The Stogie Guys

José Blanco’s “retirement” didn’t last long. The longtime spokesman and marketing director for La Aurora announced he is joining Joya de Nicaragua as senior vice president.

Blanco left the Dominican cigar maker in June after 29 years with La Aurora and its parent company, including the last 11 as sales director for the cigar division, which was spun off earlier this year. As sales director, Blanco was responsible for developing and releasing new cigars.

In the press release announcing the move, Blanco praised his new company. “Joining Joya de Nicaragua allows me to do what I love and feel passionate for: working with tobacco. It is a choice that I feel very happy about and makes me look into the future with great enthusiasm,” he said. “Joya De Nicaragua is in my opinion an honorable company with strong tradition and history, which I value highly.”

Dr. Martinez Cuenca, owner of Joya de Nicaragua, praised the new addition to his team: “José will bring new blood and fresh ideas to our legendary company that will allow us to expand our lines of production. His experience in blending and marketing will complement our own efforts and will undoubtedly result in a great contribution to the development and growth of Joya de Nicaragua in both the U.S. and worldwide markets.”

Analysis

When I spoke with José Blanco at the industry trade show in July, it was pretty clear that while he was “retiring” from La Aurora, he had no intention of retiring completely from cigars. Even then it seemed clear to me that it was a question of when, not if, he would take another position in the cigar industry. Cigars, he told me, were in his blood. He also joked with me that unlike some people in the industry, he never signed a non-compete, a fact borne out by his return to the cigar industry just three months after leaving La Aurora.

In Blanco, Joya de Nicaragua gains not only a knowledgeable and innovative cigar veteran, but a gregarious spokesman. The company, which has relied on its distributor, Drew Estate, for its U.S. presence, will now have  its own advocate and unique voice, even as Blanco works closely with the team at Drew Estate.

Joya de Nicaragua is also doing the cigar industry as a whole a great service as Blanco is a forceful advocate for cigar rights. Additionally, he has educated thousands of smokers with his tasting seminars that break down the elements of a cigar and give smokers a peek into the complexities of cigar blending, something that will hopefully resume with his new position.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

I’ve found all La Palina cigars to be enjoyable, but the prices (often $18-20 apiece) make them hard to enjoy regularly. The new El Diario line, introduced at this year’s industry trade show, is an attempt to change that. It sells for around $10 each.

“El Diario” is Spanish for “the daily,” a nod to both the daily newspaper and the fact that, at least compared to the La Palina Family Series, it’s a more affordable “daily” cigar. Currently five sizes are available, with a sixth in production and on the way, though details of the new size haven’t yet been released.

El Diario is a collaboration between La Palina and Alan Rubin of Alec Bradley. It is made at the Raices Cubana factory in Honduras, where many Alec Bradley cigars are made, in addition to such highly regarded cigars as Illusione, Viaje, and many of the Padilla lines.

The cigar features Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco. The wrapper is an oily Honduran corojo ’99 rosado leaf. Underneath are dual Honduran criollo ’98 binders that surround the Nicaraguan filler composed of corojo ’99 and criollo ’98 leaf.

For this review, I smoked two in the Gordo size, which is a thick super toro (6 x 58). The cigars were generally well constructed, though the draw on one of the samples was a bit tight. Each featured smooth earth, powdered chocolate, a hint of pepper spice, and a bit of clove. Though I’ve heard La Palina owner William Paley describe the cigar as medium-bodied, I found the Gordo to be more full-bodied.

The flavor profile is pleasant, accented by a bit of char on the finish but dominated by earthiness. On multiple occasions, I found myself thinking it was a similar profile to the Tatuaje Havana VI, though slightly stronger.

There’s not a ton of variation from start to finish, and it certainly is not as complex as the original La Palina line, but it’s a flavor profile that will be right up the alley of fans of Nicaraguan cigars like Tatuaje and Illusione. And the fact that El Diario costs $9-12 per cigar, as opposed to nearly $20 for the Family Series, makes it easier on the wallet.

Ultimately, this cigar is good enough to keep me interested for a full two hours, which is why I’d give the La Palina El Diario Gordo a rating of four 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.”

If a cigar ever had as much hype surrounding it as the Behike, I sure haven’t seen it. The thick (5.7 x 54) Cuban commands $50 per cigar and still is regularly sold out. It’s a complex smoke, with hay, cedar, honey, coffee, and molasses, although it doesn’t change much from start to finish. The result is a pleasant medium-bodied smoke with perfect balance. Were it not for the price I could easily recommend it. But with its hefty price tag, it may only be worth trying if you’re a true connoisseur–and it’s not a cigar to go back to again and again.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Maybe I’m just cynical, but many of the stories that accompany the release of new blends sound like complete B.S. Usually they involve finding a mysterious stash of fantastic leaf in a hidden corner of a factory (how disorganized is your factory?), an accident on the part of a roller (thousands of cigars were mistakenly made?), or a personal blend made only for the cigar master (which they were able to scale up to hundreds of thousands of cigars?).

Most of these “cigar creation stories” seem like the creation of a marketing department as opposed to an account of what took place. For once, I’d like to hear that someone created a cigar because they thought they could sell a ton of them and make a lot of money.

The Drew Estate Undercrown also has a creation story, though despite its complexity it rings more true to me than most. As both Drew Estate co-founder Jonathan Drew and company president Steve Saka recounted to me at the recent IPCPR Trade Show, Undercrown was born on the factory floor when the rollers responsible for Liga Privada were told they could no longer smoke Ligas while they worked because Drew Estate was already struggling to meet demand. So they created their own blend using tobacco bought for Liga Privada but not specifically used in the blend.

As it was described to me, where Liga Privada might use the seco from a particular tobacco plant, Undercrown might use viso (or vise versa). The only exception is the wrapper, which is a dark and oily San Andreas leaf on the Undercrown (Liga Privada uses Connecticut broadleaf). The result is a cigar similar to, but distinct from, the Liga Privada blend. It all actually makes sense when you consider that the tobacco in Undercrown was already being purchased (or grown) by Drew Estate, which should make Undercrown a profitable blend.

The resulting cigar is very impressive. It’s slightly milder than the Liga Privada, placing it solidly in the medium (maybe medium-full for some people) spectrum. It’s toasty with nutty flavors and coffee bean. As it develops, roasted tastes dominate and there’s a little spice in the final third.

Undercrown comes in five sizes: Robusto (5 x 54), Belicoso (6 x 52), Double Corona (7 x 54), Gordito (6 x 60), and Gran Toro (6 x 52). The cigars sell from $7.45 to $9.95.

Each of the three Gran Toros I smoked (all of which I received at the trade show in July) displayed perfect construction. The burns were even, the draw firm but not difficult, and the ashes held strong.

I think Drew Estate has another fine cigar on its hands here, though perhaps not quite as exquisite as the original Liga blend. If the Liga Privada is a fine steak, Undercrown is a perfectly cooked hamburger. And a good burger is certainly nothing to sneeze at. That’s why the Undercrown Gran Toro earns four 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.”

Arturo Fuente’s Sun Grown line has always been a favorite of mine, and this Belicoso (5.75 x 52) shows why. With a dark, oily, and somewhat veiny Ecuadorian sun grown wrapper, it has a rich, inviting look to go along with excellent construction and combustion properties. It’s more full-bodied than the newer Magnum Sun Grown line and displays intense earth and cedar with just the right amounts of spice and sweetness. It’s medium- to full-bodied with good balance. Best of all, it’s an affordable smoke (I recall buying the box of 24 for around $100) that I always feel comfortable recommending to a novice or a cigar connoisseur.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Those who remember their Spanish Conquistador history (I don’t) know that El Dorado is a mythical city of gold. Despite it’s fictional appearance in the 1998 movie The Mask of Zorro and in the latest (and embarrassingly bad) Indiana Jones flick, centuries of searching could not locate El Dorado.

Yet apparently these seekers were looking in the wrong place, because I struck gold with this rum from Guyana, the small South American country wedged between Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname, and the Caribbean Sea. It’s a 15-year-old blend, which makes it the second youngest of El Dorado siblings. (Patrick A sampled the 12 Year here, and there are also 21 and 25 Year versions.) The 15 Year expression can be found for around $35.

Like blended scotch whiskey, El Dorado’s age actually refers to the youngest rum in the blend, which includes rum that is actually quite a bit older than that, having rested in used bourbon barrels for up to 25 years. The rums that make up the El Dorado blends come from a variety of different style stills, some that have been making rum for hundreds of years. Not exactly golden, 15-plus years has imparted a deep mahogany color on El Dorado. The nose has vanilla, coffee, smoke, and sharp citrus.

My first sip overwhelmingly reminds me of pure black strap molasses, that crude oil-like stuff that would sit for years unused in the back of my mother’s kitchen cabinet. But that’s just the first layer to this rum. Below lurks a complex combination of toasted almonds, calvados brandy, oak, and vanilla. It’s a lot of power up front, that quickly fades into a complex, balanced spirit. The finish is woody with some lingering grapefruit flavors that remind me of the rum’s tropical origins.

This is an excellent rum, with all the characteristics—sweetness, balance, and a hint of tropical citrus—that make fine aged rum my spirit of choice in the summer (as opposed to the winter, when bourbon and scotch is preferred).

El Dorado 15 Year Old is a worthy addition to any rum lover’s liquor cabinet. It goes very well with a medium-bodied Cameroon-wrapped cigar, like the Fuente Hemingway or re-blended La Aurora Cameroon.

–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.”

Introduced at the 2010 industry trade show, this is a Connecticut-wrapped version of the popular Maxx line. It features filler from Nicaragua, Colombia, Honduras, and Mexico, surrounded by a Costa Rican binder and an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. It’s a solid cigar that is constructed well, with a perfectly straight burn and a sturdy ash. The flavor is straightforward Connecticut: dry, woody, and a little grassy. Not bad, but nothing special. I expected more complexity from a blend that contains tobacco from six different countries.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys