In 1995, General Cigar Co. released the Partagas 150 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Partagas brand. The cigar sported a 18-year-old Cameroon wrapper at the time, which means it is now 33-years-old.

The vitolas of the Partagas 150 were:

  • Partagas 150 A (6 3/4 x 43)
  • Partagas 150 B (6 1/2 x 47)
  • Partagas 150 C (5 1/2 x 49)
  • Partagas 150 Don Ramon (7 x 52)
  • Partagas 150 Robusto (4 1/2 x 49)
  • Partagas 150 AA (7 1/2 x 49)
  • Partagas 150 D (5 x 38)

Only 1 million of these cigars were rolled, with the largest production of the range the Partagas A, 300,000 cigars, and the smallest number produced is the Don Ramon, 10,000 made. They are exceedingly difficult to get a hold of, and when you do find them, they are fairly expensive.

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  • Cigar Reviewed: Partagas 150 C
  • Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
  • Factory: Menendez y Garcia
  • Wrapper: Cameroon
  • Binder: Mexican
  • Filler: Dominican & Mexican
  • Size: 5 1/2 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 49
  • Vitola: Robusto Extra
  • Est. Price: Varies Widely
  • Release Date: 1995
  • Number of Cigars Released: 1,000,000 Total Cigars
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 2

The vitola I am reviewing today is the Partagas 150 C, a 5 1/2 x 49 corona gorda. The cigar looks old with a very rough wrapper that is a marbled red-brown. The wrapper has very little scent to it, which does not surprise me, and seems to be quite thin, and that makes me wonder a bit about what is coming.

I decide to cut instead of punch, mostly due to the thinness of the wrapper, and I am glad I did, since when I do, the cap decided to literally disintegrate on me. The construction seems to be good, and the pre-light draw is interesting with a faint taste of aged tobacco and oak flavors.

The cigar lights fairly easily, and the first few puffs are filled with a bit of spice—tiny amount really, but still there—and that same oak flavor from the pre-light draw, a very wood flavor that equates to a boring start.

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About a third of the way through the cigar and the first ash happened before I could take a photo of it. That same aged woody tobacco flavor, now more oak, is still quite dominant, in fact, I don’t really taste much of anything else, not much pepper. The draw is excellent so far and the burn is very good as well.

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This seems to be fairly fast burning stick. I hate to sound like a broken record, but there is not much change in the flavors coming from this cigar. Aged oak is how I can best describe it, like I am smoking an oak barrel that has been sitting in a barn for decades, very little pepper or spice as well. One interesting thing is that the ash is fairly flaky and is a yellow-white that does not seem to stay on the cigar for more than half an inch at a time.

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To-thirds through and this cigar shows no sign of picking up. The burn is starting to wander a bit and the flavor has gone from aged oak to a bit more like bitter oak. Interestingly, I am noticing just a bit more pepper and a very faint floral note that I really wish would develop a bit more.

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At the end, the bitter, bitter end and there has been no change whatsoever, in any appreciable way at least, for the entire stick. It has started to get hot and as noted, quite a bit more bitter at the end.

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68 Overall Score

What can I say that has not already been mentioned? After smoking two of these, including the larger Partagas 150 B (6 1/2 x 47), I can honestly say that this cigar is a prime example of what an over the hill cigar tastes like. These were never strong cigars, even when first released, and I guess they were so mild that age leeched all the remaining flavor out of them.
I was seriously considering breaking it open and eating the tobacco to find any flavor other than the old oak that I was getting. Combine that with the fragile wrapper, which split on me in the last third, and the bitter ending—this cigar is really not even worth considering, even as a yard gar. I have tasted $2 cigars that are better and have more flavor than the current state of Partagas 150 and I recommend you not even consider wasting your time or money on these.

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Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.