Saturday, August 2, 2008

Vega Talanga: Cheap for a Reason

About a year ago I received a Vega Talanga Rojo churchill, only to be told by the guy who bestowed it that he was sending the whole shipment back because the two he tried had unraveled upon lighting.

I decided to hold on to mine and see if it could be salvaged by a year of humidor rest. A year later, here's the report.

The Vega Talango Rojo is probably the mildest corojo I have ever smoked. It had the bland, undistinguished flavor and body of a dozen other General Cigar Co. light-shade cigars. Like most Churchills, it took two inches to finally get some flavor and body. Even then, it remained on the mild side.

The third and fourth inches were decent, producing a warm dainty smoke that was papery and grassy with a hint of pepper. Reaching the last third, the stick did indeed begin to unravel at the head, and the smoke turned hot and bitter.

Well, for a buck fifty, what did you expect? If you like General Cigar Connecticut-shade products (i.e. papery, innocuous cigars that don't develop) you might actually find this a worthwhile morning smoke. At 30 bucks a box, it's a better deal and not much worse than smoking a Montecristo White, a Macanudo Hyde Park, a Hoyo Excaliber natural, a CAO Gold or even a non-cuban Cohiba Cameroon/Connecticut.

Go for it, all you two-fisted light-shade puffers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree 100% percent with your review. I've had the same experience with these cigars. in 2006 CA gave these cigars an 88. I've had other inexpensive cigars that performed far better.

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Anonymous said...

CA also rated the Vega Talanga 6" x 54 original an 88 and even went so far as to include tha label in the CA Cigar Companion published by Running Press in 2005. I was curiiously googling the label as I has not heard of it prior. Having read these and other reviews, I'll pass.

PadillaGuy (puff.com)