Post Christmas review; 12/27/08

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Since it was a long weekend I had a chance to have many cigars. I am not reviewing everything I had but I must tell you about the PSD4 I had! It was part of the box I got from the LCDH in Roatan. Man, that cigar was amazing! Absolutely loved it! I only have them for special occasions; I'm trying to make them last!

Anyway...

Here's this weekend's reviewed cigars:

• Sol Cubano maduro churchill
• La Aurura 1495 Series churchill
• Joya de Nicaragua Antono 1970 Lancero
• Nub Habano 460
  

Sol Cubano maduro churchill (7x50)

An Oliva creation that is pretty much sold by Cigars International. It was nicely constructed with a few rough spots. Very dense feeling. Initial impressions: nice spice with maduro sweetness. It lacked any significant pepper, however. That's something I look for in a good maduro cigar. After a couple inches the pepper became a little more evident but not to the point I like. The burn is very even. The finish becomes fairly long at the halfway point. At the midpoint the cigar developes into a fairly good maduro cigar. The ash is nice and tight. A little more pepper would have helped to give this cigar a higher rating, but it's not bad for an inexpensive maduro. Check cigarbid for these. You can get them for around $9 - $11 per five-pack.

Score: 87

La Aurora 1495 Series churchill (7x50)

Nice looking cigar. Medium brown. Initial impression: great Cameroon flavor right from the start! Perfect amount of pepper and spice. Very good draw and burn. Midpoint was consistent. The great Cameroon flavor continued right to the end. Great cigar! I highly recommend this cigar if you want a great Cameroon! Expect to pay upwards of $10 or more per cigar at your local shop.

Score: 94

Joya de Nicaragua Antono' 1970 Lancero (7.5x38)

The lancero size is not my first choice in a cigar but I usually find these to be packed with the "meat" of the blend. This cigar is no exception. It has a pigtail cap. Nice looking, dark cigar. Initial impression: VERY peppery with great caramel overtones! Sweet spice. Sweet aftertaste. Long finish. A true, tasty full bodied cigar. I noticed notes of molasses. At the midpoint there were hints of citrus (believe it or not). Since this is a small ring cigar they obviously packed the "meat" into it. Really nothing bad to say about this cigar. It''s very inexpensive too. They run around $6 in local shops.

Score: 94

Nub Habano 460 (4x60)

Oliva's "gimmick" cigar. Very fat! Very dense! Slow burning. I got well over an hour smoking this cigar. Initial impression: very nice spice and pepper. The finish is long and sweet. Approaches full bodied. Really nice flavor. The ash is probably the tightest I've ever seen. I was afraid it would fall and wound up breaking it off at the 1 1/2 inch point! It was not anywhere near ready to fall off! The pepper on the back of my throat was nice. Really enjoyable cigar. Around $5 - $6 at the local shops. You can get them a little cheaper on cigarbid. I just won a 5 pack of the Habano torpedos for $17!

Score: 93

Finally, I am a member of an internet posting board called The Gunners Lair, http://www.thegunnerslair.com/ , and recently they had a contest, so I entered. Well, about a month ago I received a message that I had won; a Xikar cutter! Sweet! I love Xikar cutters. They are guaranteed for life! I've sent mine back before to be sharpened or replaced and each time they either sharpened the blades or sent a brand new cutter! It's really the last cutter you need to buy! The Gunners Lair is a board about guns, cigars, sports, etc. It's geared to guys and "guy things". Thanks to "Mikegunner" for putting on the contest! Here's a pic of the cutter I won:

Weekend review; December 20th and 21st, 2008

Less than a week until Christmas! Hope you're been good so Santa will bring you lots of "toys"!


Spent Saturday afternoon at the Maduro Room, http://www.maduroroom.com/ , and had a very rare cigar! This cigar is made by Lito Gomez for Capital City Cigars in Raleigh, NC. They are the only place that has it! It retails for $7 each. It is a cheroot; very thin ring gage and pointed at the end. The dimensions are approximately 5 1/2" x 30. Here is a picture of the cigar:





I clipped the very end of the cap. Initially the cigar had an incredible amount of spice and pepper. Rich caramel aftertaste. Citrus overtones. After smoking 1/3 of this cigar the strength was very apparent; FULL! I'd put this cigar at least on par with a Double Ligero Chisel, or stronger.



Since the tip is so small it tends to get stopped up with tar and dampness. The strength increases as you move into the final 1/3. This is a powerhouse of a cigar. You can contact Capital City Cigars to try them. Very good cigar with a fantastic aftertaste!


Score: 93

El Rey Del Los Habanos churchill (7x50)



Another cigar by Don Pepin Garcia. He refers to this as a mild cigar, but it's not. It is more medium, especially the churchill. Plenty of spice, pepper and citrus notes with some almond undertones. The pepper is quite heavy. Very nice. I've had the torpedo and toro versions of this cigar and they had more citrus notes than this cigar does. That being said, this is still a very good cigar. It's in my "Pepin rotation".


Score: 91

601 Red Torpedo (6.5x52)


Yet another Pepin-made cigar! (Yes, I like his cigars!) This one has a combination of leather, spice and pepper. Finish is long and sweet. The spice is very heavy. At the mid-point there are toasted almond notes! This cigar is made for EO Brands. A very good tasting cigar.


Score: 93

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

Weekend review; December 13th and 14th, 2008

Looks like Christmas everywhere you look! Only a little over a week away! I hope Santa brings everyone what they want this year!

Good group of cigars rated this weekend. They are:

• Casa Magna Colorado Belicoso
• Don Pepin Gacia Vegas Cubanas Generosos
• Rocky Patel 10th Anniversary robusto
• Oliva O Double Toro

Saturday, December 13, 2008

One of these days the trees will stop dropping leaves! My gosh, they're still falling! And I keep getting out there every Saturday to get them up! I'd rather be talking about cigars, so, here goes. I started the day with a...

Casa Magna Colorado Belicoso (6 1/4x54)


I got this cigar from The Tobacco Merchant on Bower Parkway in Columbia, SC. I had never heard of them before so I looked on the internet for info. Here's what I found:

The Casa Magna cigar is a collaboration between Fonseca's Manuel Quesada and good friend Nestor Plascencia. Made with all Nicaraguan tobacco in Nestor's factory, the medium-to-full body Casa Magna puro has a clean sweetness and toasty aroma with amazing depth and complexity, all wrapped in a special Ligero Cuban seed Colorado wrapper that is beautiful and oily.

Now, here's my opinion: It is a nice looking cigar with a nice band. The cigar is dense feeling; very heavy in the hand. After cutting, the draw was a bit firm but not too bad. It has a very nice looking, oily wrapper. Initially after lighting the cigar had a spicy taste with cinnamon overtones. Very subtle pepper noted. Finish is fairly long with sweet notes. It is medium bodied. The ash is tight. Price point is around $6 each. There were some caramel notes in the final third. An enjoyable cigar.

Score: 88



Don Pepin Garcia Cubanas Generosos (6x50)


This is one of DPG's earlier cigars. I have never tried one before and am excited to try it. One think I notice is it feels "lighter" than other DPG cigars I've had. Initial lightup was quite spicy with pepper. The classic Pepin tangerine flavor is noted but in a lesser amount. nice finish; somewhat floral and sweet. Leather noted. It's like someone took a 601 red and diluted it by 50%. If this were the first DPG cigar I ever had I'd really be impressed with it, however since my first DPG was the Blue series I'm not terribly impressed with this one. It is, however, a decent cigar; it just needs more of the Pepin-pop that I've gotten use to. This cigar is fairly mild. It would be great for someone who likes milder cigars. The flavors stay very consistent. I'm scoring this cigar with a good mark because it does have good flavor but if you look back at some of my other Pepin ratings you'll see that this cigar is rated much lower.

Score: 89



Sunday, December 14th, 2008

Rocky Patel 10th Anniversary robusto (5x50)

First time having this cigar for me. Quite spicy with nice pepper initially. The pepper notes are fairly light. There are also some caramel notes. The draw is very good. The finish is long. There is nothing spectacular about this cigar. It reminds me of many other so-so cigars. Good cigar but not great.

Score: 88



Oliva O Double Toro (6x60)


Big boy! Very dense cigar. Lots of tobacco in this cigar. Look at the pic of the foot:


Great spice initially with black pepper! Very nice! Caramel undertones. There are even some orange notes. The ash is very tight for such a large ring cigar. The burn was good too. The cigar is consistent throughout. This is a very enjoyable cigar with a nice balance of spice, pepper, and caramel/orange notes.

Score: 91

Weekend review; December 6th and 7th, 2008

Well, December is here! Close to the end of another year! Christmas is just around the corner! Great time to enjoy cigars! (but then again, any time is a great time for that!)


Cigars reviewed this weekend are:

• CAO LX2 Belicoso
• Reyes Classic Piramide No. 2

Saturday, December 6th, 2008


CAO LX2 Belicoso (7x56)



Newest edition from CAO. This cigar's name means Ligero X 2, or double ligero. I picked up this cigar from The Tobacco Merchant on Bower Parkway in Columbia. It's a nice looking, dark cigar. The cigar starts out with a nice peppery spice. Slightly sweet aftertaste. Hints of cinnamon. Also, there are hints of orange which are "similar" to the taste of Pepin's cigars, but don't get me wrong; these are no Pepin's! The finish is long. After smoking the cigar for one inch I find it very pleasing. I do not, however, sense a large amount of ligero in this cigar. With a name like "Double Ligero" I expected it to be very full bodied and potent! It's not. Compared to a true double ligero cigar like the LFD double's, this cigar falls far short! It has very nice flavor but don't buy it expecting to be blown away! Just past midpoint the flavors are still consistent; spice and pepper are still very heavy. The cigar stayed consistent to the end. Nice cigar.


Score: 91





Reyes Classic Piramide No. 2 (6.5x56)


I purchased this cigar at Lite Um Up Cigars in Northeast Columbia. It was rather leathery at light up. Spice quickly followed with slight hints of pepper. The finish is long. The amount of spice in this cigar is about 75% of that of other "spicy cigars". It's a little short on spice for me. At the midpoint the cigar is fairly unremarkable. The spice is still decent but the pepper seems to have faded. I think the problem with the cigar (in my opinion) is it's just too mild. This may be a good cigar for a beginner. The spice stayed decent to the end but the cigar lacks character. Very mild.


Score: 82





Although I've reviewed the 5 Vegas Miami cigars before I felt it was worth repeating how good these cigars are. They are another Don Pepin Garcia-made cigar and they are fantastic! I rated the torpedo a 94 awhile back and that may be a tad low! I had a toro today after the Reyes review and it was so tasty! Great cigars with all the Pepin flavors I love; tangy spice, pepper, and cinnamon. Cigars International has them, as well as Cigarbid.com. I highly recommend them.

Thanksgiving Weekend Review; November 27-30, 2008

Well, Thanksgiving is over and as I write this we're in the month of December, unofficially known as "goof off month". Count how many times you hear "see me after the first of the year" and you'll see what I mean. Everyone is getting ready for Christmas and hopefully for the right reason. On that note I'd like to thank Rev. Doug Graul for meeting up with me at the Maduro Room on Friday afternoon. We had a nice time smoking cigars while most of the city was out doing the "Black Friday" thing!

The cigars I had over this long weekend were quite numerous and most are not being reviewed here as they have been previously reviewed. Here is the list of newly reviewed cigars:

• Padilla Series '68 Robusto
• El Cobre Robusto
• La Herencia De Cuba (Black) Torpedo
• Padilla Habano Toro
• Camacho Select Toro
• Joya De Nicaragua Celebracion Consul
  

Padilla Series '68 Robusto (5x50)



Nice looking cigar. I have previously reviewed the torpedo but this is my first review of the robusto. I'm interested to see the difference, if any, between the two cigars.

There was heavy spice with rich caramel undertones initially. The cigar had a long, sweet finish. A touch of pepper was noted; not heavy but it adds a nice touch. The finish on this cigar is great! After each puff the flavor that remains is fantastic! The burn is very good. The draw is good. The burn got off a little during the last 1/3 but I touched it up and went on. This was a very enjoyable cigar.

Score: 93





El Cobre Robusto (5x50)



This is a cigar rolled by the Oliva family for family only, but there are a few places that are able to sell them. I was given this cigar by Steve, who works at the Maduro Room. His father in law works at a very popular cigar shop in North Carolina and the owner gets El Cobre's.


It is a very dark cigar. It had a great amount of spice with rich flavor. Maduro sweetness. It builds as it smokes. The finish is great with a sweet aftertaste. Full bodied. I compare it to other known Oliva cigars like this; take the Oliva O maduro and multiply it by 2 at least. This was a very nice cigar. Obviously there is more ligero in this cigar than other Oliva's, and it's very nice!!!! Thanks to Steve for giving me this cigar to try! I really liked it!

Score: 92



La Herencia De Cuba (Black) Torpedo (6.5x52)


I've reviewed the White label version of this cigar previously (on June 28th, 2008) http://tinytimblog.blogspot.com/search?q=La+Herencia+De+Cuba+cigars

I was, of course, interested to see how this version would stack up. Well, I found out and it wasn't a pretty site! The spice is below average with very little pepper. Very mild. The website describes this cigar as mild and they aren't kidding! The finish is very short. The previously reviewed cigar was very good and I rated it as such but this cigar falls far short. The spice in this cigar improved at the midpoint but it still is not up to my "par".

Score: 78



Padilla Habano Toro (6x52)

Leather flavor at light up. Quickly transitions to a tangy, peppery flavor. Very nice band on this cigar. It's too bad you can't smoke the band! (ha ha) Pepin and Padilla severed ties earlier this year and I feel this is Ernesto's attempt to duplicate DPG's tangy tangerine spice in his cigar but it falls short. The finish is nice. The spice kicks in at 1/2 way point.

Score: 86



Camacho Select Toro (5 7/8x52)


I picked up this cigar at S.C. Sit Down No. 9. I've been letting it sit since then. At light-up, there was a tremendous amount of spice and cinnamon flavor. Pepper comes out during the next few puffs. The finish is long. This is a nice cigar that stayed consistent throughout the smoke. Very enjoyable.

Score: 90



Joya De Nicaragua Celebracion Consul (4 1/2 x 52)


(no, your eyes aren't going bad; it's a blurry pic)
This cigar had very nice construction. Nice looking cigar. Initially it had lots of spice. There was pepper noted in the spice. The finish is very long right from the start. Very light caramel notes. The spice is great but the aftertaste (finish) is amazing. It has a nice sweet, light caramel flavor. The ash is tight. Medium bodied. Consistent.


Score: 91