New Man Cave cigars review

Tom Burns, owner of Lite Um Up Cigars (4435 Hard Scrabble Rd., Columbia, SC 29229) decided to take a crack at blending his own cigars so he took a trip to Honduras to visit the Rocky Patel factory. Tom spent quite a bit of time blending 4 different versions of his cigars. These blends are HIS and no one else's. He has a contract with Rocky Patel to produce these cigars to his blend specifications. He contacted me a week ago and asked if I'd like to sample them. Of course I said yes. I told Tom that I would give him my honest opinion and below is just that.


I will probably surprise Tom a little with my reviews but since tastes are personal and everyone is different I am posting my thoughts on his cigars.


When Tom gave me the cigars he briefly described them but didn't say too much. He described them as this:

• Corojo: Medium bodied
• Sumatra: Full bodied
• Habano: Mild to medium bodied
• Maduro: Medium to full bodied

He gave me 3 petite corona's and 1 toro size. His cigars have been selling so well that he actually ran out of the petite corona version of the Habano version. Ok, let's get to the reviews...





Saturday, August 29th, 2009

Man Cave Corojo petite corona (4.5x44)


The first puffs were quite spicey with cinnamon notes and nice amounts of pepper. The cigar produced a ton of smoke. The finish had nice vanilla notes. I'd call this a medium bodied cigar. This cigar did not change much as I smoked it.


Score: 90






Man Cave Sumatra petite corona (4.5x44)


Initially the cigar had nice spice with vanilla notes. The pepper was very nice. It really covers the palate. It's felt on the rar of the throat. The finish is very long and satisfying with heavy vanilla notes. This cigar is very rich with a slight leather note. At the 1/3 point the cinnamon notes appeared. The cigar started out medium bodied but moved toward the full bodied direction. A very good cigar.


Score: 92











Sunday, August 30, 2009

Man Cave Habano toro (6.5x50)


Citrus spice with lots of pepper is how this cigar started. Has a heavy grapefruit-like taste. As you may know, I'm a citrus spice fan so to me this is a nice tasting cigar. Also, since this is a bigger ring cigar I have to wonder what differece it may make with the previous 2 cigars. The burn was very even. This cigar also produced a ton of smoke. The finish is long with spicey vanilla notes. The pepper is quite heavy. This cigar reminds me a lot of a Pepin cigar. It has many of the same citrus-like characteristics. I thought this was a great cigar. Absolutely loved it. I'd say this is a medium bodied cigar but a mild cigar lover could handle it.


Score: 93





Man Cave Maduro petite corona (4.5x44)



This was a VERY dark cigar; pretty much black. Wow! First puffs were a powerful peppery spice with black coffee notes. Sweet maduro flavor noted. After 3/4" there were citrus notes! This was a surprise! The pepper toned down at midpoint. There were sweet notes mixed into the citrus spice. This is very different for your typical maduro cigar. Medium - full bodied. Very good cigar.


Score: 93




There you have it. My impressions of the 4 new Man Cave cigars. To summarize, I really liked them all. The Habano and Maduro took the highest ratings but I want to try the larger ring versions of the Corojo and Sumatra to see if the flavor profiles change with the larger ring. At any rate you should try Tom's cigars. He has definite winners with all of them. Thanks for letting me try them!

Scoring summary:
Corojo: 90 (medium)
Sumatra: 92 (medium to full)
Habano: 93 (medium)
Maduro: 93 (medium to full)

The cigars are priced starting at around $5.