The Stogie Guys

With a full name that weighs in at a whopping 22 syllables, you’re better off simply calling this stick “delicious.” That adjective, after all, is a more apt description of the cigar (not to mention a lot easier to utter in a single breath).

“This line of smokes is essentially La Gloria Cubana’s take on Fuente’s Hemingway idea,” wrote our friend Chris in a February Guest Quick Smoke. “All the vitolas are perfecto-shaped (barring the pyramid) and are comprised of top-tier tobaccos with specialized and extensive aging.”

The blend includes a sungrown Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper, a four-year-old Nicaraguan binder, and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. General Cigar says the five Maduro vitolas “derive their distinctive taste from a special cedar aging process.” Only 1,000 boxes of each size are produced annually, and only “level seven” rollers work on Reserva Figurados under the supervision of the legendary Ernesto Perez-Carrillo.

Judging by the stogie’s impressive appearance, “level seven” must be the designation for the black belts of cigar rollers. The 6.5 inch by 49 ring gauge Flechas Especiales has the look of a winner with a smooth, oily wrapper. Tightly packed, it exudes attention- grabbing pre-light notes of sweet cocoa and coffee, and the yellow band serves as a nice contrast to the dark leaf.

The unique shape offers more than mere aesthetics; it also enhances the smoking experience. The tiny foot makes establishing an even light very easy, which yields a powerful taste of freshly ground black pepper. A cedar spice also comes roaring through, only to smooth out after the first few inches. The meaty flavor takes on burnt steak-like qualities in the final third.

I’ve always thought it is a little more fun to smoke figurados, so take note of how the straight and true burn works its way down the cigar. The draw is on the tighter side (though not necessarily an encumbrance) and the white, finely layered ash holds firm.

When it’s all said and done, this top-quality, full-bodied cigar is a real treat—with or without all the syllables. You can find these for $100-145 per box of 20 or $6-8 apiece, and that’s a pretty fair price. One last word to the wise: The La Gloria Cubana Reserva Figurados Flechas Especiales Maduro isn’t for the timid, so have a few stiff drinks along the way to loosen your nerves. I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and I give it four out of five stogies.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

This cigar is a near perfect example of a conundrum I’ve brought up before: How many individual sticks should I smoke before writing about a particular cigar?

In this case, I’ve smoked one. I’ll probably try another one sometime. But they’re expensive, and when I have to make the decision about what to pick up I‘ll definitely weigh trying it once more or getting something I’ve enjoyed in the past. Or giving a new cigar a try.

I was eager to try the San Cristobal and picked up a 6 inch by 50 ring gauge Supremo. Cosmetically, it was excellent. The wrapper was virtually flawless. The draw was good and the burn went straight from the foot on down. As you are no doubt aware, the San Cristobal is another Don Pepin Nicaraguan puro, made this time for Holt’s. It has gotten a lot of attention and many good reviews.

I certainly can’t say anything bad about the San Cristobal. But to me it was underwhelming.

I expected a flavorful, complex, rich cigar. What I got, though, was a relatively mundane cigar that, while powerful, was flat and unexciting. Sure, maybe it was just that stick, or my mood that day or what I’d recently eaten or…who knows? Rolling the dice on a nearly $9 cigar is OK once, but do I want to do it again on the chance that I’ll come up with a winner this time?

Let us know what you think about this and what you think about the San Cristobal. In the meantime, I can give this cigar only three out of five stogies.

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

–George E

photo credit: Ashton Cigars

This has all the makings of a great golf course cigar: generous dimensions, a pleasant but simple flavor, above average physical properties, and a sub-$4 price.

So why haven’t you heard of Gran Habano before? Its manufacturer, GR Tabacleras Unidas, has kept a relatively low profile since its inception in 1995. The “love child” of third generation leaf growers with outfits in Columbia, Panama, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, the company introduced three blends in 2003—Connecticut #1, Habano #3, and Corojo #5. I guess they don’t like even numbers.

Habano #3 is their “classic cigar,” sporting a “medium body with a smooth and balanced taste.” The wrapper and binder are Nicaraguan habano, and the filler is a three-nation blend from Nicaragua, Mexico, and Costa Rica. The Torpedo vitola earned a rating of 4.3 in the Summer 2004 issue of Smoke Magazine.

The 7 inch by 48 ring gauge Churchill is a slender, tightly packed stick with a few veins and almost no seams. It certainly doesn’t look like a cigar you could buy 20 for under $70 or five for under $20.

The taste is a festive one of cedar spice and pine nuts—satisfying, albeit a little dry and a tad mild. Despite the long, narrow format and the solid feel, each easy puff produces a lot of thick smoke from the get-go. The flavor moderately intensifies midway with hearty, meaty undertones, but I’d say the profile is mostly consistent from light to nub with few subtleties.

One characteristic you’re sure to notice regarding the even burn is a bulging black mascara between the coarsely layered ash and the wrapper. That ash, by the way, holds very well for up to two inches. My only construction complaint is that tiny flakes of the delicate wrapper had a tendency to tear away at the end of one of the two Churchills I smoked for this review.

All things considered, I recommend you pick up a few of these for the next time you hit the links or participate in any other activity where the primary focus is not on the cigar. The Gran Habano #3 Churchill may not have what it takes to be an after dinner centerpiece, but it no doubt makes for a worthy, inexpensive companion. I give it three and ½ out of five stogies.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

I received this cigar as a gift from someone who didn’t realize it wasn’t a “regular” cigar. Over the years, I I’ve had one or two adulterated cigars, and I smoked quite a few flavored pipe tobaccos long ago. So an “infused” cigar isn’t exactly my smoke of choice. But I thought I should give it a try. After all, lots of people smoke and enjoy flavored cigars from Drew, Heavenly, CAO, and others.

The second thing I noticed when I removed the cigar from the colorful aluminum tube was its appearance. Construction, the cap, the Sumatra wrapper—all appeared first-rate. It clipped easily and the burn was true, though the ash was loose.

But that couldn’t overcome the first, and most dominating, impression: an overwhelming floral perfume scent. Then, when I put the cigar to my lips, there was a syrupy sweetness that completely overpowered any tobacco taste. I felt as if I were bringing an old bottle of Log Cabin to my lips every time I puffed on the Kuba.

And when I puffed I thought I might have been smoking a potpourri sachet from your grandmother’s cedar chest. The combination of the flowers, herbs, and oils infused into the 6 inch by 50 ring gauge cigar nearly made me ill. Any flavors from the Nicaraguan binder and filler were totally lost. I put the Kuba down about half way through.

I was impressed that Drew put its website address and telephone number on the inside of the band, though I wondered why they didn’t include some information on the stick itself.

If you like this kind of cigar, I would recommend the Kuba Deluxe, though it does seem to be a little expensive (the price looks to be over $7 a stick). As you can tell, it isn’t for me. For that reason, I’m a little reluctant to give it a rating, but keeping that in mind, I feel I’ve got to give it one out of five stogies.

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

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The Padilla Miami 8 & 11 Lancero combines two of the hottest trends in cigars: the blending expertise of Don “Pepin” Garcia and the lancero shape.

The long and thin Lancero vitola (in the case of the Padilla Miami it is 7.5 inches long with a 42 ring gauge) has been making a comeback of late. The lancero was said to be one of Fidel Castro’s favorite sizes, but lately non-Cuban cigar makers have made the lancero a staple of their new lines, perhaps sensing a backlash by some cigar connoisseurs against the ever widening ring gauges that the cigar industry has been experiencing.

Meanwhile, Don Pepin—formerly a master roller and blender in Cuba—is similarly becoming a staple of the cigar industry. Currently he produces some of the hottest cigars made today including Tatuaje, Ashton’s San Cristobal, EO Brand’s 601 line, and of course his own Don Pepin cigars. Unfortunately as of February he no longer is making cigars for Padilla.

Reportedly, Padilla is to begin producing the Miami (along with the formerly Pepin-made Padilla 1932 and 1948) in a new Miami factory. But for this review I tried a few Pepin-made Padilla Miami lanceros. (Just a note: The “8 & 11” refers to the location of the factory where these cigars are produced: 8th Street and 11th Avenue. Since the cigar will no longer be made there, Padilla is dropping the “8 & 11” from the name and will simply being calling the continued line the “Padilla Miami.”)

As with most of Pepin’s cigars, the Miami lancero has the classic Cuban triple cap but with a twist—literally. The cigar has a pig tail. The wrapper of this Nicaraguan puro is medium brown with a slightly greenish tint and, while the wrapper isn’t particularly oily, it is almost entirely vein-free.

After clipping the fragile cap and lighting up, I was greeted with smooth cedar and earth, with some spice and plenty of honey flavors. The Miami has been hailed by Cigar Aficionado as a “full-bodied masterpiece,” but I didn’t quite find it to be full-bodied. Perhaps because the Lancero, more than the Robusto to which CA was describing, relies on the wrapper so much for its flavor due to its thin ring gauge. I would slot the Miami Lancero in as more of a medium or medium- to full-bodied cigar.

Construction was good but not exceptional. One of the four cigars I smoked developed a nasty crack in the wrapper and the ash was particularly susceptible to falling off after only a quarter inch (once again, I think this can likely be attributed to the lancero format). On the positive side, I found an impressively even burn on every stick I smoked.

The cigar continued to provide its smooth complex notes until about an inch past the midway point when ithad a tendency to turn a little bitter. Given that the lancero is seven inches long, it was as disappointing as it became predicable (after multiple sticks) that it turned bitter and earthy.

Overall, I find the Padilla 8 & 11 Miami to be a mixed bag. On one hand, it started with a very enjoyable, complex, bold yet smooth mix of sweetness and spice. However, for a cigar that retails for around $10 per stick, I found the construction to bit a bit suspect and the tendency to have the smooth flavors sputter out early to be disappointing (especially given the wonderful start). This combination of pros and cons earns the Padilla 8 & 11 Miami a respectable rating of three and 1/2 out of five stogies.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

This cigar, quite simply, is a Cuban icon. Montecristos account for roughly half of worldwide Habanos SA sales, and the pyramid-shaped No. 2 is among the legendary brand’s best-selling vitolas (the No. 4 currently holds the top spot).

With a reputation for full flavors and a clear draw, this Cuban puro is no stranger to praise. Among its many accolades is an inspiring rating of 94 in the February 2008 issue of Cigar Aficionado. The publication also recently named the Montecristo No. 2 its “Cigar of the Week.”

Unexpectedly, this 6.1 inch by 52 ring gauge stogie doesn’t exactly have the look of one of the world’s elite smokes. It is slightly crooked, moderately lumpy, and on the veiny side. Two water spots—harmless yellow circular imperfections that likely indicate where droplets of rain hit the wrapper leaf during the curing process—slightly blemish the head and foot.

The seams on my three No. 2s also appeared hastily applied. Maybe the torcedores who rolled my sticks were paying more attention to whatever the rolling floor lector was reading them. (The brand gets its name from The Count of Montecristo novel, apparently a popular choice among rollers when Montecristo was established in 1935.)

Fortunately, these aesthetic imperfections have no bearing on taste. An oily, earthy bouquet opens the cigar with well-balanced notes of oak and clove. The smoke is moist, abundant, and cool with little spice and no harshness. The draw is clear, but the ash isn’t as stable as you’d expect.

A buttery almond backdrop joins in after the first inch or so to provide a pleasant creaminess that’s similar to the taste of the Petit Edmundo. This is about when it becomes necessary to periodically correct the burn. The second third is a bit bitter, and the finish is characterized by an increase in spice.

Overall, while I’d prefer a cleaner appearance and more reliable physical properties, this is still a wonderfully enjoyable cigar—even for the price. Boxes of 25 sell for around $270, and three-packs can be had for $31 (I’d recommend the latter option before the former). For complex, delicious flavors, I give the iconic Montecristo No. 2 four and ½ out of five stogies.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Jameson is a new cigar company that introduced its line with a web offer of two sticks and a T-shirt for the cost of postage and handling. Who could resist?

I received two six inch torpedos and, though both had some cosmetic imperfections – such as a large water spot on the Sumatran wrapper of one – they appeared to be well-constructed. The clip was easy and the pre-light draw nice. However, problems developed quickly.

Lit, the draw became extremely loose. One started to tunnel, and it was difficult to get both to burn evenly. There was lots of smoke throughout, with a pleasant aroma. Though it has a ring gauge of 54, it felt fine with the torpedo shape. The binder is Honduran and the filler Dominican.

Jameson calls this a medium-bodied cigar, but I found it mild, particularly as I smoked it down. There were some toasty, bready notes, but little complexity or development. It became bitter after about two-thirds. A particular annoyance with one of the cigars was impossibility of removing the band because it had been glued so tightly.

I was curious about the name of the cigar, wondering if it was honoring the brash newspaper publisher in Spider-Man comics. I couldn’t find it addressed on the firm’s skimpy website, and several calls to the 866 number got only voicemail. I emailed my question several days ago and haven’t received an answer, though I did get a response promising a free pocket humidor if I bought a box over the weekend. If and when I get a reply, I’ll let you know.

Jameson advertises this cigar at five for $25.50 and $115 for a box of 25. As with several cigars I’ve smoked lately, this one wasn’t bad, and I would smoke it again if offered one. But I wouldn’t seek it out. It just didn’t do much for me. As such, the Jameson Torpedo earns a rating of two and 1/2 out of five stogies.

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

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys