Weekend review; December 4 and 5, 2010

The weekend started with a trip to the Tobacco Merchant for the Altadis event featuring their Romeo y Julieta Habana Reserve. Nice crowd when we were there. Here are a few pics from the event.

Dickson Wier, Altadis rep

Some of the Altadis product for sale

Dickson and me

Casey and Grier at the front counter

Bill Slicer, shop owner

Pics from the back lounge room

Connie and Mr. Bob

Nice time at the Tobacco Merchant. Good to see Dickson again.

Cold, dreary Saturday. I still had to get some leaves up but this should be the last, or very near the last time I have to do a major cleaning. I finished in time to watch the SEC Championship game between the University of South Carolina and Auburn. The game did not go USC's way but they still had a good season. They'll be playing in a bowl game and hopefully they will fare better.

Cigars reviewed this weekend are:

• Avo Heritage toro
• Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf toro
• H. Upmann Sungrown Magnum
• Don Diego Fuerte robusto

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Avo Heritage toro (6x50)

Nice looking, dark brown cigar that is fairly affordable especially for Avo standards. This cigar ran around $8. Not cheap, but most Avo's go for $10+. Started with a very rich spice consisting of sweet citrus, cinnamon, and vanilla with a very nice amount of black pepper. The finish was long with sweet almond notes and vanilla with some light citrus. The smoke is very rich and flavorful. The ash is very tight. The burn is very even. Medium bodied. From puff to puff the lead flavor in the spice changes from citrus to cinnamon with the rich vanilla coating the tongue. The burn is extremely even with this cigar. It never needed any touching up. Great cigar. Very rich in flavor. Fantastic spice with the perfect amount of pepper. This Avo cigar is a winner. Great cigar. Loved it!

Score: 94



Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf toro (6x54)

A box pressed cigar. Dark brown. A Nicaraguan cigar with Condega, Jalapa, and Esteli tobacco. Very peppery spice with rich cinnamon and citrus spice with sweet almond notes. The finish is long with vanilla notes with pepper. Another very rich cigar. There are a lot of rich almond notes in this cigar. The richness has a caramel-like flavor. Very rich cigar. The burn was very even and the draw was great. Like all great cigars the long, rich finish makes the cigar very enjoyable. Medium bodied. At the midpoint the rich almond spice takes the lead with the cinnamon and vanilla following behind. The citrus has greatly decreased at this point. The amount of pepper is perfect. These cigars run around $7.10 at my local shop. The cigar lost a little on the finish in the latter stages. Still, a very good cigar.

Score: 92 


2 very rich cigars this afternoon. The Avo was a tick better but both were very good cigars. I would gladly smoke either again.




Sunday, December 5, 2010

H. Upmann Sungrown Magnum (6x54)

New cigar from H. Upmann. It started with grapefruit spice with subtle almond tones. It had less than average amount of pepper. The draw was a bit firm. At the 1/3 point the spice improved with subtle sweet notes. The draw improved also. The finish is long with vanilla and raw almond notes. The sweetness on the grapefruit spice was a definite improvement. The cigar is medium bodied at best.

Score: 87



Don Diego Fuerte robusto (4 3/4x54)

Don Diego cigars are known for being mild so when they came out with one called Fuerte I was interested. Then when I learned that they were made by Omar Ortez I became more interested. These cigars have an Ecuadorian Cubano wrapper and a Nicaraguan binder with Dominican and Nicaraguan filler. It is a dark natural. In Spanish Fuerte means "strong", so let's see how this cigar stacks up.

The first draw was leather. It quickly changed to semi-sweet grapefruit, black coffee, and lots of black pepper. The finish is long with lightly sweet almond notes and citrus with creamy vanilla that tends to linger along with some black pepper. At this point I can say the cigar surprised me. I did not expect it to be this good. After an half inch there were some vanilla notes in the spice. The cigar is fairly full bodied. I like the citrus in this cigar. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Nicaraguan tobacco is great! The cigar did not change much. Nice cigar. I enjoyed it.

Score: 88


No reviews next weekend, we'll be on a winter cruise! I'll be visiting Graycliff cigar factory. Plenty of pics will follow! See you in two weeks!