Weekend review; March 27 & 28, 2010

The weather is really starting to get nice! Unfortunately along with the nice spring weather comes the pollen! It seems the pine pollen is the one that really messes with me! But...in about 3 weeks it's over. Then it's full speed ahead to summer!
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Cigars reviewed this weekend:

• Avo Domaine robusto
• Siglo Lilmited Reserve VI maduro
• Perdomo Grand Cru Habano churchill

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Avo Domaine robusto (5 1/8x50)

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The cigar started with an intense spice with cinnamon overtones. Subtle pepper. Faint hints of vanilla. The finish was fairly long with vanilla notes. Medium bodied. Nice flavor; not overpowering. The cigar has a richness in the spice. Good cigar.

Score: 88

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Siglo Limited Reserve VI maduro (6x54)

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Tangy spice with rich coffee notes and some pepper. Slight sweetness. Thick vanilla notes on the long finish. Medium bodied. Nice cigar but I wish it had more sweetness and pepper notes.

Score: 88
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Perdomo Grand Cru Habano churchill (7x50)

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This cigar starts off with fantastic citrus and cinnamon spice with great pepper! Rich flavor. The finish has a creamy vanilla flavor that is very long and satisfying. The citrus works well with the spice. At midpoint nothing had changed. In the latter stages the citrus notes become more prominent. Very good cigar.

Score: 92

Cigars 101: Cuban Cohiba EL 2008

A month or so ago I was given a few Cohiba EL (Edicion Limitada) 2008 cigars as a gift. As always, I am very appreciative to receive cigars. The cigars were very dark with impressive bands. The size is 6.5x54. The band had the raised embossed Cohiba lettering which looked very close to original. The construction of the cigars appeared to be very good. Unfortunately, after a quick check of the years Cohiba made EL cigars I learned that Cohiba did not make any EL's in 2008. The cigars came in a box that I did not get to examine closely. Since the cigars were a gift I don't have the heart to tell the gentleman the cigars are fake. Here is the band of the cigar. Please excuse the poor quality phone pics:

FYI, the only Cuban Cohiba EL cigars produced were:

• Piramides (torpedo), 2001
• Double corona, 2003
  Sublimes, 2004
• Piramides (re-release), 2006
  

In 2008 the only Cuban EL cigars produced were:

• Cuaba Piramides
• Montecristo Sublimes
• Partagas Seried D no. 5

Cohiba is the most counterfeited cigar in the world. I hope this helps everyone when you're traveling or get a cigar gifted to you. This may help you make a big money mistake if you're buying!

This concludes this session of Cigars 101.

Perdomo event, weekend review; 3/19-21, 2010

Jeff Godfrey of Perdomo Cigars was on hand Friday night promoting the new Grand Cru and Patriarch line of cigars. I have found these cigars to be very flavorful and have previously reviewed several of them, all receiving high marks!
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"Captain" Grier Mangum* was on hand with his faithful sidekick, Casey, to assist with all cigar purchases! By the way, Casey is a beer-ologist! You have a beer question? Just ask Casey!
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* Grier is not really a superhero, he just plays one on TV!
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Here Jeff helps a customer.

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Jeff and I at the front counter.

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Jordan and Mark

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Before I go any further I must announce that...
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THE TOBACCO MERCHANT NOW HAS 2 NEW SMOKE-EATERS!
A NEW ONE UPFRONT AND A NEW ONE IN THE BACK SITTING ROOM!
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This is very welcome news and everyone who has been asking for a smoke-eater in the back sitting room now has one! It works great too! I personally put it through a test Friday night! : )
Here it is!
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It is in the center of the ceiling. You can see it as soon as you walk in.
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The bar was hopping, as usual!

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Darryl Smalls, aka "da lawya"

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Mark relaxes in the backroom.

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Mr. Bob was on hand!

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Thomas!

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And of course, there was a Twig sighting!

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Now, on to the weekend reviews.
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I am reviewing 2 cigars this weekend, neither of which blew me away but both were good cigars.
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• H. Upmann Cabinet Seleccion robusto
• Gran H abano 3 Siglos churchill

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Saturday, March 20th 2010

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H. Upmann Cabinet Seleccion (5x52)

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A Connecticut wrapper. The filler and binder are Nicaraguan, which explains why I liked this cigar. Very dense feeling. The spice was a mix of citrus and vanilla notes. There was a decent amount of pepper. The finish had fairly sweet vanilla custard notes. (yes, really) I'd put this cigar at medium bodied. There were hints of almonds on the finish. Good cigar, not overpowering but good medium bodied flavor.

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Score: 88

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Sunday, March 21, 2010

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Gran Habano 3 Siglos churchill (7x50)

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Rich, vanilla/cinnamon spice with good pepper. All Gran Habano cigars that I've tried have a floral cinnamon spice and this one is no exception but it also has a richness that works well! The finish is long with raw almond notes. Very flavorful. Full bodied. After 1/3 the cigar settled into a rich cinnamon spice. The pepper is very balanced and not overpowering. I have a feeling this cigar would be better in a robusto size. Still, a good cigar as a churchill.

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Score: 89.

Finally, I want to pay tribute to a cigar friend that we lost this week. Chuck Vaughan-Lloyd passed away on Wednesday night of last week. He had just attended a cigar event with Charlie Ruffalo on Monday night. I got to meet Chuck on New Year's Day at Charlie's house in Rock Hill. Chuck was a very nice guy who was a true cigar-guy. Rest in peace, Chuck.

Weekend review; March 13 & 14, 2010

Today's reviews are about as opposite as you can get, both from a brand name point of view and a ratings score also. I am reviewing 2 cigars;

• Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Double Robusto
• La Herencia Cubana Oscuro Fuerte

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Saturday, March 13, 2010
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Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Double Robusto (5.7x52)
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This review will be quickly dismissed by Fuente lovers but all I'm doing is reporting the truth about this cigar. It started off spicy with subtle pepper. The spice is a heavy almond flavor with semi-sweet grapefruit notes. The finish was long with raw almond notes. Very faint hints of cinnamon were noted. It was medium bodied. For some reason this cigar didn't blow me away or leave me with the desire to smoke more of them. It was very different tasting and I have tried to describe the true taste but it didn't do it for me. I know many Fuente lovers will probably not agree but I sure didn't care for it too much.
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Score: 84
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Sunday, March 14, 2010
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La Herencia Cubana Oscuro Fuerte toro (6x50)
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Now we go from a world wide known name like Fuente to La Herencia Cubana, a fairly new cigar brand that is sold primarily, if not exclusively, by Cigars International and it's subsidiaries. This particular LHC cigar is a new one called Oscuro Fuerte. It is a very dark cigar. Oscuro's look like maduros but they aren't. This cigar, however, had a lot of traditional traits that a typical maduro has. It started off with sweet, heavy cinnamon and lots of black pepper! (this already had my full attention) There were subtle citrus notes in the spice. The finish is rather long with vanilla notes. This is a fairly full bodied cigar. The flavor stayed consistent throughout the smoke. I really, really enjoyed this cigar. I recommend trying a 5 pack. You can get them fairly cheap on cigarbid.com. Check them out.
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Score: 90

Weekend review; March 6 &7, 2010

Beautiful sunny weekend but the temps were a little cool. Highs in the 60's. The upcoming week looks even warmer! Spring is on the way.

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This weekend I reviewed 3 cigars and get ready for some surprising results!

The list of cigars reviewed is:

• Punch Uppercut Grand Corona
• Tatuaje' Havana VI (Red) Nobles (robusto)
• La Escepcion Edicion Limitada 2009 belicoso

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Saturday, March 6th, 2010

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Punch Upper Cut Grand Corona (6x45)

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The newest cigar from Punch. It's a Honduran made cigar with Nicaraguan fillers from Ometepe, and fertile island off the coast of Nicaragua. It was a fairly dark cigar. It started off with a peppery spice with cinnamon and almond notes. The draw was very good. The spice was quite intense and sweet! This was very nice!

The finish was very long with sweet, creamy vanilla notes Light citrus notes in the spice. Almond notes in the finish at midpoint but settles into the thick vanilla notes after a few seconds. Medium to full bodied. This cigar surprised me as I expected it to be fairly bland but I really enjoyed it! A must try for everyone who likes spicy cigars!

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Score: 92

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Tatuaje' Havana VI Nobles (5x50)

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As with any Pepin made cigar I expect something great so I looked forward to trying this version of the Tatuaje' cigars. It was a dark brown cigar that started off with cinnamon spice and pepper. The finish was long with semi-sweet almond notes. I kept waiting for more as the cigar smoked but it never happened. While this is a good cigar it greatly lacked any "pop" that is usually associated with Pepin-made cigars. At best this cigar is medium bodied and I would have it closer to mild than anything else. Decent cigar but I was disappointed in it.

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Score: 87

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La Escepcion Edicion Limitada Belicoso (5x54)

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Medium brown in color. It started off with a bitter citrus and almond spice with some pepper. Faint hints of almonds in the spice. The finish was long with vanilla notes. The bitterness lessened by midpoint but I feel the cigar would have been better with some sweet notes in the spice. This cigar never got above mild and the flavor never took off.

Score: 79

Maduro Room 3rd anniversary/weekend review

The Maduro Room celebrated it's 3rd anniversary Friday night (February 26, 2010) with a bar-b-que and 4 cigar reps on hand. Grady Marsh, owner of the Maduro Room has made quite an impression on the Lexington area. His shop is doing very well and he continues to have many cigar events throughout the year. This is the biggest event of the year and the attendance was outstanding.
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Grady Marsh, owner of The Maduro Room.

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All 4 cigar reps and me.

(L-R) Zev Kaminetsky, Camacho; Mike Walters, Oliva; me;

Steve Dickinson, Davidoff; Dickson Wier, Altadis
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Grady had a 100 lb. hog grilled in the parking lot. There was plenty of food for everyone who attended!

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Grady and his mom

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Dickson Wier helping a customer

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Mike Walters, Oliva

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Steve Dickinson, Davidoff

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Mr. Bob was there!

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Brent Downing

(he's really not as tall as he looks here)

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Dale Lovett

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George Scott

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Greg Dillinger

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Mitch Houston attacking the food!

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Thomas Martin

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More attendees...

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Zev helps a few customers

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We left before the 9pm raffle drawings but yesterday I received a call from Mike Falls at the Maduro Room telling me that I won a 5 pack of Avo's! Very cool!

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Congratulations on your 3rd anniversary Grady and here's to many more!

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Now, to the cigar I reviewed this weekend. There is only one and it was picked up at the event on Friday night.

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Sunday, February 28th, 2010

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Frank Llaneza 1961 Double Magnum (6 1/8 x 54)

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This is a very dark Nicaraguan cigar. Frank Llaneza was the President of Villazon in Honduras for years. Now he comes out with the 1961 which is in limited distribution. The cigar had a very dense feeling and was weighty in the hand. It started off with a very peppery cinnamon spice with vanilla notes mixed in. There were sweet notes and light citrus notes in the spice. The pepper lingers on the finish. Medium to full bodied. Very good draw and even burn. The ash was very tight. The sweet notes increase in the final third. A good cigar that should satisfy the fuller bodied cigar lovers. I enjoyed it but wasn't blown away.

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Score: 88