The Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

I have no idea where I got this cigar or how long it’s been sitting in my humidor. But I’m pretty sure I won’t be smoking another. Not because it was bad, but because it seems that Maraya Cigars is out of business. Its New York shop closed earlier this year, the phone is out of service, and a website on the reverse of the band calls up an error page. And that’s a shame because it was an interesting smoke. The Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo ’98 filler combined for a spicy, milder cigar with some sweetness and a light hay in the background. If you see one, give it a try.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: N/A

1792 Sweet Wheat Bourbon is a new offering from the Barton Distillery, which is better known for Very Old Barton and 1792 Small Batch Ridgemont Reserve. (1792 is the year Kentucky gained statehood.)

My favorite bourbon writer Chuck Cowdery explained the details and differences between the original 1792 expression and the new Sweet Wheat:

The flagship expression of 1792 was launched in 2003. It is a rye-recipe bourbon with a higher-than-normal barley malt content, although the exact percentage has never been disclosed. It also features a yeast strain not used for any other brands. The product was created by Barton Master Distiller Bill Friel not long before he retired….

Now the Barton 1792 Distillery is set to release its first 1792 line extension, called 1792 Sweet Wheat. It was distilled in 2007 so, like the flagship, it is eight years old. ‘Using wheat instead of rye gives the taste profile a softer and more delicate flavor,’ said Ken Pierce, director of distillation and quality assurance. ‘The soft flavor is balanced by rich oak tannins extracted by the bourbon while aging in the charred oak barrels.’

In case you’re wondering, bourbon made with wheat as a secondary grain instead of rye has always been a minority of all bourbon made, but it includes some very popular ones, not the least of which is Pappy Van Winkle. While rye is characterized by spice, wheated bourbons (which also include Maker’s Mark, Old Fitzgerald/Larceny, and the Weller family of bourbons) are known for a softer, sweeter edge.

Sweet Wheat pours a light bronze color. It features a muted nose with honey, wood, and red fruit. On the palate, Sweet Wheat is as advertised. It’s soft and lush, with a little resin, oak, cherries, and apples. The finish is much of the same with apples and caramel.

1792 Sweat Wheat Bourbon is 91.2-proof and retails for $33 a bottle. Though expect to spend bit more (I found one for $38) if you can find them at all (my local store sold out in two days) as the first release is fairly limited.

Pair it with a balanced, mild or medium cigar. A few recommendations: Illusione Epernay, Paul Garmirian Gourmet Vintage 1991, Arturo Fuente King T Rosado Sun Grown, and Ashton Classic.

I wouldn’t necessarily suggest spending a lot of time or money finding the new 1792 Sweet Wheat, but it is a good bourbon for the price. If you like Old Weller Antique, Larceny, or Maker’s Mark, it iscertainly worth trying.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

With Tatuaje giving a boost this year to Verocú, introduced originally in 2007 as a stronger addition to the Havana VI line, it seemed like a good time to get reacquainted. After all, three of the earlier Verocú incarnations garnered top ratings in Stogie Guys reviews.

The “new” regular production Verocú comes in six sizes. The No. 1 is 6.25 inches long with a 52 ring gauge, the same size as the earlier limited West Coast edition. It carries a $10 MSRP.

The wrapper is an Ecuadorian Habano and the filler and binder are from Nicaragua. Typical of Tatuaje, these cigars are rolled at the My Father Cigars factory in Nicaragua.

Some cigars make a lasting impression, and I fondly remember the zoned edition (East and West) Verocú cigars I smoked in 2008. What stands out particularly in my memory is how smooth and balanced they were.

I was a little wary lighting up my first of these new ones. After all, a lot of great cigars have come along in the intervening years. It’s only natural to wonder whether these new sticks can still compete. And win.

The short answer is, yes, they can.

Of course, I can’t possibly remember those older smokes exactly and compare them to these. In my mind, the older ones had more initial pepper than the new sticks. But that could simply be the effect of years of smoking so many other cigars bursting with pepper since then.

What is unquestionably still a hallmark of Verocú is smoothness and balance, as the flavors move and shift throughout the smoke. A bit of sweetness to set off the pepper, floral notes overtaken by leather. The finish lingers nicely. Construction, burn, and draw are excellent, and the cigar produces lots of thick smoke.

Bringing Verocú fully back as a regular production line is, I think, the kind of customer-friendly move that has helped brand owner Pete Johnson achieve an extraordinary reputation and a tremendous following in the cigar world.

I recommend these highly and, once again, give the Tatuaje Havana VI Verocú five stogies out of five.

[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

At this point it is pretty cliche to point out that Macanudo has a reputation as a beginner’s cigar brand. Despite the knock, Macanudo has a lot a going for it: It’s easy to find, has reliably excellent construction, and features consistent flavors from cigar to cigar.

And yet General Cigar, which owns the Macanudo brand, seems to have been introducing new fuller-bodied Macanudo blends aimed at the more seasoned cigar smoker for at least as long as I’ve been writing about cigars. But the ubiquitous green and white Cafe line, a blend whose popularity is the reason Macanudo can lay claim to the title of best-selling handmade cigar in the U.S., is still what most people think of first.

At this year’s industry convention, General Cigar showed off a new updated logo for Macanudo to go along with some new packaging. Also new is the third edition of Macanudo Estate Reserve, which comes handsomely presented in individual coffins in a box featuring the black, yellow, and green of the Jamaican flag.

The Jamaican link is no coincidence. Macanudo was made in Jamaica for many years utilizing Jamaican tobacco until about 2000. For this blend, like last year’s Estate Reserve, Jamaican filler is used.

But the star of the show is a 10-year-old Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, which has a nice sheen and is nearly jet black in color. It surrounds a Mexican binder and filler from Nicaragua, the Dominican, and a a special low-yield strain of Jamaican filler (which General Cigar calls Silver Tongue).

The resulting blend features a rich chalkiness with cocoa, earth, and a little charred oak. It’s medium-bodied and leaves a pleasant, dark chocolate finish that lingers. Towards the final third there’s a little woody spice.

I sampled three of the robusto-sized No. 9  vitola (5×50), which I received from General for this review. (The blend is also available in a belicoso (6 x 57) and a Churchill (7 x 50).) Each burned flawlessly, with the excellent construction I’ve come to expect from Macanudo.

At $16 each, the Macanudo Estate Reserve Series 2015 No. 9 isn’t inexpensive. But it is a well-executed, flavorful, medium-bodied maduro that would go equally well with a bourbon or a coffee. That earns the Macanudo Estate Reserve Series 2015 No. 9 a rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

This special limited edition from Miami Cigar & Co.—one of three released this year—is unmistakably maduro. From the deep rich coffee and chocolate aroma of its Broadleaf wrapper to the sweetness in the smoke, this large cigar stands out.

At 7 inches in length and a 56 ring gauge, the Danno cigars are not spur-of-the-moment smokes. I clocked about two hours with each of the two I sampled.

What you get in that time is a medium-strength cigar with balanced flavors and a light finish. Problems sometimes encountered with large cigars—especially with the burn and the draw—were non-existent. My only complaint was smoke production: I’d have liked a little more.

With the first one, I began with a V-cut at the foot, which sports a small pigtail. After a half-inch or so, I used a guillotine to open it up in hopes of getting more smoke. And that helped some, as it did for the second cigar, when I simply started with the straight cut.

The cigar begins with notes of spice, which give way fairly soon to some of the typical dark maduro flavors like coffee and cocoa. They remain throughout, with the second half becoming sweet, with a taste sometimes reminiscent of burned sugar.

The maduro edition of the 2015 Danno line, named to commemorate Nestor Miranda’s late son, has Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Peruvian filler tobaccos with the Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 binder common to all three. The MSRP is $12, more than reasonable considering the size.

Miami Cigar, which supplied my samples, produced only 1,000 20-count boxes of each of the three at the My Father Cigars factory in Nicaragua.

I don’t smoke a lot of maduro cigars. Too often, I’ve found a sameness in many of them that can lead to a fairly boring smoke.

That wasn’t the case with the Danno Maduro. It has distinct flavors and remains interesting, though, honestly, I probably would have liked it better in a somewhat smaller vitola.

Overall, I preferred the Habano, which I reviewed in June. The Connecticut review is coming up.

The Nestor Miranda Danno Collection One Life Edition Maduro is a fine smoke. I rate it four stogies out of five.

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

–George E

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.”

CAO unveiled Concert at the 2012 IPCPR Trade Show, but now you don’t hear much about it. Only a few boxes were on display at the most recent convention, and I’ve always got the feeling the line failed to live up to some high expectations from the team behind it. The Amp (5.5 x 46) features medium- to full-bodied flavors with breadiness, cafe-au-lait, and cedar. The blend uses an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper around Nicaraguan and Honduran filler. It’s solidly made, tasty, and affordable at $5.75.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys