Stogie Reviews: 5 Vegas Miami Churchill

16 Oct 2007

I’ve praised 5 Vegas before, so I was excited to sample their newest line: the Miami. While the company’s earlier lines seem to fit into either the “value” (with the original, gold, and black lines) or “premium” such as with the Limitada edition, Miami fills the gap in between, with an MSRP of about $8 or so. They can be found, however, for half that price on cigarbid.com.

5 Vegas Miami Cigar International (owner of the 5 Vegas brand) didn’t specify who produced previous 5 Vegas lines, but Miami is made by the hottest blender and producer in the business: Don “Pepin” Garcia. Garcia produces the cigars in his El Rey de los Habanos factory in Nicaragua.

Curiously, while the advertising copy accompanying the 5 Vegas Miami notes the El Rey de los Habanos factory by name, it makes no mention of Don Pepin, leaving it to the informed reader to put two and two together. This is pure speculation, but I suspect that in an effort to protect the “Don Pepin” brand name, an agreement may have been reached to not use his name in the promoting of this particular line.

Like other Don Pepin cigars, this is a Nicaraguan puro featuring a “Cuban-seed” corojo wrapper. The wrapper is a deep Colorado brown color and only has a few small veins. The Churchill has classic Churchill proportions: seven inches by 48 ring gauge.

Before lighting the cigar I notice a musty scent from the foot. To the touch the only imperfection is that the bottom third of the cigar is slightly spongy.

After clipping the cigar, and lighting it with a few wooden matches, I find an easy draw. The burn starts out even and would remain so until the end.

Most prominent in the 5 Vegas Miami Churchill is a cedary flavor with an underlying bite. That bite is characteristic of nearly every Don Pepin-blended cigar I’ve tried, and seems to be the result of his heavy use of strong Nicaraguan ligero.

Additionally, I notice flavors that remind me of charred steak – an unusual flavor to find in a cigar, but not altogether unpleasant. And around the midway point, as the char flavors fades, creamier notes develop that go very well with the ligero “twang” that persists to the end.

Ultimately, the 5 Vegas Miami Churchill is similar to other cigars produced under the watchful eye of Don Pepin. This particular blend is medium-bodied with lots of flavor and good balance. But it lacks the deep complexity of Pepin’s eponymous line, or Tatuaje that made him a household name for many cigar enthusiasts.

Still, this is good cigar at a reasonable price. The 5 Vegas Miami Churchill earns a rating of three and 1/2 out of five stogies.