The Stogie Guys

Why does the Obama White House refuse to answer a petition regarding the forthcoming Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of cigars, when it has answered numerous other petitions that were filed more recently and had fewer signers?

In 2011, the Obama White House announced We The People. The concept was simple. “Individuals will be able to create and sign petitions seeking action from the federal government on a range of issues. If a petition gathers enough signatures, White House staff will review it, ensure it is sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.”

Originally the threshold for an official response was 5,000 signatures within 30 days, but later it was raised to 25,000 signers, and more recently to 100,000. For the most part it worked as intended. According to WHPetitions.info, which tracks the 235 petitions that have reached the required threshold, 209 (88%) have received the promised response, with an average wait time of just 69 days.

But not all petitions have been answered in a timely fashion, including one about cigars. On April 11, 2012, Jeff Borysiewicz, owner of Corona Cigar Co. in Orlando, filed the petition asking the President to order the FDA to not use its discretion to regulate handmade cigars:

Dear Mr. President:

The FDA is considering the creation of regulations for the premium cigar industry. These regulations will jeopardize over 85,000 American jobs, destroy America’s “mom and pop” premium cigar retailers and manufacturers, and risk over 250,000 jobs in Latin America that produce cigars, impacting the economic/political stability in the region.

We hope you will stand up for small businesses that dot Main Street America and recognize that premium cigars are enjoyed by adults, are not addictive, and therefore do not conform to the Congressional intent of the Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act.

Tell the FDA to leave our premium cigars alone. With this nation’s more pressing issues, harming my simple ability to enjoy a cigar should not be a priority of the government.

Cigar consumers, grassroots activists, websites, cigar sellers, and manufacturers soon banded together to promote the petition. By April 25, it reached the 25,000 signatures needed to qualify for an official response from the administration. Before the 30-day deadline ended, the petition collected nearly 39,000 signatures.

While the average response has taken just over two months, 19 months have passed and the Administration has not yet issued any answer to the 39,000 people who signed in favor of protecting cigars. Only one other petition has been pending longer.

–Patrick S

photo credit: White House

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.”

Last year was Viaje’s fifth anniversary, and I’ve kept this lightly box-pressed perfecto, created to celebrate that occasion, in my humidor since. The Nicaraguan puro is made at the Raices Cubanas factory just over the Nicaraguan border in Honduras. Many of Viaje’s special releases tend to be flavor-bombs, at the expense of the cigars’ balance. But this smoke is more refined. It’s medium-bodied, with woodiness, hints of pepper, and a slight syrupy sweetness. Construction is good, although you’ll need to clip a decent amount off the head to get a good draw. This cigar has been sold out for a year, but if you happen to come across one, pick it up.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

One of the great things about bourbon, when compared to, say, scotch whisky, is the quality of spirits available at affordable prices. The five bourbons I highlighted in my article about five good bourbons under $30 demonstrate the impressive spirits available at that price range.

Those are all bourbons I’d recommend to anyone, even if you told me price were no concern. Diving deeper into the value range, the following list of bourbons are available for $20 or less.

At the $20 price, you’re probably giving up at least one thing (complexity, proof, intensity), but I’m still impressed at what you can trade for a twenty-dollar bill: a satisfying bourbon that you can drink straight-up or with a few ice cubes, at a price that doesn’t make you wince when you mix it into your friend’s bourbon and Diet Coke.

Four Roses Yellow Label — I’m a big fan of Four Roses Single Barrel and Small Batch ($38 and $32, respectively), but my go-to house bourbon is Four Roses Yellow Label ($18). The bourbon is a blending of ten different bourbon recipes (two mashbills and five yeast strains). The result is a surprisingly rounded, complex bourbon with honey and fruit. My only wish would be to have a proof higher than just 80.

Evan Williams 1783 — The phrase “small batch” isn’t terribly descriptive, but the Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch is almost certainly smaller batch than it’s younger, more ubiquitous cousin who you might have encountered in a frat house. It’s also a nice step up for just a few bucks more (around $15). The 86-proof bourbon is a straightforward and pleasant combination of vanilla, oak, and burnt corn. (Read my full write-up here.)

Old Grand Dad 100 — For the money, I’m not a fan of the $40, 80-proof Basil Hayden, but I think highly of the $20, 100-proof Old Grand Dad. Which is interesting because they are basically the same whiskey (both use Beam’s high rye bourbon mashbill) and are named after the same guy (Basil Hayden is the “Old Grand Dad”). While Basil Hayden may be a bit thin, Old Grand Dad 100 shows off the rye spice with floral notes and a bit of citrus. Even better is Old Grand Dad 114, though it’s $5 more than the $20 Old Grand 100.

Wild Turkey 81 — The $18 Wild Turkey comes from the same barrels Wild Turkey 101 uses. While lacking an official age statement, it’s reportedly 6-8 years old. (The old, discontinued, 80-proof edition was made with four-year-old bourbon.) It has classic Wild Turkey bold flavors with oak, caramel, vanilla, and lots of cinnamon spice.

Old Forester — Old Forester uses the same recipe (mashbill and yeast) as Woodford Reserve. Reportedly, choice barrels are picked to be Woodford Reserve and the others end up as Old Forester, which isn’t aged quite as long and is bottled at 86-proof for $19. Old Forester is similar to its more expensive relative with lots of caramel, buttered corn, and dried fruit. Taste it side-by-side with Woodford and you’ll be surprised how well it measures up at half the price.

–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.”

 

I’ve been consistently impressed with the smokes from Aging Room/Boutique Blends. The company produces quality, interesting sticks for a fair price. Which is why I was looking forward to trying their new Swag S Maduro, introduced in Las Vegas last summer. The Infamous vitola (6 x 54) features an attractive, toothy, oily maduro Nicaraguan wrapper around Dominican binder and filler. It has roasted flavors, coffee, unsweetened chocolate, and toasted oak, all paired with fantastic construction and medium-bodied notes that go excellently with either coffee or rum.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Michter’s is special name in American whiskey because the Michter’s Distillery in Pennsylvania made some great whiskey back in the day. The distillery closed in 1988, though there is still a tiny amount of bourbon from that distillery available for sale in the form of A.H. Hirsch—which cost around $100 a bottle when I wrote about it in 2008, and now will cost you around ten times as much because it is so rare.

Like the Hirsch Reserve bourbon my colleague wrote about earlier this year, this Michter’s whiskey has nothing to do with the Michter’s Distillery except the name. The new Michter’s is planning on opening a distillery in Kentucky but, for now, it sources its whiskey from others and doesn’t disclose its providers.

Sour mash refers to the process, rather than the specific mashbill like rye or bourbon. (In fact, both rye and bourbon can, and are, made with a sour mash style, with the most famous being Jack Daniel’s.) Sour Mash simply means that each batch uses part of the fermented mash from the previous batch.

While details are hard to come by, reportedly Michter’s Sour Mash uses the same recipe as an old product from the Pennsylvanian distillery: 50% rye, 38% corn, and 12% barley. That recipe (with only 50% corn, as opposed to 51%) would make it neither bourbon nor rye. Contrary to what some think, Sour Mash doesn’t mean a sour flavor.

Michter’s Sour Mash shows a dark amber color when poured straight. The nose features muted candied fruit, yeasty bread, and a bit of ripe red apple.

On the palate it’s a very unique profile with muted apple, bread, red fruit, tea, oak  and—remarkably for the 50% rye in the mashbill—only a subtle hint of spice. The finish is very clean with more fresh oak and subtle fruit.

At $40 a bottle, there are better values in American whiskey, but Michter’s Sour Mash earns points for it’s unique, enjoyable taste.

It lacks the intensity to pair with a full-bodied cigar, so stick with medium-bodied or mild smokes. I particularly enjoyed La Palina Classic, Aging Room M21, and a 15-year-old P.G. Gourmet with this unique American whiskey.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

A little over a month ago, My Father Cigars began shipping a limited size of it’s Flor de las Antillas blend to select retailers. The cigar (6 x 48) will be offered in a round format, unlike the standard Flor de las Antillas slightly box-pressed vitolas. (You can see the difference in shapes in this photo.)

Dubbed the MAM-13, the cigar is limited to 500 boxes of 20, all exclusive to five retailers located in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. I received three samples from Emerson’s Cigars (one of the five retailers) which sells five-packs for $36 and boxes of 20 for $130.

Except for the shape and size, there’s no difference between the MAM-13 and the rest of the Flor de las Antillas Sun Grown line, which features a Nicaraguan sun-grown wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. (It’s the second Flor de las Antillas size that isn’t a box-press.)

The wrapper is dark brown and a bit rustic. It’s framed by the classic, old-school Flor de las Antillas band and burgundy-colored foot ribbon. Pre-light the foot features a pungent earthy aroma.

Once lit, the MAM-13 reveals wood, leather, baking spices, and a little dryness on the roof of the mouth. It starts out a little rough around the edges but smooths out after the first third. There’s also a bit of pepper spice that really shows up on the retrohale.

It’s very well-constructed, which is hardly a surprise for a Pepin-made cigar. Each of the three samples I smoked burned perfectly and drew flawlessly.

The change in size and shape didn’t alter the flavor very much so, if you’re fan of Flor de las Antillas, you’ll like the MAM-13. Personally, MAM-13 is more my size than the box-pressed Toro, which has a ring gauge of 52, but that’s more a function of ring gauge than box-press.

More fundamentally, the three samples I smoked confirmed my thoughts about Flor de las Antillas, which received plenty of attention after being named Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year for 2012. It’s a solid, enjoyable smoke, but not extraordinary. In fact, there are at least a half-dozen blends made by My Father Cigars that I enjoy more.

You may, as I do, slightly prefer the MAM-13 to the rest of the line because you prefer smaller ring gauges. But it’s not a significant change from the original line, which is medium- to full-bodied, well-made, flavorful, but not particularly complex. That earns the Flor de las Antillas MAM-13 a 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