The Stogie Guys

Cohiba is considered the pinnacle of Cuban cigars, and recent additions to the Cohiba portfolio have succeeded in capturing the attention of cigar enthusiasts the world over.

Most notable among these additions was the super-expensive Cohiba Behike, which was dubbed “the new standard among smokers worldwide” when it became available in May 2010 (albeit in very limited quantities). Now the Pirámides Extra is just beginning to hit international store shelves as the first addition to the core Cohiba line in 20 years. The core Cohiba line, also known as the Línea Clásica, launched in 1982 with three vitolas: Panetela, Corona Especial, and Lancero. Exquisito, Espléndido, and Robusto were introduced in 1989. The much-lauded Siglo line—which ranges in format from the small Siglo I (4 x 42) to the large Siglo VI (6 x 52)—didn’t come around until later.

Today I’m reviewing the Cohiba Siglo VI, which many anointed the most exciting Cuban cigar before the introduction of Behike. It is a gorgeous specimen with a light, oily wrapper that has minimal veins, flawless seams, and a nice cap. As impartial as I might try to be, it’s impossible to not have high expectations given this cigar’s pedigree and that classic Cohiba band staring back at me.

The Siglo VI gets off to a nice start when pre-light notes hay and sweet cocoa transition to a medium-bodied taste of honey, white pepper, earth, and cream. The profile itself isn’t terribly bold—it’s almost fleeting—but the finish is long and spicy with a tingle on the tip of the tongue. The resting smoke imparts that memorable sensation of creamy sweetness that’s so identifiable among Cohibas. The texture is velvety and rich.

As the coffee, earth, and spice slowly build into the midway point and beyond, the burn line starts to become a bit erratic. A torch touch-up or two is just what the doctor ordered. As for the other physical properties, I found the gray ash to hold firmly off the foot for longer than expected, and the draw to be slightly on the stiff side, though not prohibitively so.

All characteristics considered, the Siglo VI is unquestionably a very fine, nicely balanced smoke. It’s harder to say if this Cuban is worth its price, since a single can cost upwards of $30. That’s ultimately going to come down to personal preference. For me, it’s an occasional treat that illustrates the quality of tobacco grown on that forbidden island south of Florida, one that’s worthy of four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

By now, most of us know that the new Iconic Leaf Cigar Co. was “founded by two very well-known and well respected legends in the cigar industry” who have “chosen to keep their identities private in a pursuit to make the very best premium boutique cigars that can be found anywhere in the world without the influence of their names.”

I’ll resist the temptation to guess the identities of the two individuals behind Iconic Leaf. Rather, I’ll keep this review focused on what we know for sure about the company and its first release, Recluse.

Available in ten box-pressed sizes, Recluse debuted this summer at the 2012 IPCPR Trade Show in Orlando. It boasts a Brazilian maduro wrapper, a Cameroon binder, and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic—all of which go through eight fermentation cycles. Recluse is made under the direction of Don Jose Rafael in the Leyendas Cubanas factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

“Every Recluse is rolled in the old Cuban tradition of tubing, which is taking each filler leaf and rolling it into a tube instead of folding it,” reads the Iconic Leaf website. “Once all the filler leaves are each individually rolled into a tube shape, they are brought together and surrounded with the binder. This is time-consuming but creates an effortless draw and an unparalleled smoking experience. We then box press each cigar to compress the leaf and reduce air space.”

I smoked two Recluse Toros for this review, both of which were sent to me by Iconic Leaf. The Toro size measures 6.25 inches with a ring gauge of 50. It carries an MSRP of $7.80 and has a strikingly mottled wrapper that’s oily and devoid of thick veins. The cigar is soft to the touch with pre-light notes of milk chocolate and damp earth.

Establishing an even light is very easy. Once it’s burning, I can instantly appreciate the time and effort that was put into the tubing of the filler tobaccos, as the result of this painstaking process is a wonderful draw that yields bountiful tufts of thick smoke. The Toro’s other physical properties are also excellent, including a straight burn and a solid ash.

Construction is important, but flavor and texture are paramount. Fortunately, Recluse does very well in these categories as well. The smoke is cool and airy with a powdery mouthfeel. The taste is well-balanced with notes of cocoa, leather, cinnamon spice, and creamy nut. The flavor doesn’t change much from light to nub.

And nub it I did. While Iconic Leaf may have sent me the two Toros to make this review possible, I will definitely be purchasing more in the near future for my own enjoyment. This is one of the most impressive new cigars of 2012 (at least among those I’ve tried to date), worthy of a rare rating of four and half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

If there’s an award for most unique new cigar from this year’s trade show, I think the runaway winner is Foundry. The one-of-a-kind packaging, inspired by Steampunk style (if you’ve seen League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Wild Wild West—it’s irrelevant that they’re both bad movies—you’ll know the style) with a metal gear around the band, really catches your eye. The cigar itself is just as unique.

Foundry was created by Michael Giannini, the public face of La Gloria Cubana since Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s departure (and Perez-Carrillo’s former collaborator). While Giannini is tight-lipped about the blend, we know it contains no Dominican, Honduran, or Nicaraguan tobacco. The only component revealed is the wrapper, which is called H-47 Pleno Sol and is grown in Connecticut.

The wrapper is golden brown, but not in the way that most Connecticut shade is. It features plenty of tooth, lots of tiny veins, and just a bit of oily shine. It almost looks as if the wrapper is inside out, with the bottom visible.

The cigar comes in four sizes, all named after Steampunk era icons: Wells (6 x 50, $7.95); Lovelace (6.25 x 54, $8.45); Talbot (5 x 60, $8.95); and Cayley (6.5 x 60 x 56 x 43, $9.45). I smoked four of the Talbot vitola, all of which I received as samples at the 2012 IPCPR Trade Show. It’s a mild cigar with unique flavors. Most notably there is banana bread: yeasty, bready, and slightly sweet. It has a very clean profile that is superbly balanced, very mild, and unlike any cigar I’ve tried before.

Rating such a cigar is difficult. Foundry isn’t trying to be a better version of a cigar already on the market. Instead, it’s trying to be completely different. While it’s not a cigar I’d regularly smoke, I can see myself smoking one every once in a while as a change of pace.

Foundry is not for everyone. It’s different from anything else on the market, which is exactly what Giannini wanted to create. As a cigar that breaks the mold, I really appreciate the unique (there’s a reason I use that word a lot during this review) qualities of the Foundry Talbot, which helps it earn four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Sometimes you light up a cigar and feel in sync with the blender, as if he knew exactly what you’d enjoy. Aging Room’s releases do that for me. I’ve written before about how much I like the M356.

So I was excited to try the new Quattro, a tightly pressed line with each vitola bearing a musical moniker. It didn’t let me down.

I was struck from the first puff how unlike the M356 it is. There’s more earth, more chocolate, and more coffee than spice. I’ve been smoking the Concerto, something of a Churchill size at 7 inches in length with a 50 ring gauge. There’s no problem maintaining my interest and attention from start to finish. The twists and turns in tastes are terrific.

Construction, burn, and draw have been excellent in all that I’ve smoked, probably a half dozen or so. They run a bit under $8 down here in Florida with no additional cigar tax.

The bold flavors and punch may surprise some smokers who don’t associate tobacco from the Dominican Republic, where the filler was grown, with that kind of power.

The idea behind Aging Room is to produce limited editions of cigars for which there is special tobacco available, but not in the quantity necessary for a regular line. In this case, the wrapper is particularly special. “We got that wrapper from a German manufacturer of machine-made cigars that was having money issues due to the economic situation in Europe. They were looking to liquidate some of their inventory, sent us samples of that Sumatra leaf, and we jumped on it,” company vice president Hank Bischoff wrote me in an email. “It is indeed a genuine Sumatra wrapper, aged since 2003.”

Right now, he said, they have enough for about 400,000 sticks. That could change, Bischoff added, if they’re successful in negotiations to acquire more of the leaf. If so, that would prolong the production run and the Quattro’s shelf life.

I highly recommend the F55 Quattro. It won’t soften rocks, but its charms will certainly soothe the savage pallet. As such, it harmoniously earns five stogies.

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

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Last week I interviewed Michael Frey who owns Casa Fuente in Las Vegas, a cigar destination worth visiting if you are ever in Sin City. Today, I’m reviewing the new Casa Fuente exclusive cigar, which Frey mentioned he was smoking while answering my questions.

The new smoke is the second Casa Fuente exclusive smoke, made (no surprise) by Arturo Fuente. The first, we were told by Casa Fuente manager Michael Fayerverger, was a variation of the Opus X blend made with a Cameroon wrapper.

This second, new Casa Fuente blend is quite different. According to Frey, the cigar features a Havana-seed Ecuadorian sun-grown rosado wrapper around binder and filler comprised of “secret tobaccos” from the Fuentes’ Dominican farm. The cigar, he says, was blended by Carlito and introduced earlier this year. (The rosado wrapper is likely the same as the Rosado Sungrown Magnum R blend.)

The cigar is available in three sizes: 806, 807, and 808, which I’d estimate to be a robsuto (5.25 x 52), double robusto (5.75 x 52), and toro (6 x 54). I smoked one of each and found them to be sufficiently similar to be summarized together in one review. The cigars cost $21, $22, and $24, respectively and, depending on what report you read, are strictly limited to one or two cigars per person on a given day.

The new 800 series Casa Fuente features a complex combination of clove, nutmeg, molasses, wood, leather, and earth. It’s medium- to full-bodied with excellent balance and tons of complexity. The molasses and clove build towards the second half, creating an extraordinarily savory blend.

While it contains Dominican binder and filler tobaccos, I seriously doubt it uses the same binder-filler combination as the Opus X and original Casa Fuente, as both are the same cigar except for the wrapper. This cigar has far less peppery spice than either of those cigars. Instead, it is full of clove and cinnamon spice.

Tasty, unique, complex, and, yes, expensive. The original Casa Fuente is a tremendous cigar and this new rosado-wrapped version is a worthy successor. For that, the new Casa Fuente 800 series earns a formidable four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

When I think of tasty, consistent, well-constructed cigars that don’t break the bank, a few choice brands come to mind. Oliva is always near the top of the list.

The Oliva Cigar Co. has only been around for less than two decades but, in that relatively short time, it has built a well-deserved reputation for quality and affordability (even though it also sells a higher-priced line called Master Blends). The brand’s foundation consists of lines like the Cameroon-wrapped Serie G, Connecticut Reserve, and the Habano-wrapped Serie V. All are highly-rated blends that are also wallet-friendly.

The Oliva Serie V boasts a sun-grown wrapper around a Nicaraguan binder and Jalapa ligero filler. “This cigar is blended to deliver full body taste while maintaining an unparalleled smoothness,” reads the Oliva website. “This flavorful blend exhibits complex tobacco with rich coffee and dark chocolate tones. A subtle and well-balanced spice is present throughout.”

Serie V is available in seven sizes: Churchill Extra (7 x 52), Special V Figurado (6 x 60), Double Toro (6 x 60), Torpedo (6 x 56), Belicoso (5 x 54), Double Robusto (5 x 54), and Lancero (7 x 38). The latter has a caramel-colored, somewhat reddish wrapper with minimal veins and a fair amount of oils. It sells for around $6-7.

The flavor of the Lancero, even at the outset, is strong. Not the full-bodied blast of pepper strong that’s common these days. But rather an intense nicotine strong coupled with an old-school taste of warm tobacco. Mind you, with a ring gauge of 38, the ratio of ligero filler to wrapper/binder in each puff is smaller than any of the other vitolas in the line. That said, Lanceros can be bolder than thicker cigars of the same blend because of the density of their filler tobaccos. I’d wager that comes into play with this cigar.

In addition to nicotine strength and warm tobacco, the Serie V Lancero displays flavors of cocoa, leather, espresso, earth, and a touch of toffee sweetness. It also exhibits good construction, including a reliable draw and a straight burn, albeit with a gray ash that tends to fall off a bit prematurely.

In my experience, this cigar is best enjoyed after a hearty dinner with a serving of bourbon to complement its considerable power. It’s a solid choice if you’re looking for a bold Lancero but want to spend less than $7. For that, it earns four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

When José Blanco announced he was rejoining the cigar industry in August 2011 after “retiring” from La Aurora only a few months earlier, it wasn’t much of a surprise. A return to tobacco seemed inevitable for those who knew Blanco. What was somewhat surprising was that he decided to join Joya de Nicaragua, where he was named senior vice president.

Joya de Nicaragua is an old-school brand run by Dr. Alejandro Martinez Cuenca, who purchased its remnants in 1994 after its nationalization during the Sandinista Revolution, which ended a few years before the purchase. Up until the introduction of the Cuenca y Blaco cigar, the company had made almost exclusively Nicaraguan puros. (Previously, only the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie had used non-Nicaraguan tobacco, and then only for wrapper.)

The new line, formally introduced a month ago, is the first cigar to fully depart from the all-Nicaraguan formula and it does so in a major way, with tobacco from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Peru. The filler comes from Estelí and Ometepe in Nicaragua, along with with Peruvian tobacco, and is surrounded by a Dominican Piloto Cubano binder and an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper.

The cigar comes in five sizes, the longest and skinniest being the Lonsdale Club at 6.5 inches with a 44 ring gauge. I’ve smoked three different sizes and find this to be my favorite (at least so far). I picked up a five-pack of these from Emersons Cigars, where they sell for just under $9 each.

The cigar features a classic-looking red, blue, and gold band that mentions nowhere on it that the cigar comes from the Joya de Nicaragua factory. The wrapper is medium brown with only a few very small veins, making for an attractive stick.

The Cuenca y Blanco harnesses the rawness and strength that defines Joya de Nicaragua, but adds a complexity and finesse that is unlike their previous blends. It’s a medium- to full-bodied smoke that features a laundry list of flavors: floral notes, cedar, honey, leather, oak, and spice.

It’s a departure from other Joya de Nicaragua cigars, but it doesn’t forget its roots, and at its core it still has a bit of the twang that you might find in their Antaño or Celebration blends. With excellent construction, complexity, and tons of flavor, it’s a standout from the new cigars I’ve smoked thus far at the show. That earns the Cuenca y Blanco Lonsdale Club a rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys