Weekend review-October 17, 2010

Another beautiful day in Irmo, SC! This is my "day after the Sit Down" review. I met some new people yesterday. Among them Allen Francis, who gave me 2 cigars to try. They were from a small shop in Little Havana, Miami. The shop is the Cuba Tobacco Cigar Company and the cigars were from the Pedro Bella collection. The one I am reviewing today is the barber pole torpedo. I am also reviewing the Cuba Aliados Miami.

Cigars reviewed:

• Pedro Bella Barber Pole torpedo
• Cuba Aliados Miami robusto

Pedro Bella Barber Pole torpedo (6 1/4x54)

This cigar utilizes a barber pole wrapper which always looks cool. The cigar started off with very nice sweet orange citrus spice with light roasted almond notes and lots of pepper. The finish was a sweet orange citrus with lingering pepper. The roasted almonds give the cigar depth and mix very well with the orange citrus. These cigars are made in The Cuba Tobacco Cigar Company; a small shop in Little Havana in Miami, Florida by a father and son team. Pedro Bella, Sr. and Jr. are in the shop and either could be rolling on a given day. Here is a video of the owner's and their shop. This cigar has a great flavor. I am a huge fan of citrus spice and this cigar does not disappoint. I do not know what type of tobacco this company uses but my guess would be Nicaraguan. The wrapper looks like a Habano and Connecticut shade barber pole. According to Allen these cigars run around $80 to $100 for a bundle of 25. If that's the case they are well worth it. The burn is even and the draw is good. The only negative I can say about the cigar is it is a little soft. I think it could be a little fuller packed, or bunched. But, would that compromise the flavor? The cigar is medium bodied. I nubbed the cigar and it stayed consistent throughout. A wonderful surprise of a cigar. Than you Allen for giving me the cigar. He also gave me another torpedo that has the Habano wrapper. I will review it later and hopefully it will be as good as this one.

Score: 91



Cuba Aliados Miami robusto (5x50)

I have wanted to try these cigars and luckily my friend, Sandi Turnipseed, sent one for the S.C. Sit Down yesterday that I picked up. I have read good things about these cigars so I want to see for myself how good they are. They use a Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers which make me optimistic.

The cigar started with sweet citrus notes with leather and raw almond notes with a nice amount of pepper. The finish was long with semi-sweet raw almonds. The burn is laser perfect and the draw is great. This cigar is actually quite similar to the Pedro Bella in many respects. It is more tightly bunched though. It looks like the good things I heard about this cigar were true. The sweet citrus spice is fantastic. After an inch or so the leather notes are gone. No big deal; the citrus, almonds and pepper are doing a nice job. The cigar is medium bodied. At the midpoint the cigar had much more sweetness on the finish and the pepper lingered. This is a very good cigar and as I said before, it is quite similar in flavor profile to the Pedro Bella but the sweetness of the citrus is a little lighter. For that reason I knocked it down a point.

Score: 90