Review: Nub Habano 466

[ghost]

Just finished this smoke and want to share with you guys my thoughts.

Wife cooked a great NY strip steak and after dinner I figured I would get out on the deck for a smoke.

Setting: Outdoors on deck with temps in the low 70s (by the time I was done mid 60s). High humidity with bouts of drizzle.


Appearance: Nice brown wrapper. Excellent construction.

Storage: Got these on Monday and through them in my 67% RH cooler.

Cut: Palio, which just barely was able to make the cut.

Size: 466 (4 x 66)

1/3rd: This thing is a behemoth. Once you put it to your mouth I am sure all will agree. Took me a bit of flame to toast and light it up. Upon lighting I got hit with a nice nutty flavor. Very pleasant flavor. A few more puffs and some more of this flavor came through. Slight hints of pepper here and there. Draw was easy (but not exactly loose); effortless describes it best. Uneven burn requiring one touch-up. Smoke was ok. Ash was very good.

2/3rd: More of this nutty flavor that mellowed just a tad and took on just a bit of a creamy quality. Some slight hints of leather could be detected from time to time. At this point struggling to keep it lit. More touch-ups required. I decided to ash it myself and suspicions were correct. Nice cherry burn in the middle but nothing around the edges. Purged and relit. Same smooth nutty flavor with some more pepper (just a bit) here and there. I could detect some nice sweet tobacco flavor as well which combined with the nutty flavor. Very enjoyable.
Draw remains effortless. Burn issues persist requiring multiple touch-ups. Smoke is ok and times very good. Ash holds on extremely well.

3/3rd: Struggling to keep this beast lit. A bit of harshness started to come through but I attribute this to me smoking faster in order to keep it burning even, to no avail. Despite this the nutty flavor still comes through.


Overall impressions:

Smoke: Descent amount. I expected and wanted more.

Ash: Excellent. I suspect if I did not have so many burn issues requiring me to touch-up and relight several times it would have held on almost the entire time.

Burn: Losing battle.

Final Thoughts: Despite the burn problems I enjoyed the flavor profile. Very smooth and enjoyable. I won these off of Devil's and like many of their smokes they tend to come a bit over humidified.Add to it the weather conditions and the sheer size of this smoke and you have a recipe for burn problems.

One the size, I have to say that 66 ring gauge felt absurd in the mouth. Not a size I would like to smoke on a regular basis. Simply too large. I am curious on trying the smaller ring gauges in this smoke.

I am defintely going to get some of the smaller ones as I did enjoy the flavors from this. Keeping them as 65% for a while will only benefit the experience in my honest opinion.

So there you have it boys.

I hope you guys found this review helpful.

Stay strong and happy smokes!

[Riedelma]

thanks for the review I have one waiting for me to try

[jedipastor]

I just had one of these last week. I concur completely on the burn issues--I"m not sure if it's the ring guage (I've smoked plenty of 60-rings that didn't have this problem), or that the draw was too loose to keep the wrapper lit. Either way, it was very annoying. I wonder if this problem is constant through the line or if it's just this one mega huge size. I haven't noticed as much of an issue with the NUB Connies which I smoke fairly regularly.

I did like the flavor-didn't love it, but liked it. I have several more and will likely smoke them.

[BengalMan]

Originally Posted by jedipastor

I just had one of these last week. I concur completely on the burn issues--I"m not sure if it's the ring guage (I've smoked plenty of 60-rings that didn't have this problem), or that the draw was too loose to keep the wrapper lit. Either way, it was very annoying. I wonder if this problem is constant through the line or if it's just this one mega huge size. I haven't noticed as much of an issue with the NUB Connies which I smoke fairly regularly.

I did like the flavor-didn't love it, but liked it. I have several more and will likely smoke them.

To be honest, the 466 Habano is the one I smoke the most of, I've yet to have any major burn issues. Maybe a touch up here and there, but even then it's because I'm a perfectionist with my lighter and I do it with almost all my cigars.

[tackleberi]

Sounds like a good time. I really like the NUB Cameroons (with the exception of the fragile wrappers), so your review makes me want to try the Habano sooner than later.