Cigar Rating--Neptune Oceanide

Here is a rating of a cigar I smoked this morning while on a walk along Puget Sound with my wife and dog. I am using the To25Cigar "Rate Your Cigar" page as a guide, so here goes.

Cigar Brand: Neptune. Hey it was free. All you have to do is go to the neptunecigar.com website and sign up as a member. Besides, I was curious. I did see two ratings on this brand in T25C and they rated the brand as a good value.
Cigar Name: Oceanide
Cigar Shape: This was a corona at 42 ring and 5 ¾ in length.
Cigar Price: This was a freebie.
Overall Appearance: 7 Good appearance. Very light shade wrapper. It had veins but nothing really out of the ordinary. You would not think, "Wow this cigar is going to have a stroke with the way its veins are bulging."
Quality and Construction: 7 Again pretty good. It did get a little flattened in the mail and the cap was a little loose. I chalk that up to them shipping this sample in a USPS bubble wrap envelope. It probably got smooshed somehow. Firm with not soft spots that I noticed.
Aroma: 6 Average. Nothing that would make me say…Hey this is one great smelling cigar. The aroma was OK. Mild like a Dominican. After sitting in the humidor for about 3 months these cigars have a tendency to pick up all the other aromas and it truly is an eclectic mix. I tried to get a good smell but when I am smoking I really don’t have much success. Usually I get a major league snoot-full of smoke it just gives me a headache.
Flavor and Aftertaste: 7. Good. Very mild and no real strong aftertaste. That taste which is still remaining (about 6 hours) is not offensive and rather nice. Maybe to the sweet side but nothing like an Ashton Number 20 Maduro which I call sweet…if that helps.
Burn and Ash: I would give this a 7 BUT I did have to relight it twice. So lets call it a 6.5. The ash was a light gray with some sprinkling of white and held on for almost an inch. Once it fell off…I had to relight. It looked like it was starting to tunnel a bit but for the most part the burn was even. It then burned fine for about another inch, and then the same story. After the second relight it stayed lit until about ¾" below the ring. At that point our walk was over and I tossed it before getting into my truck.
Overall Smoking Experience: 7. It was a good cigar. The overall taste was very consistent until about the ¾ inch below the ring. So it became pretty harsh with a "not so good" taste at this point. I chalk this up to it being a corona and they burn a little hotter than a larger ring gauge. For me they are worth sampling a few other sizes to get a feel for the larger ring gauges when I am in the mood for a mild cigar and don’t want to break out my last Diamond Crown.
Comments: If you are looking for mild at a reasonable cost this could be the ticket. I don’t know if I would buy a box at this time; however, a sampler of robustos and torpedos could be a possibility.
One final recommendation I do have for Neptune…get a different ring. Wow…this band is weak and looks like a piece of green dental floss that has been put on as an afterthought.

[rjs]

Duc,

I agree with most of your rating except I had a different experience in the taste dept. Unfortunately, my Neptune was bitter for most of the smoke. I couldn't even finish it and put it down half way through.

I agree that the band is wimpy. They should take a lesson from Axis and put on one of those big, bad boy biker bands. Their customers would imagine that there is more taste with an Axis band on. LOL

Anyway, good review. Thanks for taking the time.

rjs

Or how about a band that looks like buffed up King Neptune skewering someone (A CA snob perhaps) with his trident and a little bubble with the words, "Screw you and your hint of burnt Madagascar Vanilla." Hey talk about a mucho macho band. ;-)

Happy New Year.

I too had one of these freebie smokes. While I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. They need to find another way of packaging their free samples. The one that I recieved had been squashed beyond recognition and was completely unsmokable. My guess is this could have been a nice cigar, but I will never know.

I must give them this, they sent their sample right away. it was only a matter of days after signing up that I recieved mine.

[rjs]

Duc,

You'll never believe this, I didn't. I received an e-mail that I had won a free box of Neptune Naides, the robusto size reviewed by T25C last year. I was bowled over because I never win anything.

The cigars actually arrived and in good condition. (Much better than the samples) After a week in the humidor, I smoked 3 Naides in 3 days.

The Naides has a nice Connecticut wrapper free of prominent veins and was soft to the touch. The draw was good. The first 1/3 of the smoke had some bitterness. They smoothed out by the halfway point, and continued as a mild to medium bodied smoke. Not much in the power dept. I think they are a little young. I had the exact same experience with all 3 smokes. At least they're consistent.

I was a little diappointed, but I'll put them to sleep for a few months and see what happens. Maybe you'll be next.

... rjs

[Pablo]

Mine was crushed as well. Neptune are good folk. I know they visit the forum from time to time, and hopefully will take some of the comments to heart!

-Paul

[BJ]

I got a free sample from them and it came perfectly. Not a scratch or dent on the thing. It was a very good smoke I thought. I also ordered 2 singles from them. 1 Oceanide and 1 Styx. The Oceanide was perfect but the Styx is very soft and mushy. haven't smoked it yet so I don't know what to expect from it but I hope its still good! Oh well!

BJ

Thank you all for your comments, we will take them in consideration, and we greatly appreciate Duc taking the time to write this review.

We apologize to those who received crushed cigars, we made a mistake with the packaging we used in that promotion. Rest assured that all our products are shipped in carton boxes and are more protected.

Our free cigar offer ended at the end of November, 1999. However, to show our deep appreciation for our fellow Club Stogie members, we will be pleased to send a free sample to those here who received a crushed/unsmokable cigar. Please, just send us an email with your member ID at info@neptunecigar.com

For those who prefer medium to full-bodied cigars, we will have a surprise for you next month...

All the best,

Christophe Normand
Neptune Cigar, S.A.

[rkt]

Congrats rjs!!! I guess I need to sign up for this.