A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting up with my local Miami Cigar Rep at an event being held at Sir Stogies. In addition to the Casa Miranda Chapter Two (which I reviewed last week), I also picked up a couple of Rapture by Viva Republica.
I didn’t initially plan on purchasing any of these particular cigars but the strangest thing happened at the event. As I sat there talking with the rep and owner of the shop, customers kept going back into the humidor to buy second and third helpings of Rapture.
Thinking that so many customers couldn’t possibly be wrong, I purchased a few and planned on a review. What I found was a cigar with excellent flavors. There was a stout-like bitterness with accents of coffee and chocolate that impressed me. The body was medium and the finish was slightly dry.
Where the cigar lost me was in the construction department. All of my samples had issues with small tunnels. In addition, every one of them had the caps pop off and cause problems with unraveling. While I could deal with these issues on less expensive cigars, this sort of thing with a $9.00 premium is unacceptable.
Great review walt. I’ve heard many review’s on that stick both shitty and great. The cap popping off all the time on you might be your single guillotine cutter. If your looking for a lightweight cutter maybe a punch you could keep on a key chain? Or a pair of scissors that you could fold up and keep in you pocket?
Steve,
I’m not a big fan of puches and try to avoid using them (I’ll go as far as opening a cigar with my fingernails before I use a punch).
I have a couple pair of Xikar Scissors lying around that need to be sharpened. I was planning on sending them back to Xikar but maybe I’ll break out my dremel and do it myself.
I’m sure my single blade isn’t helping but it is very sharp and convinient (it is an old spring loaded model that I picked up years ago and havent used until I needed something I could slip into a travel humidor with my cigars)
Walt,
I “feel” your frustration. I hate when you have to wrestle with a cigar to keep smoking it at any price, especially at $9 a stick Was the burn any better when you were sitting in your yard , no AC blowing,no window open? I have a suggestion for a “short ride” cigar. CAO Flathead 554. Although I’m not a lover of box pressed , I really enjoyed this one. Box of 24 goes for about $115.00.
Big Joe,
The cigar behaved a little worse in my car than it did in my yard, however, I’ve had a few perform just as badly that I started and finished in my yard.
The Flathead 554, is that the one they call the Spark Plug and package in a small cardboard box (just like a spark plug)? If so, Jerry has been raving about those for a few weeks now, I just haven’t had the chance to try one.
I never noticed the same construction problems you faced with these smokes Walt. Maybe it was just because the solid flavor profile made me ignore these issues. With that said, I think you made a fantastic video review here and it’s often hard to keep my interest for twenty minutes. Keep up the great work!
Lol! Flame retardant wrapper. That was a good one! Great to hear another honest review from you Walt.