The Stogie Guys

We’ve pontificated about the lack of information for many cigars before, but I recently came across this post about wine labels that got me thinking again about the state of cigar disclosures. Or more accurately, the terrible lack of information about cigars.

If you take a look at this wine label (which I’ll readily admit is hardly typical) you’ll see tons of information, virtually all of which could be just as easily at home on a cigar box: type of grapes (or tobacco), location of vineyards (or farms), yield per acre, year originally planted, date of harvest, aging information, blend information, date bottled (or boxed), and quantity made.

And yet, you won’t find that information on any cigar box. At most you’ll find a list of the countries where the tobacco comes from and a box date.

One rare exception is the Tatuaje La Vérité (the label can be seen here) which does contain virtually all available information: the farm that grew the tobacco, vintage of crops, tobacco varietals and percentages, factory where it was rolled, dates rolled, and quantity produced.

But perhaps it’s no coincidence that La Vérité is based off of a wine model (for better or worse including the futures model). For the other 99% of cigars, it seems like cigar makers give us only enough information as they feel they can get away with.

There are a few reasons why I think this lack of specific information persists for cigars. The one legitimate reason for the lack of disclosure regards protection of innovation. But even this is often cop-out, designed to give cigar makers the option of changing the blend later if they can’t secure enough tobacco from the same tobacco farms down the line.

More generally, I suspect it’s a laziness on the part of of cigar makers who’d rather shroud their creations in mystery instead of explaining why their blend is superior. While wine tends to get more specific as the price goes up (buy a First Growth Bordeaux, for example, and you know exactly what small plot of land the grapes were grown on and in which year), there exists an inverse correlation between cigar cost and the availability of cigar information. Expensive cigars are usually aged significantly before they come to market, but the years of harvest, rolling, or boxing are rarely divulged.

Aesthetically, I have great respect for making cigar boxes look good, and I understand that too much text clutters up a good-looking cigar box (let alone a cigar band). But even on cigar makers’ websites, it’s too hard to come by more than just the general information about a specific cigar blend.

To that end, I think cigar makers grossly underestimate cigar smokers’ thirst for more information. (And the millions of visitors we’ve had to StogieGuys.com suggest I’m right.) So here’s to hoping cigar makers will start increasing the information they make available about their cigars. Because a critical part of enjoying a cigar is learning why you enjoy it.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Dr. Vino

When I reviewed the Grimalkin Toro by Emilio Cigars back in 2011, I liked everything about the cigar. Everything, that is, except for the name and the creepy band.

Gary Griffith must have gotten similar feedback pretty regularly, or perhaps he just had a change of heart about the best way to market this stellar creation. Whatever the case, he decided to re-brand the line as La Musa Mοῦσα, which—as Cigar Fan eloquently describes—may be a nod to the first line of Homer’s The Odyssey.

La Musa Mοῦσα features a Habano Rosado wrapper and is handmade in Estelí with production “based on harvest conditions,” according to the Emilio website. It is available in a limited Lancero vitola, along with traditional Robusto, Torpedo, Corona, and Toro formats.

The latter retails for $8-9 apiece and measures six inches long with a ring gauge of 50. It boasts an oily, reddish wrapper with nary an imperfection and wonderful notes of milk chocolate and nut off the foot. Moderately firm throughout, the Toro is downright beautiful with (what I think is) a significant improvement in the band.

La Musa Mοῦσα is “designed for the refined palate with an appreciation of subtle nuance in texture and flavor of the smoke.” Fittingly, the initial profile is neither monolithic nor overbearing—even though many have speculated this smoke is made by Don Pepin Garica, a cigar maker with a knack for powerful, peppery introductions. Flavors of almond, caramel, cocoa, and cream emerge in a balanced, medium-bodied taste.

And that’s pretty much how the Toro smokes from light to nub, save for some increases in spice down the stretch. Not surprisingly since the blend is the same, I’ll agree with my previous assessment of the Grimalkin Toro that the “balance and syrupy texture stand out as the most memorable characteristics of the smoke, imparting a uniqueness that’s lacking from other cigars that take on a more predictable profile.”

Also not surprisingly, the combustion qualities are the same as the Grimalkin—an excellent draw with large volumes of smoke, a straight burn line, and a solid ash.

When Grimalkin was introduced, I nodded in agreement as I read positive review after positive review. The quality, subtlety, and balance of the blend cannot be denied. And so is the case with La Musa Mοῦσα Toro, my favorite of Gary Griffith’s creations to date. It’s worthy of 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 verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

For whatever reason I’ve waited until now to smoke this pre-release edition (hence the unofficial band) of the new La Hermandad by Sean Williams’ El Primer Mundo. The cigar is produced at Abe Flores’ Pinar del Rio factory in the Dominican Republic (as opposed to El Titan de Bronze in Miami where previous Primer Mundo cigars have been made). The robusto-sized Caballito utilizes a dark, oily Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler. The result is a rich, spicy smoke with a tasty combination of charred oak, black coffee, and mole spice.

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.”

Billed as an “old-world, medium-bodied, Cuban-style” cigar by Tatuaje’s Pete Johnson, La Riqueza (Spanish for “riches”) is a unique and wonderful smoke. The No. 4 (5 x 48) delivers a sweet aroma with a balanced, powdery flavor of dry wood, cocoa, and leather. The finish is spicy. The robusto-sized smoke also boasts a dark Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos, a slight box press, and excellent construction. Pick one up for about $8 and I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

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. Below is our latest Friday Sampler.

1) Swisher International, a Jacksonville-based company that manufactures Swisher Sweets and other machine-made cigars, yesterday announced its intention to start making premium cigars. The new premium division of Swisher will be called Royal Gold Cigars after Alex Goldman, a 20-year veteran of the industry. “As a fourth-generation tobacconist, I have cemented relationships that will enable Royal Gold Cigars to develop, source, and market an array of premium products that customers will enjoy at competitive price points,” Goldman told CSN. The inaugural lineup from Royal Gold Cigars is expected to debut at this summer’s IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas.

2) Governor Steve Beshear is calling for a smoking ban in certain public places in Kentucky, the state with the highest percentage of smokers. “Our addiction hurts productivity, jacks up health care costs, and kills our people,” he said in a public address on Wednesday. “Yet we’ve never instituted a statewide law to protect Kentuckians from second-hand smoke.”

3) Around the Blogs: Nice Tight Ash checks out the Elogio Habano Crescent City Cigars Exclusivo, and so does Stogie Review. Cigar Inspector inspects a Vegas Robaina XV Aniversario. Tiki Bar kicks back with My Uzi Weighs a Ton +11. Cigar Brief smokes a Foundry Talbot while Cigar Fan fires up the Foundry Wells.

4) Deal of the Week: Pinar del Rio makes some nice cigars, and if you’re in the market you might want to take advantage of this special offer. Purchase any box and you get this sampler of six Pinar del Rio smokes for free.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Royal Gold Cigars

I recently received an email offer touting a bargain price on a “94-rated” cigar. If you’ve ever purchased cigars online, you probably get similar offers emphasizing high ratings all the time.

Curious about this high rating on a cigar that I haven’t seen reviewed in years, I did a little digging. Turns out it received that 94 rating from Cigar Aficionado way back in 2001.

It’s also been rated more modestly three times since, and not at all since 2005. The “94” review said it was “rich and flavorful” while subsequent ratings describe “one-dimensional” and “sour” flavors. And that’s just how the description changed between 2001 and 2005.

I don’t mean to pick on this particular cigar (I’m not even going to mention it because I think many cigars are marketed in similar fashion), but it does raise a larger question: How much can any rating that old really tell someone trying to decide if they want throw down hard-earned cash? Even if you think the number “94” is noteworthy (personally, I’d be more interested in the description than the numerical rating) you can’t really think that it’s meaningful well over a decade later. Cigars change with time, and I don’t just mean due to years sitting quietly in the humidor.

The fact is, even with the most attentive cigar makers, blends can evolve with time. Changes in tobacco sources, quality control, palates, and just time mean that except for the band, there may only be a general resemblance between the “same” cigar rolled in 2000 and in 2012.

Much of the language and number system that cigar ratings are built on come from wine, but wine is made in (mostly) vintages and cigars overwhelmingly aren’t. Unfortunately, even box dates are still quite rare when it comes to non-Cuban cigars (but then Cuban cigars have box dates in part because most need a few years of aging before they are ready to be smoked).

That doesn’t mean cigar ratings don’t serve a purpose (we wouldn’t do them if we didn’t think they were useful), but don’t let a number be the be all and end all.

And remember: (1) Your palate is the final arbiter of whether or not you enjoy a particular cigar; (2) A review is just an evaluation of a certain cigar at a certain point in time by one particular person; and (3) A little skepticism of sales pitches never hurt anyone… especially when the pitch involves a review as old as a 7th-grader.

–Patrick S

photo credit: flickr

Before working on this review, I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I fired up a Gurkha. And that’s saying a lot for a guy who needs to smoke a wide variety of cigars.

It’s also saying a lot because of the excessive number of unique blends Gurkha produces. On its website, Gurkha lists no less than 13 “core brands,” 10 “limited edition” blends, and 2 lines under its “East India Trading Company” umbrella. And these listings apparently aren’t even comprehensive. The blend I’m reviewing today, for example, is nowhere to be found on the website. I’m sure it isn’t the only one missing.

No matter. The Gurkha Legend is pretty easy to come across. It features an aged Connecticut broadleaf maduro wrapper, a Cameroon binder, and eight-year-old Dominican filler tobaccos. The Robusto (6 x 50) retails for about $10 (and can sometimes be found for considerably less when on sale or thrown into a sampler pack).

I found a couple Robustos at the bottom of one of my humidors. No telling how long they had been buried there, but the cellophane on each had started to yellow. Once exposed, the cigars gave off potent pre-light notes of cocoa and hay. Each felt very firm in some spots and soft in others, inconsistencies that often foretell construction issues.

After torching the foot, a profile of dry wood, musty earth, and coffee emerges. Cinnamon and syrup add spice and sweetness, respectively. The texture is coarse and the body is on the lighter end of medium. Each puff leaves a long finish on the palate with a spicy tingle on the tongue.

Moving into the midway point, the flavor stays consistent but the aroma of the resting smoke becomes decidedly sweeter. The final third witnesses a slight increase in intensity with occasional bitter notes. All the while the Robusto’s combustion performs better than I imagined. The draw is smooth, the smoke production is solid, the burn is straight, and the gray ash holds well.

True, the Gurkha Legend Robusto can hold its own. But it’s also a far cry from memorable. While I won’t be forking over $10 for one of these in the future, I won’t mind picking up a few at bargain prices, or as inclusions in sampler packs. This cigar earns three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys