The Stogie Guys

I’ve won more than a few bets with bartenders and others by knowing that bourbon, by definition, need not be from Kentucky. Hudson Baby Bourbon, made in the Hudson Valley an hour north of New York City, is case in point.

While certainly identified with Bourbon County, the truth is bourbons have to follow only a few non-geographical rules. Most notably, it must be made from 51% corn and aged in new, charred oak barrels.

Tuthilltown Distillery takes those rules to an extreme with its Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey. Made from 100% corn whiskey (a rarity for a bourbon),  it is then aged less than two years in a new oak barrel.

Using a 3-gallon barrel, instead of the industry standard 53-gallon barrel, the spirit absorbs flavor from the barrel via more surface area by volume. This results in a copper appearance and sweet flavors more characteristic of bourbon aged at least twice as long.

Still, perhaps because of the limited aging, this spirit had a nose of fresh citrus  and mint. And not surprisingly this whiskey is all about corn and oak.

Sweet corn, vanilla, and oak are the dominant flavors. It’s hot on the roof of your mouth with a bit of smokiness. There’s also a subtle gin-like element with pine and juniper. The finish is long with maple syrup sweetness tempered only by the oak.

The result is a lively spirit unlike many bourbons, but interesting and delicious nevertheless. Instead gaining depth from lots of subtle flavors, the real action with the Baby Bourbon is in the interplay between the few intense flavors, most particularly the oak imparted from the small barrel.

While I’m sure it would make a fantastic Manhattan, this is a whiskey that deserves to be enjoyed neat and unadulterated with, at most, a few drops of distilled water. At $35-40 for a 375 ml “half fifth” size, it’s not cheap, but I’d go so far as to say that every bourbon lover should give it a try.

Those who like cigars with their bourbon will find this a most amicable spirit for pairing. Medium- to full-bodied smokes without too much peppery bite go particularly well. My recommendations include the Ashton Virgin Sun Grown, Cohiba Siglo VI (Cuban), Nestor Miranda Special Selection 20th Aniversario Rosado Danno, Paul Garmirian 15th Anniversary, and the Ramón Allones Specially Selected. Whether with a cigar or without, as a long time New Yorker I’m proud to say that the Empire State makes this fine bourbon that stands proudly next to the best Kentucky has to offer.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Cigar maker Rolando Reyes, Sr. is known throughout the industry for his dedication to quality control. Prior to his retirement in 2007, at the age of 83, his work habits included toiling at his Honduran factory long after hours and inspecting individual cigars up to seven times before they hit the shipping crates.

Today his grandson, Carlos E. Diez, is president of Reyes Family Cigars (formerly Cuba Aliados). He oversees production of all the brands in the company’s portfolio, including Cuba Aliados, Puros Indios, and Cienfuegos.

The latter was unveiled in 2003 as the boldest smoke in the Reyes catalogue. “We wanted to make the strongest cigar we could without compromising the taste and the aroma,” Diez told Cigar Aficionado.

Diez certainly picked a good name for the line. Aside from being a Cuban city, “Cienfuegos” means “one hundred fires” in Spanish. The colorful painting on the band depicts three Cubans in a 19th century tobacco field with a wall of flames on the horizon. And the six vitolas all have fire-inspired names like “Hot Shot” and “Blaze.”

The robusto-sized “Engine #5” (5 x 50) comes dressed in a reddish Ecuadorian Habano wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and Dominican filler. While soft to the touch and rough around the edges, it nonetheless imparts an overall feel of quality.

Touching fire to the foot, pre-light notes of coffee beans give way to a powerful taste of espresso with a sweet cedar finish. The profile, lacking in complexity, is strong but not nearly as spicy or peppery as most other full-bodied cigars.

This smoothness carries over to the midway point. Here, though, the finish is decidedly meatier with an earthy quality that’s slightly stale. All the while the physical properties are decent with an uneventful burn, a sandy white ash, and a clear draw.

The Engine #5 sells for as low as $4 and as high as $9. It’s a decent buy at the lower end of that spectrum if you’re looking for something authoritative yet smooth, but it doesn’t quite have enough balance to merit a price above $5. That earns it a rating of three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

“Theodore King has done a yeoman’s job assembling evidence that the success of tobacco zealots has become a useful template for those who want to use health issues to control our lives. The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State is not only a story about the attack on tobacco users, but a story about how decent Americans can be frightened, perhaps duped, into accepting phony science, attacks on private property rights, and rule of law. One need not be a smoker to be alarmed by the underlying hideousness of the anti-tobacco movement.”

So writes Walter E. Williams, syndicated columnist and professor of Eeconomics at George Mason University, about Ted King’s book, The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State. King is a tobacco enthusiast and avid pipe smoker who has worked in politics for three decades in his home state of Oklahoma and in Washington, D.C. He is a writer for The Oklahoma Constitution and lives on a farm with his family, including several dogs. I recently spoke with King about his book and the ever-expanding war on smokers.

Stogie Guys: What made you decide to write The War on Smokers?

Ted King: I wrote The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State for therapy. Smoking bans are completely unjust, and they drive me NUTS! I had been going to www.smokersclub.com and thought: I can compile these stories I had read there, do my own research, and write a book about this issue. I didn’t know at the time that this would take me to England, Wales, and Ireland to further my research. That part was fun.

SG: In your book, you refer to the anti-tobacco movement as a “war on smokers,” not on smoking. Why?

TK: It is a war on smokers, not on smoking, because smokers are in the crosshairs of these anti-tobacco fanatics. These control-freak bastards want to tax the hell out of smokers, and some of them want to get smokers fired from their jobs. Some want smokers evicted from their domiciles. They even want to make smokers fill out a form for the “right” to purchase tobacco products. They want to screw smokers over. That is why I entitled the book the way I did.

SG: Who makes up the anti-tobacco movement? What drives them?

TK: The American Cancer, Heart, and Lung organizations, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company, are behind this crusade. The American Cancer, Heart, and Lung organizations have, in my humble opinion, subordinated their efforts to cure cancer to the primary goal of stamping out the enjoyment of tobacco products. Power to control, not save lives, is what drives them.

SG: Who funds the organizations of that push these laws?

TK: The American Cancer, Heart, and Lung organizations and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Pfizer are funding these efforts along with allies like the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, truth.org, and federal, state, and local health departments.

SG: What was the most surprising thing you learned while writing this book?

TK: Smoking bans are just the template for more bans, like bans on fireplaces and on certain foods, etc. In other words, they give rise to a bigger and more powerful nanny state. Chapter 9 in my book documents this effort to expand bans beyond smoking.

SG: What is the single most outrageous nanny state law that you came across?

TK: The most outrageous example is that in Holland it is now against the law to smoke tobacco inside public places, even though smoking pot is legal!

SG: What is the one message that smokers most need to tell nonsmokers who are ambivalent about these issues?

TK: They are coming for nonsmokers next! And nonsmokers do not need to be in the very few places where smoking is permitted if they don’t want to be. So smokers should be left alone in what are, for all intents and purposes, the ghettos of these persecuted people. They aren’t bothering nonsmokers.

SG: What will it take for us who oppose the anti-tobacco movement to win this war?

TK: The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State teaches smokers what they can do to win this war… and it is a war. In this election year, it is especially important to know where local and state candidates stand on smoking bans. Smokers must tell those who support bans they won’t vote for them. We must become the loudest special interest group of this and future elections!

Many thanks to Mr. King for taking the time to talk to us. He wanted readers to know that cigar enthusiasts who purchase a membership to Cigar Rights of America for three years or more will receive a free autographed copy of The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State. Get your copy by joining CRA or by purchasing a copy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

–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.”

The original Cubao from United Tobacco (also called “EO Brands” after founders Erik Espinoza and Eddie Ortega) is an absolute gem. But I’m a little disappointed by the new Maduro version. Unveiled this summer and crafted by Don Pepin Garcia, it forgoes balance and complexity for sheer power. With a strong flavor of espresso and good construction, this is by no means a bad cigar. I’m unconvinced, however, that the Cubao Maduro No. 6 lives up to the prestigious EO pedigree.

Verdict = Hold.

–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.”

This immense double robusto (6.5 x 54) is a special edition Cuban released exclusively in France in 2006 and 2007. It had been aging in my humidor for almost a full year since I purchased it at the nearly 300-year old A La Civette cigar shop in Paris. Surrounded by a shiny but rustic wrapper, this Bolivar is surprisingly mild with nut and earth flavors. Then, at the midway point, cinnamon and pepper notes reveal a more medium-bodied  profile. While the construction is excellent, I’m somewhat disappointed by this expensive Cuban’s lack of depth.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

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) A disproportionate number of online cigar wholesalers call Pennsylvania home, including Famous Smoke Shop, Cigars International, and Holt’s. This isn’t a coincidence. Along with Florida, the Keystone State is the only one without a cigar tax. But Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (pictured) recently proposed a budget that includes new excise taxes on cigars and smokeless tobacco. When a similar tax was proposed last year, Keith Meier, CEO of Cigars International, said his $90 million company with 150 employees might “swim to sunnier shores, such as Florida” if adopted.

2) Inside the Industry: In partnership with Nestor Miranda of Miami Cigars & Co. and Guillermo León of La Aurora, Don Pepin Garcia is making his first Dominican-wrapped cigar. Called “Dominicano,” it will include Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos and be made at Garcia’s My Father Cigars factory. The blend’s four sizes will retail for $6-8 apiece.

3) Around the Blogs: The Stogie Guys, via The Daily Caller, feature the EO 601 “Green” La Fuerza. Stogie Review lights up a Man O’ War Special Edition. Keepers of the Flame smokes a CAO La Traviata. Nice Tight Ash tries the Chateau Real Maduro. Cigar Inspector reviews the Tatuaje J21.

4) Deal of the Week: This unpublicized email sale has deep discounts on some top smokes. Our favorite pick is the Don Kiki Brown label for just two dollars per stick. Grab yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

In our December interview, when we asked Pete Johnson to tell us what would surprise even his biggest fan, he said something we weren’t expecting: “I know my way around a sewing machine.”

He seems to know quite a bit about making cigars, too. A former buyer for the Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills, Johnson launched his own cigar brand in 2003 called Tatuaje (Spanish for “tattoo”). The rest, as you probably know, is history. Tatuaje is now a sought-after fixture in the industry with too many rave reviews to mention.

Many of Johnson’s creations—from the Black and the Havana VI Verocu to the L’esprit de La Verite and the Reserva—command prices in excess of $10 apiece. Hoards of cigar enthusiasts are more than willing to fork over the requisite cash. But, recognizing the economic downturn, Johnson launched a cheaper-priced Tatuaje offshoot called Ambos Mundos in early 2009. This long-filler blend of Nicaraguan tobacco makes use of grade B and C leaves—whereas Tatuaje uses grade A. Its two sizes are offered in two different wrappers: an Ecuadorian Sumatra (red label) or a Nicaraguan Habano (white label.)

I smoked two Sumatra Robustos for this review. Measuring five inches long with a ring gauge of 50, this cigar doesn’t make a particularly good first impression. The wrinkled wrapper has numerous splotches of discoloration, the pre-light notes are extremely faint, and the feel is inconsistent with several soft spots.

While I hope for more from a cigar that retails for about $5, the true test is in taste. And the Ambos Mundos gets off to a fair start with a subdued flavor of leather and dry wood with hints of sweetness. There may be some peppery spice on the finish, but the intensity is half of what you’d find in the average Tatuaje. Maybe that’s an unfair comparison.

Still, it’s appropriate to note how the Sumatra Robusto leaves a sour taste in the mouth, especially down the stretch. The sensation isn’t necessarily unpleasant; some may even find it a welcome uniqueness.

All, however, should be impressed with the Ambos Mundos’ construction. Both of my Robustos exhibited superb burns, effortless draws, and quality ashes.

So I’m torn on a final verdict. On the one hand, this cigar offers decent flavor and excellent combustion qualities for a fair price. On the other, I can think of many sticks that I’d rather purchase in this price range. That ultimately leaves the Sumatra Robusto with a rating of three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys