The Quintero Londres really is one of the best $2 smokes I've had.
They're only a year old but they smoke well--yeah, they show some rough edges, but not all that much. And they look like cheaper cigars, rough wrappers, sloppy caps. No real major imperfections, though--just very rustic. Draw tends to be a little on the tight side but they burn straight, produce plenty of smoke, and have solid enough ash. And like almost all of the Cubans I've had, it has a slow burn rate.
Starts off with a mild straight tobacco, some faint notes of orange peel and some wood. Ramps up pretty quickly, adding a bold tobacco/dark chocolate/coffee flavor, some pepper, and keeping the general woodiness and orange notes here and there. Being young (and/or also tripa corta) the body and flavor strength sometimes waft around a little bit. Sometimes it gets more peppery, sometimes it gets creamier and woodier, sometimes it goes all bold Cuban tobacco with spices dancing on the tongue.
But those flavor shifts really aren't all that bad--keeps things interesting and none of the changes have been bad. It isn't like it just goes flat mild or turns bitter or gets full of ammonia. Just not 100% predictable how it will evolve as it smokes just yet. Could age out, could be part of the mixed filler experience.
This particular cigar has the mild start, slightly creamy sweet tobacco, hints of wood and citrus. Then it ramped up with peppery dark tobacco notes, a real espresso type flavor coming through before it backed off for about an inch. Rich full bodied tobacco, some woody accents, dark chocolate. Started to add back in some pepper, that jumped up and then smoothed back down, woody notes, citrus, and on and on it'll go.
A great buy at $2, imo. Sure, it isn't as good as the long filler, tier 1 smokes...but it's also $5-10 a stick cheaper.
