Review of Coffee Flavored Phillie Cigars

I found a new kind of cigarillo at my local smoke shop the other day and decided to give it a shot.

I was lured in by the price which was very reasonable and those lovely words that any smoker that isn't a millionaire always keeps his eyes open for. Buy 1 Get 1!

I will admit that I have always been a little reluctant to smoke cigarillos that are flavored. They usually are flavored with things that I just don't associate with the taste of smoke and I am not one to try just any old thing. The thought of smoking a strawberry or grape flavored cigarillo doesn't really do it for me.

On this day I when the Phillies Cigarillos Box caught my eye I was thrilled to see that it said Buy 1 Get 1, and Coffee flavored.

I don't think I'm the only man in the world that takes the joy of that first smoke of the morning with a hot cup of Joe, and I doubt that I am the only man that feels that one vice enhances the other.

At first I resisted, I looked around the shop to see what else was available.

I considered my regular Camel non-filters, and as always cringed at passing over almost 6.00 for a pack of smokes. I considered the generic non-filtered and again cringed at the thought of being dissatisfied and frustrated when I lit each one because they taste so bad.

I quickly did the math in my head.

Five cigarillos in a box, buy one get one, 2.50... Hmmm... that would mean that I could buy two boxes of these cigarillos, I would get four boxes, at 5 cigarillos a box, that's 20 cigarillos for less than 20 cigarettes.

As a man that appreciates quantity almost as much as quality, looking at one fat, long, tobacco filled cigarillo, compared to one stubby, skinny, tobacco filled Camel sealed the deal for me.

I expected harshness. I expected to be overpowered by coffee syrup that the end of the cigarillo had been dipped in. I was surprised when I didn't get either.

The drag was smooth with just a hint of coffee flavor that lingered after the exaltation. It was excellent in a word.

Now I am not one to judge a cigarillo by simply by the first impression. I have found that rarely do I actually smoke an entire cigarillo in one setting. And I have found that usually when you light them for the second or even the third time you discover a harshness that comes from simply relighting it. I suspect that as you draw the smoke from the lit end across all of the un smoked tobacco it actually strengthens the tobacco that hasn't been smoked. And I have found that the flavoring is usually concentrated at the beginning of the cigarillo as most cigarillos don't get completely smoked anyway.

I am pleased to report that although the cigarillo does get stronger on the second or third lighting it doesn't become over powering and the flavoring is consistent.

The single draw back to these or any cigarillo that I have ever smoked is that the second hand smoke is strong, unpleasant, and tends to linger. So if you choose to smoke these in your home or vehicle on a regular basis there will be a noticeable and quite possibly offensive smell that far exceeds regular cigarette smoke.

On a scale of one to ten I would rate these a solid 9 in the cheep cigarillo category.