The Stogie Guys

“Rich, dark, and unexpected.” That’s the tag line of the new Macanudo 1968.  The newest extension of General Cigar’s best-selling Macanudo brand was introduced at the IPCPR trade show in July and began hitting cigar stores in mid-August. The blend celebrates 40 years since Ramón Cifuentes began developing Macanudo, which was eventually released in 1971.

This five inch by 50 ring gauge Robusto retails for $8.50, and is one of four sizes. The line also comes in a Toro (6x 54), a Churchill (7x 49) , and a Gigante (6x 60)—a size being emphasized by General in a number of different blends.

According to General Cigar’s promotional materials, the 1968 features tobacco “grown by General Cigar or cultivated for the company under an agreement of exclusivity…aged in tercios and charcoaled wooden barrels to further enrich its flavor.”

The blend features a Dominican and Nicaraguan filler that includes tobacco grown on the Nicaraguan island of Ometepe, volcanic land known for its rich soil that rises out of Lake Nicaragua. The binder is Connecticut Habano, wrapped in a Honduran San Agustin leaf.

Before lighting the classically proportioned Robusto, I find a highly aromatic cigar filled with leather and earth. The wrapper is oily with only a few small veins, and with classic Macanudo construction the cigar is firm to the touch with no soft or spongy areas.

Once lit, I was greeted with lots of leather, burnt cedar, and roasted coffee. The taste is distinctly chewy, and the finish had muted licorice flavors with a very subtle pepper spice. There is also an underlying salty characteristic to the 1968 that leaves your mouth dry.

Like most Macanudo sticks I’ve smoked, the physical properties are nearly flawless. The burn was even, the ash steady, and the draw firm but never difficult. The only construction complaint I have is that a few times the Macanudo 1968s I sampled for this review seemed to go out prematurely, requiring relights to enjoy the cigar as the burn neared the attractive black band.

Despite being billed as the fullest Macanudo, I would be more inclined to call the Macanudo 1968 medium- to medium-full. It reminded me of a slightly toned down Partagas Black, although the 1968 is a far more complex smoke.

Overall the Macanudo 1968 is a nice addition to the line. It will go a long way towards combating Macanudo’s reputation among smokers as simplistic or as a beginner’s cigar (a reputation I don’t think is always deserved.) The flavors won’t be enjoyed by all, but it is a unique, interesting, and complex profile that I found quite pleasant. The Macanudo 1968 Robusto earns a rating of four out of five stogies.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

From Cupido, J.L. Salazar, Don Kiki (Brown and White), La Carolina, and Cameroon, Cuban Crafters makes some excellent, under-priced cigars. And, as you probably know, we have not been shy about providing honest reviews of these wonderfully blended, expertly constructed lines.

Cuban Crafters’ modus operandi has thus far focused on value. But, in the coming weeks, the Miami-based boutique manufacturer will introduce its “crown jewel”: the new Medina 1959 blend. We’re told the idea is to create a pre-Castro stogie (hence 1959) made by masters who have cigar experience from the forbidden island nation. The five vitolas in this premium line, therefore, will be handmade in Miami by Cuban expatriates under the supervision of Manuel Medina, formerly of the H. Upmann and Davidoff factories in Cuba.

Our friends at Cuban Crafters were nice enough to send us a pre-release box of 25 Robustos (5 x 50), which has an MSRP of $200. The presentation is brilliant; the finished maroon and gold cedar chest won’t be one of those cigar boxes you toss once the sticks are gone.

You’ll also want to hang on to at least a few of the ornate double bands. They rest perfectly atop the clean Cuban-seed Sumatra wrappers, which exude prelight hints of sweet hay and field grass.

I tasted about eight Robustos for this review and found that my V-cutter works best. You only need to carefully puncture the tip of the cap to reach the Cuban-seed Habano long-filler and establish an even draw—a strategy that preserves more tobacco for smoking.

The most prominent flavors are of toast, cream, and butterscotch, but careful cigar enthusiasts will also find an onion-like spice when smoked through the nose. The whole effect is mild yet tasty with interesting flavors weaving in and out as the straight burn progresses. While the smoke becomes spicier and richer in the final third, I think the cigar is accurately labeled as mild- to medium-boded.

My understanding, according to Cuban Crafters’ marketing materials, is the tobacco in this fine cigar is already “extremely aged.” That may be, but I have a feeling what remains from my box will benefit significantly from an extra six months or so of humidor time.

Still, these are great cigars now. And although you don’t need me to understand that you can get some fine stogies for $8 apiece, this new line is undoubtedly worthy of your attention—especially for fans of creamy, toasty cigars. The Cuban Crafters Medina 1959 Robusto earns four and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

I like lanceros. So when I saw this 7 inch Serie V I had to give it a try. I used a V-cutter and a conventional butane lighter, fearing a torch would be too much for the 38 ring gauge foot. It drew fine from start to finish and produced lots of smoke. I was disappointed, though, in the flavors. The cigar just wasn’t as smooth or as tasty as other Olivas I’ve enjoyed. Perhaps there’s too much of the Habano Sun Grown wrapper relative to the Nicaraguan filler. I recommend other vitolas—Cigar Aficionado named the Torpedo the fourth best cigar for 2007—in this high-quality line.

Verdict = Sell.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

I decided to test “Nub theory” with this Connecticut-wrapped torpedo (4 x 64) on a sunny morning with a cup of Kona coffee. (Interestingly, the Nub website doesn’t list this size, although they were being distributed at the IPCPR show, where I grabbed this particular stick.) The medium-bodied flavors of this stubby little smoke melded perfectly with the coffee, featuring a smooth creamy base with cocoa and a touch of cedar. The construction was also impressive, with the distinctive firm solid ash.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

In our ongoing effort to make StogieGuys.com as entertaining and informative as possible, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other snippets of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Hurricane Gustav did some major damage to Cuba on August 30. According to reports, “winds of 140mph crashed into the western edge of the Caribbean island where much of the country’s vital tobacco crop is grown.” Gladly, Cigar Aficionado reports it was too early in the season for tobacco plants or seedlings to be in the ground; more importantly, the government reported no deaths due to the storm.

2) Yesterday marked the beginning of a new smoking ban for “all places of business” in Wichita, Kansas—unless you’ve got a government-issued smoking permit, that is. City bureaucrats were nice enough to post some of the red tape here.

3) Kansas City has been at the mercy of a Draconian smoking ban since April but, much to the chagrin of one anti-tobacco editorialist, the City Council is looking to ease some of the law’s oppressive restrictions. In a very modest improvement, they’d like to once again permit smoking in retail tobacco shops—a move you’d think even the most ardent smoke-hating zealots could live with.

4) Inside the Industry: Chicago-area readers may be interested in Stogies and Bogies, a combination cigar show/golf outing. Davidoff is introducing the Maduro R. Felipe Gregoria opened the Casa Felipe store in Miami, a cigar and wine lounge in the heart of Little Havana.

5) Around the Blogs: Cigar Jack reviews an Alec Bradley Tempus. Stogie Review smokes an Alec Bradley Maxx Vice. Keepers of the Flame lights up a La Riqueza. Matt smokes the Padilla 8/11 Miami.

6) Deal of the Week: I don’t really know why this is called the King Sampler, but it does include 10 top notch cigars for $34. Included are sticks from Romeo y Julieta, Fonseca, Cusano, La Aurora, Aroma de Cuba, CAO, and Don Pepin. Grab yours here.

– The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

When many of us pull a cigar from the humidor after six or eight months, we think of it as having some age. But for most connoisseurs of aged cigars, sticks at that stage have barely begun to get settled.

Some serious smokers wouldn’t dream of lighting up a cigar that hasn’t been set aside at least a few years; others smoke fresh and aged cigars. The one thing you can count on in any discussion about aging is that there’s little agreement and lots of personal preference.

My own experience with aging cigars is fairly limited. Most of my aging occurs more by accident than design. Other than a few sticks I’ve been holding for five or six years, the older cigars in my humidor usually result from just not getting around to smoking them in a timely fashion. Consequently, I have quite a few that have six to 18 months of age and some a little older. For example, I’m still working my way through a box of Toraño Exodus 1959 Silver Editions I’ve had for at least a couple of years. To me, they’re as tasty now as the day I smoked the first one, maybe even a bit smoother.

If you’re considering serious cigar aging, I can pass along a little advice I’ve garnered conversing with some top collectors:

1) Be sure your humidor setup is accurate, and monitor it carefully. Many connoisseurs store cigars at temperatures in the 60°-65°F range to limit the possibility of beetle infestation, and they keep the humidity below 70 percent. I think the most important factor is long-term consistency.

2) Commit to boxes. It’s obviously expensive, but you eliminate the possibility of flavors from different cigars merging, and you can try a stick periodically to check progress.

3) Don’t expect every aged cigar to be a sublime smoke. Sometimes, you’ll find the stick is no better—or even worse—than when you bought it.

4) There’s some agreement, though it’s by no means universal, that stronger cigars tend to age better and that moderate ring gauges do better as well.

In an upcoming Cigar Insider, I’ll talk with Doc Stogie of Stogie Fresh, who does extensive reviewing to evaluate the effect of aging on the cigars he rates.

–George E

photo credit: Clauss.dk

From Erik Espinoza and Eddie Ortega’s United Tobacco, the outfit that brought us the smash hit 601 Serie blends, comes a new highly anticipated cigar. Cubao, the Taino word for “where fertile land is abundant” or “a great place,” was recently introduced at this year’s IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas.

Like the older Green, Blue, and Red labels, Cubao has the advantage of the tried and true Pepin-blended, Estelí-made combination. The six vitolas are marketed as full-bodied with Ecuador Sumatra oscuro wrappers and Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos.

The robusto-sized 4 and 7/8 inch by 50 ring gauge No. 4 is oily, firm, and fragrant with an attractive band that blends into the wrapper and serves as a departure from the flashy bands of the 601s. Singles sell for about $6 and rustic boxes of 20 in the $130-150 price range.

After smoking over ten No. 4s between the two of us in the past several weeks, we’re convinced that cost is more than reasonable. We think you’ll agree from the moment you light up a Cubao, which predictably starts with a trademark blast of peppercorn that has become synonymous with Don Pepin Garica’s creations.

What we found most interesting about this blend is its unwavering balance. After the initial greeting of spice we found a variety of tastes including wheat, oak, and bread. While the profile is definitely medium to full, and while the flavor is consistent throughout, this balance keeps the smoke exciting and cool—never too spicy, too strong, or too harsh. Look for a slight increase of bitterness in the last two inches.

The mechanics of the stogie’s performance are also top-notch, probably superior to those of some cigars in the more expensive 601 blends (of which we are huge fans). We found even burns, moderate draws, and firm ashes across our array of samples.

All told, perhaps this is the best compliment we can give this new addition to United Tobacco’s lineup: This is the kind of cigar that makes you want to smoke one more right away, preferably another Cubao. So don’t hesitate putting the EO Cubao No. 4 on your “Must Try” list; we give it four and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick A & Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys