The Stogie Guys

Before I give my review of the Maria Mancini Magic Mountain, I must confess that long before I smoked this cigar I just knew I would enjoy it. The first box of cigars I ever bought was the Maria Mancini Robusto Larga, and that box lived up to its 90 rating in Cigar Aficionado.

With those high expectations, I pulled this funny-named box-pressed pyramid (6 inches long with a 54 ring guage) out of my humidor. It became instantly clear that this is a good looking cigar. The classic gold band over the dark brown EMS (English Market Selection) wrapper will make this cigar the kind you want to keep in a glass-topped humidor where you can show it off.

The Maria Mancini EMS wrappers are grown from the much-hyped H2000 tobacco seed, which is a cross breed of the Cuban Corojo and Cuban-grown Connecticut Shade wrappers. Reviews for H2000 wrappers are mixed, but I was impressed with the oily wrapper. It had an almost velvet-like quality to the touch, and when lit it provided a slow, even burn.

The cigar had a woody flavor with earthy undertones, and its strength put it solidly in the medium to bold range. There also were hints of toast and nutmeg flavors to round the taste out, making the stogie’s overall flavor very pleasing. The cigar only requires to be ashed every inch or so, and will provide its smoker at least 45 minutes of enjoyment.

The negatives of this cigar were few and far between, but one disappointment was that well before it should have been finished, the draw became too easy and the cigar became difficult to keep lit. Also, I found that the aftertaste lingered a bit too long.

Yet overall this is a very nice smoke. It would be comfortable on either the golf course or after a fancy dinner with a fine spirit. And perhaps most impressive of all, at just over $2 a smoke, the Maria Mancini Magic Mountain gives its splendid performance at a bargain price.

For delivering such quality without breaking the Stogie Guy’s bank, I give the Maria Mancini Magic Mountain an impressive four out of five stogies.

-Patrick S

Cigar Aficionado is reporting that a coalition of cigar manufacturers and other cigar organizations are preparing a lawsuit to challenge a proposed California state tobacco tax.

To coordinate the fight against this new extraordinary tax, officials at the Ashton Cigar Company, Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia., Davidoff U.S.A., J.C. Newman Cigar Company, and Prometheus International Inc. are teaming up with the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America to form the California Association of Liberty and Choice, which will lead a grassroots opposition to the tax.

If approved by ballot initiative in November, the “Tobacco Tax of 2006” will impose a tax of 135 percent on tobacco products, including on our beloved stogies.

According to C.A., David Berkebile, President of the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade association, predicts that if enacted, “every tobacco shop in California will be out of business.”

Stogie Guys Analysis

Taxes that target smokers are wrong. When politicians and well-funded “activists” target taxes on unpopular or unorganized groups in order to fund their pet projects, it is the political equivalent of a schoolyard bully picking on the weakest kid in school. If politicians cannot convince citizens that taxes to fund their projects should be spread broadly across the tax base, they should reevaluate the necessity of the program, not look for a more vulnerable group with which they can saddle the burden.

And as if that were not enough, the Left-Coasters behind the “Tobacco Tax of 2006” have set the tax rate so high that, at least for hand-rolled cigars, it is unlikely to raise any additional revenues at all because it will drive nearly all cigar stores out of business.

Fortunately for California’s Stogie Guys, online retailers and catalogs will allow smokers to purchase tax-free cigars. But if the tobacco tax initiative passes, the days of browsing the humidor at the local cigar shop may be over forever in the Golden State.

What a shame.

-Patrick S

If you read our post from May 7 – when StogieGuys.com was still in its infancy – you will recall Patrick mentioned we planned to review the JR Alternative version of the Cohiba Sublime. Since we have received many emails inquiring about that forthcoming review, I’ve decided to go ahead and appease the masses before any coup d’état could be staged.

My first inclination is to report that JR’s rendition of the Sublime falls short of any attempt to mimic the famous smoke. At 6.62 inches with a 54 ring gauge, the real Cohiba Sublime is a substantial stogie with caramel and coffee undertones and a perfect burn. While JR certainly got the dimensions right, it’s rendering of the cigar is more earthy with leather and tea flavors, and it tends to require a bit of work to produce an even burn.

That said, if you can clear your consciousness of the stogie’s lack of resemblance to its superior Cohiba cousin, this JR alternative is not a bad smoke – especially if you’re in the mood for something spicy at a reasonable price ($29.95 for a bundle of 20). If you’re enjoying it with an adult beverage (as you should), make sure the drink has a bold flavor; the cigar’s full-bodied taste is sure to drown out any subtle cocktail.

I give the JR Edicon Limitada Alternative version of the Cohiba Sublime a respectable three out of five stogies.

-Patrick A

When you think of the Big Apple you might think of the tall buildings, the Broadway lights, the attitude of its residents, or even some of its famous food items (Carnegie Deli sandwiches, slice shop pizza, bagels with lox…). But cigar making probably doesn’t come to mind.

And yet in a recent trip to New York I made it a point to visit two shops where you can see experienced cigar-makers roll a handmade stogie right before your eyes, and then smoke it right there. One such place is La Rosa Cubana.

While only a brisk 10 minute walk from Nat Sherman Cigar’s glitzy flagship store at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, La Rosa Cubana’s second floor mini cigar factory and shop on 6th avenue (between 30th and 31st streets) could be worlds away. As a lifelong New Yorker before seeking it out, I have walked past it at least a handful of times without taking notice of the neon signs proclaiming “La Rosa Handmade Cigars: Cuban Seed.”

To get from the street to La Rosa you need to ascend a daunting flight of steep, rickety stairs, but as you approach the top the smell alone makes the trip worthwhile. The small one room factory/shop is taken up primarily by presses, rolling tables, and prep areas where the Dominican “cuban seed” cigars are produced. The rest of the room consists of a simple “lounge” consisting of two chairs and a table and a display case/humidor from which any Stogie Guy can select from the many styles of cigars that La Rosa produces. The cigars come in most popular sizes, plus the nearly 1-inch in diameter 6 1/2 inch by 60 ring gauge “King Churchill.”

And while I’ll spend more time on La Rosa’s cigars in future StogieGuys.com articles, I must say that there is something so very authentic and pleasing about seeing handmade cigars produced in front of your very eyes. And I’m certain that when I do get around to enjoying that King Churchill, it will be that much better because I have seen the effort, attention to detail, and years of experience that went into creating it.

Click photos for a larger view:

Visit La Rosa Cubana yourself at:
862 6th Avenue (second floor) between 30th & 31st Streets
New York, New York 10001
Or see their website for more information:
www.LaRosaCubanaCigars.com

-Patrick S

Cigar lovers, friends, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: It is my great honor to officially welcome you to StogieGuys.com, the must-read website for daily news, reviews, and commentary from the world of cigars. Everyone from the stogie rookie to the seasoned cigar connoisseur will find enlightenment, entertainment, and education on these pages…We’re glad you could join us.

And what better time to kick off the Cadillac of cigar websites than the Ides of May? The weather is warming up, the charcoal is back on the grill, and the days are finally getting longer. While Patrick and I are certainly guilty of bundling up during the winter months to have a smoke outside, there’s nothing quite like a delicious stogie (complemented by your adult beverage of choice, of course) to help you unwind after a long day at the office or a few pesky weekend chores.

As you can see, we have already made a few posts to this site to give you a small taste (an appetizer, if you will) of the five-course meal that’s in store for regular StogieGuys.com readers. Patrick and I plan to keep our readers ahead of the curve on breaking stogie news, review hundreds of cigars, and, eventually, provide lists of stogie-friendly establishments. Plans to sponsor events (such as social gatherings at bars and golf outings) in the Northern Virginia area – where StogieGuys.com is headquartered – are already in the works. These are tough jobs, but somebody’s got to do it.

Also, we’d love to hear from you. Patrick and I strive to make StogieGuys.com as user-friendly as possible. If you have comments, concerns, questions, suggestions, or complaints, you can contact us at StogieGuys (at) gmail.com. If you’re interested in promoting your product or website with us, please contact us at Marketing.StogieGuys (at) gmail.com.

Thanks once again for visiting us at StogieGuys.com. Patrick and I look forward to “blowin’ smoke on everything cigars,” and we’ll always keep in mind that you are the real Stogie Guys.

-Patrick A

Sorry guys…that’s my position on the government of Cuba, not a stogie offer.

Stogie Guys around the world appreciate freedom, because everyday some busy-body do-gooder “activist” or politician is trying to tell us that we should not be allowed to enjoy our cigars. And yet that lack of freedom under which we suffer pales in comparison to the oppressed citizens of Cuba.

While at StogieGuys.com we generally just stick to our stogies (and leave the politics to others), there can be no doubt that the political situation in Cuba affects the cigar habits of all American Stogie Guys.

So without debating the merits of the embargo, I’d like to point your attention to a Wall Street Journal profile of one Cuban who is certainly making a positive impact on his country’s political situation:

By conferring a Doctor of Laws degree on Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá, Columbia University effectively honors every person in Cuba who shares his burden, dreams and goals.A Columbia press release about the award summarizes those goals: “As a prominent human-rights organizer and director of the Varela Project, an effort to democratize Cuba’s political system, Payá is celebrated as an agent of nonviolent change.

In 2002, Varela collected thousands of signatures on a petition that called for, among other things, a referendum on electoral reform, free speech and private enterprise. The group then presented it to Cuba’s national assembly. Later that year, Mr. Payá traveled to Europe to accept the EU’s highest human-rights award, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

By 2003, however, a brutal and continuing crackdown on democracy activists was in full swing in Cuba. Undeterred, Mr. Payá and other Cubans continued their work, and this week in Havana, Varela took another step, unveiling a proposal for a new Cuban constitution with guaranteed democratic freedoms.

Columbia deserves kudos for inviting this democracy activist to its commencement ceremony, and Stogie Guys everywhere should applaud Varela since, if he had his way, we would be able to legally buy Cuban cigars in the United States…and, most importantly, the citizens of the world would have a bit more freedom to enjoy.

-Patrick S

Yesterday’s news item noted that in one recent bust, over $20 million in counterfeit cigars were seized. But with so many fakes floating around, how does the discerning Stogie Guy not waste his money on such frauds?

Spot the Fake

Stogie Guys highly recommends the Cigar Aficionado Counterfeit Gallery as a resource for how to spot fakes of many popular Cuban and a few select non-Cuban cigars.

After enjoying a Cohiba Siglio VI on a recent trip to Spain, I used their gallery to ensure that my cigar was genuine. (Of course the delicious taste was also a tip-off, and I can personally attest that the Siglio VI has a well-deserved reputation as the planet’s finest cigar.)

Using the Cohiba Siglio VI as an example one notices the lack of detail in the fake cigar bands:

Genuine:

Counterfeits:

Another good resource specifically on avoiding fakes when purchasing Cubans is this article from Smoke Magazine in which author Michael Douglas (no, not that Michael Douglas) covers the many ways to spot fakes – from the cigar’s texture, smell, and firmness, to the box’s label, weight, and even the name of the factory it came from.

One tip (which reassured me about a box of Montecristos I purchased in Spain) is that in boxes of authentic Habanos Cuban cigars – the Cuban state cigar company and only authorized exporter of Cubans – the cedar divider between the two rows of cigars in a cigar box has a cresent machine cut out of one corner.

Basic Rules

And yet despite all the technical jargon you really only need to keep two basic things in mind:

1. Remember that established cigar shops don’t want their reputation tainted by counterfeit cigars, the guy on the street offering you the fantastic deal on those hard to find Stogies has no such worries. So stick with a dependable cigar shop.

2. And the most important thing to remember when buying Cuban or any other premium cigar, is this one most basic rule: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Follow those rules and all your cigars will be authentic and delicious.

-Patrick S