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.

On Friday, news broke that the Obama administration ended the prohibition on bringing cigars into the U.S. for personal use. (An earlier change had allowed up to $100 worth of Cuban cigars to be brought back only by licensed travelers to Cuba.) This will certainly kick off a rush of people wanting to try their first (legal) Cuban cigar, but the question remains: Are they any good? I get asked that question frequently, and the answer I always give is as follows: Like non-Cuban cigars, some are exquisite, others quite bad, and most fall somewhere between. This Petite Edmundo has over half a decade of humidor time, which has resulted in a savory smoke with roasted flavors, light spice, and a slight creaminess. I suspect many people will be disappointed when they finally get their hands on a Cuban cigar as they wont live up to the hype, but this well-aged Montecristo didn’t disappoint.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Whiskey and cigars are a natural pairing, but the connection isn’t usually explicit. Two exceptions include the Cigar Malt Reserve by Dalmore and this barrel selection from Saints & Sinners, the private cigar club for Tatuaje fans.

Saints & Sinners launched in 2011, when I first joined. For $150 each year, members get a cigar kit with 15 smokes (frequently with rare or exclusive picks), access to a private online forum, and plenty of swag (usually cigar accessories, a shirt, and more). Registration for new members opens in early June with only a limited number of spots available.

Occasionally, members also get the opportunity to purchase other items, such as Tatuaje owner Pete Johnson’s private label Tatouage Bordeaux wine. More recently, the club offered a single barrel selection of Eagle Rare 10 Year bourbon, available in 375 ml. bottles that sold for $19.99.

The selection came about after a trip to the Buffalo Trace distillery in June. As I’ve observed before, barrel picks are often particularly excellent bourbons, assuming the person doing the picking has a decent palate. If nothing else, they are getting to try a half dozen or so barrels from which they pick the one they like the best.

Eagle Rare 10 has long been a staple on my bourbon shelf, especially with it available for around $30 for a 750 ml. bottle. For many years,including when I first discovered it, it was distilled at the Old Prentice distillery, which is now Four Roses’ distillery. The brand was purchased by the Sazerac Company in 1989 and for the better part of a decade the bourbon sold as Eagle Rare has been distilled at Buffalo Trace.

Standard Eagle Rare is a classic with heavy wood, lots of vanilla sweetness, and just a bit spice. The Saints & Sinners pick features all of that, but with a particularly aromatic nose featuring mint and caramel, and a palate that has maple, wood, and toffee. The finish is classic Eagle Rare with charred oak spice and vanilla.

You really can’t go wrong pairing any cigar with this tasty, well-priced bourbon. That said, I have to recommend a Tatuaje cigar given that this is a Saints & Sinners Club selection. Personally,I’d turn to the Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu or La Riqueza Cabinet with this bourbon, though there wouldn’t be any bad pairings from the Tatuaje offerings.

–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.”

To celebrate a recent birthday, I fired up one of my favorite cigars: Illusione’s first Singulare release from 2010. More than half a decade since its release, “Phantom” continues to deliver. Medium-bodied with wood and earth along with hints of both sweetness and spice, the cigar is immaculately balanced. Of the 1,000 boxes made, I personally smoked through four or five, but I’m unfortunately down to my last few. At this year’s IPCPR trade show, Illusione announced the Singulare Phantom was being brought back as a regular production cigar. Needless to say, I’m very interested to see if they can successfully reproduce this masterpiece.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

While cigars are commonly associated with few countries, at least a dozen countries make significant contributions to handmade cigars. This week, we rank the top ten countries by their importance to the industry. The production of handmade cigars is truly global, as evidenced by the fact that Belgium, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Jamaica, and the Bahamas—each of which grow cigar tobacco or make cigars—missed the top ten.

On Monday we counted down from ten to six. Today we reveal the rest of the top ten.

5) Ecuador — Wrapper, wrapper, and more wrapper. That’s why Ecuador is so high on this list. Blessed with powdery, nutrient-rich soil and natural cloud cover, odds are good some of your favorite cigars introduced in recent years use Ecuadorian wrapper, likely grown by the Oliva tobacco family. Not only is Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut (where cloud cover makes netting unnecessary) an alternative to U.S.-Connecticut Shade wrapper, but the country also produces the increasingly popular Ecuadorian Habano leaf, as well as significant amounts of Sumatra-seed wrapper.

4) Honduras — Not too long ago, Honduras surpassed Nicaragua when it came to cigar exports to the United States. That’s no longer the case, and it isn’t all that close but the country is still in a tier of its own above all but the top three on this list. Known for bold, flavorful tobaccos, Honduran tobacco continues to be a staple for cigars rolled in Honduras (especially in the country’s cigar epicenter of Danlí) and elsewhere.

3) Dominican Republic — Long the number one handmade cigar country for cigars imported into the United States, today the Dominican Republic has a strong claim to our number three spot. Many victims of Cuban revolution ended up in the Dominican Republic, where iconic brands continue to be produced today. Add such classic brands as Davidoff and La Aurora, plus many upstart boutique brands, and it is easy to see why the Dominican Republic continues to be a juggernaut.

2) Nicaragua — Both Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have a strong case to make for second place, but in recent years Nicaragua has surpassed the Dominican Republic in many ways, especially as the social and political instability of the war in the 1980s moved into the rear-view mirror. In terms of handmade cigar output, Nicaragua, with its rich soil, has pulled even with the Dominican Republic in terms of imports to the U.S. in recent years, even though as recently as 2005 the Dominican Republic outproduced Nicaragua almost four to one. Today, many traditionally Dominican blends are coming out with cigars that include Nicaraguan tobacco, a fact that ultimately pulls Nicaragua ahead.

1) Cuba — Although held back because Cuba’s cigar industry is state-controlled, Cuba still has some of the best tobacco-growing regions in the world, which results in many of the finest cigars. Plus, no country is as closely identified with cigars as Cuba. If ever we could see some of the top-grade Cuban tobacco used in combination with that from other countries, I would expect the result to be spectacular.

There you have it, our top ten. Agree or disagree? Let us know.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

While cigars are commonly associated with few countries, at least a dozen countries make significant contributions to handmade cigars. This week, we rank the top ten countries by their importance to the industry. The production of handmade cigars is truly global, as evidenced by the fact that Belgium, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Jamaica, and the Bahamas—each of which grow cigar tobacco or make cigars—missed the top ten.

Today, we count down from ten to six, with the top five being revealed Wednesday.

10) Indonesia — Indonesian cigar tobacco doesn’t get a lot of respect from many cigar connoisseurs, but it is a workhorse. Sumatra wrapper is known for its mild spice, and Indonesian tobacco is frequently used as binder due to its excellent combustion qualities and neutral flavors that play well with more flavorful tobaccos. Take a look at any cigar catalog and you may be surprised at how many premium cigars use some Indonesian tobacco.

9) Brazil — Although rich in history with a diversity of cigar tobaccos grown—including Mata Fina, Mata Norte, and Arapiraca—Brazil flies under the radar. After the Menendez family, which created Cuba’s famed Montecristo cigar, had their Cuban-based holdings seized by the Castro regime, the family spread out in search of other opportunities to grow tobacco and make cigars, including Felix Menendez, who became a pioneer in Brazilian tobacco. While few Brazilian puros are made, Brazilian tobacco is primarily used in combination with other tobaccos.

8) Cameroon — Cameroon wrapper has a special place in the cigar industry. Put simply, there is nothing else like it. Grown predominately by the Meerapfel family in Cameroon and the Central African Republic, Cameroon wrapper features a mild spice that so far hasn’t been replicated. That’s why, even though quality Cameroon wrapper is expensive and sometimes delicate, more than one cigar maker has told me as long as it is available they plan on keeping a Cameroon-wrapped cigar in their profile, if for no other reason than because they enjoy the leaf so much.

7) Mexico — For a long time, Mexican tobacco had a reputation as rough and course, but that has changed in recent years as Mexican puros have decreased but Mexican San Andrés Maduro wrapper has become an increasingly popular. With high quality Broadleaf Maduro wrapper hard to find, the industry has turned to Mexican leaf in large numbers, and consumers have welcomed the addition.

6) United States — A century ago, cigars were rolled in every major U.S. city. Today, with the exception of a few boutique factories in Miami, almost no handmade cigars are made in the United States. Still, the country is important to handmade cigars because of the high quality wrapper grown in the Connecticut River Valley, especially Connecticut Shade and Broadleaf wrapper. As demand for Broadleaf has increased, tobacco—Broadleaf especially—is also being grown in Pennsylvania. Although minute in terms of volume, an interesting experiment has also seen cigar tobacco grown in Florida for the first time in decades.

Check back Wednesday for the top five.

–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 Viaje Oro Reserva VOR No. 5 is the cigar that put Viaje on the map for many people when it landed at number two on the Cigar Aficionado best-of list for 2010. Today, I’m re-tasting the six-year-old cigar to see how it has aged. (The VOR No. 5 was reissued in 2012 and 2013, but those can be differentiated because they featured a secondary band marked “Oro” and the Reserva band on the foot.) The cigar features wood, earth, and leather along with light cocoa and mild spice (cinnamon and nutmeg). The result is a cigar that, over the years, has become even more perfectly balanced, but still flavorful. Six years later you can still see why this was so sought-after.

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.”

At the 2015 IPCPR Trade Show, Leccia Tobacco, then distributed by General Cigar, debuted the rotund (wrestling fans should think more Rikishi than Rey Mysterio) box-pressed Frogsplash (4.5 x 79) as an addition to the Luchador series. In case you’re unsure, check out this demonstration featuring Sam Leccia of what a Frogsplash wrestling move is. The cigar, made at the American Caribbean Tobacco S.A. factory in Nicaragua, features a dark Nicaraguan wrapper, Habano binder from Nicaragua, and Ligero filler from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. Despite the awkward size, the flavors are enjoyable with black coffee, cedar spice, and cinnamon notes. The medium- to full-bodied smoke features excellent construction, although I had to search a while to find a large enough cutter. Those looking for Leccia Tobacco cigars should note that Sam Leccia has recently launched direct-to-consumer sales though his updated website.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys