[Editor's Note: This is the third review in a newer section on the site titled "Vintage Smokes", in which we will be reviewing some extremely aged cigars...In order to be considered for this section, the cigars reviewed will be AT LEAST 20 years old, and will consist of both Cuban and non Cuban cigars...Also, there will not be a final score given, since alot of these that I will be reviewing are extremely rare, there is really nothing to compare them too. ~.ed]

As part of my Annual Thanksgiving “Smoke your Rare Smoke” Weekend, one of the sticks I decided to smoke was a Farach Farachitos Pre Embargo Cuban from the 1950′s…

This was an interesting smoke, not only because of the age (Pre Embargo cuban cigars are not quite as easy to find as say, a Mancudo) but also because of the extremely small size… Seriously, I have taken pills that are larger then this stick, and the fact that it is a perfecto is even better…

I could not find much background info on this cigar, (despite many hours of looking) other then the fact that it was produced in Cuba, and they were shipped from Havana to Spain in 1958. Their destination was the largest Cigar distributor in Spain. Shortly after delivery, Castro took power. After the owner of the distributor passed, the estate fell into the equivalent of Spanish probate.  It took literally 20 years for them to clear from the nasty court battle that ensued. Ultimately they were purchased by an individual in the USA and because they were deemed to be Pre-Embargo, they are legal to own in the U.S. In 1978 and then again in 1982 they were put up at auction in NY and Las Vegas.

I have been pretty lucky in smoking these old sticks so far (one was pretty good, and one was just VERY average), so we will see if my luck runs out…

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

• Cigar Reviewed: Farach Farachitos
• Country of Origin: Cuba
• Wrapper: Cuba
• Binder: Cuba
• Filler: Cuba
• Size: 3 1/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 34
• Vitola: Perfecto-ish
  
• Est. Price: Varies Wildly
• Date Produced: Mid 1950′s

As I said, the most striking thing about this cigar is the small size, and the fact that it is a Perfecto to boot…the band is great (very old school, obviously)…the wrapper is totally odorless, and is extremely rough (almost like sandpaper)…interestingly enough, the wrapper is fairly dark, and the construction seems to be spot on, even though the cigar is VERY brittle when squeezed…

The predraw was musky and dry, as I expected…but there was a flavor I had never tasted before in a cigar, and I spent quite a while trying to pinpoint it, without much success…I hoped that I would have more luck when I lit it up (and was not disappointed)…

After lighting the stick, I did not get any pepper or spice, but instead, that unnamed flavor from the predraw was back, but with a vengeance…It was overwhelming any other flavors that could be there, and I finally put my finger on it…it tasted kinda what I would imagine smoking a old rolled up newspaper would taste like…Not TOTALLY unpleasant, if only because I had never tasted it before, but I knew it could get VERY annoying if I did not start getting some other flavors…

The Second Third started much the same as the first, no pepper or spice, but with that same rolled up (old) newspaper taste…however, I also tasted just a hint of a woodish flavor (most likely cedar)…but it was WAAAAAAAY in the background, there and gone almost before I knew it…The newspaper flavor was starting to turn nasty, and I could tell that it was not going to get much better…

And I was right…as the Last Third started, there was bit of pepper, but the taste turned bitter and sour…almost to the point of being unsmokable, but I muddled through to the (ahem) bitter end somehow…It was NOT a pleasant experience, and I shudder just thinking about it at the moment…

Final Notes:

• Despite the horrible ending to this cigar, I have to admit the burn and draw was amazing…in fact, all of the Vintage smokes I have tried have been that way, and I find that very interesting indeed…
• The cigar was so small, I felt like I was smoking a joint the whole time…
• Final smoking time was 35 minutes, and I was taking A LOT of breaks from it…

The Bottom Line: When I Floated the idea of doing a “Vintage Smokes” section on the website, some of the people I asked about it warned me there would be days like this, where the smoke I was reviewing was just almost the nastiest thing you could imagine, either due to having been stored improperly at some point in it’s life, or just being a bad stick in general…I have been lucky with my choices so far, but this was just horrible…the flavors were not bad to begin with, but turned into something so much worse…Imagine licking an old person, and that is the closest to the flavor I was left with after smoking this entire stick…