Staff Reviews for Pirate's Gold

I've been getting a lot of this lately:  "Gonz ya gotta try ....." and usually it's something like Montecristo White or Graycliff PGX or Avo 80th Anniversary.  Fellas, fellas, come'on now.  That's just not me, Avo 80th at $324 per box, yikes.  I'd be sleeping in the shed.  However, just a few weeks ago I got this from FC of Whitehall, PA:


For months John & Matt at the retail store have tried to get me to smoke Pirates Gold.  I turned my nose up just like I did to 5 Vegas (sidebar: wife keeps asking me lately what is my infatuation with 5 Vegas lol).  So I finally picked up a 5 pack a week or two ago of the #4 Maduro.  YUM!
 
We're talking about $1.25 per stick for a 4-5 year old smoke dude.  If you're like me and you like to know you're getting a surf 'n turf for the price of a happy meal, then dig in.  Where's the Gonz review on these beauties?  Ok maybe beauty is a little over the top, we all know Rolando Reyes can blend with his eyes closed and his wrappers look like his eyes WERE closed... but its a great smoke for the price and if you pass on this one - then I feel sorry for ya man.

Grab a cup 'o joe and a Pirate's Gold and do it some justice with a Gonz review.  Hell I can tell you I taste hints of spanish peanuts, eastern spanish, harvested in july... but I don't.  I just taste some great tobacco for one hell of a price.


Well dude, I can tell you this much, Happy Meals are a staple in my household and if I ever open up one of those bags and find a prime rib du jour, I'll be singing from the top of the slide in the McDonald's play room.  FC, you're on the money with this one and I can't deny, the treat inside these bundles is much better than that crazy little Spiderman spinning top I can't get to work right from my last Happy Meal.  The age on these Pirate's Gold should be reason enough to try them and I didn't hesitate to pick up some maduros and some naturals.

The prelight aesthetics are much better than my comrade in Whitehall gives them credit for.  The wrappers are toothy and splotchy, but fairly smooth and consistent - very characteristic of Senor Reyes' handiwork.  Upon initial lighting you'll find a milder blend than you might remember from the ones of a few years back, and the aging shows.  An aromatic body filters through and softens an otherwise powerful cigar mellowed by years in the aging room.  There are no peanuts in this blend, but perhaps a slight cocoa flavor on the finish (particularly with the maduro) but the finish disappears almost instantly.  I've been puffing these incessantly and although I thought my palate had matured I still get a slight rush - characteristic of its Nicaraguan/Honduran blend.  A well-made cigar that you can smoke all day, it does indeed complement any adult beverage and won't overpower.

One considerable difference I found with this vs. other Rolando Reyes' cigars are that these don't soften toward the end.  They remain firm and never burn hot so you can smoke them down to the nub.  That was an initial concern considering the thickest ring is a 46.

Regardless of what the rest of you cigar crazies think, I'm a big fan and if you don't like them, that leaves more for me!

Light'em up,
- Gonz

This Pirate's Gold blend is one of the finest values you can get price-wise and its 5 years of age doesn't hurt either. But it's had a rocky history - originally conceived by Rolando Reyes Jr. (Junior), 84-year-old Rolando Senior's son, it was rolled in Senior's Danli, Honduras factory. As many know Rolando Senior can make a helluva cigar. His blends may not be ideal for everyone but there's no arguing that his blends hold their own with the best out there. 

So Pirate's Gold was off to a great start back in 2001: nice packaging, well-made cigars, an outstanding, chewy, medium-bodied blend that hit stores with a running start. About a year later due to some family turmoil, Rolando Junior and Senior weren't seeing eye to eye so Junior up and moved production to a completely different factory in the Dominican Republic. This effectively wrecked what was a promising cigar....the blend was a bit different and it lost any momentum it had. So flash forward 4 years and Rolando Senior had hundreds of thousands of sticks in the original Pirate's Gold blend, sitting in his factory, unbanded, with no home. Last year when I was visiting his Puros Aliados factory in Danli, he showed me the extent of the inventory. We jumped all over it. Here's what I was thinking: this is a bona fide 5 year aged cigar, and dollar for dollar it's got to be one of the finest in all the land. Light it up, it's medium in body, slightly creamy, very mellow and soothing, but finishes with a burst of flavor. I'm normally a toro and robusto smoker, but my personal favorite in this blend is the #2 size, a corona. Do yourself a favor and drop fifty bucks on 40 of these cigars. Do that and you shall inherit the Earth; what's more, you'll be a man, son. Sorry, I don't know where that came - just believe me - this is a great, rich, trusty Honduran handmade....cleverly disguised as a cheapie.