Havana Dreams Datil
As I write this, I'm in Ybor City, which is part of Tampa, and a Historic District that used to be home to many domestic cigar factories. Now it's sort of touristy section of the city, but not too touristy. It feels a little like South Street in Philadelphia, but with less Goth teens.
After a few days of being down here in Florida, but unable to get my hands on one, I grabbed the first one I found. I bought it at Havana Dreams, which is a cigar shop in the new entertainment center of town.
Construction: I have to admit, I've been spoiled by Holt's. I'm just not used to poorly constructed cigars. This cigar had an extremely tight draw. It also tunneled. After that, it doesn't matter what color the ash is cause it's too much effort to smoke. I didn't even come close to smoking the whole thing.
Taste: It tasted okay, but not fantastic. It was very tobacco-y, but not much other flavor going on. Frankly, it was so hard to smoke, that I didn't get much flavor out of it.
Stats: I didn't get any information on what the cigars were made of. I imagine that they used tobacco. Where it came from I can only guess. If I had to guess, I would say Nicaragua, but It's really only a guess. I can tell you that according to the store ,they were made in Florida. This cigar was $5 a pop, but they sell it for a bit more at their online store.
Overall: The store is really nice on the inside, and it looked like it would be a great place to sit down and relax with a cigar. I just don't recommend that you buy one of these.
Comments
Sorry,dude. I definately got the places right. I just didn't like the Havana Dreams. Additionally, the Tampa Cigar was the one I liked. Maybe I was there on an off day. Who knows. I have to stand by what I said here.
I too, visited this shop back in in March 06. It was in the main Ybor "mall" building with its interior decorated with a thatch of tobacco leaves, just like their website shows. Guy in charge said they "just had" or "were having" a change of ownership and he was turning it into a cigar-party venue. I enjoyed a cuban coffee and smoked a rather "green" Datil which seemed promising considering its had just been rolled a couple days before. I laid down $150 for an unboxed bundle of 25 Datils with a Feb. rolling date. I laid them down in my coolidor till October, had a half-dozen members of our club try one. Wrapper looked good, but filler was either too tight, or very loose (bad QC evidently.) Taste was unremarkable to mild for a stick with an advertised "maduro" wrapper. I sent my 35 leftovers to the Troops in Iraq. They're worth smoking at a $2 price point but definitely "tourist" stuff at their $5-8 advertised prices. The only thing you'll remember after smoking this cigar is the shop and how much you paid!
Leon
That's poop! Or caca! Or cacafuego! Whatever it is, it's bad. I'm sorry they offended your Cuban heritage. I just thought they were bad.
Posted by: Tampaguy at August 22, 2006 6:36 PM