S. T. DuPont Tubo Review

[punch]

I purchased these as part of a close-out on JR’s web site. I was not sure what to expect. I am familiar with DuPont’s cigar smoking accessories, and the fact that the price is rather high irrespective of quality. But, for around $50, what did I really have to loose?

When my shipment came in, I opened the shipping container and found a black cardboard box with the DuPont logo. The box was a bit worse for wear, and I thought to myself “You’ve got to be kidding.” I opened the box expecting to find a mangled bundle of cigars as some kind of a joke. Instead, I was greeted by some packaging and a beautiful wooden box that looked like a humidor. As I unwrapped the humidor looking box and opened it, I realized that this “cigar box” was indeed a rather beautiful humidor. The black lacquered wood with gold lettering and gold toned internal hinges appeared to be better quality than a couple of my purpose built humidors, and worth the price that I paid alone. I continued to unpackage things, removing the cedar inner cover of the humidor and linen paper wrapping, and was greeted by two rows of beautiful maroon tubes with gold lettering. So far, I have to say I was pleased.

Later that evening, I decided to smoke one of the cigars nestled into these tubes to see if the actual cigar matched its surroundings. Opening the tube confronted me with even further evidence of the quality put into the packaging of these smokes. The tube lid was tightly screwed with a cork gasket and foam cushion for the cigar. I ejected the cigar and feasted my eyes on an absolute item of beauty. This cigar is a 6-3/4 X 44 Lonsdale with a beautiful and smooth Sumatra seed wrapper from Mexico. The wrapper was a milk chocolate color and very aromatic, with hints of aroma from the cedar that lined the aluminum tube. The two tastefully rendered ivory and gold bands easily removed reflecting the European taste of smoking cigars sans the band. The cap was generous and expertly applied.

This cigar is filled with a blend of Dominican tobacco surrounded by a Columbian binder. I have not tasted this configuration, so I was interested to get started. The cigar lit easily and produced loads of smoke. Draw was near perfect and remained such throughout the 1+ hours that it took to smoke. Burn was razor sharp and ash held on until I tapped it off into my ashtray. The construction and quality of burn on this cigar makes me wonder if this is an Altadis product, since this version of the DuPont is manufactured in Santiago DR.

Flavor during the burn was strong and somewhat complex with several changes. The start was a bit on the chocolate side switching to wood with lots of straight tobacco taste. There were a couple of blasts of pepper and spice during the burn, too. Smoke was not overly harsh, but I would not consider this a creamy cigar at this point. Perhaps a bit of age will correct this.

In all, I consider this an “A” cigar right out of the box. Certainly worth every penny paid and then more. I cannot wait to try the new Honduran versions of the DuPont when they come out.

[galaga]

Thanks for the review, I've been looking at these.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by galaga

Thanks for the review, I've been looking at these.

Yeah, me too. JR has really been pushing them in their last few catalogs. They are pretty cheap now so I might spring for some. The black lacquered box is pretty sweet too.