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.”

A.J. Fernandez has made top-selling cigars for the likes of Rocky Patel, Padilla, and others, but a few weeks ago he released his first nationally-distributed solo blend. San Lotano, an old Cuban cigar line that Fernandez has brought back to life, comes in three wrapper varieties: Habano, Connecticut, and Maduro. The former has a combination of Brazilian, Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Dominican tobaccos that combine to produce voluminous, spicy tufts of smoke. Key flavors include leather, roasted coffee beans, caramel, and creamy coffee. Construction is near perfect. The Toro (6 x 52) is a must-try at around $8 apiece.

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) Behike, the new ultra-exclusive extension of the Cuban Cohiba brand, is now on sale in Canada. Three sizes are available with MSRPs ranging from $35-40 apiece. Canada’s outrageous taxes, however, make individual cigars as much as $100 and ten-count boxes as much as $1,100. As we reported in April, Behike uses a rare “medio tiempo” leaf and is being advertised as the new standard among smokers worldwide. High demand and low supply make black markets likely in countries where Cubans are legal—and almost certain in the U.S. thanks to the trade embargo.

2) One of our favorite boutiques, the Tesa Cigar Co., is hosting a special event at its Chicago lounge at 7pm on Friday, September 10. Jonathan Drew of Drew Estate and Glynn Loope of Cigar Rights of America (CRA) will be on hand. The event will feature beer, food, a raffle, and specials on Drew Estate products and CRA memberships. Mark your calendars if you plan to be in the area.

3) Inside the Industry: Berger & Argenti is capitalizing on the success of Entubar with a new Jalapa-wrapped “Entubar Quad Maduro.” Famous Smoke Shop has released La Floridita Fuerte, the third line extension in the retailer’s exclusive series made by Nestor Plasencia. Partagas is holding a contest to give away a Napa Valley trip filled with wine, cigars, and gourmet food.

4) Around the Blogs: Smoking Stogie smokes the Avo Heritage. Cigar Fan fires up a Berger & Argenti Entubar. Cigar Inspector inspects an Opus X Lost City Lancero. A Cigar Smoker sparks a PDR 1878 Cubano Especial Capa Madura. Casa Fumando reviews the CAO La Traviata Maduro.

5) Deal of the Week: Here’s a solid deal on a sampler that includes 20 sticks for a tidy $60, including free shipping. For just $3 per stick you get cigars from Rocky Patel, CAO, Graycliff, Padilla, 5 Vegas, Don Diego, H. Upmann, Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, and a handful of others. Grab yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

While I had the privilege to smoke the new Guillermo León by La Aurora while I was in the Dominican Republic visiting their facilities in May, I wanted to wait to review this cigar until a production version was released. The sample I smoked was good but, since I had already smoked quite a few cigars that day, I wasn’t in any condition to pass judgment on it other than to say that I enjoyed it.

Now, a couple of weeks after the release of the production version by La Aurora at the IPCPR Trade Show, and with several Gran Coronas in hand, I am finally able to revisit it with a more critical eye and discerning palate.

The Gran Corona measures 6 inches long with a ring gauge of  47. It will be sold in boxes of 20 with an MSRP around $8.50 per cigar. In a first for La Aurora, the Guillermo León features a dual binder of Dominican corojo and Cameroon tobaccos around a four-country filler blend of Peruvian, Brazilian, Dominican, and Nicaraguan tobaccos. The cigar is finished off with a medium brown, semi-veiny, moderately oily Ecuadorian habano wrapper.

The aroma at the foot is of hay and sweet tobacco. A quick pre-light taste reveals sweetness with a hint of spice as well as an effortless draw. Upon lighting, the sweetness present in the pre-light taste is immediately apparent and reminiscent of maple syrup and light brown sugar. Very little spice is present at this point, confined mostly to the retro-hale.

After about an inch, a nutmeg-esque spice emerges and balances the sweetness well. More spice is also present in the nose along with hints of hay and earth. The mottled gray ash holds firm for about an inch at a time and the burn remains mostly even.

As the cigar moves into the second third, some very subtle notes of hay and cream also emerge. The spice and sweetness fade in and out throughout the rest of the cigar to create an interesting interplay that, at times, is a bit unbalanced.

Overall, the Guillermo León Gran Corona is a very interesting cigar with flavors that progress and change creating an interesting and often intricately subtle smoking experience. The cigar is decidedly medium in strength but full in flavor and demands your full attention—or some of the more nuanced flavors can be overlooked. For all of these reasons, the Guillermo León Gran Corona earns four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick M

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Like a lot of those who spend their workdays among cigars and tobacco, Benny Gomez is a gregarious, engaging man who enjoys talking about his family, his heritage, and his creations.

These days, more cigar smokers will be able to get to know Benny as he devotes greater time and energy to visiting smoke shops to get the word out about his two cigar lines: Casa Gomez and Havana Sunrise. “I still haven’t pushed it out there that much,” he said at a recent, well-attended event at my buddy Arnold Serafin‘s new shop in Spring Hill, Florida. “It costs a lot of money in advertising and promoting.”

But these days he’s ready to make it happen. He cited several reasons, including settlement of some legal issues, working with his son, Loren, in the business, and a recent tweaking of the Casa Gomez blend.

The cigar, created in 2004 by Benny to honor his Cuban father and his role in cigars, comes from Luis Sanchez’s Dominican factory. Benny decided he wanted to ramp it up a bit and added some Nicaraguan ligero to the blend. But he explained that he wasn’t seeking to simply create a stronger smoke. “I didn’t want just a powerful cigar,” said Benny, whose operation is based in his hometown of Miami. “I wanted that sweet texture that comes out of real good ligero leaf.”

One aspect of the business in which Loren has become heavily involved is the Internet. The Casa Gomez website is a work in progress, with direct consumer sales added recently. Loren is also active on several cigar forums.

When I spoke with Benny in July, he and Loren were preparing for another trip to the IPCPR Trade Show in New Orleans. Benny said he hoped to build on last year’s experience when he met many retailers.

But he said he will still utilize the same pitch for his cigars. He’ll hand them out with a simple request: “Smoke it and come back. I want your opinion.”

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The year is 1792. George Washington is re-elected president. France is embroiled in revolutionary upheaval. America’s first Columbus Day celebration takes place in New York City. And Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state.

It’s hard to think of bourbon without thinking of Kentucky—or vice versa, for that matter. So it stands to reason that Ridgemont Reserve should commemorate the year the Bluegrass State became official, as long as the spirit in question is up to the task of representing the motherland of bourbon. That’s a tall order.

The folks at the Tom Moore Distillery in Bardstown think the 1792 Ridgemont Reserve is up to the task. This 93.7-proof spirit dates back to the 1880s and is crafted in small batches then aged in charred oak barrels. The result, according to the Sazerac Company, is “a distinctively smooth” bourbon that’s honored as the Official Toasting Bourbon of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

“Our story starts with Tom Moore’s original spring 129 years ago and weaves its way around the distillery ending high up in our Rackhouse Z for at least eight years,” reads an ad. “But if you really want to know all that goes into 1792 Ridgemont Reserve, one sip should tell you everything.”

The back of this bourbon’s skinny, oval-shaped bottle features an individually numbered sticker with signatures next to “checked” and “approved.” Glad to see my bottle passed muster. The line next to “character” reads “rich flavor, velvety.” Removing the wooden, cork-stopped cap, the spirit pours with a bright copper hue with orange peel, charred oak, honey, and caramel on the nose. Light and sweet without an alcohol tinge.

The flavor is dry with a medium profile that’s concentrated on the roof of the mouth. Notes of butterscotch, salty corn, wood, and rustic spice are most dominant. An ice cube or two helps round out the taste and tone down the finish, which is characterized by spicy rye.

The straightforward flavor may not be as balanced or complex as I had expected given its pre-sip aroma, but the Ridgemont Reserve still packs plenty of enjoyment for a wallet-friendly price. Only $25-30 per 750 ml. bottle gets you a decent sipping bourbon that pairs well with most medium-bodied cigars. While it may not be the best Kentucky has to offer, 1792 is an honest, cost-effective choice for bourbon enthusiasts on a budget.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Macanudo may be the best selling cigar brand in America but, like the late Rodney Dangerfield, the brand can’t get no respect. While odds are most cigar smokers made Macanudo their very first handmade smoke, it seems many experienced smokers shy away from the brand.

Maybe they see it as a beginner smoke—too mild or not complex enough. For whatever reason, the best selling premium cigar brand in America rarely has the buzz of its lower volume competitors. This despite General Cigar’s many attempts to introduce a more full-bodied smokes.

The last time a new Macanudo brand came out, at the 2008 IPCPR Trade Show, it was the Macanudo 1968, which I described as going “a long way towards combating Macanudo’s reputation among smokers as simplistic.” Two years later, at this year’s trade show, Macanudo followed up with the new Cru Royale blend, billed as a medium-bodied smoke.

Cru Royale featues an oily, deep brown Ecuadorian habano wrapper, Dominican binder, and filler made up of Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco. It will come in four sizes—Gigante (6 x 60), Robsuto (5 x 50), Lonsdale (6.5 x 42), and Toro (6 x 54)—and sell for $6-7 dollars each when it hits cigar shops in October.

From the first puff, it’s pretty clear that this cigar is nothing like the green and white Macanudo Cafe line. The dominant flavors in the silver, black, and blue-banded Cru Royale are espresso, earth, chocolate, and cedary spice. It’s medium bodied as billed, and while there’s little variation from start to finish, my three IPCPR samples show impressive layers of taste. Underlying the dominant flavors are bready notes that occasionally reveal a slightly sour yeasty flavor. Adding to the complexity is a bit of red pepper spice.

Construction is flawless, a trait I’ve found common to all Macanudo smokes. The burn is even, the ash sturdy, and the draw has just a hint of resistance. Despite that, the most striking aspect of this cigar is how un-Macanudo-like the Cru Royale is.

This can be explained by the blend’s origin. As I was told at the General Cigar booth in New Orleans, the blend is primarily the work of cigar master Benji Menendez, who originally intended it as an extension of the Partagas line. (So, perhaps not coincidentally, Cru Royale reminds me a bit of the Benji Menendez Partagas Masters Series.) This new Macanudo gives seasoned smokers a good reason to revisit the brand, and I’d suggest doing so with a strong cup of coffee. But whatever pairing you choose, I think the newest Macanudo is worth a try, which is why the Macanudo Cru Royale Robusto earns four out of five stogies.

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

–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.”

This new line by La Aurora features a medium brown Ecuadorian wrapper around dual binders (Cameroon and Dominican corojo) and a four-country filler blend of Peruvian, Dominican, Brazilian, and Nicaraguan tobacco. The well-constructed Gran Toro (6 x 58) immediately reveals milky chocolate notes with subtle earth, sweetness, and spice. It’s an extraordinarily balanced, well-rounded smoke. The thick—and apparently popular—super toro size is not my preferred format; I feel the Guillermo León is best in the Gran Corona and Belicoso versions of the blend. But that doesn’t mean the Gran Toro isn’t a very enjoyable  smoke.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys