The Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

Friend of StogieGuys.com (and occasional guest contributor) Chris Verhoeven was fortunate enough to visit Rocky Patel’s factory in Danlí, Honduras, where he worked with the expert cigarmakers to create his own blend. For an amateur blender, I must say I’m quite impressed with the result. This toro has roasted nut flavors and mouth-watering dry chocolate notes. It’s remarkably well-balanced, medium-bodied, and lacking in any construction issues. Even though you’ll unfortunately never be able to purchase one, it gets my highest recommendation.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

The Exhibición No. 4 (5 x 48) is a fine example of how many Cubans require extra age to reach smokability. When I reviewed this cigar back in 2007, I found troublesome construction and flashes of harshness and salt that overshadowed an otherwise enjoyable flavor. But almost two and a half years in my humidor have done a lot of good, leaving behind a good-burning, wonderfully balanced profile of molasses, cinnamon, and light pepper. This was a solid investment.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Shaking was felt throughout the Caribbean on Tuesday after a powerful earthquake struck Haiti. The tremor, measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale, ravaged the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, leaving an estimated 50,000 dead, the capital of Port-au-Price in ruins, and survivors with severely limited access to medical attention. Much less significantly, while the quake could be felt in cigar-producing countries like Cuba and the Dominican Republic, no damage was reported and any impact on the cigar industry is expected to be trivial.

2) For those looking to make a charitable contribution to help the people of Haiti, the Montecristo Relief Organization and Altadis will match your contribution dollar for dollar and have pledged up to an additional $125,000. To have your donation matched, send a contribution to: Montecristo Relief Organization, Haiti Earthquake Relief c/o Altadis USA, PO Box 407179, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33340-7166.

3) Our StogieGuys.com Best of 2009 lists will be released soon. They are exclusive to subscribers to our  Free Email Newsletter,  so make sure you sign up—a smart move that will automatically enter you to win spectacular prizes like boxes of top brands and cigar accessories.

4) Inside the Industry: Two new private cigar clubs opened this week to cater to those otherwise ostracized by smoking bans. The Montecristo Lounge in Alexandria, Virginia, is a joint venture of Altadis and The Cigar Palace. Meanwhile, the first Cohiba Lounge opened as a partnership between General Cigar and Nice Ash Cigars near Buffalo, New York.

5) Around the Blogs: Stogie Review checks out the La Flor Dominicana Air Bender. Nice Tight Ash fires up an H. Upmann Magnum 50. Keepers of the Flame reviews a Casa Royale Crown. Stogie Fresh smokes the Padrón 1964 Diplomaticos. Cigar Inspector inspects the Montecristo Open Regatta.

6) Deal of the Week: With full-bodied spice and Cuban-like depth, people are turning to Nicaraguan smokes more and more, and this Nicaraguan Blends Sampler shows why. Included are two each from Padilla Habano, Man O’ War, Rocky Patel Fusion, and Gurkha Park Avenue, all for under $40. Grab yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

For years, the Gold blend has been the mild mainstay of CAO’s lineup of otherwise stronger cigars. Tim Ozgener, president of the Nashville-based company, told me in a 2008 interview that he reaches for a CAO Gold Lonsdale in the morning when he wants “a nice, smooth, buttery cigar to accompany my morning coffee.”

But this summer he and his team decided to change things up. At the IPCPR Trade Show, CAO unveiled the new Gold Vintage line—a re-blend that was sparked by a “banner harvest” for what would become the inaugural wrapper.

Each Gold Vintage includes a delicate exterior leaf grown in Ecuador in 2004. This was a year that, according to CAO’s website, “offered the perfect combination of climate, rainfall, and soil” in the South American country. The binder is Nicaraguan and the habano-seed filler is a combination of tobaccos from Jamastran and Estelí. This new blend, manufactured at the CAO Fabrica de Tabacos in Estelí, is offered in two formats: a stubby figurado called “Bouchon” (4.9 x 60) and the Crémant (6 x 52).

I sampled two Crémants for this review. This size features a smooth and seamless golden wrapper, a spongy feel, and soft pre-light notes of dry grass and honey. It’s one of those cigars that gives the impression it’s going to burn well.

And it does. From light to nub, the Crémant is a set-it-and-forget-it stick with excellent construction. The burn is straight with a clean and shiny mascara, the draw is easy, and the ash layers well for a firm hold. No problems there.

I wish, however, the flavor were a bit more exciting, especially for a cigar that sells for roughly $8 apiece or $75 for a box of 10. The profile is light and airy with traces of almond, cream, and oak. Tasty, but lacking in complexity or development. That’s why the Crémant has trouble holding my attention only halfway into the 90-minute smoke.

This criticism, mind you, comes from a cigar enthusiast who regularly fires up mild cigars. While some smokers often confuse quality with strength, mild cigars have always had a special place in my rotation. These include Ybor City Handmades, Davidoff, Don Kiki’s White Label, and Paul Garmirian, among others.

Besides being mild, all of these cigars have one thing in common: that special something that keeps me immersed and coming back for more. It’s my own fault that I can’t really put this feeling into words. What I can say, though, is that the CAO Gold Vintage Crémant, while well-built and smooth, isn’t in the same class. It earns three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Known in Nicaragua as “the kids of Estelí,” Andy Wood and Rafael Guillen are committed to making their mark in the rough and tumble cigar world. As with many cigar makers, there’s a family history in tobacco, but that’s about the only conventional aspect to the story of GDW Cigars.

The pair met in Oregon when Rafael was attending college on a scholarship. They later worked to put together a farm and factory in Nicaragua, only to be crippled by Hurricane Felix in 2007. They persevered, and their Reserva Miraflor has lately received several positive online reviews and comments.

Intrigued by their story, I exchanged several emails with Andy and Rafael to get some details about their company.

“It’s definitely a family operation,“ Rafael says, listing off the brothers and sister involved, as well as Andy, the sales manager who is “like my brother.” They all took a risk, sinking their money as well as their economic futures into the project. They recognize the difficulties, but refuse to be cowed.

“We still have the same determination in our work because we know that even if the economy goes down, if the product is really good, as the Reserva Miraflor, people will buy,” Rafael says. “Because we are small, and we are not producing a lot of cigars, we have 11 people making cigars: five of then rolling, five bunching, and one selecting the wrapper and binder. But we hope to grow and give more people jobs in the near future.”

For Andy, the significance of marketing and how difficult it can be to get their cigars in people’s hands has been an eye-opener: “Our products are great, but unless people pick them up…no one will know.” Right now, he’s focused on getting their website up and running. The cigars are also at some shops, which you can find by searching for Reserva Miraflor. (You’ll also likely find the firm referred to as Guillen Cigars.)

The name Reserva Miraflor, incidentally, came from a nearby park known for its beauty and diversity. The cigar is a Nicaraguan puro blended to be a medium- to full-bodied, flavorful smoke. They’re also producing a line known as Goviado and have done a few private labels.

I chanced across the Reserva Miraflor at a local shop and wrote about it in a Quick Smoke this summer. You’d have to be pretty hard-hearted not to pull for a small operation like this. They may lack some of the experience and big-money backing of others, but I can’t imagine any operation could best GDW on enthusiasm.

I, for one, hope they find great success.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

In the mid-nineteenth century, about 15 years before founding Hoyo de Monterrey, Don José Gener y Batet opened a factory in Havana and began producing a line of cigars called La Escepción. The brand was ultimately confiscated by the Cuban government and discontinued in 1989 due to falling demand for strong, full-bodied cigars.

This summer, however, General Cigar introduced a new, Honduran-made incarnation of La Escepción in New Orleans. General, after all, is no stranger to naming their non-Cuban creations after brands from the embargoed communist isle. Examples include Bolivar, Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas, Punch, and—yes—Hoyo de Monterrey.

The new La Escepción sports the world’s first binder from Ometepe, a volcanic island rising out of Lake Nicaragua with a tobacco production exclusive to General (the Macanudo 1968 also features Ometepe leaves). La Escepción is finished off with Nicaraguan tobaccos and a Honduran habano Talanga wrapper.

“To capitalize on such a classic entity as La Escepción, we chose to develop a cigar that speaks of balanced spiciness and complexity,” said Debo Mukherjee, vice president of marketing for General Cigar, in a press release. “Our intent was to provide consumers with an extremely flavorful cigar, with a sophisticated taste that honors the brand’s lineage, and I believe that we have delivered that in spades.”

Three sizes are available: Gran Gener (6.25 x 54), a figurado called Batet (5 x 54), and Excepcionales (5.5 x 52). The latter has an MSRP of $5.99.

My two Excepcionales aren’t the prettiest cigars in the world. They’re both crooked and lumpy with at least one large vein running the length of the cigar. The feel is firm, the draw slightly tight with some sweetness on the lips, and the pre-light notes of earth are muted.

Once underway, the smoke is thick and chalky with a heavy dampness. The taste—akin to walnuts, black coffee, and leather—is full-bodied yet smooth with little bite on the finish. Settling at the midway point, the toned down flavor becomes nuttier and creamier before taking a bitter turn at the final third.

It’s here I realize that La Escepción, while satisfying and well-built, lacks any distinguishing characteristics.

So even though I mostly enjoyed this cigar’s taste, burn, draw, and ash, and even though I could see myself lighting up another at a herf or on the golf course, I won’t go out of my way to seek this new blend out. It just isn’t as memorable, craveable, or complex as I’d like, resulting in a rating of three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Fuente fans can be a ravenous bunch. Between Opus X, Hemingway, Anejo, and others, Fuente has a loyal following for its expertly-blended, full-flavored smokes.

For that reason I was somewhat surprised by the lack of buzz surrounding the launch of Fuente’s new Rosado Sungrown Magum R line. Maybe the blend’s billing as a more medium-bodied smoke left it a few notches below what many hardcore Fuente fans like best.

Rosado Sungrown Magum R debuted in early December with three sizes: 52 (5 x 52), the 54 (6.25 x 54) and the 56 (5.6 x 56). Carlos Fuente Jr. said these cigars were rolled over a year ago and have been aging ever since.

According to Fuente, the Ecuadorian wrapper was grown 8-10 years ago by John Oliva when Fuente first created their Sun Grown line. The Magunm R’s wrappers, however, are from much lower on the plant, which accounts for its milder character.

The wrappers on the thick, robusto-sized 52s I sampled for this review had a reddish hue, but were not particularly shiny or oily. Curiously, I noticed a smear of glue on the bottom of both , though the construction was otherwise excellent. Of particular note was a perfectly solid snow-white ash that accompanied a flawless burn.

Much as advertised, I found the Magnum R to be very balanced. It began as a mild-medium smoke with light cedar, roasted nuts, and cream flavors. There were also some slightly less enjoyable damp earth notes.

There wasn’t much evolution as the cigar progresses. But as the burn inched closer to the ornate, gold-trimmed band, it did become a bit more medium-bodied, as a subtle pepper spice kicked in along with some tannic flavors.

All in all, while the Sungrown Magnum R is not the most interesting smoke from Fuente, it does provide a pleasant flavor profile—albeit not as lively as some of my favorite Fuente smokes. And it does so at the very reasonable price of under $7 per stick. That combination earns the Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R 52 a rating of three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys