Date Added: Tuesday 07 June, 2016
by Staff
£52.99
Reviewed by Joe Gellman (27th November 2000)
"Lucy, I'm Home," was a phrase many TV watchers heard, every week, in the 50's. With permission of Desilu Productions, I have to say, "Lusi, I'm home."
I previously described this cigar as the paradigm of perfection. Little did I know that "perfection" could be improved upon.
At 11:30 p.m., on October 25th, 1881, a little known event took place. A baby is born and almost immediately declared dead. An attending physician, Salvador Ruiz, the brother of the father of this tragic occurrence, does not despair of the situation. He approaches the newborn, with cigar in hand, takes a deep draw, and blows the smoke up the nose of the child. Repeating this strange procedure, a few minutes later the baby begins to move...he is not dead.
OK, what does this have to do with my review of the Partagas Lusitanias? Easy. The baby grew to be one of the greatest artists of all times, Pablo Picasso, and the Lusitania is one of the greatest pieces of Cuban art, of all times. So it's a stretch of the imagination to equate the two, but this is my tasting review!
This vitola is classed a Prominentes, and all cigars are 7 5/8 x 49 (for other countries, 194 x 19.45.) and weigh 17.86 gr. In November, 2000, I was fortunate to be privy to the rolling of this vitola by a Grade 9 torcedor. As I stood by his station, I realized this man was an artist. I was about to leave with a few other ASCers when the roller pressed a cigar into my hand.
When we left the factory I immediately lit the cigar. This is where I noticed the improvement on perfection.
The street was noisy, people bustling to places unknown. It was 80 degrees and there was a slight breeze from the East. I know this is a fact because I was told so by one of my fellow travelers. I was so engulfed in the cigar that I didn't pay attention to anything else. This is on the level. The cigar was so phenomenal that all else ceased, for me.
The first draw, to this perfect lighting cigar, was alive with the sweetest flavor I have experienced ... with a cigar. Sweet aroma mixed with woodsy tones were unmistakable, even in a City where sights and smells abound and strike at every sense. The nuttiness I recognized on my initial tasting review was far richer in this fresh-off-the-roller's-table cigar.
I am amazed that this cigar was destined for a cabinet, to be placed on a shelf, to be laid to rest for a few months, and then off to an unknown destination.
I have sampled Lusitanias from several retailers, in several countries. They have been young (2 to 6 months) and aged (over one-year), in dress boxes and in cabinets. While there is a subtle difference between the SPB and the Cabinet, there is a world of difference, all to the plus, between a freshly rolled cigar, just out of the rollers hands, and one which is off the shelf.
So far, all the samples I have tasted have been superb. The one I had in Havana ranks tops, for all time, but that is something you have to experience for yourself, if you are as lucky as I was. Otherwise, you are destined to buy the best from C.GARS Ltd and only hope to travel to the factory and pick up one of the greatest smokes of the greatest vitola, in production.
