Brand: Pinar Del Rio (Value Line Reserve)
Shape: Churchill (7x50)
Tobacco Origin: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Maduro
Body: Mild

PDR (Value Line Reserve) Churchill Maduro

Description: After its sister cigar (PDR Value Line Reserve Connecticut) failed to impress yesterday, I had little to no hope for this cigar. I was expecting the same one sided flavors, little to no complexity, and a boring smoke in the end. That's pretty much what I got. What can I say, I had to try it. I will say this for it. As a maduro, it really enhanced the flavor that was there, though that is, as I mentioned before, not very much. So I did like this cigar because of the maduro wrapper, but not so much because it's the Value Line Reserve. The maduro wrapper essentially just gave a little more oomph to the cigar, adding an extra bit of kick and flavor to the whole cigar. This was a positive thing. But in the end, it still had that same one sidedness to it the whole way through. Ah well, buy it if you like. I'm going for something I actually enjoy.

(Oh, and I smoked this and yesterday's cigar whilst sipping on a a cool Laphroaig 10 year scotch. But if you follow my Twitter account, you already knew that ;])


Ratings:
Appearance and Construction: 11/15
Flavor: 18/25
Smoking Characteristics: 19/25
Overall: 15/20
Value: 14/15
Total: 77/100
Smoking Time: 1 hr. 45 min.
Price: $31.95 for a bundle of 25 cigars (~$1.28 per cigar) from Thompson Cigar.

Revisited:
(5/22/13) Today I smoked a cigar called El Diamante, while a friend of mine smoked one of these PDR VLR Maduro cigars. My buddy gave me a review of the cigar, though he gave me the disclaimer right off the bat that he is no connoisseur. Still, I've herfed with him in the past and I know that he knows more than nothing, and that his opinion is valid. He told me the cigar was pretty good, that he liked the flavor. I compared it with the cigar I was smoking at the time, and it was not nearly as tasty to my palate as that one. Anyway, I may have been too harsh, it seems to be a worthy smoke for $1.28 per stick for your average very occasional smoker.