker to clear a little bit so I could draw.
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much better! Now, as is my custom thanks to the fine folks here at puff; I toast the end, and encounter the same difficulty I encountered before with the draw realized it was taking forever to toast because it was so solidly built; but I would not be deterred, I proceeded- they don't make triple flame torches to let stubborn cigars win, do they?
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interestingly, the cigar released a sweet toasty smell when heated, I was quite excited at this point to dive into this cigar.
Required a minor touch up almost right away but then maintained an even burn the entire time.
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the first third was an interesting combination of sweet and toasted with an almost carmely charred twist. No spice was present so this may be a good cigar for anyone who doesn't look for that in a smoke. the ashes were nearly solid, so held on quite well as I smoked to the point where it was a challenge to knock them free when I wanted to.
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Moving to the second and final thirds they went as carbon copies of the first third, without the slightest in variation at all.
Nubbed this in about 7 minutes if you include time I stopped to take pictures, and about fifteen if you count time taken out for first aid as I really burnt my finger fairly seriously on some falling sugar napalm.
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overall i I would give this seven lemons out of giraffe and call it one of the finer cigars I have ever had the pleasure of smoking. I hope you enjoyed my review, and make sure if you see one of these somewhere to not hesitate to try it yourself. I'm going to give my other ones some time to acclimate in the humi and see if they get any mellower with age.
