Cult Blood Red Moon Mini Corona (4 3/4 x 42)

Video review HERE.



Over the past several weeks I have reviewed the various Cult Cigars and I've been very impressed with all of them. Today I am reviewing the Blood Red Moon mini corona. This is a small ring cigar that comes in 5 packs. The picture above is the back of the Blood Red Moon pack.

The cigar is nice looking and a medium brown in color. Being a short cigar it is nicely designed for a fairly short smoke.

The cigar consists of:

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Premium Long Filler: Nicaraguan


Here is a shot of the foot:

 

 

 

 

 

The test draw after cutting the cap was very good with a touch of firmness. The initial flavors were dry cedar, sweet orange citrus, nutmeg, and dry oak notes. The pepper is pretty good at a 7 or 8 rating. The finish is one of a cream with some sweetness and nice lingering pepper.

 

 

 

About 1 inch in the burn is almost perfect. The nutmeg notes are very prominent now. The cedar notes have decreased but the citrus notes are still around, as well as the oak notes. The finish is a thick, long cream. The pepper is very good on both ends. I would call the cigar medium bodied but appears to be working it's way toward medium to full.

Just a bit further I noticed there are now cream notes on the back end of the nutmeg. They have taken the place of the cedar and citrus for the most part. The cream gives a smooth flavor finish on the front end. The actual finish is about the same, as well as the pepper intensity.










With about 1 1/2 inches remaining the nutmeg is still prominent. There are subtle cedar notes to go along with the cream. The oak is back and it's charred. The cigar seems to be somewhere between medium and medium to full. The cigar does not have a great deal of sweetness.

Here at the end the cedar made a resurgence. The nutmeg and cedar combine nicely. The cream notes have dissipated. The charred oak also made a tick upward. The finish, strength, and pepper remained the same. I wish the cigar had a little more sweetness. If it did it would be unstoppable! However, the flavor combination was very good and I enjoyed the cigar a lot. I am hopeful that my local shops will consider carrying this cigar. I think it would do very well. Again, I have been very impressed with the entire Cult line.

Score: 89

 

Martin Family Limited Edition 2013 (6x54)

 

 

 

 

Video review HERE.

 

 

This blend from Martin Family of Cigars was actually developed 10 years ago by the master blender himself, Pedro Martin. Not much is known about this cigar but it uses a vintage aged seven year wrapper. I suspect it is all Nicaraguan. The cigar is box pressed and very limited in production. Each box is numbered. Only 500 cigars are made due to the limited amount of wrapper. They were scheduled to be in shops in mid-April so they should be on shelves now.

 

 

As you can see this cigar is unbanded. The cigars that will appear in shops will have a band and I believe it will look like this:

 

 

 

The cigar is a dark brown and well made. It had a nice feel in the hand and was quite dense.

 

The test draw after cutting the cap was effortless. The initial flavors were a very light, sweet, citrus/cedar combination with pepper at about a 7 or 7 1/2.




About 3/4 inch in the flavors are a cocoa/cedar combination with light earth notes. The pepper remains very good. The finish is a sweet cream with cedar notes with some lingering pepper. At this point the cigar is medium bodied.

About 1 1/2 inch in the cedar has a charred taste. The cocoa is still nice. The combination of the two is starting to show signs of richness. The earth notes are subtle and are noticed at the end of the spice. The finish is more of a toasted cream with light cedar notes. The cigar is still medium bodied.




About 2/3 the way in the cedar notes are now dry. They are still charred and combine nicely with the thick cocoa flavor. The two are about a 50/50 split. The richness is not there anymore but the cigar still has a subtle sweetness. The cigar is now medium to full bodied and is burning nicely.

Here at the end the flavors stayed consistent. This cigar is full of cocoa notes and they combine nicely with the dry, charred cedar. The cigar has some sweetness but it's not overly sweet. The finish is long and pleasing with the toasted cream notes. The pepper has been very good on both ends. These cigars are very limited and if you can find them you should buy them quickly as they will not be around long!

Score: 92

MOYA RUIZ CIGARS IS ADDING A 6 x 60 VITOLA TO LA JUGADA - PRIETO LINE

May 17, 2013 (Miami, FL) - Moya Ruiz Cigars has announced they are adding a 6 x 60 vitola called Ancho to their La Jugada - Prieto line. The line is available in five sizes, Robusto (5 x 52), Belicoso (6-1/8 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), Doble Corona (7-1/2x49), and now Ancho (6 x 60).

The Ancho vitola is now available and ready to ship to retailers. It is presented in boxes of 20 cigars with an MSRP of $8.80 a cigar.

Moya Ruiz Cigars introduced their first cigar brand in late 2012 called La Jugada - Prieto, which is Spanish for “the move” or “the play”. This was an ode to their love for dominoes and poker. La Jugada - Prieto is med-to-full bodied and comes in a dark San Andres Maduro wrapper with binder and filler from Nicaragua. The La Jugada - Prieto is full of complex flavors like, cedar, sweet spice, expresso, and dark chocolate. This is one of the first side lines blended and rolled at Erik Espinosa’s La Zona Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. Danny Moya and Nelson Ruiz are the men behind the Moya Ruiz Cigar company. For more information visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/moyaruizcigars

LA GLORIA CUBANA TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST NICARAGUAN CIGARS

La Gloria Cubana® is making a bold departure from its Dominican roots with the launch of two new Nicaraguan collections, the first-ever La Glorias to have Nicaragua as the country of origin. Both expressions will mark the expansion of the top-selling Serie R line which started the large ring, full flavor craze back in 1999.

According to Michael Giannini, General Cigar’s director of innovation, “When Serie R debuted, we established a market for bold cigars, and inspired other manufacturers to follow suit. We’re shaking things up again, by further expanding the size and flavor spectrum of our cigars with two unique and different full-flavored Nicaraguan blends, each in ultra-large ring gauges. Both new collections are trend setters in the making.”

The first of the two new Nicaraguan collections is a puro called Serie R Black. The blend features viso leaves from Jalapa and Esteli, and a Jalapa viso binder. The use of Jalapa viso as a binder and in the blend speaks to the spectacular characteristics of this tobacco, which was cultivated by a small, independent grower named Pedro Joaquin Guardian. It was Pedro who took a bold step by raising the tobacco on several small, unconnected plots on the craggy Jalapa mountainside. The blend is punctuated with an audacious Jalapa ligero wrapper. Harvested from the 2009 crop, this flavorful tobacco was fermented for an entire year, and aged for two and a half years.

Serie R Black debuts with a trio of brawny frontmarks, each in 18-count boxes. This includes: No 58 (6.87” x 58, SRP $6.99); No 60 (6” x 60, SRP $7.24) and No 64 (6.25” x 64, SRP $7.49). This collection will only be available for purchase through Internet/catalog retailers.

Initial details about the second Serie R offering will be released in June, with a full reveal in July at the IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas. This new line will be a brick and mortar exclusive.

Giannini noted, “What’s also significant about both new blends is that they have the full flavor that’s characteristic of Nicaraguan tobacco, but they’re not about power. They are meant to deliver the smoking experience of a well-aged, refined and balanced Nicaraguan smoke, and we believe we’re delivering that in spades.”

About La Gloria Cubana

La Gloria Cubana cigars are produced by General Cigar Co. Inc., a division of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar’s skilled artisans produce Macanudo®, Cohiba®,  La Gloria Cubana, Punch®, CAO®, Partagas®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur® and several other leading premium brands in the company’s Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan factories. In addition, the company cultivates proprietary tobacco which is used exclusively in its blends. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide and also exports select products to 62 countries. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com.

® La Gloria Cubana, El Credito, Macanudo, Cohiba, Punch, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.

4/19 Robusto by Juanitos Cigarros (5 x 50)

Video review HERE.


Juanitos Cigarros is a boutique cigar company which makes their cigars in the Dominican Republic. They utilize tobaccos from various regions in the Caribbean. The owner, Juan Carlos Jimenez, makes his home in Beaufort, South Carolina.

A month before this year's S.C. Sit Down Juan paid me a visit at my office. He is a very nice guy with a great sense of humor. Juan was born in Cuba and left many years ago. He became interested in the cigar industry at the age of 5 when he took his first puff of a cigar. He fell in love with them immediately. In 1997 he founded Juanitos Cigarros which primarily makes private label cigars with many of them going to the European market.

Today's cigar is probably Juan's favorite. The numbers 4/19 signify the date he left Cuba. This cigar is comprised of:

Wrapper:  Connecticut Shade / Ecuador - Natural

Filler:  Blend of Four Aged Tobaccos: Cuban seed, Habano (Nicaragua / Honduras), Olor (Cibao Valley) & Ligero / Seco Piloto Cubano (Dominican Republic)

​

Binder:  de Olor / Dominican Republic 

 

The cigar is well made and has a nice density. 

The test draw after cutting the cap was effortless. The initial flavors were a sweet cedar with some nice cream notes. The pepper is at a 4 or 5 at this early stage. There is a touch of citrus which add some sweetness. The cigar is mild to medium at this point.




About 1 inch in the flavors now are a nice, sweet cedar/orange citrus combination. The sweetness is very thick but not rich at this point. There are also earth and a touch of coffee. The pepper has intensified to a 6. The finish is a toasted cream with oak notes. The cigar has also increased to medium bodied. The cigar is burning very evenly also.

With a couple inches remaining the cigar is very nice. From the 2 inch point until now the combination of sweet cedar and orange citrus kept increasing in intensity. There is a touch of richness now. In the place of the earth notes you now have a charred oak flavor. The cedar and citrus combination was so sweet and intense it tasted like a cherry syrup. This cigar must be smoked very slowly or will miss a lot of these flavors. The cigar is medium bodied and very enjoyable.

This cigar could easily be a great morning cigar for me. The sweet cedar/orange citrus notes remained very good. The lightly charred oak notes gave it a nice base. The finish remained consistent at a toasted cream with oak notes. The pepper remained at a 6 rating. This cigar took about one hour to smoke. I appreciate Juan sending this cigar for me to try. Obviously he took a lot of time to create this cigar. For inquiries about purchasing his cigars go to his website.

Score: 89

Room 101 Daruma Sucio (7 x 48)

Video review HERE.


The Room 101 site says this about the naming of the cigar:

We have named our latest series after the Daruma as he symbolizes resilience - a key ingredient to our success. Use your Daruma to set a goal of your own.

Daruma is named after daruma dolls which are modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen sect of Buddhism.

Daruma cigars were debuted at the 2012 IPCPR.

There are only 20,000 total cigars of each vitola released for a total of 100,000 cigars for Daruma in total.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Dominican and Honduran


The cigar is nicely made and a very dark brown. This cigar feels weighty in the hand and has a nice density.

 

 

 

The test draw after cutting the cap was effortless. The initial flavors were  a very sweet, rich cedar with oak undertones and quite a bit of pepper, which I rate a 7. I'm curious to see how this cigar progresses and changes.

 

 

 

 

About 3/4 inch in the flavors have not changed a lot but the cedar is so rich and sweet it seems to have cherry syrup mixed in with it. The oak notes are still there mixing nicely. The finish is a cream with oak notes with some lingering pepper. The finish is rather long. The cigar is medium bodied at this point.

A couple inches in the cherry notes have gone away but in their place are nice buttery notes with the secondary oak. The finish is about the same except for the addition of some of those buttery notes. The cigar is still medium bodied. This cigar is very different from the Namakubi.

About 2 1/2 inches left and the cigar has not made any major changes. The oak is now more pronounced and I'll describe it as a dry oak. The finish remains unchanged. Except for the elevated dry oak notes there are no other changes.

At the end the cigar did not change from the last report. It maintained that sweet, rich cedar with dry oak with nice buttery notes. The pepper remained at a 7 and the finish remained unchanged. Although this cigar did not make major changes it was very enjoyable. The combination of the cedar and oak was very nice. The cigar remained medium bodied and took about 2 hours to smoke. This was a very good cigar.

Score: 92

 

Altadis introduces SLR Gen 2

Introducing a Modern, Bold and Unique brand in the US Market: SLR Gen2 

Saint Luis Rey is one of the well-known and trusted heritage brands in the US Market. Originated in Cuba after WW2, and was named after the town of San Luis in the Vuelta Abajo tobacco growing region in Cuba - one of the best tobacco growing regions - where these cigars were originally rolled.

The brand has been in the US Market since 1982 and according to the recent consumer research that is conducted in January 2013, it is in the top 15 most recognized brands list. It is also one of Altadis USA's biggest potential brands, selling over 1 million cigars per year.


At Altadis USA, we wanted to build on that image and launch an innovative new concept with SLR Gen2 to attract a wide range of different consumers not only with the unique blend but also with the attractive price positioning.
 
The new SLR Gen² is available in three sizes which are in line with market trends: Robusto (54 x 4 ½"), Toro (54 x 6") and Titan (60 x 6") all in a 21 count box. The blend consists of a Dark Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Honduran & Nicaraguan filler.

Priced right at the sweet spot, very competitive in the US Market, $5.75 to $6.75.

This fuller bodied cigar also uses three year aged tobaccos exclusive to our cigar.

Easily identifiable with the use of double band from the other prestigious SLR brands that we offer.

Gen² is not just a new version of a classic. It is much more. It is the heritages of many generations of know how. It is the expression of wisdom and passion from some of the most expert craftsmen in the world as they bring forth a most sublime smoking experience. From our recent consumer research, we know that US Consumers are always looking to try something new; this was one of the aims of the launch - to offer something new, compelling and punchy to these targeted profile.

 
Gen² is a rare combination of quality, tradition, innovation and the passion of centuries expressed in a singular cigar.

There is only one formula for pleasure!

Quality + Passion + Innovation = Gen²

Passion Squared!

Ortega Wild Bunch Series; Dandy McCoy Empire State (6 x 54)

Video review HERE.


This is May's cigar of the month from Eddie Ortega's Wild Bunch Series. It is a box pressed maduro that looks like a huge piece of chocolate. There is no secret that I am partial to 54 ring cigars but since this one is box pressed it makes it even more appealing. The cigar is shiny and oily looking. You can easily make out the triple cap.

It also has a nice feel in the hand. It feels dense.

The test draw after cutting the dense triple cap was effortless. The initial flavors at light up were cocoa and coffee notes. The pepper was very intense and it tasted like red pepper, which I rated at a 7. There are also citrus notes to go along with the cocoa and coffee. The cigar feels medium to full bodied right away. The finish is a nice sweet cream with some lingering pepper. This cigar is reminiscent of other Ortega maduros.

About an inch in the flavors are very pronounced. The cocoa has some sweetness and the coffee now seems more like espresso. The pepper continues to be very good. The finish is very nice. It is one of a thick cream with some sweetness. The pepper seems to be lingering a little more nicely now. The cocoa is very nice in this cigar. The cigar now seems medium bodied but I expect that to change.

About 2 inches in there are now some cedar notes  creeping in to combine with the cocoa. The espresso notes have toned down to straight black coffee. The finish is still very nice. The cigar is now more medium to full bodied. The burn is nearly perfect.

As the cigar wound down the flavors were consistent with the last report with the exception of some added charred oak notes. I really liked the cocoa and cedar notes with sweetness. The coffee gave it a nice base. The finish was exceptional. I really liked the long, sweet, thick cream finish. The cigar hit the full bodied point about 2 inches before the end. The burn was laser perfect through the whole cigar. Maduro lovers should snatch these up as quickly as you can once they debut in May. Very good cigar. It took about 1 1/2 hours to smoke.

Score: 92

Ortega Wild Bunch Series; Tony the Boss Enforcer (7 1/2 x 49)

Video review HERE.



This is Eddie Ortega's April cigar in The Wild Bunch Series.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan

These cigars, like all the Wild Bunch Series, are made in Esteli, Nicaragua.


The cigar looks very nice and it's a medium brown in color. Here is a shot of the foot.

 

 

 

 

The test draw was very good after cutting the cap. The initial flavors were a very tangy, sweet orange citrus with vanilla notes. There is a lot of black pepper which I rate an 8. There is some earth and coffee notes at the base. The pepper is very intense when you retro hale. The cigar had a nice start.

 

About 3/4 inch in the flavors settled down. The orange citrus now combines with nutmeg and some light tea notes. I found the tea notes to be very odd coming from an Ortega cigar. The finish is a cream with some citrus notes that give it some twang. There is also some nice lingering pepper. The pepper continues to be very good. The earth notes are still holding down the base. There are not any coffee notes anymore but in their place there are leather notes.

A couple inches in there are many more of the orange citrus notes combining with the nutmeg. The tea notes have dropped off. The earth and leather notes are holding down the base. The pepper continues to be very good. The finish is a toasted cream with some lingering pepper. The cigar is bouncing around a bit but none of the changes are bad. The cigar is medium to full bodied.

With about 3 inches left the cigar still has sweet orange citrus with underlying oak which combines nicely with the citrus. The leather and earth are subdued and you can get the full effect of the oak notes. The nutmeg seems to have dropped off and we're back to a nice orange citrus. The cigar is very close to full bodied at this point. I noticed the cigar is burning very quickly. At this point I'm about 40 minutes in.

At the end the flavors are very much like the previous segment with the exception of the oak which is now charred. The earth and leather are very subtle. The finish is still a cream but it changes from toasted to citrus notes. The cigar ended up medium to full bodied. The total burn time was about 1 hour 10 minutes, which is very fast for a 7 1/2 inch cigar. I really enjoyed this cigar especially with the sweetness on the orange citrus.

Score: 91