Guantanamera Cristales

Overall Score

1 review for Guantanamera Cristales

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    Cigar Inspector

    Guantanamera Cristales

    GuantanameraOrigin : Cuba
    Format : Corona
    Size : 150 x 16.27 mm
    Ring : 41
    Weight : 9.29 g
    Hand-Made
    Price : ~1.50€/piece

    Hardly even worth the price. Low quality construction and non-existing flavor are my impressions of the Guantanamera Cristales.

    Appearance : [rating:1/5]
    It seems to be carelessly wrapped and the wrapper itself is very rough with huge veins sticking out. The color of the wrapper is not regular.


    Construction : [rating:1.5/5]
    Very loosely constructed, the cigar is way too soft. Little pieces of tobacco leaves stay on the lips after each puff. Easy burn and even draw but very rare smoke.

    Guantanamera Cristales

    Flavor : [rating:2.5/5]
    In the beginning, the Guantanamera Cristales tasted like a huge cigarette, there was hardly any flavor except for the average quality tobacco smell. The same flavor remained all the way to the last third, where I was pleasantly surprised by a few earthy notes which however didn’t change my overall impression.

    Guantanamera Cristales

    Value : [rating:2/5]
    Do not fall for the price trap and get something better and slightly more expensive.

    Overall Rating : [rating:overall/5]
    Although some nice flavors appear in the last third, I can’t recommend the Guantanamera Cristales. Not only this cigar looks quite ugly, you will also have to fight with the construction problems.

    Helpful?
    0 0
    • brian kozak

      ill take a cristales over my normal padron any day of the week good cheap cigar ………..

    • double d

      What do you expect from a machine rolled, $1.50 cigar?

      Just invest a couple of dollars more and get yourself something nice to smoke. (Romeo y Julietta, partagas…)

      True, even the Peso Cigars you buy in Cuba for about 3 cents a stick are generally better quality, but still… don’t buy Guantanamera and expect Cohiba.

    • Andrew

      Bought a box of hand rolled from cuba, which were much better than the machine rolled export. They had some flavor and burned great.
      These cigars got me in to cigars.

      Yes, its a light smoke but I think its a good place to start if you never had a cigar before.

      Thought it was a great cigar until I got introduced to better cigars, I still keep some around for my non cigar friends that love them and don’t normally smoke cigars.

      Imagine learning how to smoke and light a cigar on a cohiba, why not learn on a cheap stick first? something to think about.

    • el surco

      The box is now a dark brown and the cigars are much improved.On my last trip to Cuba,Cubana was selling boxes of 5 on the plane for 10$and I decided to try a box.Glad I did.

    • Philoveritas

      I smoked one of these a few months back bought in Cuba and found it too mild for my taste but flavourful in it’s own right. Bought some at the local shop in Canada not quite as good. They keep the choice product for sale in Cuba, but the export stock is inferior.

    • H H

      Worst cuban i ever tasted stay away from the whole brand.

    • jag-z

      *I was really glad to see the 3 reviews earlier that gave SOME credence to this smoke. For the price and the fact that it IS 100% Cuban tobacco, I don’t mind fighting the rough construction & so on. And it IS flavorful.

    • meneer

      OK,they are cheap,but neither cubans smoke this kind of garbage

    • lir

      These stogies are garbage. I had a couple of them when I visited Cuba, and they were worse than Peso Cigars. (Peso Cigars are only sold to Cubans 1 peso = 1 dollar = 24 cigars). The funny part was that the women that worked at the store in the resort never gave me the same price twice. Once it was 1 peso, than 2 pesos, and once they asked for five pesos… damned commies…

    • Glynn Quelch

      yup naff isnt the word. if you want a cheaper cuban go for Qunitero or Jose Piedra. not work the £5+ price tag (and im a retailer who sells these)

    • coldor

      Well guys the ones i smoked and bought in Cuba were full of flavour and well made, the ones bought since returning vary in quality immensely. Get them from Cuba they are the best quality.

    • Merc

      A close relative gave me a box of these as a gift and are not as bad as some of you here have mentioned. Sure they don’t compare to Cohiba’s or Montecristo’s, but still worth smoking. As the reviewer mentioned here, the construction is not that good but only because they’re machine made, not hand made. Considering this brand is the lowest of habanos, speaks well for cuban cigars.

    • Caligo

      i really wanted to try one, and i was really hoping that at least a lill of good scents would come out… it was absolutely outrageous, no taste at all, actually there was a little but just at the really end of it. the burn was uneven, the construction couldn’t be ugliest… but i should have expected that for that price.

      @Spud: it gave me headache too :O

    • Spud

      I smoke one these at a friend’s party last week and it was very bad. It was flavourless and was very light weight. It didn’t feel like a cigar at all. I also got a wicked headache from puffing it.

    • k0mmissar

      I bought a box of these, 10, on a flight from Australia to Europe (I was bored, ok!!) Sadly, I didn’t see them until we had landed, and I wish i could have had my money back. Even in the box, I was horrified. I had a third of one and chuffed the box into the bin. I wouldn’t even gift my worst foe with these, I think they are soely for speeding your demise!

    • phathungarian

      I would have to agree with most of you. A lower quality cigar with really no flavor at all. I had a box of 10 crystales and I smoked them while walking my dogs and even that wasn’t much fun. It is not a cigar I would buy again, regardless of the price. In Cuba they really pushing this brand, ads for it are found everywhere. I think it’s a newer brand of cigar. Regardless, not much of anything.

    • Alexandre Mello

      I got one of these as a gift from a well-intentioned friend at work. I have to agree 100% with the reviewer. Lousy construction (worse than anything else I have seen, in fact), stuffed with less tobacco than it should (loose draw, gets too hot easily and produces smoke that seems to come from the sunday newspapers burning), with a frightening appearance (a cigar should at least look like a straight stick). Be good to your taste: if you want to smoke a true Habano, put a little more money on the counter and grab yourself a Partagas Mille Fleur or a RyJ Coronitas en Cedro. Won’t hurt your pocket that much and your senses will be greatly rewarded.

    • arl

      Appearance: does not matter much, but was better than mentioned here.

      Construction: had no little pieces of tobacco. But did not like the fact it was cut.

      Flavor: first half was very light and does not even taste good, second half gave good strong Cuban taste – which is naturally better than _any_ American non-Cuban cigar has. And this beast has lots of nicotine – which is nice.

      Value: 3-4e, is decent. for value 8 out of 10 for this. (FYI: Rafael Gonzales Panetelas cost here around 5e, and is a better choice).

      I will definitely buy this cigar again.

      //arl

    • Messerjocke

      For the price of the cristales, you can get cigars from J.L. Piedra. Shortfillers as well, but at least the Piedras offer a nice taste.

      >Messerjocke

    • Fumeur

      The cigar that I was once offered was even uglier than the one you had, mate! 🙂 The flavor was just absent.

    • creekend (UK)

      100% correct, these are sold in the UK at much higher prices than any self respecting american would pay and are still rubbish.

      spot on review – thanks

      • Chris

        I have purchased these cigars on a regular basis. The thing I hate about these is that more often than not they are not loosely tolled. They are rolled too tight and you can’t even get a draw. It like their plugged. For the regular price they are a rip off. Good thing o get them at a reduced cost or I wouldn’t waste my time with them. I find nicaraguan much better and they are hand wrapped.

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Cigar Region Cuba
Filler Cuban
Wrapper Cuba
Binder Cuba
Length 5 7/8
Ring Gauge 41
Vitola Cristales
Construction Hand Made