The 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) At over 13%, Michigan has the second highest unemployment rate in the country. But that didn’t stop Wolverine State politicians from enacting a smoking ban, which took effect in May. Now the economy is starting to show signs of the new regulation. According to the Detroit Free Press, a recent survey finds that “more than 42% of responding restaurants said their sales have declined since the ban went into effect.” One bar general manager says, “Employees have been laid off, hours have been cut for others, and the tips have shrunk for the waitstaff and bartenders who are left.” Another laments: “I can’t believe that the State of Michigan did this at a time when the economy is so bad.”

2) Jeff Borysiewicz, president and founder of the Orlando-based Corona Cigar Co., has long been a passionate advocate for cigar rights. This week he added a 19-foot, 1,600-pound exclamation point to his dedication to cigar freedom. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Borysiewicz brought the world’s largest cigar to one of his stores to protest smoking restrictions in Orange County, Florida.

3) Inside the Industry: Every year at the IPCPR Trade Show, manufacturers are recognized with “Best in Show” awards for innovative displays. This year Drew Estate won the large exhibitor category for its  booth featuring dozens of pairs of custom sneakers made in the art studio attached to its Nicaraguan factory. Meanwhile, Hammer + Sickle won the medium  exhibitor category for including a massive piece of the actual Berlin Wall in its display.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Fan fires up a Mi Dominicana. Smoking Stogie lights up the Illusione HL Candela. Cigar Inspector inspects a La Flor Dominicana Air Bender. The Tiki Bar smokes the 2009 and 2010 CAO Rock and Rolled tour cigars. A Cigar Smoker reviews the Guillermo León by La Aurora.

5) Deal of the Week: This unpublicized email special features some of our favorite Cuban Crafters cigars. Included are the highly-rated Miami Medina 1959, Cubano Claro, and Cupido Tuxedo Maduro. Grab yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

Last month, Charlie Toraño announced some big changes, not the least of which were renaming his company the “Toraño Family Cigar Company” and exercising his option to retake distribution from a deal with CAO. “It belongs in the family,” he told us in an interview.

He also told us about three new blends that have since been introduced at the IPCPR Trade Show: Master, a bundle line called Brigade, and Single Region. The latter, a tobacconist-only release, brings a vintner’s approach to cigars. “Each Serie will feature a blend that is created entirely from tobaccos grown on one carefully selected finca in one particular region,” reads a Toraño press release. “The blend’s flavor and aroma will reflect the influence of the region’s soil, weather, and topography.”

Charlie Toraño chose the Serie Jalapa as the first Single Region debut. It features tobacco from the El Estero Farm in Jalapa, Nicaragua—a small plot of sandy, red clay that’s naturally irrigated by a stream. The unique location grows “some of the finest and most aromatic tobacco in the world,” according to Toraño.

Three Serie Jalapa vitolas are in production (Churchill, Robusto, and Toro Grande) with price tags that range from $6.50-6.95 apiece. All are handmade at the Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras.

Measuring five inches with a 52 ring gauge, the Robusto is a clean, reddish cigar with a neat cap, a moderate cold draw, and a well-packed cross section of tobacco at the foot. It looks and feels more expensive than it is, even with its understated double bands.

After establishing an even light, the Single Region’s sweet pre-light aroma transitions into a taste of tea, leather, and toffee. It’s medium-bodied with remarkable balance for a cigar with such a homogeneous lineage. I expected something more monotonous, even though the tobaccos were cultivated in different years from El Estero.

As the cigar progresses, two characteristics stand out. One, the physical properties are just about perfect. The burn line remains even absent any maintenance, the draw is smooth with moderate resistance, and the gray ash is sturdy. Two, the flavor adds a creamy, nutty element that rounds out the profile nicely. The only drawback is a subtle stale taste that creeps in and out towards the finale.

But don’t let that singular flaw deter you from purchasing the Single Region Serie Jalapa. This is a tremendous smoke, especially for the price. I predict it will win over many cigar enthusiasts in the months to come, and I award the Robusto four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Last week we reported live for three days from the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show. If you missed it, you can review our coverage here. (Also, be sure to read our IPCPR previews here and here.) But even after our 23 live updates, we still had plenty of information that we didn’t have time to publish directly from New Orleans. So today we wrap up our comprehensive coverage of the event:

Drew Estate: One of the most interesting conversations we had was with Drew Estate President Steve Saka. Saka says he and everyone at the company have been free to innovate because there are no past generations to roll over in their graves. He was excited about the Unico Serie, of which the first release is the Dirty Rat. Unico will give him a venue to introduce limited releases and special projects that don’t fit neatly into other lines. For example, Saka says he made 250 different blends as part of the Liga Privada project. One cigar he’s considering for Unico is a version of the Dirty Rat he calls the Ratzilla (6 x 46). The Dirty Rat blend, Saka told us, is good up until about a 46 or 48 ring gauge. Another project he’s working on treats cigars like craft beer. One blend tastes like beef jerky, although Saka hasn’t yet decided if that’s a good thing or not.

Oliva: The Connecticut Reserve gets a new size, a Double Toro (6 x 60), that will come in boxes of ten. Cain, both the Maduro and Habano versions, is now available in Nub sizes. There are also rumors, as there have been for a couple of years now, that Oliva still has some Master Blends I and II aging and may bring them to market at some point. Also rumored is that a limited but regular production cigar named “Melanio” (after Gilberto Oliva’s grandfather) is in the works with an estimated MSRP of $12-15 per cigar.

Ashton: Ashton will continue to release about 1,000 boxes per year of the La Aroma de Cuba and San Cristobal Lancero samplers. Introduced this year is the “Perfection Selection” sample, which features 10 salomon-sized cigars, two each of the three La Aroma de Cuba lines. Also new is a size extension in the VSG, a tubo called “Eclipse” (6.25 x 52) that is already available.

E.P. Carrillo: Ernesto-Perez Carrillo’s family company will be releasing their “Core” line in mid-September. It features a Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobaccos. It will be available in boxes of 20 in 6 sizes with MSRPs ranging from $6.45-8.70. Carrillo said that they currently have enough tobacco to produce the line for 2-3 years and described it as being a cross between the Inaugural 2009 and the Short Run blends that he has already released. Also new from E.P. Carrillo is the 2010 LE, which features a Brazilian habano wrapper, Dominican binder, and Nicaraguan filler with an MSRP of $15 per cigar. Only 1,000 boxes of ten will be produced and it is already sold out to retailers. Carrillo said he’s just finishing up the construction of his new 40,000-square-foot factory in the Dominican. With it fully up and running, he’ll be able to introduce more new cigars, including a couple of “Short Run” products each year, with the next coming in early 2011.

La Palina: Bill Paley told us about the La Palina Family Blend, which was debuting only a few months after the Limited Edition 1896 Robusto. The four shapes are each named after a family member. “Pasha” was the nickname for Bill’s father, William Paley Sr., the founder and Chairman of CBS. “Babe” is named for Bill’s mother, while “Alison” is named for his wife. Finally, “Little Bill” was Bill’s nickname growing up. More information on the sizes can be found in our preview post.

New Humidification Devices: With so many fine new cigars on the market, cigar makers are getting serious about humidification. Perhaps they realize that as cigar smokers grow more confident in their humidor, they are more likely to buy more cigars to age. Ashton will now be distributing Boveda, a maker of various humidification products. The Drew Estate booth featured a product called Cigar Mechanic, which uses non-propylene glycol two-way humidification products. Cigar Mechanic was also featuring some large protective travel cigar cases, including one designed to be pulled on two wheels. Alec Bradley had a new humidification system called Dr. RH. Alec Bradley President Alan Rubin explained to us that “humidity is second only to quality of tobacco” when it comes to how good a cigar is. To that end, Dr. RH uses three sizes of humidification beads and, through their website, you can even set up customized email reminders to check your humidor.

–Patrick S and Patrick M

photo credit: Stogie Guys

With the economy still sputtering, many cigar lovers continue to find themselves strapped for cash. We’ve provided quite a few suggestions for savings in the past and continue to look for ways to assist readers. Here’s the latest installment that we hope will help you reduce expenditures and increase the enjoyment odds:

1. Buy parejos. This is the typical cigar shape: straight sides, rounded head with a cap or pigtail, and an open foot. It’s the easiest shape to roll, so it’s the least costly. Figurados such as torpedos, perfectos, and other irregularly shaped sticks require greater skill to roll properly. So you’ll either pay more for a well-done figurado or risk a poorly rolled cigar.

2. Ignore novelty. When you’re trying to save money and buy good cigars, you need to steel yourself against the latest fad (those double-wrapper cigars look interesting!) or creation (Should I try that new anniversary stick or the latest blend?). They may be terrific cigars, but you’re taking a risk, and shepherding resources is all about reducing risk.

3. Don’t buy bundles blindly. No-name bundle sticks can be a bargain. But, let’s face it, odds are they’ll be mediocre at best. When you’re smoking, do you want your mind focused on a pleasant experience or busy trying to convince yourself that this cigar you can barely tolerate is OK because it didn’t cost much? Personally, I wouldn’t buy more than five sticks of any cigar I hadn’t previously smoked and liked.

4. Just say no. Make sure you have a good cutter, punch, and/or V-cutter. If you have a lighter, use it. That’s all you need. If your lighter breaks, don’t go looking for a new ST Dupont or Bugatti. Wooden matches will do just fine. If you really want a butane torch, get a sub-$3 Ronson. And don’t even think about things like golf course cigar holders or three-finger ostrich skin cases.

5. Reputation means a lot. One great trend lately has been top-flight manufacturers—Pepin, Fuente, Newman, Perdomo, and others—bringing lower-priced cigars to market. These companies have access to excellent tobacco, good rollers, and top blenders; they put their names on the line with every cigar. And they’re on the shelves at most tobacconists, so you can easily try them out one at a time. No, these low-end cigars aren’t as rich, smooth, or complex as high-dollar cigars, but smoking them will, once again, increase the odds you’ll be pleased.

–George E

photo credit: Flickr

As the economy struggles to hit its post-recession stride, some sympathetic cigar makers are cutting us a break by introducing modestly priced blends. Case in point: the new “1989” from Nestor Miranda.

It celebrates the year Miranda founded Miami Cigar & Co., distributor of such brands as La Aurora, Tatiana, Don Lino, and Miranda’s eponymous Special Collection. It also celebrates frugality. “While we do not have any cigars in the Nestor Miranda Collection that are expensive, we wanted to offer an excellent smoke at a very reasonable price point,” said Rene Castañeda, vice president of Miami Cigar. “It has become obvious that smokers, like everyone else, these days, are seeking to restrain their spending.”

When I think of restrained cigar spending I don’t think of the combined talents of Nestor Miranda and Don Pepin Garcia. But, for $5 per cigar, that’s exactly what you get in the 1989 blend. To make it, Miranda commissioned Garcia to develop a cigar based on his desired flavor profile and Garcia concocted a recipe of Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos.

Available since May, 1989 is handmade at Garcia’s My Father Cigars in Estelí with one third medium-filler and two thirds long-filler. Three vitolas are in production: Belicoso (6.1 x 52), Robusto (5 x 50), and Toro (6 x 50). Each comes in either a Habano Rosado or Oscuro wrapper.

I sampled three Oscuro Belicosos for this review. This is a dark, mottled cigar that’s bumpy, dry, and a bit veiny. Spongy in the hand with a clear pre-light draw, it sports an ornate band (with Miranda’s name in super-small script on either side) and a wonderfully pungent aroma of cocoa.

The first puff reveals a taste of damp earth, black pepper spice, and coffee beans. While the Oscuro is billed as medium- to full-bodied, the airy texture of the smoke seems to diffuse the concentration of flavors, resulting in a lighter profile than anticipated. Things get more interesting after the first inch. Here, a creamy nuttiness develops to offset what was once a predominantly salty taste. The ensuing balance is a welcome addition until it seems to fade down the home stretch.

On construction, the 1989 delivers over and above what you’d expect from a $5 sandwich-filler cigar. The gray ash holds together well and the burn requires hardly any touch-ups to stay even.

Notwithstanding these notable physical properties, I doubt this new Nestor Miranda creation will blow any seasoned cigar veterans away. But it probably isn’t supposed to. While its taste may be a bit monotonous at times—even a tad papery now and then—the Belicoso offers consistency and a straightforward profile in an affordable package. A respectable everyday selection, it earns three 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 verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

Just introduced at last week’s IPCPR Trade Show, this new extension of the La Aroma de Cuba line is made in Nicaragua by Don Pepin Garcia, like the other La Aromas. The box-pressed Magnifico (6 x 52) features a nearly flawless Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut broadleaf wapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. After an initial burst of heavy spice, it settles into a medium- to full-bodied profile with dry bittersweet chocolate, cream, and earth. It’s a tasty cigar reminds me of a slightly less complex version of the Padrón Serie 1926 Maduro—hardly a bad reminder. Construction and combustion qualities are excellent in this $8 smoke. Try it with some Zaya Gran Reserva, which will be featured as a pairing at Ashton events this fall.

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.”

When I reviewed this cigar one year ago, I found it to be agreeable yet slightly disappointing given its pedigree and price point. Time has neither improved nor diminished the El Acere. It still carries a salty, airy flavor that overshadows its tastier notes of cedar and dark chocolate. It burns well enough but, for a cigar that retails for around $10 per single, I can think of many better balanced smokes worthy of my time and money.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys