Review Notes: From a carton box of three. The wrapper is flawless even  though a bit pale. Construction is flawless again with pre  light draw just right, sharp burn, tight light grey ash. Flavor  starts with white pepper and soon becomes milder with  wood, cream, toasted nuts, and grass. However, it is a bit  too mild for me.

Review Notes: $50-75 a stick?!? You've got to be kidding me. NO cigar is worth that much bread. Don't get me wrong, I won't stop buying or smoking one or two a year for my bday or christmas, but they should lace them with some opium or something if they're gonna charge that much! An excellent smoke, though. The few real ones I've had were all gorgeous and built impeccably, with practically no veins, an oily lighter-hued wrapper and a razor straight burn that only on rare occasions required a touch-up. To the reviewers who didn't give this cigar high marks for everything except value, if you paid less than $40 per stick, I'd bet it was a fake. Sorry, but that's the truth. Toasty and cedary and RICH tobacco flavors that blow your mind. Complex and slow-burning, a perfect cigar. But I don't think any bunch of dried up leaves meant to be set on fire should cost more than $30/stick. Fuentes, that means you too. Overall, great for a special occasion. Better with age (as all handmade Cubans are).

Review Notes: This Cohiba, was fresh off the boat, so I'm sure a little age would have helped, especially in the taste department. Despite this lack of humidor time this was a first tier smoke. The appearance and construction lacked nothing, while the taste was very nutty with some cream and had a sweet edge. I did not note the complexity that others reviewers found, it seemed fairly one- dimensional to me. The Esplendo really wasn't any better than several cigars I smoke that aren't made in Cuba. Overall a very good but not great cigar.

Review Notes: This is a follow up review...on further inspection I found out that the Cohibas I had were in fact phonies, so ALL my comments before should be ignored (or better yet, the admins delete the review). Even though the band was authentic (15.7 mm, raised gold lettering), I was still suspicious of why the ones I had were so bad, and upon cutting one open found broken leaf pieces inside, a dead giveaway as a fake. To be fair to Cohiba I put all 10's on this review to balance out the review below.

Review Notes: I smoked a 5 pack of these when I was out of the country, so I didnt break any laws. I am 100% sure they were authentic. I have to tell you, the pre-light smell coming off these was amazing. Sort of a hay and creamy chocolate smell. However, lighting it up turned out to be a major disspointment. THhs thing was as mild as they come, and had some decent tastes of cream, but it bored me pretty quick. Turned bitter and harsh by the half way point. Everyone talks about how Cubans are so great, well this one did not impress me at all. I can think of hundreds of cigars I would take way before another one of these. Hell, I would rather smoke a Te-Amo (regular line) than this; I am dead serious. I admit I am biased since I like very strong cigars, and Cubans tend not to be very strong. Dont get me wrong, this cigar isn't bad, it has top notch construction and everything, it just reminds me of the hundreds of bland Dominican smokes I have tried over the years (i have tried around 500 cigar brands, Cohiba being my first Cuban). If you like milder smokes you will probably like these. If you're into Nicaraguan puros, then don't feel so bad about the emgargo 'cause you arent missing anything.