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.”

Gran Habano/George A. Rico’s branding can be a bit confusing, but when you get past that you find a company that provides quality cigars at lots of price points. This offering (initially under the Gran Habano line, but now known as Barracuda by George A. Rico) is a great example of what it can provide in the $7-9 range. With an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler, it it a savory cigar with leather, earth, and cream flavors. There’s a subtle, mouthwatering saltiness from start to finish. It’s medium-bodied and full on flavor. All that plus excellent construction makes it easy to recommend this $8 Robusto.

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.”

Dion Giolito’s Illusione Cigars makes some fine smokes, but this might be the pinnacle of Illusione achievement. The Epernay L’Excellence (6.75 x 48) is a fantastic Churchill with floral notes and core tastes of coffee, honey, white pepper, and apple. The absence of Ligero tobacco (the recipe is Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo tobaccos surrounded by a Café Rosado wrapper) results in a smooth, mild- to medium-bodied experience that’s balanced and creamy. Construction is excellent. This is a fine way to spend about $10.

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) One week ago, the public comment period was closed on the FDA’s attempt to effectively regulate new handamde cigars out of existence. Before that deadline passed, though, eight U.S. senators—Bill Nelson (D-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), David Vitter (R-LA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Joe Manchin (D-WV)—wrote their own letter to the FDA, urging the agency to exempt premium cigars, and to eliminate the retail price requirement for that exemption. “A premium cigar should be defined as any roll of tobacco that is wrapped in 100% leaf tobacco, bunched with 100% tobacco filler, contains no filter, tip, or non-tobacco mouthpiece, and weighs at least 6 pounds per 1,000 count,” they said. “It also must either have a 100% leaf tobacco binder and be hand-rolled, or have a homogenized tobacco leaf binder and be made in the United States using human hands to lay the 100% leaf tobacco wrapper onto only one machine that bunches, wraps, and caps each individual cigar.” While there is no deadline for the FDA to act, some expect the FDA to issue its regulations next summer, with legal challenges sure to follow.

2) Officials in Charlotte have proposed the criminalization of smoking cigars in parks, greenways, and golf courses, in addition to a separate ordinance that would ban smoking on the grounds of government buildings. A public hearing has been scheduled for September 2, with a vote expected on September 17.

3) Contest: StogieGuys.com readers who register at CigarsFor.Me this week will once again be registered to win a free five-pack of cigars. CigarsFor.me specializes in recommending customers the perfect premium cigars without having to go through endless hours of research. Users simply fill out their quick Palate Profile and instantly they’re shown cigars that they’ll love. It’s fun, easy, and this week you can win free smokes. Click here. Congrats to last week’s winner: Jay Dolas from West Henrietta, NY.

4) Inside the Industry: A.J. Fernandez released an online mini-documentary. Despite its gratuitous and slightly stereotypical use of images of Fernandez walking (and riding a horse) through his fields to Buena Vista Social Club music, the 12-minute video does a good job of capturing the process of making cigars and providing some insights into A.J. Fernandez’s background. Watch the whole thing here.

5) Deal of the Week: Looking to try what Sindicato Cigars has to offer? This sampler is way to do it. Just $40 ($4 per cigar) gets you two each of all four Sindicato lines: Hex, Casa Bella, Affinity, and Sindicato.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

Not long after I lit my first PG Reserva Exclusiva, I thought to myself, “I’ve found my newest favorite cigar.” It’s a smoke that you can get lost in and enjoy from beginning to end. And when you return for another, the journey begins again.

Like most Paul Garmirian cigars, the Reserva Exclusiva is created with well-aged tobaccos blended to bring out their flavors with just the right strength, which, in this case, I’d call medium. What set this cigar apart for me was the subtlety and complexity, along with a delicate finish that lingers lightly on the tongue.

The 7-inch, 48-ring gauge Churchills I’ve smoked were as consistent as a handmade product can be. Thick, rich smoke; fine, slow burn; even, deliberate draw. I paid about $11.50 for each one, a bargain, really, for a super-premium class cigar.

The filler is Dominican and Ecuadorian, with a Dominican binder and an Ecuadorian wrapper. According to the website, the tobaccos are 10 years old and they come in nine sizes.

Describing the flavors doesn’t do the cigar justice. It’s the way they intertwine and play off each other that creates the experience. Take just one component as an example: the grassiness frequently found in Dominican tobacco. In the Reserva Exclusiva it is never overpowering but rather comes and goes as a complement to the sharper and sweeter flavors, winding through them to produce something unique.

About seven years ago, one of my colleagues found the robusto (pictured) in this line a bit lacking. Perhaps he stumbled on a dud, or perhaps that vitola doesn’t match the Churchill. Or maybe our tastes for this line are just different. That wouldn’t be particularly surprising. After all, if everyone’s tastes were the same there wouldn’t be hundreds of different blends.

And, honestly, I’m not sure I would have been so enamored with the Reserva Exclusiva earlier in my cigar smoking days or later when I was drawn to ligero-laden powerhouses. I think I have become more attuned these days to smokes that repay attention, though I still enjoy a tasty strong cigar. Like the Opus I had the other week that beat me like a rented mule.

Right now, the Reserva Exclusiva is, for me, a great smoke. In fact, it gets my first five-stogie rating this year.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. A list of other five-stogie rated cigars can be found here.]

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Every year, many new cigar releases are so-called “anniversary smokes” that commemorate some event that happened years ago. The birth of a cigar maker. The date a family fled Cuba for freedom. Or perhaps the year a cigar company was founded. There are far too many examples to even begin listing them here.

While it can be hard to keep all the numbers straight, the subject of today’s review is a standout. It’s a cigar that’s not only one of the best anniversary smokes to come out in recent years but, in my opinion, it’s simply one of the best new releases in recent memory.

The Tatuaje 10th Anniversary was launched in 2013 to celebrate a decade of Tatuaje—as well as 10 years of partnership between Tatuaje’s Pete Johnson and Don Pepín García. Back in the early days, Tatuaje was García’s first client when he operated El Rey de los Habanos on Calle Ocho in Miami. Johnson recalls placing orders for cigars he didn’t need just to keep García’s business going.

Obviously, things are much different these days. Tatuaje consistently ranks as one of the hottest, most sought-after cigar brands in the market, and García is at the helm of a veritable cigar empire, with a nucleus at the My Father Cigars factory in Nicaragua.

So it would only be appropriate to mark the ten-year milestone with an excellent smoke that lives up to the lofty expectations the duo has set over the past decade. And that’s just what they did in creating the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary cigar.

For this review I sampled three in the Bon Chasseur format, a vitola that measures 5.4 inches long with a ring gauge of 52. I purchased these cigars at my local shop for $10 apiece. Each Bon Chasseur sports an incredibly oily, milk chocolate-colored wrapper, an unfinished foot, and pre-light notes of cocoa.

The Nicaraguan puro, which is a refined version of the Tatuaje Brown Label, kicks off with a balanced profile of coffee bean, black pepper, cream, and warm tobacco. Spice lingers on the tip of the tongue. The aroma of the resting smoke is sweet and nutty. The body falls between the medium and full spectrums, and the nicotine strength is moderate to mild. It’s hard to remember a cigar with such a rich, velvety texture. The smoke almost feels like silk as flavors of red pepper, woody spice, and sweetness come and go.

With top-notch construction befitting the reputation of My Father Cigars—including a solid ash, good smoke production, easy draw, and set-it-and-forget-it burn line—the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Bon Chasseur is a true gem. Even at $10, I think it’s a steal. It has been a long time since I’ve personally awarded a cigar our heralded five stogies out of five score, but I can think of no rating more appropriate for this remarkable smoke.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. A list of other five-stogie rated cigars can be found here.]

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Having recently added Jefferson’s and Masterson’s to my list of ryes, I now turn to WhistlePig. The trio often gets lumped together since they all source their straight rye from the same Alberta distillery, and all are made with a mashbill of 100% rye.

That makes them similar, but not identical. From a technical aspect, the difference is proof: Jefferson’s (10 year, 94-proof), Whistlepig (10 year, 100-proof), and Masterson’s (10 year, 90-proof). Having tasted all three, it’s clear each has a character all its own.

Unlike the others, WhistlePig has taken steps to be more than just a brand and a bottler of whiskey made elsewhere. WhistlePig plays up its Vermont roots on the bottle prominently. Currently, the outfit is just bottling and aging whiskey on the “WhistlePig Farm” in Shoreham, but it has broken ground on a distillery (a dispute with a neighbor delayed permitting) with the goal of distilling the rye it grows on-site.

But that’s all in the future, and probably quite a few years out before farm-to-bottle becomes a reality. Right now, WhistlePig is Canadian-distilled rye and there’s nothing wrong with that. (In fact, if I were WhistlePig, I’d be more worried about changing the taste too much while pursuing the dream of a 100% Vermont rye, since what they have now is quite good.)

The light copper-colored rye features a nose full of honey and candied cherries, with less of the floral and spice notes often found in Jefferson’s or Masterson’s. This would be a theme for WhistlePig, which features a rounder, more bourbon-like edge than it’s Canadian compatriots. This is almost certainly due in part to the fact that WhistlePig is re-barreled in bourbon casks in Vermont for an additional period of aging.

The palate starts very bourbon-like at first with maple, vanilla, and wood, but the distinctive rye floral and clove spice is also there, especially on the finish. The finish is medium in length with additional notes of butterscotch.

WhistlePig really delivers, with a sweeter, more rounded, and less dry version of the Canadian 100% rye distillate. At $75 per bottle, its price is on par with Masterson’s and nearly twice that of Jefferson’s (although the latter is no longer being bottled). In the new landscape of bourbon and rye, the price isn’t a bargain, but it’s not unfair for a 10 year rye since well-aged ryes are so hard to find.

Like all good ryes, WhistlePig goes great with a fine cigar. Its intensity is too much for a mild smoke, but it still demands a balanced cigar. Good candidates include the Tatuaje Black, Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill (Cuban), and Paul Garmirian 15th Anniversary Robusto. But you can’t go wrong with this flavorful rye and any good smoke.

–Patrick S

photo credit: WhistlePig

At StogieGuys.com, we try to appeal to the entire spectrum of cigar smokers. But, aware of the fact that many cigar sites and forums may appear intimidating from the outside, we try particularly hard to pass along tips and thoughts to those just getting into the hobby.

To paraphrase Harry Truman, the only cigar advice that’s new is what you haven’t learned yet. So, if you’re a cigar novice, hopefully these negative commands will help you on the road to greater pleasure. And if you’re a seasoned vet, maybe they’ll remind you of a thought or two you might reconsider.

Don’t worry about laying in a large supply. There are thousands of selections out there. These aren’t 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coins or 1954 Oldsmobile F-88s. There are plenty on the store shelves. No need to stock up before you really know what you want.

Don’t focus on getting “more for your money.” Smaller sizes, particularly for a new smoker, often offer a better way to sample a new cigar and make it easier for you to concentrate throughout the smoke. Right now there’s a trend towards huge, thicker ring gauge smokes, but many seasoned cigar vets and cigar makers alike prefer to more regularly smoke thinner, smaller sizes like lanceros and coronas.

Don’t worry about aging. Nearly all quality cigars these days use aged tobacco and are sold with the intent that they be smoked, not stored. And even if you wait six months to a year or more, you’ll probably not notice the difference, anyway. One exception to this rule might be Cuban smokes. But I would first focus on exploring all that Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras have to offer anyways.

Don’t make judgments too quickly. That cigar you love today may not seem the same a week from now. Your tastes will change the more you smoke. Better to concentrate on variety than end up with cigars you find you don’t really like.

Don’t forget why you smoke. Smoking cigars is about enjoyment. It’s not a contest or a competition. Relax and have fun. Slow down. And remember the StogieGuys.com Cigar University is a great resource to further your cigar education.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys