GENERAL CIGAR PRESENTS 1907 BY DUNHILL

Four New Super Premium Sizes to Make Worldwide Debut

General Cigar announces the world premiere of 1907 by Dunhill®, a medium-bodied, four-cigar collection that will be available at fine cigar shops nationwide, and at premium tobacconists worldwide, beginning in May.

1907 by Dunhill marks the first full-time new Dunhill brand since its Signed Range was introduced in 2001, and commemorates the first box-pressed cigar in the entire Dunhill portfolio, with the range’s new Toro size.

Yves Politi, head of British American Tobacco Ltd.’s Dunhill cigar division said, “In the century since opening its flagship tobacco shop in London, Dunhill has remained synonymous with exquisite cigars in elegant packaging. 1907 celebrates the Dunhill brand’s time-honored tradition of tobacco mastery, while incorporating elements that speak to the modern cigar smoker’s passion points: a fuller taste profile, accessible pricing and classic sizing.”

Handcrafted by artisans in Santiago, D.R., 1907 by Dunhill is made with a proprietary blend of Dominican ligeros and Brazilian Mata Fina, bound with Dominican Olor and wrapped in a hearty Honduran Olancho leaf. The new Dunhill expression delivers complex flavor with nuances of spice, and a rich, creamy finish.

1907 by Dunhill consists of these four sizes:
Rothschild (4.5” x 48; SRP per cigar $8.25);
Robusto (5” x 52; SRP per cigar $8.50);
Churchill (7” x 49, SRP per cigar $9.25)
Toro, box pressed (6” x 54, SRP per cigar $9.00).
Each frontmark is packaged in an 18-count wooden box with a sliding lid.

General Cigar Co. is the leading manufacturer and marketer of handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar’s skilled artisans produce Macanudo®, Cohiba®,  La Gloria Cubana®, Partagas®, CAO®, Punch®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur® and several other leading premium brands in the company’s Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan factories. In addition, the company cultivates proprietary tobacco which is used exclusively in its blends. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide and also exports select products to 62 countries. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com.
® Dunhill is a registered trademark of British American Tobacco p.l.c.

® Macanudo, Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas, CAO, Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Company.

Ezra Zion Eminence Belicoso Gran Toro (5 x 58)

Video review HERE.

Ezra Zion EMINENCE is the company’s first foray into non-Nicaraguan tobacco. The EMINENCE features an aged San Andres maduro wrapper that coats a luscious blend of Nicaraguan binder and filler.

BLEND:

Grade AA Nicaraguan Tobaccos Aged 5 to 7 Years

Wrapper:

Mexican San Andres Maduro

Binder #1 & 2:

Cuban Seed Nicaraguan

Available in these sizes:

Belicoso Gran Toro 58x5 (reviewed today)

Belicoso 54x7 Box Press

Exquisito 52x6.25 Box Press

Churchill 48x7 Box Press

Corona 46x6

Gran Robusto 50x5.25

The cigar is short and fat! This should prove to be a fairly long burning cigar. With the wrapper being a Mexican maduro I am curious as to how that will affect the flavors. As you may remember, I recently reviewed the Ezra Zion Tantrum, which was a fantastic cigar and achieved a rating of 93.

Since this is a belicoso I cut just the end of the cap. The test draw was great and the cigar does not have the feel of a 58 ring in your mouth.

The initial flavors were molasses, sweet orange citrus, coffee notes, and dry wood notes. I let the cigar settle down for a minute or two.

About 3/4 inch in there is a little burn issue that i believe will self correct. The orange citrus has already changed over to a nutmeg. The other flavors are still there. The coffee is very strong and very close to an espresso. The pepper is black and rated at a 7.5. The finish is one of a sweet cream with roasted nuts and lingering black pepper. It tingles on the palate. The cigar is coming across as medium to full bodied probably due to the heavy coffee notes. The burn issue appears to be correcting on it's own.

About 1 1/4 inch in the burn issue is self correcting and hopefully it will stay true. The molasses notes are now more of an unsweetened dark chocolate. These go hand in hand with the heavy coffee, which I will now call espresso. The nutmeg has some sweetness. The dry wood notes are now lost in the chocolate and espresso notes. The finish is unchanged and the cigar is still medium to full bodied.

Close to the midpoint and there is another burn issue. You can see the area that is not burning properly in the picture. To get a better picture you can view the video. This area will need to be touched up. The wrapper is thick and this particular area will not burn properly. There are now charred oak notes on the front end. The nutmeg notes are struggling to be noticed at this point. The dark chocolate and espresso are quite prominent and the addition of the charred oak notes give it another dark flavor.

With only about 1 1/4 inch remaining there are light cocoa notes on the front end. The nutmeg notes have a little more sweetness now. The other dark notes are still there. The cigar has made several subtle changes, most of them in the dark note category.

The cigar continued to change all the way to the end. There are now charred cedar notes. The cocoa seemed to come and go quickly. The front end still has lots of dark notes; dark chocolate, espresso, dry cedar, and the nutmeg was faint at the end. The pepper remained good and the finish remained consistent. The charred cedar seemed to give the cigar some sweetness. As you can see from the picture the cigar took quite awhile to smoke. If you are a lover of lots of dark notes in your cigar you may like this cigar. It is full of various dark notes. 

The burn issues were a negative and may not happen in your case. Don't let that scare you away. Look for these in shops now.

Score: 89

Vega Fina Sumum Edicion Especial 2010 Toro (6 x 54)

Video review HERE.

Sumum (latin): the highest, the greatest, the summit. 

Vega Fina describes this cigar like this:

VegaFina Sumum is made of the very best tobaccos, hand selected at the peak of the season for their unique characteristics and aged with care. Qualities our expert blenders knew would create a stick with the most satisfying and rich flavors and aromas. The result is a cigar with distinct body, toasty aroma and unique rich flavors. A truly spectacular cigar that we could only name SUMUM.

Wrapper: Aged for 2 years. The Ecuadorian grown Cuban seed wrapper tobacco is harvested at its prime and specially chosen for the dark, rich color.

Binder: Aged 3 years. The Santa Domingo binder has harmonious, almost sweet notes that create an exceptional aroma and a clean, firm ash.

Filler: Aged 3 Years. Tobacco of Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Peru are blended, creating earthy and spicy notes with just a sense of coffee flavor.

VegaFina Sumum Edicion Especial 2010 is now available with 3 front marks:


Description    Size Units/box RSP/cigar
Robusto         54X5    16/box    $6.80
Toro              54X6    16/box    $7.00
Magnum         60X6   16/box    $7.65

Launch Date: February 2014


The cigar is a medium brown in color and very heavy in the hand. The cigar feels very dense.

After cutting the cap the test draw was good. The initial flavors were a very sweet cedar and raisins, earth, and coffee. Nice flavors to start.

About 3/4 inch in the flavors are about like they were initially with the exception of the earth notes now taste more like dry wood. The finish is one of a sweet cream with some dry wood notes and nice lingering black pepper. The front end pepper is also black pepper rated at an 8. The cigar is medium bodied at this early stage. The sweet notes of cedar and raisin are very, very nice.

At the lower band, or just past the midpoint, the flavor notes have not changed much. I really like the cedar/raisin combination. It's very sweet and has a little bit of buttery flavor to it. The cigar is still medium bodied and may be just a tad over that but not nearly medium to full bodied.

The cigar took a little over 1 1/2 hours to smoke. The flavor notes are very consistent in this cigar. It did not change from the 3/4 inch point through the end. This is not a bad thing if the cigar has nice flavors to begin with and this one did. The cigar remained medium bodied. The folks at Vega Fina should be very happy with this cigar. They have done a very good job with the blending and the sweet flavors of cedar and raisin are great! Look for these on shop shelves now!

Score: 90

Introducing the new Room101 Daruma Gold

 


AVAILABLE APRIL 30TH

Evolution is the process that separates those in motion from those who are standing still. As we at Room101 grow, we evolve in every way fathomable. Within this box
 you will find the evolution of the Daruma. The modifications you will experience in this particular blend are the by-product of our evolution and growth working within the
 premium tobacco craft.

This life has been nothing short of an adventure and we are proud to offer you tastes of this adventure encapsulated within these smoke-able vessels. With humility, we present to you an evolved taste of one of our finest cigars to date. We hope you dig it.


WRAPPER
 San Andres (Mexico)

BINDER
 Mata Fina (Brazil)

FILLER
 Corojo, Criollo & Pelo de Oro (Honduras & Dominican Republic)

South Carolina Sit Down no. 20!

This is our 10th anniversary of holding this event. With 2 events held each year since the fall of 2004 this is number 20! Of course, the BIG event we hold is in April of each year with the smaller event being held in the fall. The big April event is the one where we hold a raffle to raise money for SisterCare, Inc., a shelter for battered women and their children. This year the raffle was huge with a heavy emphasis on cigars, which was fantastic.

There were 42 total contributing companies including local shops and 4 attending reps.

Attending reps were:
Altadis-Mark Hinson
Cubanacan-Jas Broome (somehow he escaped my photographer)
Drew Estate-Raymond warren
Juanitos Cigaros-Juan Carlos Jimenez

Local shops that contributed:
Tobacco Merchant
Maduro Room
Modern Age Tobacco
Cigar Box

Everyone who donated at least $40 at the door received a complimentary bag of 6 cigars in various combinations from the following companies:

Miura Cigars
Miura maduro churchill and torpedo

Miami Cigar
107 maduro robusto

C.L.E.
2012 Cuarenta robusto

General Cigar
La Gloria Cubana Esteli
Punch Rare Corojo Salamone

Dona Flor
Mata Fina robusto

Armando Lapido
Torano Master
Leccia Black White

Famous Smoke Shop
Torano Signature 60
La Gloria Cubana Gilded Age (review)
The Judge by Fuego (review)
Romeo y Julieta House of Montague
Romeo y Julieta House of Capulet

Ortega Cigars
Serie D no. 10 maduro
Serie D no. 12 natural

Lianos dos Palmas
Double maduro robusto
Habano Gordo

Aging Room
Motivo

Cuban Crafters
Medina 1959 churchill

Rocky Patel
Edge Light

Vegas de Santiago
Chaman Lonsdale
D8 Gordo
VdS original
Maestro


Here are pics of the day with attending reps and winners of the raffle.

Eric and Casey manned the sign in table.

Jim, Henry, and Stan manned the ticket table.

Yours truly was the MC

The girls of the Montecristo Social Club were on hand.

Juan Carlos Jimenez, owner of Juanitos Cigaros

Mark Hinson, Altadis rep

The raffle tables

This large humidor was donated by Altadis and was auctioned off in a silent auction. The winning bid was $400!

Pictures of attendees

Now, on to the raffle winners!

Espinosa Cigars

Cigars International

Tobacco Merchant

Torano Cigars

Pride Cigars

E. P. Carrillo

Miura Cigars

Cigar Box

C.L.E. Cigars

Global Premium Cigars

SAG Imports

Party Source

Dwight Galloway of SisterCare, Inc. spoke about the organization

Cigars Direct

Graycliff Cigars

Xikar

Juanitos Cigaros

Cubanacan Cigars

East End Cigars

Maduro Room

Ortega Cigars

Aging Room Cigars

Cuban Crafters

Donation by Sandi Turnipseed

Maduro Room

Top Shelf Cigars

Vegas de Santiago

Vegas de Santiago

Vegas de Santiago

Drew Estate

Drew Estate

Drew Estate

Drew Estate

Drew Estate

Donation by Eric Webster

Donation by Eric Webster

House of Emilio

Lil' Brown Smoke Shop

Altadis humidor; winning bid $400

Cigar Aficionado Big Smoke ticket winner

The day was a great success! Our attendance numbers were down this year but it may have been because it was Easter weekend but we still did very well with money raised for SisterCare, Inc. The total money raised was $6325 with 110 people attending. 

The big event is  held every year the weekend after The Masters golf tournament. Next year will be no different. Make plans now to attend S.C. Sit Down number 22 on Saturday, April 18th, 2015.  See you then!

For those hard core cigar lovers the smaller event, S.C. Sit Down no. 21, will be held Saturday, October 11th, 2014 at Hemingways Saloon.

Here is a nice letter I received from SisterCare regarding our donation.