Cigar Aficionado | Web Features | Connoisseur's Corner, August 2005

| Print | Site Map

Advertising Information

Home > What's New > Connoisseur's Corner, August 2005

Email this feature to a friend

Connoisseur's Corner, August 2005

Posted: Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Reprinted from the August 2005 issue of Cigar Aficionado

This is a special version of Connoisseur's Corner. All the cigars presented here were smoked by European Editor James Suckling during a trip to Hong Kong in late April. The bustling city of six and a half million people has become the cigar capital of the Far East and perhaps even the world. The evidence is in the quality of these rare cigars. Suckling rated three of them a perfect 100 points, which has never happened before in Cigar Aficionado. A total of four were classics. Some, such as the nine-year-old anniversary Cohiba, are prohibitively expensive, but the 94-point Juan Lopez is surprisingly affordable.

Label

30th Anniversary Cohiba (1996)
100
This is one of the rarest modern cigars. Only 45 humidors (each with 50 cigars) were made for the 30th anniversary of the Cohiba brand. It's a double robusto, 50 ring gauge by 9 inches. This is a blockbuster of a cigar with mocha, honey, cedar and tobacco character. It's full bodied and incredibly rich, almost velvety on the palate. It goes on and on. Not for the fainthearted. This is a cigar that will improve for decades. The problem is that they are all being smoked.
--James Suckling

Dot

Label

Dunhill Estupendo (1989)
100
These Churchill-sized smokes came in aluminum tubes in a box of 10 cigars. This example is particularly fresh. It builds on your palate with cedar, spice and coffee character and then halfway down it turns to tea, nutmeg and honey. It's full and long, and it's still incredibly youthful. It has almost the same character as the Dunhill Cabinetta Robusto, which also rated 100 points.
--James Suckling

Dot

Label

Romeo Y Julieta Torpedo (1964)
100
I have never seen this cigar before. It is one of the greatest and most stylish cigars I have ever smoked. It's the same size as the Montecristo No. 2 and comes in a cedar box of 25. It is super powerful with mint and cedar character, but with loads of tobacco flavor. It's strong, yet shows finesse and reserve.
--James Suckling

Dot

Label

Davidoff No. 2 (1990)
95
This came from a rare cedar cabinet of 50 cigars, which were wrapped in palm leaf and held together with a gold string. The cigar was made at Cuba's El Laguito factory. It is incredibly powerful, rich and full bodied, with rich coffee and tobacco character. It has a powerful finish for a thin and elegant cigar.
--James Suckling

Dot

Label

Davidoff 1000 (1989)
94
This small cigar certainly packs a punch. I smoked it down to about one inch long and it burned my fingers! It's fresh and cedary with lots of character that verges on dried flowers. Medium bodied, with a long and caressing finish in the mouth.
--James Suckling

Dot

Label

Juan Lopez Selección No. 2 (1994)
94
You don't have to be a Hong Kong tycoon to afford this smoke. Big surprise. This came from a cabinet of 50, and it shows incredible depth of flavor and finesse. Full, yet refined, with loads of cedar and tobacco character. It goes on and on, and leaves your palate clean and long.
--James Suckling

Dot

Check out our Connoisseur's Corner Archive