CIGAR REVIEW: Nat Sherman: 5th Avenue Selection, No. V

I got these for free so I feel sort of bad complaining about them

But here goes. Nat Sherman is known for making fancy expensive cigarettes. They also market a line of premium grade cigars. Most of their cigars are in the moderate price range. Roughly $3.50 to $6.60 per stick. From what I can tell, this one is in the lower end of that spectrum.

Over the past week I've smoked 3 of these cigars. Each has had a very different draw, the one I've got today is a very hard draw, meaning it takes a strong breath to pull in any smoke. The other two didn't suffer from this problem, so that is showing me an inconsistency in bundling and wrapping this cigar. All three have held their ash well, easily out to an inch or more. All three have a nice looking wrapper with a smooth appearance. Its a medium dark wrapper of unknown origin, certainly not a Maduro. Perhaps an EMS?

Flavor for this cigar is not bad. Its mild, somewhat of a dry smoke, no pepper bite at all. Basically its not got a lot of character to it. The display tube says it is a Dominican Republic cigar, many good cigars come from there, this is simply not one of the better ones. I don't know what binders and fillers it uses, it simply says it is "an exotic blend of the finest Caribbean tobaccos crafted with old world care."

Is this a bad cigar? No, certainly not. But it is not really a memorable cigar. This is the cigar you give to the brother in law you don't like, when you have to give him something that "looks" like you care. It is sort of the Obama of cigars, looks good, but not much substance. And yes, I'm sure I'll smoke more of these over the next week or so, like I said, it is not a bad cigar. But it is certainly not one the remember.

Thanks for the review.

I see that when you retired, you took your green desk with you

Thank you for the revue Bob. I don't think that I've ever seen those cigars. I've cut down on my cigar consumption to one, maybe two, per day. I can get by without the one in the morning with my coffee while sitting out on the deck but the one in the evening after dinner is going to be tough to give up. My wife may just have to settle for letting me keep that one.

Frank, might be nice to share your opinion with others!!!

I know I'm always interested in hearing about a good cigar.

LOL, obama cigar......

Ray said:

LOL, obama cigar......

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Well its a rainy morning here and there is not much going on. I opted to light up a cigar and drink some coffee while going over the news of the day. Today's cigar of choice is another one of the Nat Sherman 5th Avenue Selection #V cigars.

This particular cigar is much softer than the prior one, its simply not tightly rolled. The draw on this one is also very light. So this cigar, when compared to the prior cigar from the same box of Nat Shermans shows just how inconsistent these particular cigars can be.

Because the end is not tightly rolled, when I cut into it with a "V" cutter it seemed to pull out some bits from the inside. The wrapper cut cleanly, but the filler, which is claimed to be long filler, seemed to tatter a bit. Worse than that, as I smoke it, small bits of the filler seem to be falling off into my mouth, onto my tongue; not with every draw but occasionally. That strikes me as being a sign of a low quality rolling job with this cigar.

The flavor, as with my prior sample, leaves me with nothing to rave about. As I wrote in my earlier review, this really is the Obama of cigars. It looks good but there is just not much substance.

B_Skurka said:

Flavor for this cigar is not bad.

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Ok, I gotta ask; a cigar has flavor? I've smoked exactly 1 cigar in my life. It was back in college and I was extremely drunk. It made me puke up bucket loads and for the next two days my mouth tasted like I'd been spending time in the yard munching on dog turds. My breath could peel paint no matter how many times I brushed my teeth and used mouthwash. Is that what you refer to as 'flavor'?

Yes, while cigars can make some people puke, dizzy or otherwise ill, they do have various flavors. The ability to make someone sick is not related to the flavor of the cigar, but usually to the intensity of the nicotine and tobacco in the blend. That part aside, much like the subtleties of coffee roasting, cigars each have different characteristics based on the type and quality of the tobacco used. Most of the flavor is imparted by the TYPE OF WRAPPER tobacco used. Many people think that DARK wrappers are stronger but that is not true, or at least not necessarily true. Flavors like pepper, anise and others come through the smoke and make each blend different.

And as each blend is different and imparts a different flavor, so there are different preferences of smokers. Some prefer mild, others look for robust. Some like spicy/peppery flavors others tend toward sweeter flavors. That is one thing that makes trying different cigars so much fun, you get to see what is out there in the market.

As for your breath, try Listerine.