By: Dr. Mitch Fadem (aka doctoxin)
I started this series of monthly reviews with the Cafeteria Bundles from Privada. Yes, it is a bit of nostalgia as it harkens back to the Best Cigars for under $2 reviews that Gary and I wrote 15 years ago. Well, Brian Desind has done it again. Here is the next review of a bundle he calls Scrooge.
I was told that these are all made at the same factory in Nicaragua. The Scrooge has a floating price which has nothing to do with the quality, only with the actual blending and tobacco used for the cigar. I got my bundle for $47.50. The price can be as low as $42 and this month they are $49. The look is very similar to the Cafeteria cigars and they smoke equally as well. These are offered is 6x50 Maduro, which is what these are that I smoked this month as well as 6x60 Connecticut, 5x52 Habano, and a 5x50 Maduro.
I have already smoked nearly half of the bundle and the longer they sit in your humidor the better they smoke. These are also Nicaraguan Puros. The wrappers are a bit more rustic than the Cafateria sticks but the draw is perfect and the smoking experience, although excellent, it very one note. In my opinion it is a more full-bodied cigar than the previous bundle. The flavors are leather, oak and black pepper. I tried to retrohale this one and it was a bit too strong for me to do that. It was probably the black pepper which is very prominent. The aromas were matching up to the flavors quite well, so I decided to take a bit of the edge off, and dipped the head into a shot glass filled with Thomas S. Moore bourbon aged in Merlot Casks. The flavor mellowed out but kept the basic leather and oak profile with much less pepper.
The 1½” ash fell off after 20 minutes right into my lap and I saved it for a photo. The burn was perfectly even and started burning a bit slower at the mid-point. The cigar required no relights and finally went out with just under 2” left. The entire cigar smoked in 1 hour.
To be honest, I believe the Cafeteria cigars were a tad better. I guess that is the difference between a $3.20 cigar and a $2.35 cigar. So again, this is a great value and another cigar we can all afford to smoke everyday. Jeff, my cigar smoking buddy here in Las Vegas, and I smoked a couple of these last Sunday along with a Willett bourbon on the rocks. In my opinion cigars go best paired with bourbon and from what I heard, Privada is coming out with their own brand of bourbon. Next month I will get either the Ball Park or the Back in the Day bundle.
