The Stogie Guys

I’ve never been the type to own fancy cigar accessories. It’s not that I don’t appreciate them, it’s just that I’d rather spend my cigar budget on cigars than fancy humidors and lighters. That’s why I have two coolidors that functionally hold most of my cigars at a perfect humidity, and why my most used lighter is a three-dollar Ronson Jetlite.

So when Tampa Fuego asked me if I’d like to try out their cigar cases, I wasn’t sure I was the right person. The various cases I normally use (a five-count travel case, an aluminum 20-count case, a three-finger leather case) have all been throw-ins for cigars I’ve bought or events I’ve attended. Still, I agreed and have been using the cigar cases they provided (one made from Stingray skin, another in a tan “natural” smooth leather) for the past month.

Tampa Fuego makes their cases in America from a variety of exotic skins and leathers. They are handcrafted at their Largo, Florida, factory. In addition to their cigar cases, Tampa Fuego makes cases designed to fit Xikar cutters and a standard torch lighter. They are all sold individually or as a matching trio.

The quality of the products is obvious. They have a heft that is more significant than leather cigar cases I’ve owned, and the detail of the stitching suggests they would outlast any particular owner.

From a functional standpoint, I appreciate the large size of these cases. They can easily protect three double corona size cigars. I even put an “A” size cigar in one and it had ample protection. Other similar two-part leather cases I’ve had fail to hold a cigar much larger than a toro.

The prices of these make it clear these are luxury items. The stingray case sells for $350, while the leather cases go for $45. But that’s sort of the point: There are cheaper ways to protect and carry around your cigars, but these are eye-catching, luxury accessories.

They come in such exotic options as crocodile, alligator, python, lizard, beaver tail, and stingray, and they’re designed to turn heads. I certainly got more than a few comments and compliments about my cases over the past month, especially the black stingray case. Which is why I think they’d make particularly excellent gifts.

If you’re in the market for a luxury cigar gift, or something special for yourself, check out all of Tampa Fuego’s offerings here. Tampa Fuego has also offered StogieGuys.com readers 20% off through the end of October by using the code “STOGIE” at checkout.

In addition, make sure you’re signed up for our free email newsletter to be entered to win one of the cases I received from Tampa Fuego to write this review.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

With new challenges come new opportunities. When it comes to cigars and finding a place to comfortably enjoy a premium cigar, that saying certainly is true.

Smoking bans across the country have booted smokers out of restaurants, bars, and other places that wanted their business. Unpleasant weather, and creeping outdoor bans, compound the problem. The spread of bans means in many places you can only smoke in specialized cigar establishments. And eager business owners are seeking to welcome in cigar smokers.

Cigar shops are adding lounge areas to accommodate cigar smoking customers who have limited options. But cigar shops are often limited in their ability to sell anything other than cigars; food and drink sales are generally prohibited.

Increasingly, it seems, luxurious specialized cigar establishments that combine food, drink, and cigars are seeking to fill the void.

Some, like the Grand Havana Club in DC and Beverly Hills, Club Macanudo in New York, and Shelly’s Backroom in DC have been around for a while. Others like Ashton Lounge in Philadelphia, Civil Cigar in DC, and CXIII Rex in Alexandria, Virginia, are relatively new.

Some are membership-only, others invite the public in if they’re wiling to pay a premium for their offerings. The result is a number of fine establishments in which one can, for a price, smoke a cigar in an exquisite setting.

But the trend has some downsides.

Go to most cigar shops and you’ll find a wide range of people: blue collar workers, civil servants, small business owners, retirees, college students, master of finance-types. Which makes sense when you consider that cigar smoking is an incredibly affordable luxury. Five dollars can provide an enjoyable, casual, relaxed hour.

The appreciation of cigars promotes common ground among people whose paths would never cross outsides a cigar shop. Anti-smokers like to portray cigar smokers as the ultra-rich elite, lighting cigars with dollar bills in wood-paneled rooms, but it simply isn’t true.

Which is why it’s ironic that anti-cigar bans are forcing cigar smokers into smoke-filled, wood-paneled rooms where the entrance requires an exclusive membership, or at least the willingness to spend more than a blue-collar hourly wage.

In other words, to the extent cigar smoking is still viewed as an elitist activity, it’s the fault of the anti-smokers rather than cigar smokers.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Flickr

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 is one of the better-looking cigars I’ve smoked in a while, with a flawless Nicaraguan Jalapa Colorado Habano wrapper. The Toro (6 x 52) also has dual Honduran and Nicaraguan (Jalapa) binders and Nicaraguan filler from Jalapa and Condega (2007 crop). The first few draws worried me with a hint of grassiness, but that soon dissipated revealing dry cedar and cinnamon along with flavors of earth, pepper, and savory notes. It’s a well-balanced, medium- to full-bodied cigar that’s both flavorful and rounded. For $9 it’s well work a try.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Could this be the best value in bourbon? At $25 per bottle for a 12-year-old bourbon it certainly has potential, especially considering that similarly aged bourbons seem to be regularly selling for double the price.

W.L. Weller is made by Buffalo Trace, which makes a bevy of my favorite bourbons, including but not limited to Blanton’s, Elmer T. Lee, George T Stagg, Eagle Rare, Pappy Van Winkle, and, of course, Buffalo Trace.

Weller uses a wheated bourbon mash bill. All bourbon uses at least a majority of corn, but a wheated bourbon uses wheat instead of rye as the secondary grain. Along with the 12-year variety, Buffalo Trace produces the Special Reserve, the 107-proof Antique, and the high-end William Larue Weller, all of which are part of the Antique Collection and bottled at barrel-strength.

The nose features lots of sweetness, with vanilla, caramel, and a bit of leather. The 90-proof (45% ABV) spirit is a reddish bronze color. On the palate it has sweetness and wood, but there are also hints of orange marmalade, allspice, and vanilla. The finish is medium and smooth with damp wood and honey.

It’s a bit thin compared to fellow 12-year-old bourbons Elijah Craig (which is similarly priced) and Van Winkle Special Reserve (which is a bit more pricey), but the it has a great combination of balance, wood, and sweetness, especially considering the price.

That combination of sweetness and balance means it will pair with a wide variety of cigars. I can just as easily recommend a mild, woody Dominican as a full-bodied, earthy Nicaraguan. Classic Cuban smokes like Cohiba and Montecristo also go great with the Weller 12.

Whether the plastic-capped W.L. Weller 12 Year is the best value in bourbon is up for debate, though it’s clearly in the conversation. But there’s no doubt it’s an excellent value that should be on any bourbon aficionado’s list, and can be enjoyed with nearly any fine cigar.

–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.”

Black Label Trading is a new company with a skull-and-bone pirate theme and six debut blends. Redemption, the blend I smoked, is a Nicaraguan puro with a Habano wrapper that comes in two sizes: Robusto (5 x 54) and Gordo (6 x 60). A first in my experience, the large band on the sample I smoked seemed to be a final production band, but it also had the phrase “pre-release sample” across the top. The cigar sported lots of deep, dark flavors, yet it keeps a medium-bodied profile with woody notes. I expected an ass-kicker, but got a balanced cigar. Without knowing the MSRP, I think this is a cigar with some real potential. I’m looking forward to trying more from Black Label Trading.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Take two of the most popular cigars on the market (Padrón Anniversary 1964 and Liga Privada No. 9), switch a couple numbers, squish them together, and what do you get? The Nat Cicco “Aniversario 1965 Liga No. 4.” At least that’s what the name seems to imply.

It wouldn’t be the first time Nat Cicco has created a brand—without violating any trademarks—that alludes to another brand. A while back, I reviewed the Nat Cicco HHB which, in name and packaging, quite clearly is designed to invoke the Cohiba Behike.

According to Zander-Greg, who now owns the Nat Cicco line, the Aniversario 1965 Liga No. 4 is a celebration of the first time (1965) the “Factory Rejects” concept was produced. Back then it was the National Cigar Company, which has since been shortened to Nat Cicco, whose “Rejects” is still the company’s best-known line.

Aniversario 1965, the company’s first big move into the higher end of the market, is available in Robusto, Toro, and Churchill shapes, and has Nicaragua-grown Habano-seed  filler, binder, and wrapper tobaccos. I smoked four Toros (provided by Nat Cicco) for this review. The press release put out last year says the cigars retail for around $8, but it also says the cigars are band-less, and clearly they aren’t.

It’s a well-made, box-pressed cigar with an even burn, easy draw, and sturdy ash. The cigar features a pigtail cap and a dark, oily wrapper. The profile tastes of molasses, powdered chocolate, earth, and a little leather. It’s pretty simplistic, though pleasant, with not much variation from start to finish.

The Aniversario 1965 Liga No. 4 doesn’t exactly stand out, but it’s still a well-made, tasty cigar. A classic example of the new higher baseline for cigar quality that I mentioned in my recent commentary.

Well-made, well-constructed, and featuring a pleasant, if not particularly balanced, profile, it’s an interesting new addition that I wish was easier to find. (A quick Google search suggests it’s tough to find.) While it’s no Liga No. 9 or Padrón 1964, the Nat Cicco Aniversario 1965 Liga No. 4 does earn 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

It’s been almost two months since the IPCPR Trade Show so, with the dust settling, it’s a good time to look back at some industry trends that were on display at the show.

Quality Increasing

It’s my belief that quality is going up across the board in the cigar industry, and smoking plenty of samples only solidifies this opinoin. Obviously these are generalizations and no doubt there are exceptions, but it seems not only are the cigars being produced now better constructed than they were 5-10 years ago, they are better cigars that lack obvious flavor flaws. The result is good for consumers. Whether you buy discounted samplers online, or just pick up what looks interesting at your local cigar shop, odds are you’re going to end up with decent or good cigars.

Expectations on the Rise

When finding a good cigar is easy, consumers expectations are raised. The result can be challenging for cigar companies. Here’s a thought experiment: Take a recent cigar release and imagine how it would have done if it was released five years earlier. Last year, CAO introduced the Concert series, a cigar with sales (I get the sense) that seem to be a little disappointing to CAO’s parent company, General Cigar. I’d suspect that if that same blend at the same price point had been introduced five years earlier (two years before CAO La Traviata) it would have been a smash hit. It is, in my opinion, a classic example of a cigar that would have stood out in 2007 or earlier, but now is just another good cigar in the crowd.

Small Brands Fill Niches

It’s easy to discount cigar brands that don’t own a factory but instead contract someone else to make their cigars. For one thing, there’s an extra level, and that means an additional mark-up before the cigar reaches consumers. The brand owner has to buy cigars then mark them up before they are sold wholesale. Also, people assume that if the blend was so great why didn’t the factory just release and market it themselves? Those are valid points, but there’s also a niche that these small brands can fill. For large companies like General Cigar, Altadis, Davidoff, and Drew Estate, it doesn’t make a ton of economic sense to create a cigar that will sell only 40,000 cigars. But for a small cigar line owned by a single brand owner, that level of volume can be a nice little business, and they can afford to make a cigar that, while it may never be a huge seller, may find a small but dedicated fan base.

Protecting Brick-and-Mortar Shops from Online Discounters

Increasingly, one shop owner concern about bringing in a new cigar is that it will soon be available online for a significant discount. Traditionally, cigar makers have sought to deal with these concerns by protecting prices with a maximum discount (say 10% below MSRP) under which the cigar can’t be sold. But with the increasing number of consumers showrooming (visiting local stores while simultaneously price shopping online), that’s not always enough. The response from cigar makers is bifurcating their lines with some available and marketed to online retailers and others specifically brick and mortar only. The AVO Serenata is an example of a new line strictly for brick and mortar retailers. This has been going on for a while, but it seems to be more prominent recently.

What’s a Flavored Cigar?

With the advent of fire-cured tobacco, the line between traditional and flavored cigars is beginning to blur. Drew Estate’s Kentucky Fire Cured and Sam Leccia’s Black line are the most prominent, but others (Gran Habano) are introducing cigars that use fire-cured tobacco. It’s an interesting development where the line between traditional and flavored (Drew Estate calls them “infused”) is breaking down, because the difference isn’t unnatural chemicals being introduced to the cigar making process, but the traditional process being tweaked using old technology not normally used for handmade cigars. Look for this trend to continue.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys