Recon Cigar

[oooo35980]

http://www.reconcigars.com/

So my local B&M got some of these in, the owner highly recommended it, telling me "I thought it was just a gimmick but they're actually pretty good.". Now a lot of the cigars he's suggested to me ended up tasting like wet dog, but I figured what the hell.

After you get it out of the bullet shaped tubo it's basically just a cigar with some camo shaped cutout leaves glued to it.

First off the thing has a strange unnatural sheen, like it had been shellacked or something. I used my giant brain to deduce that they probably go over the thing with pectin or whatever after they glue the stupid leaves on to make it look camo. Maybe so they don't flake off at the corners?

The second thing I noticed is the insanely tight draw, it wasn't plugged just rolled really, really tight. After I cut it I didn't light it for a couple days thinking if I left it out to dry a bit it would loosen up, it didn't.

The pre-light had no wet cardboard taste, which is a good start when you get a cigar recommended by this guy, unfortunately once I lit it there wasn't a whole lot of flavor. It was medium strength and completely unoffensive, not a dog rocket at all just meh. Actually a pretty decent smoke, I gave up on it after a couple inches because the tight draw was making a vein pop in my forehead and I was getting a headache, if it had been more comfortable to smoke I would have finished it.

It wasn't terrible at all, not something to be avoided like the plague, maybe even worth the 13 bucks if you want it for a novelty cigar and don't mind looking like a huge douche with a camo cigar hanging out of your mouth. Personally I wouldn't smoke this thing except in the comfort of my own home. I might even buy another to see if I get one that doesn't try to give me a migraine.

[lenguamor]

Thanks for the review, Isaiah. Pretty much what I expected from this gimmicky thing.

[Wharf Rat]

Thanks for taking one for the team

[Ranger_B]

Glad to finally see a review. Better than I had expected to see.

[kelmac07]

Originally Posted by Ranger_B

Glad to finally see a review. Better than I had expected to see.

Was thinking the same thing Frank.

[MadMac]

Thank you for this. I got some flak on the original post questioning these smokes when I quoted a website giving them praise and then disappeared, after I posted I lost the ability to internet, but that is neither here nor there.
This has satiated my desire to try these, as I have finally found a person to say what was needed to be said a long time ago - "These are okay, not great. If you are handed one, no need to throw it away, but don't go looking to spend $13 on one." to paraphrase. I appreciate the honesty.

[dwoodward]

Nice to see a real review, but it's hard to judge a cigar based on how tight it is, especially from 1 single cigar. Dare I say that the first 601 Blue I ever had was an extremely tight draw and ruined it for me, but I tried it again and loved it.

I'd like to see another review, cigars get plugged, it's just a matter of the business.

[Bondo 287]

"Recon" is also an industry term for reconstituted tobacco. The cigarette industry is very thrifty. It consists of "Second hand", rejected, returned or stale tobacco, scrap leafs, any extra filler from tobacco debris swept up off the floor or scraped off processing assemblies. It can contain grease, dust, paint, plastics, basically anything found in a vacuum cleaner bag. It is then loaded in large vats, chemicals are added like ammonia, dye, and ( unbelievably enough, fire retardant) and fermented like a tea. And finally the the resulting brown juice is sprayed on paper. The paper is then cut into shrivels. The finished product mimics the look of typical cigarette tobacco. 30% of the average cigarette is "recon" tobacco.

Why someone would try to market a cigar by naming it 'recon" after this garbage (non) tobacco is far beyond any wisdom of mine.