January 18, 2006
T'er Ba Qui
Recently I sampled a new cigar in stock at the local smoker centre outlet - a Don Thomas Cetros.
I feel the Don Thomas Cetros is an overall excellent value for the smoke. The one I bought was longer than a robusto size, like a corona size, but a bit longer (not up to speed on all the different size-groupings yet). I was asked to give some feedback on this cigar by an extremely polite Philipino attendant who, when he spoke, belied a solid, bachelors-level University education, if not more than. He is very knowledgeable about his product and has a very keen sense of customer service. He said the Cetros wasn't moving well and wanted customer feed back on the Cetros to consider how to market it differntly in UAE. So I agreed and what follows is pretty much a word for word of what I wrote for the smoker's centre on the cetros.
I took the Don Thomas Cetros with me to work to smoke there – I’ve recently taken up residence in the desiganated smoking office, which is well and good because I now I have time during the day, while I carry out my desk duties, to try out a lot of new brands of cigars in a relatively consistant environment. I used a round hole cutter to cut the end of the Don Thomas Cetros. The cap did not tear or crack and I was able to make a cleancut, consistantly round hole. The cigar was evenly packed and had a medium to light brown wrapper. The wrapper was not completely dry but also not quite as moist nor having the peculiar to cigar-wrapper feeling of oily smoothness as the Quorum Robustos from Nicaragua that I smoke regularly and I’ve taken a great deal of liking to lately, given their great, rich flavour with medium mild taste for a very nice price – 6dhs. Of the quorum good things have already been well written:
So now you see that I have set my standard against which the Cetros was to be compared, as the fine budget cigar hailing from Nicaragua. The Cetros took about 40 minutes to smoke. When I smoke at work, I tend to take a draw approximately every 30 seconds up to every 2 minutes. The Cetros stayed alight with no problem between draws, smoldered evenly, and its ash tapped off in uniform cylindrical chunks, leaving a flat circular glow on the end of the cigar, “just like any good cigar should” I could say. The room odour during my smoking of the Don Thomas Cetros was commented on by my colleagues as “…far better…” than the odour filling the room when I smoke one of my “fill-in” Villigar Extras, for example. I must add though that they also commented on the room odour left by the Quorum Robustos as: “…leaving a really nice scent”.
The acidity of the Don Thomas Cetros as the burn approched the drawing end was not as noticeable to me as in other cigars, such as, an uncharacteristically-tightly-packed Luis Martinez Londsdale, and a similarly, uncharacteristically, tightly packed Quorum Corona. They were very acidic even in the first few difficult draws. I have since then figured out a way to make a tightly packed cigar much more palatable. An easily fabricated special “cigar saver” tool – a strait piece of coat-hangar-sized wire, sharpened to penetrate and make a hole through the middle of the length of the cigar does the job well.
I don’t like to waste any cigars by having to throw them away just because the draw is too difficult. Lucky for me, the special tool allows me to enjoy to the fullest even poorly chosen, too-tightly packed cigars, now. The appropriately sized hole effectively counter acts the acidity effect and all but eliminates the difficulty of drawing heavily on a tightly packed cigar.Though it may not be the recommended, ideal way to smoke a cigar, I ridgedly refuse to do any less than get the full value of the cigar. Another probably less than ideal, non-recommended thing I tend to do, also to get the full value of the cigar, is to remove the label and proceed to smoke right down to an approximate 1.5 cm length, regardless of the the initial length, diameter, brand name, flavour, or richness of the particular cigar.
I did not have to use the special hole making tool on the Cetros. It was evenly packed. The flavour was walnutty, with fresh undertones of the way that my grandfather’s favorite cologne smelled. Don’t ask me the name of it, I don't recall. Suffice to say, the Cetros waft triggered a memory of a balanced, anticipatory, full-of-life til passing on, renaisance-like creativive masculinity.
The Cetros was of medium mildness and medium richness. I would describ it as a characteristically stout, reliable, everyday, sort of cigar that you can easily bring to work and smoke without cigarette smokers in the same room complaining. Out of the office, let the Davidoffs, the Cohibas, or even one of the very underrated and well-priced Quorum Robustos, waiting patiently, at 70 to 75% humidity, in the glass-topped humidor you were oogling the week before Christmas (nice present from the family), be reserved for cool, UAE winter evenings of 21 deg. C, accompanied by any of the quality, aged, sipping-type beverages that are available, at our fingertips (after a short drive to the neighboring emirate). I will conclude by saying that there is room in MY glass-topped Christmas present humidor for more than a few Don Thomas Cetros and of course any other new brands of well valued cigars as well, as they continue to find there way here.
Byromaniac,
fequenter of Smokers’Centre outlets in Dubai
I feel the Don Thomas Cetros is an overall excellent value for the smoke. The one I bought was longer than a robusto size, like a corona size, but a bit longer (not up to speed on all the different size-groupings yet). I was asked to give some feedback on this cigar by an extremely polite Philipino attendant who, when he spoke, belied a solid, bachelors-level University education, if not more than. He is very knowledgeable about his product and has a very keen sense of customer service. He said the Cetros wasn't moving well and wanted customer feed back on the Cetros to consider how to market it differntly in UAE. So I agreed and what follows is pretty much a word for word of what I wrote for the smoker's centre on the cetros.
I took the Don Thomas Cetros with me to work to smoke there – I’ve recently taken up residence in the desiganated smoking office, which is well and good because I now I have time during the day, while I carry out my desk duties, to try out a lot of new brands of cigars in a relatively consistant environment. I used a round hole cutter to cut the end of the Don Thomas Cetros. The cap did not tear or crack and I was able to make a cleancut, consistantly round hole. The cigar was evenly packed and had a medium to light brown wrapper. The wrapper was not completely dry but also not quite as moist nor having the peculiar to cigar-wrapper feeling of oily smoothness as the Quorum Robustos from Nicaragua that I smoke regularly and I’ve taken a great deal of liking to lately, given their great, rich flavour with medium mild taste for a very nice price – 6dhs. Of the quorum good things have already been well written:
The new Quorum goes where others have tried and failed. Quorum is that rare bird – a full size, fine smoking cigar in that very inexpensive. Even though it’s definitely a budget cigar, Quorum certainly doesn’t smoke like one. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear it would sell for a great deal more. But “Great Deal” is the operant term when it comes to Quorum. Here you get a smooth and flavorful smoke in a medium strength cigar. The Nicaraguan fillers and binders signal dependable quality all the way, and the Ecuador-Sumatra wrapper even adds a hint of exotic elegance to Quorum. (Mr. Bill's Pipe and Tabaco Company, Las Vegas, Nevada)
So now you see that I have set my standard against which the Cetros was to be compared, as the fine budget cigar hailing from Nicaragua. The Cetros took about 40 minutes to smoke. When I smoke at work, I tend to take a draw approximately every 30 seconds up to every 2 minutes. The Cetros stayed alight with no problem between draws, smoldered evenly, and its ash tapped off in uniform cylindrical chunks, leaving a flat circular glow on the end of the cigar, “just like any good cigar should” I could say. The room odour during my smoking of the Don Thomas Cetros was commented on by my colleagues as “…far better…” than the odour filling the room when I smoke one of my “fill-in” Villigar Extras, for example. I must add though that they also commented on the room odour left by the Quorum Robustos as: “…leaving a really nice scent”.
The acidity of the Don Thomas Cetros as the burn approched the drawing end was not as noticeable to me as in other cigars, such as, an uncharacteristically-tightly-packed Luis Martinez Londsdale, and a similarly, uncharacteristically, tightly packed Quorum Corona. They were very acidic even in the first few difficult draws. I have since then figured out a way to make a tightly packed cigar much more palatable. An easily fabricated special “cigar saver” tool – a strait piece of coat-hangar-sized wire, sharpened to penetrate and make a hole through the middle of the length of the cigar does the job well.
I don’t like to waste any cigars by having to throw them away just because the draw is too difficult. Lucky for me, the special tool allows me to enjoy to the fullest even poorly chosen, too-tightly packed cigars, now. The appropriately sized hole effectively counter acts the acidity effect and all but eliminates the difficulty of drawing heavily on a tightly packed cigar.Though it may not be the recommended, ideal way to smoke a cigar, I ridgedly refuse to do any less than get the full value of the cigar. Another probably less than ideal, non-recommended thing I tend to do, also to get the full value of the cigar, is to remove the label and proceed to smoke right down to an approximate 1.5 cm length, regardless of the the initial length, diameter, brand name, flavour, or richness of the particular cigar.
I did not have to use the special hole making tool on the Cetros. It was evenly packed. The flavour was walnutty, with fresh undertones of the way that my grandfather’s favorite cologne smelled. Don’t ask me the name of it, I don't recall. Suffice to say, the Cetros waft triggered a memory of a balanced, anticipatory, full-of-life til passing on, renaisance-like creativive masculinity.
The Cetros was of medium mildness and medium richness. I would describ it as a characteristically stout, reliable, everyday, sort of cigar that you can easily bring to work and smoke without cigarette smokers in the same room complaining. Out of the office, let the Davidoffs, the Cohibas, or even one of the very underrated and well-priced Quorum Robustos, waiting patiently, at 70 to 75% humidity, in the glass-topped humidor you were oogling the week before Christmas (nice present from the family), be reserved for cool, UAE winter evenings of 21 deg. C, accompanied by any of the quality, aged, sipping-type beverages that are available, at our fingertips (after a short drive to the neighboring emirate). I will conclude by saying that there is room in MY glass-topped Christmas present humidor for more than a few Don Thomas Cetros and of course any other new brands of well valued cigars as well, as they continue to find there way here.
Byromaniac,
fequenter of Smokers’Centre outlets in Dubai
