For those of you that don’t know, in 2009, Habanos S.A. released yet another Edición Regional, this time for the  Asia Pacific. The Exclusive Distributor of the Ramón Allones Celestiales Finos is Pacific Cigar and only 4,000 numbered boxes of 25 cigars were released (100,000 cigars total). This cigar, who’s official name is Britanicas, by the way, makes 12 total Edición Regionals for Ramón Allones, which, while not the most of any brand, it is close to the top.

The Boxes look like this:

But enough, of that, let’s get down to business, shall we?

• Cigar Reviewed: Ramón Allones Celestiales Finos (Edición Regional Asia Pacifico 2009)
• Country of Origin: Cuba
• Factory: Fernando Perez German
• Wrapper: Cuba
• Binder: Cuba
• Filler: Cuba
• Size: 5 2/5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 46
• Vitola: Perfecto
• MSRP: $15.00
• Year of Cigar: 2009
• Number of Cigars Released: 4,000 Boxes of 25 Cigars (100,000 Total Cigars)

The Ramón Allones Celestiales Finos has a nice Colorado brown wrapper and is almost seamless. I am in love with the vitola; it is the perfect size and shape, tapered on both ends. The cigar is a little spongy when squeezed, and it smells like hay, pepper and some chocolate.

The first third started out with quite a bit of strength and spice, along with flavors of hay, wood (just generic wood, really) and leather, but the draw was horrible, and it was not easy to taste anything due to that. The strength seemed to increase through the first third.

During the second third, the strength of the cigar increased, and I was sick of the draw, so I cut the end as close to the cap as I could and that fixed it. The cigar turned slightly tannic and the flavors seemed to change to more of a salty cedar-ish flavor that was not completely unpleasant but was a bit off putting.

The last third was all about the strength. It actually increased to almost overwhelm anything else, but I could still taste hay, leather and grass. But interestingly, there were very few typical Ramón Allones flavors present at this moment in time.

Final Notes:

• As I said, this is an awesome size and vitola, even more so since they fly in the face of most the other ER’s that now seem to be 50+ RG.
• Ramón Allones seems to have a tendency to have the best looking Regional vitolas, for some reason, they just all seem to be gorgeous.
• The draw was absolutely horrible for the first third or so, (I punched it first), but opened up after I cut it, albeit as close to the edge of the cap as I could.
• This is also one of the strongest cubans I have smoke in a while. It is not an overpowering strength on the palate, but more of a nicotine strength that is quite noticeable. It is definitely a full cigar.
• Final Smoking time was 1 Hour and 20 Minutes.

The Bottom Line: I REALLY wanted this cigar to be better then it was, but alas, I was to be disappointed. This smoke is a PRIME example of the idea of having to put some specific Cuban cigars down “for a nap” before they reach their full potential (unlike, say, the Cohiba Gran Reserva or the Por Larrañaga Magnifico , both of which were great right off the table). While it is an ok smoke at the moment, if you can get it to draw, that is, I honestly believe they will be quite a bit better after about 5 years, which would give the unrefined flavors and strength time to meld. In my humble opinion, if you smoke this cigar before then, you are wasting the smoke and your money.

Final Score: 81 (but with quite a bit of potential in 3-5 years)