The Stogie Guys

Recently, I’ve been writing up plenty of rye whiskeys (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) in order to put together a Rye Guide along the lines of our A-Z Guide to Bourbon. As you can see, I’ve covered quite a few ryes, but I recently noticed one glaring omission: Sazerac Rye.

Sazerac, along with Rittenhouse and Bulleit, are three affordable rye whiskies ($20-30) that are staples at my bar. Unlike Sazerac 18 or the highly sought-after Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, standard-issue Sazerac Rye (sometimes called “Baby Saz”) is distilled at the Buffalo Trace Distillery and aged six years before being bottled at 90-proof. Another member of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye, is essentially a barrel-proof limited release of Baby Saz.

Sazerac (along with Handy) is reportedly made with a mashbill of 51% rye, 39% corn, and 10% malted barley. It features  a bright amber color and with a nose brimming with fresh, floral notes and hints of licorice. On the palate Sazerac shows a nicely balanced combination of buttered popcorn, toffee, and clove with bit of pepper. The finish has caramel and baking spices.

Is Sazerac Rye going to blow your mind with its amazing-ness? Probably not. But it’s very enjoyable and an obvious standout value at $25 a bottle. It’s a versatile rye that’s plenty good enough to be sipped straight (as I recommend), but you wouldn’t be heart-broken if your buddy throws a bunch of ice cubes in it or decided to mix it into a Manhattan.

Naturally, it goes great with a fine cigar. I’d recommend a balanced, medium-bodied smoke. Specific recommendations include the Arturo Fuente King T Rosado Sun Grown, Illusione Epernay Le Matin, or the Tatuaje Black.

If you’re a rye fan who hasn’t tried Sazerac Rye, you’re missing out. There are very few better ways to spend $25 on a whiskey of any kind.

–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.”

In early 2013, Miami Cigar & Co. released two limited edition lanceros to celebrate company head Nestor Miranda’s 70th birthday. This Nicaragua edition was made at the My Father Cigars factory, while the Dominican edition was made at La Aurora. The cigar is a Nicaraguan puro with a dark, oily Habano wrapper. The result is a dark, rich cigar full of earth, peppery spice, syrupy sweetness, and powdery cocoa. Construction is perfect throughout the hour-plus smoke. At $14 it isn’t cheap, but it’s an exceptional cigar, and if you’re lucky enough to come across one, I’d highly recommend picking one up.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

La Palina has made their cigars in a number of factories: 1896 and the Family Series at the Graycliff’s factory in the Bahamas; El Diario and the La Palina Maduro at Raices Cubanas; Classic at the PDR Factory in the Dominican Republic; and Goldie and Mr. Sam at El Titan de Bronze in Miami.

Mr. Sam—named after Bill Paley’s grandfather and broadcasting pioneer, as well as William Paley‘s father—was originally a limited edition release last year, but now it has expanded into a regular offering. Samuel Paley founded the original La Palina cigar line which, as it grew, began radio advertising. Eventually that advertising spurred the purchase of a chain of radio stations that in turn William Paley grew into CBS radio and television.

The Mr. Sam line now consists of the original Robusto (4.25 x 54, $12.50) size, plus a Corona (5.5 x 42, $11) and a Toro (6 x 50, $13.50). While it’s no longer a limited edition, the small size of the El Titan de Bronze factory will almost certainly limit the number available.

The blend pairs a reddish-brown Ecuadorian Habano wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. I smoked two samples provided by La Palina for this review and found the construction on each to be flawless with a firm but not tight draw, a sturdy ash, and a consistently straight burn.

The primary flavors are medium- to medium-full with oak and dry chocolate. Secondary flavors include coffee, clove, and subtle woody spice. It’s a well-rounded cigar with only a slight variation from start to finish.

La Palina has a lineup of solid cigars, but I can’t remember enjoying any as much as Mr. Sam. If you’re looking for an after-dinner pairing you should smoke this with a Sherried Single Malt like the a Macallan 12 or (if you want to kick the intensity up a notch) the cask-strength Aberlour A’Bunadh.

In short, it’s an impressive cigar full of flavor, but also balanced: the kind of cigar that will be enjoyed by all types of cigar smokers (though certainly the more experienced aficionados will appreciate it the most).  That makes it worthy of a rare rating of five stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. A list of other five-stogie rated cigars can be found here.]

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Redemption Rye and its brother Riverboat Rye don’t claim to be the result of secret recipes handed down from great-great-granddad or prohibition-era gangsters. Both are sold by “Bardstown Barrel Selections” and distilled at MPGI in Lawrenceburg, Indiana (formerly LDI), a wholesaler of whiskey.

If the Lawrenceburg address sounds familiar, it should. It’s 95/5 rye/malted barley mashbill is the basis of a number of ryes on the market: Dickel, Bulleit, Templeton, Old Scout, and others. But each takes on its own characteristics based on age, barrel selection, proof, etc.

As far as Redemption Rye and Riverboat Rye are concerned, each is relatively young: “under four years” according to their labels, probably in the 2-3 year range (although some sites selling Riverboat identify it as slightly younger than Redemption). Redemption is filtered and bottled at 92-proof. Riverboat is taken down to 80-proof, but in a twist from the usual (at least for whiskey bottled at so low a proof) it isn’t filtered before being bottled.

 Redemption Rye

The youth of this whiskey (~$27) is apparent from the nose which features fresh apple and oak. On the palate it shows flavors of cereal grain, oak, and some peppery spice swith honey sweetness. The clean finish clings to the roof of your mouth.

It has surprising sophistication for its young age and it’s pleasing neat or on the rocks. That, combined with a fair price (at a time when so many places are bottling up even younger whiskey and trying to sell it for twice as much), makes it worth checking out if you’re looking to expand your rye horizons.

Riverboat Rye

Bottled unfiltered, it’s a bit cloudy, and when you put it up to the light, a small amount of particulate is visible. The going price seems to be $25 for a 1L bottle, or a 750 ml. bottle for $20. It’s similar to Redemption though tamer, probably due to its lower 80-proof. The nose is more apple juice than raw apples and the Palate seems to feature sawdust and honey. The finish barely exists.

Riverboat rye is slightly smoother than Redemption but far less interesting. It’s a perfectly good cocktail rye that you might also consider offering to someone who wants a rye, but would be scared off by a higher proof. (On the flip side, a more seasoned rye drinker is going to find the low proof less than satisfying.)

The company also sells an un-aged rye, bottled straight from the still at 92-proof.  It’s raw, floral, and briny. I suppose this could work in the right cocktail, though more than anything it’s an educational experience. At the same proof as Redemption Rye, the side by side comparison shows how much impact a few years in a new charred oak barrel adds. (And unlike Jack Daniels’ new un-aged rye, you aren’t paying a premium for the experience.)

The unique characteristics of each rye impact the cigar pairings. Redemption Rye has the strength to stand up to a spicy Honduran cigar like a Camacho Corojo. Riverboat Rye requires a more subtle, smooth cigar, like the recently-released Dunhill 1907 or the León Family Reserve by La Aurora.

Ultimately, comparing young rye with something even twice as old is not particularly helpful since the style is so different. That said, as far as fairly priced younger rye, Redemption is a real standout in the category.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys

Hopefully cigar connoisseurs have woken up to the threat posed by impending FDA regulation of handmade cigars. If not, it can be summarized like this:

Given what we know about the FDA approval process, if new cigars are required to seek FDA approval before being sold, then effectively there will be no new handmade cigars introduced. When it comes to requiring that type of pre-approval, the FDA has proposed two options: (1) all cigars must get their pre-approval, or (2) the vast majority of cigars must get FDA pre-approval.

Under option two (as it’s referred to in the FDA’s deeming document), a small percentage of new cigars would become exempt by meeting an arbitrarily restrictive definition of “premium cigar.” When it comes to the FDA’s proposed definition, the $10 price floor for a cigar to be “premium” has gotten much attention because it’s so obviously ill-conceived.

Less attention has been paid to the second most problematic aspect of option two’s definition of premium cigars: an effective prohibition (due to the difficulty of FDA approval) on cigars with “characterizing flavor” other than tobacco. Even setting aside definitional problems, like the fact that the Fuente Anejo could be characterized as having a characterizing flavor because the wrappers are aged in rum barrels (or that the FDA has refused to say if cedar aging could be considered “characterizing flavor), there is a big problem with the FDA’s rationale.

The problem with effectively banning new flavored cigars is there is no rational reason to do so. There is no research I’ve seen to suggest that handmade flavored (or infused) cigars are smoked more often by children, nor do they pose any additional health risks.

When President Obama signed the Tobacco Control Act (which authorizes the FDA to regulate tobacco) he said the following: “Removing these flavored products from the market is important because it removes an avenue that young people can use to begin regular tobacco use.” That may be true of cigarettes (and possibly even small cigars and machine-made products), but not cigars like Drew Estate Acid, Rocky Patel Java, or CAO Flavours.

Let’s be honest. Many handmade cigar smokers look down on flavored cigars (my preference is for “traditional” cigars too). But if you think about who you’ve seen buying these cigars, they are still not underage or even particularly young. I strongly suspect much of the survey data that says machine-made cigars in general, and flavored machine-made cigars in particular, may be more likely to be used by youth is a function of them being used in tandem with illegal drugs, which is entirely unrelated to youth smoking issues.

The fact is, all handmade cigars are about flavor, as opposed to being primarily nicotine delivery devices like cigarettes, something the FDA implicitly recognized when considering a premium cigar exemption. And following that logic to it’s conclusion, there’s no reason to discriminate against those who like their cigars with coffee flavors as opposed to full of Nicaraguan Ligero or with a flavorful Broadleaf wrappers.

It’s just another reason why cigar smokers should let their voices be heard during the FDA’s comment period to oppose regulation, including pre-approval of handmade cigars.

–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.”

The Tatuaje Black Lancero has come in a few different packages, from “The Old Man and the C” (culebra/lancero pack) to a New York/New Jersey retailer exclusive (a show of support for the region in the wake of Superstorm Sandy). This particular one comes from the recently released Tatuaje Lancero sampler, featuring 10 different Tatuaje blends each in a classic format (7.5 x 38). The result is a creamy, nuanced, medium-bodied cigar with nuttiness, cocoa, and just a bit of spice. I always measure Tatuaje Blacks against the original ceramic jar release, which is one of the finest cigars I’ve ever smoked. Against that high bar, this doesn’t quite stack up. Still, it’s a well-made, enjoyable cigar that’s easy to recommend.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

You can pretty much bank on CAO introducing a new line at the upcoming IPCPR Trade Show, but don’t expect any details on that cigar for a while. Still, right now there are some limited release blends coming out from the CAO team at General Cigar.

I was able to catch up with brand frontman and chief blender Rick Rodriguez at an event yesterday to get the scoop on the new CAO offerings, as well as clear up some misinformation that has been circulating.

Area 9

Out now is CAO Area 9, a selection of cigars from CAO’s vast archives. The cigars consist of old blends that have been aging at CAO’s Estelí factory.

Included are cigars (some released a long time ago, others have never been released) that were made in the factory before it came under the General Cigar umbrella, along with possibly some post-General Cigar test blends. Some may be original release CAO cigars like Brazilia, America, Vision, or others that were made prior to 2007. Others include special blends that never made it to market, including, I’m told, one for a project CAO briefly had with Kid Rock that never came to fruition.

The cigars come in a bundle of six tied up in a burlap sack (though there are more than six Area 9 cigars). They have plain white bands with cryptic names like Picasso, Chief, Liga M35, Ciprus, Parabola, and Rica, with no details on their origins. In early June a special section of the CAO website will let consumers look up more details on the cigars in their Area 9 bundle. For now, the Area 9 cigars are event-only cigars that are included as a promotion for those who purchase a box. But there are hopes that it may eventually be available for sale.

Sinister Sam

Another new cigar coming before the late July Trade Show is Sinister Sam, a one-off blend along the lines of Hurricane and Angry Santa. Though, in a way, it is most similar to the Brazilia Carnivale.

While the Carnivale was Rick Rodriguez’s twist on the original Brazilia blend he inherited, Sinister Sam is his own take on the CAO America blend, which forms the base for the one-size blend.

“Sam” is a reference to Uncle Sam (hence a twist on CAO America). And contrary to rumors, there was never any plan to release it under the name ‘Son of Uncle Sam,’ a name that at most was briefly kicked around in a brainstorm session before being quickly rejected. Look for it to come out in June.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys