The Stogie Guys

Here’s another installment in our on-going efforts to pass along some tips and suggestions to those who are new to cigar smoking.

Slow. While it might not be as famous as the single word of advice in The Graduate—“plastics”—our word is much more important for cigar smokers to remember. Taking your time is important in just about every aspect of enjoying a cigar. Don’t rush the light; burning the tobacco can create harshness from the start. Draw slowly and evenly. If you put the cigar to your lips too often you can overheat it and adversely affect the flavors. Frankly, it’s pretty difficult to smoke too slowly.

Drawback. If you notice a difficult draw, you might try biting down gently on the head. Often this will loosen the tobacco enough to improve the flow of the smoke. Just be careful; you’re not trying to crack an ice cube. A little pressure is all that’s required. Too much and you could crack the wrapper.

Breakout. Sometimes I think I could be happy choosing all my sticks from the powerhouses put out by Pepin Garcia. But then I’ll pick up a tasty mild cigar such as the honey-hued Ybor City Handmade or a delicate Cameroon wrapped Fuente Hemingway and realize the joy of variety. Of course, you should smoke what you like. Just remember, there’s a lot out there and you might like more than you realize.

Name that cigar. Don’t be concerned if you’re having trouble remembering the definitions for all the names of different cigar sizes and shapes. The truth is there’s no standardization. While there are some generally accepted guidelines, manufacturers play fast and loose. For example, a robusto is usually 5 inches long with a 50 ring gauge. But flip through any cigar catalog and you’ll encounter cigar after cigar labeled robusto with different measurements. Heck, sometimes the industry can’t even agree on what the name is. A Rothschild—created in the 1800s and named, as I understand it, for a member of the British banking family that uses this spelling—shows up often without the “s” or ending with an “e” and other variations.

–George E

photo credit: Flickr

Continuing the cigar industry trend towards consolidation, the Oettinger Davidoff Group acquired Camacho Cigars on October 1. The deal was announced today, but monetary terms have not been disclosed at this time.

Davidoff will acquire all of Camacho’s brands plus its Honduran facilities, including Camacho’s factory in Danli, Honduras, and its tobacco-growing estates in the Jamastran Valley. According to a press release, Davidoff will keep Camacho’s 534 employees in Honduras and its 27 U.S.-based employees.

Camacho Cigars’ portfolio of ten brands includes Camacho, Baccarat ”The Game,” La Fontana, Legend-Ario, National Brand, Repeater, Deluxe, Don Macho, Don Felo, and Nude Bundles. We have extensively reviewed Camacho’s cigars, including the Candela Monarca, Corojo Churchill, Coyolar Puro Torpedo, Select Robusto, and the Triple Maduro Figurado.

Oettinger Davidoff produced 30.8 million cigars in 2007 and has 3,344 employees worldwide. Its brands include Davidoff, Zino, AVO, Griffin’s, Private Stock, and Winston Churchill.

Dr. Reto Cina, CEO of the Oettinger Davidoff Group, described the aquisition: “With the addition of Camacho Cigars and Mr. Christian Eiroa, the Oettinger Davidoff Group has successfully united two families with a passion for cigars as a Premium Product and the ambition to strive unceasingly for the highest quality standards.”

Analysis

This deal makes sense on many levels for Davidoff. They acquire a solid and growing brand in Camacho which can be sold to the non-U.S. market (where Oettinger Davidoff is a market leader), including duty-free shops where 22% of Davidoff’s cigars are sold.

The deal also diversifies Davidoff’s cigar portfolio in two important ways. First, many of Camacho’s cigars are priced downmarket of Davidoff’s super-premium Davidoff, AVO, and Zino brands, giving the company a wider range of cigars at a more diverse range of pricepoints.

Additionally, the move diversifies Davidoff’s cigar production, meaning a hurricane or other natural disaster cannot wipe out the company’s entire growing capacity (currently based in the Dominican Republic). The larger market share may also increase Davidoff’s access to the best tobacco, which is becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain.

On a larger scale, this acquisition continues a trend of industry consolidation. In addition to cigar makers buying other cigar makers, a big trend has been vertical consolidation where companies make acquisitions to control not only tobacco production and cigar making, but also distribution and retail sales. Faced with increasing tobacco taxes and smoking bans, plus possible FDA regulation that may require increased compliance costs, companies are combining to become leaner and more efficient.

–Patrick S

Photo Credit: Miami Herald

In August I reviewed Arganese’s new ML3 (maduro ligero times three), a tasty, slow-burning alternative to other fuller-bodied blends that command a much higher price. Today I’ll review its sister blend, the CL3, which also debuted at the IPCPR Trade Show in July.

Shorthand for “corojo ligero times three,” CL3 features a wrapper, binder, and filler of—you guessed it—corojo ligero leaves. I’ve come to understand the tobacco is first generation Cuban-seed, meaning each year’s crop is cultivated from seedlings directly off plants in the forbidden Caribbean nation. According to company head Gene Arganese, this unique feature contributes to the blend, which “resembles and mocks the early Montecristo 1992s and earlier, bringing cigars back to where the used to be.”

Among the young Dominican puro’s accolades is a rating of 90 in Cigar Snob magazine, a plethora of positive reviews on cigar blogs, and a reputation as a full-bodied stick with loads of flavor. Each of the two CL3 vitolas, either Robusto or Torpedo, comes individually barcoded in boxes of 20.

The six and 7/8 inch by 52 ring gauge Torpedo has a light and lumpy exterior leaf with a large, gradually pointed cap. Striking in appearance and firm to the touch, I found a heavy aroma of nuts right off the tightly rolled foot. Like the ML3, the flashy band—this time purple and gold—marks a departure from more traditional, family-crested Arganese smokes.

Establishing an even burn is a cinch, and the initial taste is inviting with roasted almond and hazelnut coffee characteristics. The intense smoke packs quite a punch, especially when an onion spice joins in after the first inch. Growing saltier and spicier as it progresses, the CL3 takes on a medium- to full-bodied profile that’s definitely interesting and fairly balanced.

Like every other Arganese I’ve sampled, the two Torpedos I smoked for this review displayed superior physical properties. The slow burn is straight as they come and the ash is solid and finely layered. My only complaint? The draw is slightly belabored, probably due to the cigar’s towering peak of dense tobacco.

No matter. For about $5.35-6 apiece, this cigar is another winning choice from Arganese for brothers of the leaf who demand flavor—and lots of it. I enjoyed this every bit as much as the ML3, and give the CL3 Torpedo four 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 take on a single cigar.

This complex Robusto (5 x 50) features a tasty blend of tobacco from Peru, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, all capped off with an Ecuadorian sungrown Sumatra leaf. As my colleague noted in his January 2007 review, the medium-bodied flavor profile is of nut and earth with a backdrop of spice. The physical properties are stellar, rendering the whole experience well worth the $5-6 price tag.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: 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.

Don Pepin Garcia and Connecticut wrappers aren’t a combination that come to mind like, say, rum and Coke or Lewis and Clark. But, believe me, these two combine nicely. The dark, oily Ecuador-grown wrapper on Nicaraguan filler and binder create a smooth and interesting cigar with the typical Pepin pepper really just a tease at the beginning. One of only two sizes in this line, the 6.5 inch Monarcas is a 52 ring gauge stick packed with flavor that develops throughout. If you’re a Pepin fan looking for something a little different, pick one up.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

In our ongoing effort to make StogieGuys.com as entertaining and informative as possible, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other snippets of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Atlantic City was poised to enact a smoking ban next week, but city officials backed off when casinos and union bosses protested. Their newfound argument? The worsening economic condition has both groups fearing “deep losses and significant layoffs if smokers take their money elsewhere.”

2) DC’s Teatro Goldini restaurant now has a stogie-inspired appetizer. Chef Enzo Fargione’s carpaccio branzino features fish, onions, peas, and mushrooms served in a smoky cigar box.

3) Boston’s cigar bars may be doomed as bureaucrats threaten to revoke their exemption from the smoking ban. According to the Boston Globe, “Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the city’s Public Health Commission, said she doesn’t want any more young people to pick up deadly habits. She said she wants to ‘de-normalize’ smoking.”

4) Inside the Industry: The latest version of Altadis’ Playboy Cigars was recently launched at the P&L Club in Central Hong Kong. With the help of Altadis, a Ft. Lauderdale cigar shop owner has been convicted of selling counterfeit cigars. Flor de Copan won European Cigar Cult Journal‘s “Best Brand from Honduras” award.

5) Around the Blogs: The Box Press smokes the Sabor Cubano. Stogie Review reviews a Puros Indios Viejo. Cigar Jack lights up a Dunhill Aged Dominican. Keepers of the Flame checks out a Fundación Ancestral.

6) Deal of the Week: This “Ten Most Wanted” sampler features ten of the biggest names in stogies at less than $3 per stick. Included are cigars by Rocky Patel, CAO, Alec Bradley, Cohiba, Toraño, and Gurkha. Get yours here.

– The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

A few days ago, I received an email requesting a review of the generously-proportioned Battalion Maduro from Rocky’s Edge line of cigars. I never seem to have exactly what readers want in my stash, but I did find a handful of Toros and—with a promise to track down a few Battalions in the foreseeable future—embarked upon this review.

The Edge line was launched in 2004 to great fanfare. Aside from its reasonable price and creative marketing scheme (The slogan, even for Corojos: “Professional Smokers Only. Smoke While Sitting Down.”), I’d bet much of the success was due to Rocky’s decision to sell the blend naked. In 2006, though, he added thin bands across the bottom of each stick, perhaps a result of his claim that The Edge is “the most imitated” cigar on the market.

I found a lot of conflicting information about the blend’s makeup. What I do know, according to Rocky’s website, is the binder is Nicaraguan and the filler is “secret.” Rocky quips, “I guarantee you we have tobacco in that cigar from a special country that nobody [else] uses.” What nation could it be? Finland? Anyways, our friends at KOTF note that The Edge is produced in conjunction with the Plasencia family in Danli, Honduras.

At six inches in length with a ring gauge of 52, the Toro’s maduro wrapper is firm, oily, and dark with few veins and carefully applied seams. The cream-colored band across the tightly-wrapped foot is unique and attention-grabbing, almost drawing you in to the mouth-watering prelight notes of espresso.

The cigar is advertised as a full-bodied, make-you-weak-in-the-knees experience, and the first few inches certainly deliver. I found lots of peppercorn and what can be described as a bitter black coffee flavor. The thick smoke has lots of texture with a hearty, biting aftertaste.

The last four inches are very similar in taste, if not a bit more mellow. It took me an average of about 100 minutes each to smoke three Toros, and I found even burns, clear draws, and solid gray ashes across the board.

Whether or not this cigar lives up to its laughable warning—many reviews claim it doesn’t, but what cigar could?—is not all that important. The bottom line is it delivers tons of enjoyable, albeit predictable, flavor with good physical properties. Plus, the price is sub-$5 whether you buy by the bundle or by the rustic wooden cabinet of 100.

My advice? If you’re into powerful smokes, go ahead and pick up a stash of your own. Just remember to smoke them on a full stomach. I give the Rocky Patel Edge Toro Maduro four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys