Sancho Panza Belicoso

I’ve never been a big fan of Cuban cigars. Obviously, there are great smokes made by the tiny island but for the cost of your average Havana stick, I'd rather buy 2 to 3 great Dominican or Honduran or Nicaraguan cigars. The most obnoxious smokers are those that say “I only smoke Cubans”. Shut the f**k up. That just makes you sound like a conceited arse or a complete cigar newbie.

Enough venting.

So I’m down in Cabo San Lucas for my buddy’s wedding and I figured this would be a great time to smoke some Cubans. Actually, I don't have much of a choice since most of the cigar stores in town exclusively sell Cubans (whether they are authentic or not is another matter). I bought my first stash at J&J Habanos which is an authorized dealer of Cuban cigars. Here I bought a Sancho Panza Belicoso, a Partagas Series E, and a Montecristo #3. At 15 to 20 bucks a stick, I could have bought a bunch of my favorite normal smokes back home. But since I was on vacation, what the hell.

Tonight is the perfect night to light up a cigar. I’m staying at the ME Cabo and right now I’m sitting on my balcony overlooking the ocean. It’s approaching sunset and the view of the sun slowly setting into the Sea of Cortez (or Pacific Ocean...whichever, my geography sucks) is quite unbelievable. I light up the cigar and was blown away...by a pretty average smoke. The medium-bodied cigar has a toasty aroma and earthy flavors, however, I didn’t find either particularly rich. The cigar burned evenly but did go out a few times towards the end of the smoke.

While the Sancho Panza was not a horrible cigar, it was still a huge disappointment considering the perfect surroundings. At 15 bucks a stick, there are many, many, many other cigars I would rather smoke.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10