Gran Habano - 3 Siglos

February 28, 2008 -- I choose to celebrate my brother's birthday by grabbing dinner in an Italian restaurant and cigar bar. After polishing off a little chicken with toasted cheese ravioli at the Cigar Box, I settle into a Maker's Mark manhattan and a Gran Habano 3 Siglos. It was part of a 20-pack sampler of Gran Habanos and it has turned out to be my favorite - as excellent a blend as the blonde 5-pack was bad. But that's another review.

Anyway, at $2 a stick, I'm ready for anything. I am very pleasantly surprised. As I sit and puff away, Kellie makes fun of me and we enjoy the lounge singer attacking Journey songs with a vengeance. 3 Siglos translates as "three centuries". Hard to imagine that three centuries ago, no one could have dreamed of the huge glass buildings a couple blocks away - the angular glass-walled Kansas City Star presses, the bowl-shaped glass Sprint Center, the ovalishly cylindrical glass H&R Block building. Or the strip club next door.

The ratings played out like so:

• Appearance - 5 \ Medium width and length at 5X50 robusto. Attractive white & gold double label.
  
• Burn - 7 \ Perfect halfway through but did become somewhat uneven over time.
• Draw - 8 \ Effortless.
• Plummage - 7 \ Solid plummage.
• Flavor - 10 \ Suprisingly flavorful with a notable spice.
• Overall - 9 \ Very likable and an excellent value.