The Stogie Guys

I’ve come to believe that Kurt Kendall’s 7-20-4 brand represents the best of the latest variation of cigar entrepreneur. I’d put Gary Griffith of Emilio Cigars in a similar category. Both successfully ran cigar shops before working with first one cigar factory then others to create their own cigars, fueled primarily on their own passion. Both are small business cigar operations that keep the larger operations on their toes.

While the brand has historic roots stretching back to 1874 (once over 50 million cigars were produced in New Hampshire each year), the newest version of 7-20-4 was introduced in 2008. The complex, five-nation blend is rolled in Honduras utilizing Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Mexican long-fillers, a Colombian binder, and a Brazilian mata fina wrapper.

This line has long been a favorite if mine, combining a reasonable price point ($5-7 each) with enjoyable flavors. The smallest size, the Dog Walker (4.25 x 40), is one I’ve particularly enjoyed as a small cigar that provides full flavors.

Given that, I was particularly interested to try the newest size of the 7-20-4 line, the Lancero (7.5 x 38). (Kendall has also introduced a Lancero in his 7-20-4 1874 Series blend.) In many, but certainly not all, cigars, the proportions of the Lancero yield the best representation of the blend with high amounts of wrapper flavor versus binder and filer. Kendall says he made the Lancero for himself, only deciding to make it a full production size after being encouraged by those he shared them with. So far about 500 boxes have been made.

Wrapped in a cedar sleeve, the Brazilian wrapper has a little shine and minimal veins. Once lit, I find a medium- to full-bodied combination of flavors with maple syrup, earth, and hints of coffee and chocolate. As it progresses, balanced yet intense notes emerge. The Lancero has excellent construction start to finish, with a even burn, stable ash, and an easy draw. That’s particularly notable given that some lanceros tend to have tight draws.

While I enjoy the 7-20-4 line in general, I think the smaller ring gauge formats are the best representations of the blend. The Dogwalker is a great small cigar, and the Lancero is an even better cigar, with it’s long and slender proportions. (The Gagger (6 x 60), on the other hand, is my least favorite of the line.) Oozing sweetness and intense flavors, the 7-20-4 Lancero is yet another example of a small ring gauge cigar demonstrating the best of a blend. That’s why it earns four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

As a whiskey fan and a New Yorker, I’ve always been quick to give New York spirits a shot. Such was the case when I came across this whiskey from Breuckelen Distillery in Brooklyn.

Breukelen is made in Sunset Park, barely a mile from the neighborhood where I grew up. While I hadn’t heard of the operation until I saw it in a Park Slope wine shop, the distillery seems to have cut its teeth making small batch boutique gin and, more recently, moving into whiskey.

They call their whiskeys “77 Whiskey” and they come in two varieties: Black Wax (made from 100% New York wheat) and White Wax, which I picked up for $42 for a bottle. White Wax utilizes local New York grains (90% rye and 10% corn).

The whiskey is relatively young (just 235 days to be exact) and demonstrates surprising complexity for its age. Light and copper-colored, it features a bright nose with sugared dates and cherries. The palate has tropical fruit, oak, and pepper with a gritty mouthfeel and quite a bit of alcoholic heat. The medium-length finish has oak and dried fruit.

It’s an interesting spirit that goes well with a variety of cigars, particularly full-bodied cigars. I tried it with a Tatuaje Halloween Mummy, RoMaCraft Aquitaine, Oliva Serie V, and an Aging Room Quattro, while all of which paired very well.

Essentially a rye whiskey, the youth of the 77 Whiskey leaves quite a bit of grittiness, but it still has plenty of interesting flavors. I suspect Breuckelen Distilling releases this so young in part because the cost of aging it longer would tie up too much capital, and yet if they ever decide to leave this spirit in barrels for a few years I think it could be fantastic. Still, it’s an interesting, artisanal whiskey with lots of character.

–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 cigar burst on the scene a few years ago, as Oliva was establishing itself as a creator of full-bodied, premium cigars. Most of the company’s previous blends had been milder and toward the value end of the price spectrum. Years later, it’s still an excellent, consistently well-made cigar, even if it doesn’t have all of the buzz it once did. With cocoa, leather, espresso, and earth, along with excellent construction, it’s a cigar I turn to often. Although I think I slightly prefer the new Serie V Melanio blend, I can heartily recommend this cigar.

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.”

I’ve had this little $4 Cuban (5 x 37) for a few years. Age hasn’t changed this cigar much, for better or worse. It’s balanced, mild, and smooth featuring nutty flavors and slight notes of wood and cream. The burn, ash, and draw present no problems. For a few dollars, it’s simplistic yet enjoyable, especially early in the day.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

In this latest segment of Random Thoughts from the Humidor, I ponder the evolution of Drew Estate and if larger cigar companies that buy smaller ones are getting good value.

Rebirth of Drew Estate

Drew Estate’s tagline is “the rebirth of cigars,” but the most impressive rebirth is that of Drew Estate itself. It’s easy to forget, but no cigar company has changed more in recent years than Drew Estate. I was recently searching for some information and found a thread on a message board consisting almost entirely of seasoned cigar smokers complaining about Drew Estate.

The complaints consisted of rants about gimmicky flavored cigars (though Drew Estate calls their cigars “infused”).  Today that complaint would be inconceivable, but back then Drew Estate hadn’t introduced Chateau Real yet, let alone Liga Privada or Undercrown. For me, reading through that thread was a stark reminder of how Drew Estate has reinvented itself in a relatively short period of time to become a leader in the industry when it comes to “traditional” cigars, while still dominating the “infused” cigar market.

Thinking About Industry Consolidation

Along with the emergence of Drew Estate, we’ve seen many cigar makers reemerge from “retirement” to start their own companies. Some—Ernesto Perez-Carrillo and Cristian Eiroa—”retired” after selling their brands to larger companies. The newer, smaller, family-run companies are now creating innovative cigars, but my question is: Do the large cigar companies (General Cigar and Davidoff, in these examples) left owning their original brands (La Gloria Cubana and Camacho, respectively) get good value even after the principles who built the brands leave?

Certainly they feel the brands they purchase fill a void in their portfolio that they want to fill, and if they can keep the quality of the cigars high, they will keep a significant percentage of the customers who are loyal to those brands at least for a while. I suspect, though, that this type of consolidation isn’t as profitable as it once was. These days cigar smokers, particularly those that smoke cigars with the most regularity, are less loyal to any particular brand, and seem more interested in trying different cigars.

If the people most responsible for creating the identity of a given brand are no longer active in the brand (or even creating cigars for another company) is buying a smaller company still worth it? It seems perhaps that four or five years later all they are left with is a trademark and a list of customers. I don’t discount the largest cigar companies’ marketing expertise and distribution advantages, but I’d wonder if that is enough to make shelling out millions for a smaller brand worthwhile.

Maybe the future isn’t buying cigar brands or factories wholesale for millions of dollars, but partnering with companies to help them market and distribute their cigars. One example is Don Sixto, made by Plasencia and marketed and distributed by General Cigar. This may be a template for future partnerships.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Drew Estate

While I’m hardly an expert on the thousands of varieties of scotch, I’ve gotten to know my way around most of the better-known brands and a few lesser-known malts. So when I noticed a bottle I hadn’t seen before at my local Virginia ABC liquor store (I’m still getting used to the fact that in Virginia liquor stores are a state-run monopoly), it piqued my interest.

Edradour is billed as “Scotland’s smallest distillery” and the numbers support the claim, although recently even smaller distilleries have opened. Edradour is a three-man operation (though I read they recently are down to two) and it produces only 95,000 liters per year, or 12 casks a week. (By comparison, Glenlivet, the best-selling scotch in the U.S., produces just under 6 million liters a year.) Interesting fact: With 100,000 visitors a year, Edradour is almost certainly the only whisky distillery in Scotland with more visitors than liters produced per year.

While the distillery traces its roots to 1825, it upped its quality in the past decade when new owners took over. Before that it was known for variation from batch to batch. With those problems behind them, it now makes a variety of single malts, including a number of special finishes using Bordeaux, Sauternes, and port barrels.

The only variety available at my store was the 10 Year, which I picked up for about $50. It’s bottled at 86-proof and is copper amber in color. The nose shows sherry, dates, and candied almonds. On the palate, it’s thick with rum notes, toffee, dried fruit, and toasted barley. The relatively short finish features more dried fruit, cream, and hints of vanilla.

It’s hardly the most refined single malt I’ve tried, but its rich mouthfeel and thick sweetness make it an excellent pairing with a fine cigar. It stands up to full-bodied Nicaraguan smokes. I tasted it with both the Tatuaje TAA Edition 2012 and the Cuenca y Blanco (now known as CyB), and found both to be excellent with a straight pour of Edradour 10.

–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 monster-sized cigar is 6.1 inches long with a 64 ring gauge (that’s one full inch in width). It sports a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobaccos. The profile is of earth, oak, cocoa, and coffee. It’s full-bodied with little variation from stat to finish, which takes a full 90 minutes. At $10 each, less by the box, it’s not cheap, but then it’s a well-made, full-bodied smoke that will last most of a football game. Still, I prefer the Natural variation to the Maduro, which has more complexity to go with it’s large size and full-bodied flavors.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys