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.”

This new Toro (6 x 54) has a soft box-press and will be hitting shelves later this month. It features a pale brown criollo ’98 wrapper from the San Andeas region in Mexico that surrounds a Dominican binder and Nicaraguan filler. The cigar produces pleasant mild to medium cafe au lait flavors with excellent balance and some spice that builds. Construction is excellent. A fine, well-made cigar, though it hardly wowed me.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

In this segment of Random Thoughts from the Humidor, I pontificate on the upcoming football season, Lance Armstrong, and observe the latest from Puro PAC.

Football and Cigars

Baseball is still my favorite sport to watch with a cigar (the pace of the game and the long season is perfect for relaxing with a cigar), but football is a close second. Finding a cigar shop with your game on television is a goldmine, while watching the Sunday night game (which streams for free online) isn’t bad either on a crisp fall night on my balcony. My favorite Super Bowl viewing experience was at Shelly’s Backroom, although that had more to do with the fact that my Giants beat the undefeated Patriots that year.

Lance the Dope(r)

Following years of allegations that Lance Armstrong cheated his way to his historic victories in the Tour de France, the U.S. Anti-Doping Association has stripped him of all seven of his Tour de France titles. Lance claims the government agency lacks the power to do this and claims it is all a political attack against him, but has dropped all his legal challenges to the agency’s actions. Meanwhile, Armstrong continues to push for the government to control the lives of adults who choose to use tobacco and relentlessly attacks those who oppose his efforts. Does he see the irony (or hypocrisy) of complaining when the government supposedly overreaches against him for putting a foreign substance in his body, while at the same time pushing the government to interfere even more into the lives of millions of others who choose a different (and legal) substance? I doubt it.

Puro PAC Supports Cigar Bill Co-Sponsors (And Some Who Aren’t)

Puro PAC, the “Super PAC” created to fight for Cigar Rights in Washington, has been busy raising money and supporting candidates (so far the PAC hasn’t reported any independent expenditures). According to the most recent reports, all of the money is going to incumbents (though recipient Shelly Berkley (D-NV), a cosponsor of H.R. 1639, is currently challenging Republican Dean Heller for his Senate seat). Roughly two-thirds of the money has gone to Republicans. Of the 46 recipients of Puro PAC contributions, all but seven are co-sponsors of either the Senate or House versions of the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Preservation Act. Those who aren’t include Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey (who apparently raises money at cigar events but also voted for FDA regulation of tobacco to begin with and led the charge to raise the SCHIP tax), and non-cosponsoring Representatives Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and noted cigar smoker Gerry Connolly (D-VA).

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

When José Blanco announced he was rejoining the cigar industry in August 2011 after “retiring” from La Aurora only a few months earlier, it wasn’t much of a surprise. A return to tobacco seemed inevitable for those who knew Blanco. What was somewhat surprising was that he decided to join Joya de Nicaragua, where he was named senior vice president.

Joya de Nicaragua is an old-school brand run by Dr. Alejandro Martinez Cuenca, who purchased its remnants in 1994 after its nationalization during the Sandinista Revolution, which ended a few years before the purchase. Up until the introduction of the Cuenca y Blaco cigar, the company had made almost exclusively Nicaraguan puros. (Previously, only the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie had used non-Nicaraguan tobacco, and then only for wrapper.)

The new line, formally introduced a month ago, is the first cigar to fully depart from the all-Nicaraguan formula and it does so in a major way, with tobacco from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Peru. The filler comes from Estelí and Ometepe in Nicaragua, along with with Peruvian tobacco, and is surrounded by a Dominican Piloto Cubano binder and an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper.

The cigar comes in five sizes, the longest and skinniest being the Lonsdale Club at 6.5 inches with a 44 ring gauge. I’ve smoked three different sizes and find this to be my favorite (at least so far). I picked up a five-pack of these from Emersons Cigars, where they sell for just under $9 each.

The cigar features a classic-looking red, blue, and gold band that mentions nowhere on it that the cigar comes from the Joya de Nicaragua factory. The wrapper is medium brown with only a few very small veins, making for an attractive stick.

The Cuenca y Blanco harnesses the rawness and strength that defines Joya de Nicaragua, but adds a complexity and finesse that is unlike their previous blends. It’s a medium- to full-bodied smoke that features a laundry list of flavors: floral notes, cedar, honey, leather, oak, and spice.

It’s a departure from other Joya de Nicaragua cigars, but it doesn’t forget its roots, and at its core it still has a bit of the twang that you might find in their Antaño or Celebration blends. With excellent construction, complexity, and tons of flavor, it’s a standout from the new cigars I’ve smoked thus far at the show. That earns the Cuenca y Blanco Lonsdale Club a rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–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.”

This spring, a fifth size was added to the Crowned Heads line: a lonsdale (6.5 x 44) simply called Selección No. 5. Made at Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s Tabacalera La Alianza S.A. in the Dominican Republic, it utilizes a reddish-brown Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler. Like other Four Kicks I’ve smoked, construction was flawless. The cigar starts out with spice and wood, but near the halfway point transitions into a rich combination of molasses and leather. This might be my favorite size in the Four Kicks series as the smaller ring gauge really lets the complexity of the blend shine through.

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.”

Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, the man behind E.P. Carrillo Cigars, and before that La Gloria Cubana and El Rico Habano, handed me this cigar when I chatted with him at the IPCPR Trade Show a few weeks back. He said although he wasn’t selling it at the convention, this cigar would be out in September or October. It wasn’t clear the name had been finalized, but he referred to it as the “Red Box” blend (to distinguish it from the black “Core” and white “New Wave Connecticut” blends). I didn’t measure it before I lit this cigar up, but it’s roughly a big robusto size. The taste is notably salty and savory. It is full-bodied with earth, leather, black pepper, and lots going on. While not the most balanced smoke, it offers a full combination of unique flavors and, if the price is similar to its colleagues that come in the black and white boxes, it’ll be well worth picking up.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The 80th annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association Trade Show may have ended earlier this month, but there’s a lot of info I collected there that didn’t make it into our three days of live coverage (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3). Because there is so much more than I had time to report on from Orlando, today is part two (see part one here) in series of updates from the convention:

A.J. Fernandez Cigars

Last year A.J. Fernandez, known as a protégé of the late and highly revered Alejandro Robaina, released Oval. He expanded the line with a Maduro offering this spring. But the newest cigar, introduced at the Trade Show, is Pinolero. It features a light sun-grown wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler. It should be shipping any day now. Also of note from A.J. Fernandez was the news that his new factory in Estelí should be opening in November. The new facility will double capacity to 18 million cigars a year.

Boutique Blends Cigars

Boutique Blends Cigars is the new name for the company known as Oliveros Cigars. Following up on some high ratings in 2011, this seems to be a company on the rise. While they don’t do much to advertise it, the SWAG Puro Dominicana cigar is made entirely with tobacco from La Canela, which is better known as the source of some of the best tobacco used by Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana. A new SWAG SoBe (South Beach) cigar was also introduced using 100% Dominican tobacco. Two new sizes were introduced in the original Aging Room line, a parejo (6 x 46) and a perfecto. Also new is the Aging Room Havao line, made with a Connecticut wrapper, and the Aging Room Quattro, a box-pressed cigar featuring a rarely used Indonesian wrapper. Particularly interesting is the Boutique Blends/Oliveros’ shift from a company that a decade ago primarily made flavored cigars to a company that now makes overwhelmingly traditional, non-flavored smokes.

Lou Rodriguez Cigars

Lou Rodriguez, the only doctor I know who makes cigars, says he’s focused on growing his brand but not adding new lines at every Trade Show. That means no new releases this year. The brand is growing, however, and was in roughly 100 stores across the country before the convention started. Still, the Lou Rodriguez Edición Premiere is a must-try for those who like earthy, full-bodied Nicaraguans.

Miami Cigar & Co.

Always busy with plenty of new releases, 2012 was no exception for Miami Cigars, which also distributes for its partner La Aurora, the oldest Dominican cigar company. Fernando León is a new cigar by La Aurora that was the personal cigar of family patriarch Fernando León. The 100% Dominican Cien Años returns 10 years after it originally debuted. Merlion, made by La Aurora for Miami’s La Sirena line (Ecuadorian corojo wrapper over a Brazilian binder with filler from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil) also debuted. On the Miami Cigar side, the Nestor Miranda Collection now features a third wrapper style, with a milder Connecticut blend being added to the Rosado and Oscuro. Another new cigar is the Añoranzas (pictured above) which has a Nicaraguan Habano oscuro wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. (To keep track of all their new releases, including some we didn’t mention, you should check out the Miami Cigars blog here and here.)

–Patrick S

photo credits: 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.”

With a soft box-press and an old school band, this Nicaraguan puro (introduced at the recent IPCPR Trade Show) has an invitingly dark, oily wrapper. The BV 560 (one of three sizes) is 5.5 inches with a 56 ring gauge, but the box-press makes it seem smaller. It’s smooth, well-balanced, and complex, even though it has very little of the spice characteristic of many Nicaraguan puros. Chocolate, cocoa, chalk, and wood. Medium-bodied. Excellent construction in all aspects. At $5-6 each, it’s a definite buy.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys