November 16, 2009
Perdomo event, Weekend review; 11/13-14, 2009
I started out Friday night by attending the Perdomo cigar event at the Maduro Room. Jeff Godfrey, the rep for Perdomo, was on hand to talk about all things Perdomo. He was featuring the new Patriarch, a cigar that Nick made in honor of his father, Nicholas Perdomo, Sr. I've known Jeff for several years now and he's always helped us with our S. C. Sit Downs. Here's some pics from the night:
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Grady Marsh, Jeff Godfrey, me
(L-R) Randy Fabry, Jeff, Grady, Barret Leviner, Mike Falls
The only cigar I reviewed this weekend was smoked on Saturday. It was a:
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La Gloria Cubana Double Corona (7.75x49)
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A light brown cigar with nice construction. Starts out quite spicy with average amount of pepper. The spice is quite sweet. I found this pleasing. The finish is sweet vanilla. There were hints of almonds. I found the cigar to be medium bodied. The spice stayed good throughout. Nothing spectacular about this cigar but it was good.
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Score: 87
November 09, 2009
Weekend review; November 7th and 8th, 2009
This was an absolutely beautiful weekend. I took some time Sunday to begin painting my back porch deck. It was really in need of it. I didn't finish but I made a huge dent in it!
This weekend I'm reviewing 2 cigars officially, and one unofficially. By that I mean, I have a cigar that was given to me by my neighbor who is also a cigar lover. He said it was from a friend of his who recently returned from Cuba. Yes, I know what you're thinking. My neighbor gave me 2 cigars that his friend brought back. We'll take a look at one of them a little later.
Cigars reviewed this weekend:
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This weekend I'm reviewing 2 cigars officially, and one unofficially. By that I mean, I have a cigar that was given to me by my neighbor who is also a cigar lover. He said it was from a friend of his who recently returned from Cuba. Yes, I know what you're thinking. My neighbor gave me 2 cigars that his friend brought back. We'll take a look at one of them a little later.
Cigars reviewed this weekend:
- Punch Gran Puro Rancho
- Don Pepin Garcia JJ Series Belicoso
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Punch Gran Puro Rancho (5 1/2 x 54)
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Medium brown in color. Great draw. First draws were a sweet spice with cinnamon notes. Quite a bit of pepper in the spice which was especially noticed when blown threw the nose. The finish was long with sweet almond notes. Orange citrus noted. Very sweet, spicy cigar that reminds me of maple syrup! (weird, I know) Medium bodied. Very nice cigar.
Score: 93
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Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Don Pepin Garcia JJ Series Belicoso (5.7x52)
Beautiful medium brown cigar. Intense cinnamon spice with pepper. Finish is long with a combination of cinnamon and vanilla notes. The pepper lingers; love that. A touch of sweet grapefruit citrus in the spice. Hints of roasted almonds at midpoint. The cinnamon spice and pepper stays very strong throughout. This is a very, very good cigar.
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Score: 94
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Now, on to the mystery "Cuban" cigar...
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The story of people traveling to Cuba and bringing back cigars is not a new one. This is just such a story and although I appreciate any cigars that are given to me, the story raises red flags. It's just not that easy to travel to Cuba and bring back cigars. It can be done, however it's not easy. That being said let's look at one of these cigars that were brought back.
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The cigar is a churchill size, 7x47 or 48, and reminds me of a Romeo y Julietta churchill. In fact, the band is gold and very similar to the RyJ band. Here is a pic of the cigar:
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Upon close inspection I noticed that the cigar is triple capped. This is typical of all Cuban cigars. The cigar is darker than other RyJ churchills I have seen.
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Here is a close-up look at the band. All the band says is "Churchills" surrounded by "Cuba" on the left and "Habana" on the right.
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The cigar was a dark brown; much darker than other similar Cuban cigars, but that alone is not a deal breaker. The cigar was spicy with some pepper. Short finish. Dark almond notes. The cigar was not nearly as spicy or flavorful as other Cuban cigars I've had. This may very well be a Cuban made cigar with Cuban tobacco, but it does not appear to be a product of the main manufacturers in Cuba. There are people making cigars on the black market in Cuba because they know they'll sell; they're from CUBA! Most of these cigars are nothing close to the likes of a Bolivar, Partagas, or Montecristo.
The cigar was a dark brown; much darker than other similar Cuban cigars, but that alone is not a deal breaker. The cigar was spicy with some pepper. Short finish. Dark almond notes. The cigar was not nearly as spicy or flavorful as other Cuban cigars I've had. This may very well be a Cuban made cigar with Cuban tobacco, but it does not appear to be a product of the main manufacturers in Cuba. There are people making cigars on the black market in Cuba because they know they'll sell; they're from CUBA! Most of these cigars are nothing close to the likes of a Bolivar, Partagas, or Montecristo.
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I have one more that I'll let rest for a lot longer and give it a try. This one had several shortcomings. Again, thanks to my neighbor for the cigars but I feel I must be honest with what I found.
November 02, 2009
Oliva event/Weekend review, 10/30-11/1/09
The weekend started off with an Oliva event at the Maduro Room in Lexington. Mike Walters, rep for Oliva, was on hand to help with any Oliva questions and to offer advice. By the way, Mike says Nate Saab is doing very well. As many of you know Nate had a little rough patch he went through several months back. I'm very glad he's doing fine now!
Michael Falls, Larry Jones (center-Steve's father in law), Steve Miller (no, not the band guy!)
Front Desk
Great time, as usual, at the Maduro Room!
Grady and Mike
Grady, me, Mike
Michael Falls, Larry Jones (center-Steve's father in law), Steve Miller (no, not the band guy!)
Front Desk
Bar
Great time, as usual, at the Maduro Room!
The weekend reviews are next. This weekend I reviewed:
- Camacho 10th Anniversary torpedo
- Little Havana Overruns Lights no. 3
- Cusano Corojo '97 torpedo
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Camacho 10th Anniversary torpedo (6x54)
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The cigar started off with cinnamon notes and a ton of spice w/ black pepper. Roasted almonds were noted on the finish, which was long. The draw was effortless. This cigar does not change much. The spice stayed strong but the cinnamon notes dropped off a little. Full bodied.
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Price: $11-$12
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Score: 92
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Little Havana Overruns Lights no. 3 (7x52)
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I suggested these earlier last week when I received an email special from Holt's. These are made by Pepin so for me it was a no brainer. These have been sitting for only a few days so the full flavor may not be there yet. Nice construction and very dense feeling. Triple capped as are all Pepin cigars. Very spicy with vanilla, cinnamon, and citrus notes. Nice pepper noted. Definitely has all the typical Pepin characteristics. Tight ash, as you can see in the following pic:
At mid-point the vanilla/citrus spice is still good. Pepper on the spice is very nice. Wrapper had a couple problems in the last 1/3 but that could be attributed to the fact that they are almost right out of the package. Good cigar. Medium bodied.
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Price: $1.75 on recent special from Holt's.
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Score: 91
Cusano Corojo '97 torpedo (6x52)
A mix of almond and citrus flavors. The finish has light vanilla notes. The draw is very good. Burn is even. Fairly consistent. Good cigar.
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Price: $5.50-$6.25
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Score: 91
October 26, 2009
Weekend review; October 24th and 25th, 2009
This was a nice weekend. Saturday started off rainy but by midday it was sunny and getting warm. I even took time to paint the front porch in the mid-afternoon!
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I would like to give a special thanks to Jack Porter (Outfield Jack) for the 3 Pontillo maduro robusto's. He surprised me at the SC Sit Down no. 11 with some after seeing my plea on the blog a few weeks ago. Thanks again Jack. If anyone else has any feel free to contact me as I'm looking for more. I primarily want the original blend. Email me at ticotych@hotmail.com
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There was plenty of football on tv so when I finally settled down I decided to have a cigar that has been in my humidor for at least 5 years. I received it as a gift on one of my trips to Paradise Cigars in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was Nate Saab's former cigar shop. Nate, as you may know, now works for Oliva Cigars as a rep. Now, on to the reviews.
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
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Old Powder Keg torpedo (6x52)
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I know very little about this cigar and by searching the internet they appear to be made at a small factory in Connecticut. Go to http://www.cvtobacco.com/ . It seems like a nice place to visit if you're in the area. Smoke Magazine gave this cigar a 9.4 and called it a very full bodied smoke. If you care what I think I'll give you my opinion.
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The cigar is square pressed. It started off with decent spice with pepper. There were cinnamon notes. The finish is average with vanilla and almond notes. The flavors seemed to intensify after an inch, which was a good thing because it started off very light. It wound up being medium bodied at best. I knew nothing about this cigar when I smoked it so I had nothing to influence me. I found out about the company who made it and the Smoke Magazine info this morning before I wrote this post. There is nothing remarkable about the cigar. It's an average cigar; that's it.
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Score: 85
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
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After the lackluster review on Saturday I decided to go with something with a little more reputation.
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Ramone Allones Specially Selected (Habano)
[Box coded March, 2006] (4 3/4 x 50)
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A beautiful, light brown cigar that is very well constructed. It is ever so slightly square pressed. Extremely spicy with nice pepper initially. Heavy citrus notes w/ black coffee on the finish. Everyone knows I love citrus notes so it should not be a surprise that I love this cigar. Although this is a Cuban cigar it reminds me of a Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic in the non-Cuban category. The citrus spice was very intense after an inch. Full bodied. At midpoint the finish seemed to alternate between roasted almonds and black coffee. The draw was excellent. This cigar has been kept at 62% humidity which allows it to open up for a better draw. Great cigar.
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Score: 94
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I would like to give a special thanks to Jack Porter (Outfield Jack) for the 3 Pontillo maduro robusto's. He surprised me at the SC Sit Down no. 11 with some after seeing my plea on the blog a few weeks ago. Thanks again Jack. If anyone else has any feel free to contact me as I'm looking for more. I primarily want the original blend. Email me at ticotych@hotmail.com
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There was plenty of football on tv so when I finally settled down I decided to have a cigar that has been in my humidor for at least 5 years. I received it as a gift on one of my trips to Paradise Cigars in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was Nate Saab's former cigar shop. Nate, as you may know, now works for Oliva Cigars as a rep. Now, on to the reviews.
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
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Old Powder Keg torpedo (6x52)
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I know very little about this cigar and by searching the internet they appear to be made at a small factory in Connecticut. Go to http://www.cvtobacco.com/ . It seems like a nice place to visit if you're in the area. Smoke Magazine gave this cigar a 9.4 and called it a very full bodied smoke. If you care what I think I'll give you my opinion.
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The cigar is square pressed. It started off with decent spice with pepper. There were cinnamon notes. The finish is average with vanilla and almond notes. The flavors seemed to intensify after an inch, which was a good thing because it started off very light. It wound up being medium bodied at best. I knew nothing about this cigar when I smoked it so I had nothing to influence me. I found out about the company who made it and the Smoke Magazine info this morning before I wrote this post. There is nothing remarkable about the cigar. It's an average cigar; that's it.
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Score: 85
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
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After the lackluster review on Saturday I decided to go with something with a little more reputation.
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Ramone Allones Specially Selected (Habano)
[Box coded March, 2006] (4 3/4 x 50)
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A beautiful, light brown cigar that is very well constructed. It is ever so slightly square pressed. Extremely spicy with nice pepper initially. Heavy citrus notes w/ black coffee on the finish. Everyone knows I love citrus notes so it should not be a surprise that I love this cigar. Although this is a Cuban cigar it reminds me of a Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic in the non-Cuban category. The citrus spice was very intense after an inch. Full bodied. At midpoint the finish seemed to alternate between roasted almonds and black coffee. The draw was excellent. This cigar has been kept at 62% humidity which allows it to open up for a better draw. Great cigar..
Score: 94
October 19, 2009
South Carolina Sit Down no. 11
South Carolina Sit Down no. 11 is in the books. It won't take up much room in "the book" because the turnout was fairly typical of the fall event. We had 25 people attend but we had a great time. I would like to point out that John Perry, aka RebelJohn, and Eric Webster both drove in from Raleigh, North Carolina. Plus, Casey McBrayer drove down from Rutherfordton, North Carolina. That speaks volumes as to the commitment to the event. Everyone else was from close by.
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The reality that this could be the last Sit Down we hold due to the fact that Lexington County will enact the smoking ban on January 1st, 2010 began to set in as the afternoon wore on. I am hoping that we can still work something out. I'll know more as we approach the first of the year.
Altadis provided us with 2 boxes of Mi Dominicana churchills to hand out. I would like to thank them for their continued support.
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Now to the pics of the day. (I seemed to have caught people in some "interesting" poses!)
Matthew Elrod
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The reality that this could be the last Sit Down we hold due to the fact that Lexington County will enact the smoking ban on January 1st, 2010 began to set in as the afternoon wore on. I am hoping that we can still work something out. I'll know more as we approach the first of the year.
Altadis provided us with 2 boxes of Mi Dominicana churchills to hand out. I would like to thank them for their continued support.
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Now to the pics of the day. (I seemed to have caught people in some "interesting" poses!)
Yours truely
Matthew Elrod
Jack Porter and friend
Jim Turner
Eric Webster, Raleigh, NC
Brent Downing
Mark Lewis (what tha?)
Connie with Casey McBrayer of Ruthfordton, N.C.
Twig Gray
The Raleigh boys! John Perry and Eric Webster
Jim Massengale
Jim Turner
Eric Webster, Raleigh, NC
Brent Downing
Mark Lewis (what tha?)
Connie with Casey McBrayer of Ruthfordton, N.C.
Twig Gray
The Raleigh boys! John Perry and Eric Webster
Jim Massengale
Now we look forward to S.C. Sit Down no. 12, which is scheduled for April 17th, 2010. As I learn more about the smoking ban I will pass on the news here.
October 12, 2009
Weekend review; October 10th and 11th, 2009
The weekend started out nice with a trip to meet Rocky Patel at Lite Um Up Cigars. Rocky was in town to help with Tom's charity golf tournament for the Wounded Warrior Project. I dropped by Tom's shop and had a chance to meet Rocky just before they left to wash up after the golf tournament. I asked him about his new 1961 cigar and why it was named that way. He said it was the year he was born. Simple enough!
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Dark cigar. Sungrown wrapper but not a maduro. Very dense feeling cigar. It started off with nice spice with lots of pepper. The finish had nice vanilla notes. The cigar had sweet notes. The finish really lingers which I find very nice. The draw was good. There were subtle citrus notes. After an inch the cigar was medium to full bodied. The ash was tight. The burn became uneven at the 1 1/2" point. Had to touch it up as it would not self correct. After a couple inches the cigar settled into full bodied. The Nicaraguan filler was nice and gave it the subtle citrus tones. Nice cigar. Really enjoyed it.
Score: 92
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
First off, I want to make a plea for A. J. Pontillo to contact me. No one has heard from him in well over a year. His cigars were a huge hit and he disappeared at the height of his business. I had one of his original cigars Saturday afternoon; the Pontillo Maduro churchill (7 1/2 x 52). This is a fantastic maduro cigar, and unfortunately the last one I had in the humidor. This cigar has everything I look for in a great maduro cigar; spice, sweetness, and lots of pepper. It is medium bodied and works toward being full bodied. I have reviewed them previously and it is easily a 92+ cigar! If anyone has any of these please let me know as I would love to have more.
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Now, on to the other reviews.
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Oliva Cain maduro torpedo (6x52)
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(l-r) Tom Burns, me, Rocky Patel
(l-r) Tom Burns, me, Rocky Patel
I decided to try the new Rocky Patel 1961 toro while at the shop and made some notes about it to put in the review. Here is my review:
Rocky Patel 1961 toro (6x52)
Dark cigar. Sungrown wrapper but not a maduro. Very dense feeling cigar. It started off with nice spice with lots of pepper. The finish had nice vanilla notes. The cigar had sweet notes. The finish really lingers which I find very nice. The draw was good. There were subtle citrus notes. After an inch the cigar was medium to full bodied. The ash was tight. The burn became uneven at the 1 1/2" point. Had to touch it up as it would not self correct. After a couple inches the cigar settled into full bodied. The Nicaraguan filler was nice and gave it the subtle citrus tones. Nice cigar. Really enjoyed it.
Score: 92
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
First off, I want to make a plea for A. J. Pontillo to contact me. No one has heard from him in well over a year. His cigars were a huge hit and he disappeared at the height of his business. I had one of his original cigars Saturday afternoon; the Pontillo Maduro churchill (7 1/2 x 52). This is a fantastic maduro cigar, and unfortunately the last one I had in the humidor. This cigar has everything I look for in a great maduro cigar; spice, sweetness, and lots of pepper. It is medium bodied and works toward being full bodied. I have reviewed them previously and it is easily a 92+ cigar! If anyone has any of these please let me know as I would love to have more.
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Now, on to the other reviews.
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Oliva Cain maduro torpedo (6x52)
This is an extremely good looking cigar. It was very well made. It is very dark as you would expect from a maduro made by Oliva. The draw was tight. After lighting the cigar had good spice and decent pepper. There were notes of cinnamon and vanilla. The finish was long and much better than the habano version. There were vanilla notes on the finish. Caramel notes were noticed on the finish after a couple of inches. There was a nice maduro sweetness. Very even burn. The vanilla-caramel spice is very nice. The pepper notes are somewhat subtle but noticed. This is a medium to full bodied cigar. I found this to be a very good cigar with a very nice finish. It basically blows the habano version out of the water!
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Score: 93
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Cusano Sungrown churchill Habano LXI (7x50)
After cutting the draw was firm but not tight. It started off extremely spicy with cinnamon and black pepper. There were also citrus notes with some sweetness. The finish had vanilla notes with hints of caramel. At the midpoint the citrus notes came to the forefront. The pepper stayed consistent; not too much but a nice amount. This was a medium to full bodied cigar. The burn was very even throughout. The spice stayed very strong with sweet citrus notes. A very enjoyable cigar.
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Score: 93
October 05, 2009
Weekend review; October 4th, 2009, plus lunch for Jeremy
First off, we met at Connie's mom's house (otherwise known as the mother in law) for a late lunch in honor of Jeremy Yon who just got back from his third (I believe) tour of Iraq. Jeremy has done very well in the army but I'm sure he's seen enough of Iraq at this point. He'll head back to his base in Texas this week. But, while he was in town we had a lunch for him. Diane had her delicious prime rib and it was amazing! Jeremy's a "nut" and loves life! He plays hard while he's at home on leave. While we kid Jeremy a lot I cannot thank him enough for serving our country. If the army is full of guys like him we can definitely sleep easy at night.
We left Diane's house around 6:15 because Connie wanted to go by the cemetery to see Harvey's grave marker. Harvey (Connie's step father and Diane's husband) died April 3rd and the grave marker is just getting placed! I have no idea what took so long.
Rest in peace, Harvey.
Here's a pic of Jeremy in one of his "silent" moments!
Me, Jeremy, and Connie
We left Diane's house around 6:15 because Connie wanted to go by the cemetery to see Harvey's grave marker. Harvey (Connie's step father and Diane's husband) died April 3rd and the grave marker is just getting placed! I have no idea what took so long.
Rest in peace, Harvey.
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For this weekend's review I had a La Flor Dominica Double Ligero DL700 (6.5x60)
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A beautiful chocolate brown cigar. Very dense feeling. From the first the cigar had very spicy cinnamon with nice black pepper. This is a full bodied cigar. It would be a good idea to have eaten something before smoking this cigar. It's not harsh or overly strong but it does have double ligero and unlike some other cigars that say they are double ligero this one definitely is! The finish is long with peppery vanilla notes. The cigar does not change much; it stays very consistent. I highly recommend this cigar to any full bodied cigar lover.
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Score: 93
