The Stogie Guys

The cigar industry loves to celebrate anniversaries. This year there are at least three notable benchmarks, each with a celebratory cigar (or four).

E.P. Carrillo is celebrating its fifth year. La Flor Dominicana is celebrating twenty years since Litto Gomez started his cigar venture in 1994. But the most anticipated anniversary in 2014 is that of Padrón’s 50th year. In an industry that puts out limited release cigars for virtually any reason, that’s something worth celebrating. And celebrate Padrón did with two cigars and four blends.

In December, the uber-extravagent “The Hammer” will hit stores. That special cigar comes in humidors of 50 individually numbered cigars (either Maduro or Natural) and will sell for over $4,500. (Yes, that’s nearly $100 a cigar.) Buying one of the only 1,000 handsome humidors entitles the owner of it to purchase refills.

The less-expensive (though hardly inexpensive, with a MSRP of $25 each) is the Family Reserve No. 50, an extension of the Family Reserve line that started five years ago with the No. 45. Boxes of ten are available with either Maduro or Natural wrappers.

Today I turn to the maduro version of the No. 50, which is a box-pressed parejo measuring 5 inches long with a ring gauge of 54. This is a Nicaraguan puro, like all Padrón cigars, and the wrapper is a gorgeous, oily, deep-brown color. (There are rumors Padrón uses maduro wrappers grown in Mexico, but I’ve never seen proof.)

The pre-light draw features cedar and chocolate. Once lit, it’s a rich combination of earth and dry chocolate with notes of oak and molasses, and the tiniest bit of pepper spice. Not a ton of variation as the cigar progresses. The powdery, thick smoke creates a finish that lingers.

It’s a model of restrained strength with full flavors. And construction is flawless. The cigar is firm to the touch, the draw has the ideal amount of resistance, and the ash holds for as long as I dared to test it.

So what’s not to like? Really just the price. A $25 cigar should be excellent, and this hits the mark. Is it much better than the 1926 series? Probably not, but it’s at least a slight step up. Really, the cost is the only thing that would give me pause about buying more.

Still, it’s pure Padrón and an all-around standout cigar. It’s easy to give the Padrón Family Reserve No. 50 Maduro the outstanding 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

I’m wrapping up our series of rye write-ups with a pair of Willett Family Estate Ryes. The pair may seem similar, but they have some very important differences that are symbolic of the American whiskey industry. (In addition to its ryes, Willett has a history of aging and bottling excellent bourbon, including Noah’s Mill, Pure Kentucky, and Johnny Drum.)

The Willett Family Estate Small Batch Rye is the first Willett Rye distilled at Willett, and currently it’s bottled after two years in the barrel because that’s roughly how long it has been since Willett first got their still running. The rye is reportedly a blend of the different rye recipes being produced at Willett. And while it’s still young, it shows extraordinary promise. (You can differentiate it from other Willett products because it has a foil top, not wax, and states it is distilled at Willett.)

Meanwhile, Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye is a sourced single-barrel whiskey. The younger batches, like the four year I’m writing about (from barrel number 116), are sourced from the MGPI distillery in Indiana, which is also the source of rye bottled by Redemption, Angel’s Envy, Templeton, Bulleit, Dickel, Old Scout, and others. You can tell this one from the Small Batch because of the green wax seal and the fact the back the 110-proof bottle states, “distilled in Indiana.” (Some whiskey companies aren’t so honest about the source of their bourbon or rye, so the clarity is appreciated.)

The $40-45 rye shares many similarities to the other Indiana-sourced rye (which has a mashbill with 95% rye), but the high proof and Willett barrel selection up the intensity. The orange-hued rye features an inviting nose of nougat, clove, butterscotch, and orange.

On the palate, the Willett Single Barrel has remarkable sweetness for a rye, leading with buttered popcorn and butterscotch along with secondary flavors of pine, baking spice, and marmalade. The finish is where it shows a little heat along with spice.

This rye is remarkable in that it is simultaneously intense and concentrated, yet smooth neat. It can stand up to a strong, full-bodied cigar: either a dark, earthy smoke like the Añoranza, or a bold and spicy one like the Fuente Opus X.

The natural question to ask is which young Willett Rye is better? Despite different sources, they aren’t that unlike. I predict that by the time the Willett-distilled rye is four years old it will be better, but right now if you only have money for one, buy the four-year-old Indiana product. Willett has a well-deserved reputation for excellent barrel picks, and this young, lively, flavorful, well-rounded rye is a must-try for rye fans.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Tatuaje has long had a close relationship with the Washington-based W. Curtis Draper cigar shop, which now includes two locations and the affiliated Civil Cigar Lounge. The shop was an early supporter of Tatuaje and its owner Pete Johnson, and the relationship has resulted in many collaborations. (At times the loyalty has even prevented other DC-area shops from getting certain Tatuaje products.)

One result of the special bond between Draper and Tatuaje was the “Cabaiguan WCD 120,” a limited edition petit corona Cabaiguan blend released in 2007 to celebrate the shop’s 120th anniversary. Five years later, the “120 Redux” would bring that blend back to celebrate year 125.

Another collaboration was a special size of the Tatuaje Brown Label (also known as the “Selección de Cazador”) made for Civil Cigar Lounge. That cigar was a essentially just a slightly thicker version of the 7.6-inch Taino size: 52 ring gauge versus the 49 for the regular release Taino.

Which gets us to the WCD 127. Made to celebrate Draper’s 127th year, it uses the same large size as the Civil Cigar Lounge Tatuaje cigar. The differences are the blend (although the basics are still an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler) and the packaging, which uses the red, white, and green band that pops up for one-off Tatuaje projects.

Tatuaje Selección de Cazador wrappers can vary in color, so it’s hard to say the 127’s wrapper is darker or lighter, but certainly the medium brown wrapper has, when you look closely, more dark splotches that I normally see in Tatuaje Brown Label cigars. The large cigar is well-constructed, and once lit it produced loads of thick smoke.

The Tatuaje WCD 127’s flavors are a farily traditional combination of earth and coffee, but there’s also some roasted peanut, nutmeg, burnt wood, leather, and plenty of pepper spice. It’s a medium- to full-bodied smoke that ebbs and flows throughout the two-hour smoking time, with hints of bitterness popping up on few occasions.

Maybe my standards are too high when it comes to Tatuaje limited release cigars (as some have been my all-time favorites) but while this is a very good cigar, it didn’t knock it out of the park for me. I actually prefer the regular Tatuaje Brown Label Taino. Still, it’s a very nice way to spend two hours and $12. (Boxes of 12 sold for $140.)

All of which earns the Tatuaje WCD 127 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.”

Costa Rica-based Dignity Cigars introduced its Dignidad del Hombre brand at the 2013 industry trade show. I don’t actually remember where I got this cigar (maybe it was a sample from that show) but I’ve had it for the better part of a year. The Torpedo (6 x 52) features a cool-looking band with a silhouette of one of the workers in the factory where it is made. (Careful though; the band was a real pain to remove without damaging the cigar.) Once lit, I found a combination of oak, cream, and warm tobacco. It’s medium-bodied and, except for a notably unstable ash, construction was fine. I applaud Dignity for trying something different by making Costa Rican puros using pesticide-free organically-grown tobacco. While this isn’t a cigar I’ll return to often, it makes me want to try out Dignity’s other offerings.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

You could argue George Rico’s Miami S.T.K. American Puro is the most unique cigar around. Made in Miami, the blend has only tobacco grown in the United States, including fire-cured tobacco from Kentucky.

The Miami S.T.K. American Puro was one of three cigars with fire-cured tobacco introduced at last year’s IPCPR Trade Show. The others, Leccia Black and Drew Estate MUWAT KFC, were announced first with the American Puro following a few weeks later. (Drew Estate’s announcement of its KFC cigar was pushed forward on the heels of Leccia Black because the company wanted to make clear it had the cigar in production long before Leccia’s announcement.)

But unlike Leccia Black and KFC, the American Puro has the added twist of being made with U.S.-grown wrapper, binder, and filler. The wrapper and binder are Connecticut Habano (an unusual wrapper) and the filler combines the fire-cured Kentucky leaf with Connecticut broadleaf.

The band may seem familiar to fans of Cuban cigars, as it’s very similar to the Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey (an interesting choice given the American-ness of the blend). I smoked the Corona Gorda (5.6 x 46) size for this review. Construction was good from start to finish.

Pre-light, the fire-cured tobacco dominates with a combination of a peaty scotch (think Laphroaig) and BBQ pit. It’s interesting to say the least and seriously pungent.

Once lit, the cigar seems less influenced by the fire-cured tobacco than you might expect. Yes, there’s a slight smokey, hickory edge there, but there’s also a molasses sweetness along with coffee, chocolate, and earth. It’s medium-bodied with minimal variation from start to finish.

I’ll say I was surprised by how traditional the Miami S.T.K. American Puro smokes. That’s not to say it’s bad or boring, just not as dominated by the fire-cured tobacco as I expected, which is a very polarizing flavor. Still, it’s a solid cigar for $9 with excellent construction and a pleasing profile. That earns the American Puro Corona Gorda an admirable rating of three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Two months ago, Tatuaje shipped its Pudgy Monsters sampler, a follow-up to its Little Monsters sampler, which was comprised of smaller versions the Monsters Series Halloween cigars. The $95 Pudgy Monsters sampler features ten cigars, six being smaller versions of the prior Monsters, with the remaining four comprised of two each of two new blends.

The two new cigars are both based on the Child’s Play villains: “Chuck,” after the main character Chucky; and “Tiff,” after his bride, Tiffany. Last month I reviewed and enjoyed the Ecuador Connecticut-wrapped Tiff. Now I turn to Chuck, four of which I smoked (from three different Pudgy Monsters sampler boxes) for this review.

Chuck features a dark Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler. It’s a petit robusto size (4 x 50) with a sky blue band with Tatuaje in white centered and “Pudgy” and “Monsters” in blotchy red typeface on the sides. Like virtually all new Tatuajes, Pudgy Monsters are all made at the My Father Cigars factory in Estelí.

Once lit, I found lots of milk chocolate, damp earth, cinnamon, and notable pepper spice flavors. It’s a medium- to full-bodied cigar with a decent amount of spice and a powdery finish. It’s hardly the most complex cigar around, although it’s a robust, flavorful blend.

Construction was solid in the samples I smoked. My only complaint was the draw was a bit tight, though nowhere near plugged, but there was still a decent amount of resistance, especially in two of the samples. The ash was notably solid.

When I first smoked Tiff and Chuck, I was a far bigger fan of Chuck, but my thoughts have reversed over time. Chuck is a solid, tasty cigar, but Tiff is more refined, more elegant, and more balanced.

Still, Chuck is a fine cigar. And since you can’t buy Chuck by itself, only as part of the Pudgy sampler, I can definitely say that at $95 it is worth seeking out the ten-pack of Pudgy Monsters. (My favorite Monster blend remains The Face, and this sampler is no exception.) As for Chuck, it’s a very solid cigar, which earns it a rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys