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.

After resting in my humidor for over six months, the Vintage Regente (5 x 54) showed significant signs of improvement—performing better than my colleague reported in his May review. Its soft notes of coffee, wood, and leather seemed more harmonious. The finish, as a result, wasn’t as coarse or dry as I remembered. And since the cigar’s physical properties remain outstanding, it’s easier to justify this Connecticut shade-wrapped stick’s fairly steep price of $9-10 per single.

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. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Two powerful earthquakes rocked the South Pacific earlier this week, taking hundreds of lives and causing widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. A subsequent tsunami devastated the Samoas—“flattening villages and sweeping some residents out to sea”—and landslides on the Indonesian tobacco-producing island of Sumatra left “scores trapped in rubble.” Given the severity of the situation, the consequences of this tragedy on the cigar industry remain unknown and, for now, trivial.

2) While officials tried to criminalize smoking in Atlantic City’s 11 casinos last year, they ended up postponing the law once the recession hit. Now, as the economy continues to take its toll on the gambling industry, it looks like the ban may be deferred again. That would be welcome news for the business community and employment. When the casinos were accidentally forced to go tobacco-free in 2008, “several of the gambling halls said their revenue losses doubled.”

3) Inside the Industry: We’ve finally started to spot the new Fuente Special “T” tubo in stores, reportedly with the Fuente “Queen B”—a smaller version of the Rosado-wrapped King B torpedo. Fuente is also releasing their annual Fuente Fuente Opus X for the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation 2009 collection (priced at $950), which includes rare Opus X cigars. If you’re looking to tee it up with the pros (while smoking fine cigars), spaces for the Montecristo Cup Charity Pro-Am are still available, with a significant portion of the $5,000 entry fee going to the Montecriso Relief Organization. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, creator of La Gloria Cubana, has launched the website for his new cigar venture.

4) Around the Blogs: Tampa Cigar Examiner reviews Brick House. NiceTightAsh looks at the La Traviata. Cigar Inspector inspects an H. Upmann Magnum 48. Keepers of the Flame smokes a Casa Farnandez.  Stogie Review asks if we need to update our definition of full-bodied.

5) Deal of the Week: Cuban Crafters is having a sale with some real bargains on quality smokes. Our picks would be a box of 25 La Carolinas for just $59, a box of 25 Cupido Criollos cfor just $55, or a humidor box of the new Cubano Claro for just $89. Get yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: USGS

It’s now officially fall and that means crisp evenings, changing leaves, football, and pumpkin beer. Yes, pumpkin beer.

Since America’s micro-brew renaissance, we’ve been fortunate enough to see great beer innovation, including a number of seasonal brews made with pumpkin flavors. I recently tasted a selection of such pumpkin beers to see what this autumn treat has to offer:

Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale: Brown ale with wonderful spicy aroma and a dry, graham cracker spice. It’s sweet, bready, and medium-bodied.

Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale: Billed as “America’s originial pumpkin ale,” this cloudy ale has very little head and almost no carbonation. It’s a bit watery with clove flavors and a fresh aroma of pumpkin.

Post Road Pumpkin Ale: Made by Brooklyn Brewery, Post Road has a deep copper color and a rich allspice aroma. It’s a crisp, hoppy blend with a flavor that reminds me of roast pumpkin seeds.

Shipyard Pumpkinhead: This Maine brew (not pictured) is actually a “malt beverage with pumpkin spice added” according to the label, but don’t let that fool you. The copper-colored beverage has the aroma and smell of sweet pumpkin pie.

Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale: Harvest Moon is the only pumpkin ale I know made by a large beer producer (Coors/Molson). It’s less pumpkiny than many of its counterparts, but has a bit of spice to go with its otherwise smooth, if watery, flavors.

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale: With a dark, cloudy orange color, nice head, and a cinnamon aroma, this is a rich, full-flavored ale. Malty, spicy, and balanced, it would be easy to drink a few of these.

Southern Tier Imperial Pumking: This 9% ABV brew has a delicious aroma of fresh pumpkin and vanilla. It’s a step above the other pumpkin ales in intensity and strength. You get the feeling this would be a delicious beer even without the pumpkin flavors, but the rich pumpkin spice adds a new delicious dimension.

Any of these beers would go well with a fine cigar. Stronger beers like the Southern Tier, Smuttynose, or Post Road could stand up to a more full-bodied maduro or a Cameroon-wrapped cigar. The other beers need a milder cigar or they run the risk of being overpowered. No matter what you choose, though, I recommend you embrace the season and pick up some pumpkin beer. It may not be an everyday pairing, but when the mood and season strikes, it’s a great change of pace.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Sam Leccia was a popular guy at last month’s IPCPR Trade Show in New Orleans. That wasn’t surprising. He has an approachable personality, a sincere passion for cigar innovation, and a growing portfolio of tasty smokes—a portfolio that now includes Cain and a new maduro-wrapped version of his popular Nub series.

The concept for Nub was born of Leccia’s appreciation for the “dedication, passion, and manpower it takes to create a cigar.” It was during his time at Oliva, circa 2006, that he hatched the idea for “a high quality cigar that developed its optimum flavor extremely quickly.” He ultimately concluded that a short, stubby format provided for a cooler, tastier smoking experience.

So Leccia, a Pittsburgh native, left his position as a sales representative at the Oliva Cigar Company to found his aptly titled Nub brand. After getting his former employer on board (Leccia reportedly rolled the prototype himself), Nub launched as an Oliva product in early 2008 with three blends: Connecticut, Cameroon, and Habano.

Like the cigars in that original Nub lineup, the new Maduro features Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. It is wrapped in an oily and toothy Brazilian maduro leaf that’s marked with some hefty veins and spotted with a sandy discoloration.

Packed tightly with tobacco, the four inch by 60 ring gauge “460” clips to reveal a slightly stiff draw and some sweetness on the lips. That sweetness is misleading, however, because the initial taste is anything but sugary. It includes notes of spicy black pepper and bitter coffee beans.

The draw opens up and the flavor evens out around the quarter inch mark. Leather, peanuts, and cream are added to the mix. Compared to the heavy-handed outset, this development enables more nuance and balance, which renders the Nub Maduro more interesting and less abrasive.

The slower I puff this stubby stick—I spent over 60 minutes with each of the two samples I smoked for this review—the better it performs. The medium-strength, full-bodied taste stays on an even keel if the tobacco is cooked at the right temperature. Impatient cigar enthusiasts might find the Maduro 460 to smoke too coarse, hot, and sour.

If you take your time, though, this cigar turns out to be rich and fairly multifaceted. And you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better constructed stick that sells for $4.50-6. While some age will likely help round off the Nub Maduro 460’s edge, for now it earns three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Even harder to find than most of Enrico Garzaroli’s Graycliff Cigars, the Double Espresso is a limited edition, one-size extension of the Espresso line.

The four and a half inch by 54 ring gauge cigar features double the ligero found in the regular Espresso line. And like most of Garzaroli’s cigars, the it isn’t cheap, with a suggested retain price of $15 per stick.

The Double Espresso sports a milk chocolate-colored Costa Rican wrapper with a filler that is a mixture of Cuban-seed corojo and Ecuadorian ligero. It is slightly spongy, which I have found to be common for most Graycliffs.

Overall, the appearance is a little rugged with a cap that is less than perfect and a couple of knots in the wrapper near the head.

For a short cigar, it packs quite a punch in the taste department with a well-balanced core of coffee, chocolate, and spice. As a coffee lover I find the aroma of this stogie quite intoxicating, reminding me of a cup of nice French vanilla.

With its voluminous creamy smoke, this cigar really hits its stride about an inch in when the saltiness fades and the sweetness is amps up a bit. It is quite the treat with an even burn and fantastic balance.

Unfortunately, given the hefty price tag, an ash that was quite flaky, and some appearance issues, I can only give the Graycliff Double Espresso three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick M

photo credit: Stogie Guys

[Editors’ Note: The following is a guest commentary from Chris Verhoeven, a friend of StogieGuys.com who is studying at Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam.]

Initially, the concept of “cigar appreciation through distraction” sounds like a contradiction in terms. How can one further enjoy a cigar by distracting oneself from the experience of smoking it? Let me explain.

I recently embarked on the journey that is getting a master’s degree and have found that I have more reading to do than ever before. This includes a good deal of things that I would not regularly consider enjoyable reading, too, and it started to eat away at my free time—a time usually devoted to cigar smoking.

I decided that I should simply combine the two. Pick out a cigar and head for my university’s smoking lounge to light up and power through some material. Since I assumed I would be consumed by the task of reading, though, I continually reached for my lesser sticks. Good sticks in their own right, but not ones I would otherwise pick for an all-out smoking experience. These include Don Lino’s Africa line, Padilla Hybrids, and the Tatuaje Angeles.

But something strange happened. I found that I started to enjoy these sticks, cigars that I smoked regularly back when I couldn’t afford the high-end stuff, more than ever before. I was falling in love with them again. This got me thinking.

Awhile back, StogieGuys.com published an article that evinced that the average cigar was only meant to be puffed once or twice per minute. What I found was that by distracting myself, I smoked at a slower, more relaxed pace and generally enjoyed the cigar more while picking up on its subtleties.

So, with this in mind, I suggest you give it a try. Pick out a book, trudge through some Sudoku puzzles, or do anything else that you enjoy. Much like fine liquor, these activities can actually complement the cigar and add to your enjoyment of the smoking experience.

That said, I’ll still probably continue to horde my Opus Xs, Anejos, and Padrón Anniversaries for special occasions or moments of blissful smoke emersion. But at least now I’m giving myself a chance to fall in love with some of fine, cheaper sticks that simply require me to slow down and give them a chance to shine.

–Chris Verhoeven

photo credit: Flickr

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

From the first puff, this Nicaraguan puro displays all the nuance and depth of a Michael Bay film. That’s about what I was expecting given the hearty pre-light notes of cocoa and raisin and the appearance of the dark corojo leaf. But the Verocu No. 9 (4.5 x 49) quickly settles into a medium-strength, full-bodied profile of coffee beans, dark chocolate, and nutmeg. Sold exclusively at Holt’s Cigar Company for $130 per box of 20 or $36 per 5-pack, this Pete Johnson creation would have been an easy recommendation if not for its occasional bitterness and surprisingly frequent burn problems.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys