The Stogie Guys

To say American whiskey is growing in popularity is an understatement. Over-production and glut of prior decades has been replaced with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for good bourbon and rye (and even quite a bit of well-marketed mediocre whiskey).

But there’s a catch: One of the key ingredients to good rye or bourbon is age in the barrel, and with the bourbon boom there are limited sources of well-aged whiskey. Even if you can find some aged product (or more likely procured some a few years ago when it was a little easier to come by) what you are buying is likely from the same source as what is already being sold in a different bottle with a different label.

Case in point is the Indiana distillery that uses the same 95% rye recipe to supply straight rye for Redemption, Angel’s Envy, Templeton, Bulleit, Dickel, Old Scout, High West, and others. To that list you can add Willett, although the company did start distilling its own bourbon and rye recently (but so far only a two-year rye has been deemed ready for the market).

So how does a company differentiate itself in this increasingly crowded market? Picking and identifying exceptional barrels is one way Willett built its reputation. Another way is with unique barrel finishes, which is what Willett is trying with it’s Exploratory Cask Finish (XCF).

These days one of my favorite rye whiskeys is the unique and bold Angel’s Envy Rye, finished in rum casks. It’s an interesting twist on the classic rye flavors, with sweetness and tropical spice layered over the distinctive Indiana rye flavors.

That’s why I was eager to try Willett’s XCF version 1.0, which starts with an 8-year-old Indiana rye that’s finished in casks used to make Grand Marnier, although (presumably for trademark reasons) it simply refers to as orange curacao.

The result is a deep gold color rye that has been cut down to 103.4-proof. The distinctive nose features orange peel, pickle brine, and floral spice.

The influence of the orange curacao continues on the palate with plenty of sour orange and clove. The finish is long with plenty of spice that lingers on the roof of the mouth

It’s an interesting combination that starts off intensely unique, even a bit bracing, but very quickly becomes deliciously familiar. It pairs perfectly with a woody, full-bodied Nicaraguan cigar like the RoMaCraft Aquitaine Mode 5 or La Antiguadad.

The only thing that would make me hesitate to recommend the Willett XCF is the price, which runs around $150, if you can find it. (I only procured a bottle because a friend happened to be near the distillery on the day it was released for sale.) That’s pretty steep, even in this overheated market. But if you enjoy Angel’s Envy Rye and want to taste an even more extreme example of cask finishing then XCF is well worth trying.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Over four years ago, Florida-based retailer Smoke Inn launched the Microblend Series, a program that commissions custom, limited edition blends from top manufacturers. Today, the series includes Arturo Fuente’s Solaris, Tatuaje’s Anarchy and Apocalypse, My Father’s El Hijo, Padrón’s 1964 Anniversary SI-15, Quesada’s Oktoberfest Dunkel, Room 101’s Big Delicious, and 601’s La Bomba Bunker Buster.

The latest (and ninth) addition to Microblend Series is Pactum, crafted by Illusione and offered in a single, lightly box-pressed size (5.5 x 56). It features a Mexican Maduro wrapper around Nicaraguan tobaccos and sells for $44.75 for a 5-pack, or $134.25 for a box of 15.

“This cigar is in-your-face, with full-bodied flavors and loads of white, chalky smoke,” reads the Smoke Inn website. “Using Nicaraguan tobaccos from the upper primings of the tobacco plant, Pactum takes on the strong and oily characteristics of the leaves… This will be one of the most limited production releases in our Microblend Series to date.”

The cigar has a simple band of navy and white that reads “Cigares Privé,” which is French for “private cigars.” It’s the same band you’ll see on another single-retailer Illusione release: the MC Slam (6 x 54) for R. Field Wine Company, a chain of gourmet food, wine, and cigar shops in Hawaii.

Pactum is a dark, dense brick of a cigar with an incredibly oily wrapper that’s textured and toothy. The foot exudes rich pre-light notes of chocolate, and coffee. A straight guillotine cut yields a moderately firm cold draw.

From the outset, Pactum tastes as oily as it appears and feels. The smoke has a silky texture, and the profile reminds me of cocoa, espresso, black pepper, and peanut. Interestingly, the strength remains surprisingly muted from light to nub, sometimes verging on mild-plus. Changes along the way are minor and include the introduction of some earthy notes at the midway point, as well as a minimal increase in spice in the final third.

I smoked two samples for this review—both provided courtesy of Smoke Inn—and each exhibited top-notch combustion qualities. The burn line is impeccably straight, the ash holds well off the foot, and the smoke production is average.

Pactum is an enjoyable smoke with a great aroma and interesting flavors that pair well with a mid-afternoon cup of coffee. I would especially recommend this to fans of San Andrés-wrapped cigars who are looking for a low to moderate level of strength. I’m awarding this Illusione a very admirable score of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

With the success of his Pipes Magazine Radio Show, Brian Levine has become one of the most prominent people in the hobby. The weekly show—available on iTunes and other podcast hosts—is a lively mix of education, interviews, and fun.

Here Brian talks about how it began and what goes into it, as well as a bit of advice for cigar smokers thinking about taking up the pipe.

Stogie Guys: How did the Pipes Magazine Radio Show get started?

Brian Levine: It was a dark and stormy night. A tree had fallen and knocked out the power to my house. We had used the last candle, and the fire was getting low so I decided to go outside and try to cut the tree down hoping it would clear the lines. A bolt of lighting hit near by and I saw it, the logo for The Pipes Magazine Radio Show… Well, not really.

Kevin Godbee (owner/publisher of Pipesmagazine.com) called me in June 2012. He said he had an idea for an audio show based on pipes and pipe smoking. He said he had asked two people for recommendations on who would be good to do this, and both of them had no taste whatsoever and recommended me. We met a couple weeks later in Kansas City at their annual pipe show to discuss the idea.

Kevin and I spent the summer learning software, researching style, gathering sound bites, and setting the tone and format for the show. We finally hit on the basic formula we wanted. We both committed to do the show each week for one year no matter how successful it was at the start. We set a start date in September 2012 and the rest is history.

SG: What is your goal with the show?

BL: I hope that each episode is sometimes educational but always entertaining. I feel like The Pipes Magazine Radio Show is my way to also contribute to the electronic library of information on pipes and pipe tobacco. I am not much of a writer, so doing a blog was out. I have a distant background in television and film so I understand the issues involved with video but always loved old radio.

So, the idea is one hour a week where you can sit down with your pipe, or take it on the road and listen to me, the guest that week, some music or entertainment, and maybe hear me pop off about something, all the while celebrating that we are pipe smokers.

I also make it a point to not just have guests on that are in the business. About half of the guests are pipe smokers that I have met or became aware of and have ranged from a friend who performs one-man shows as Thomas Edison to a collector of pipe-smoking Santa Claus figurines. We have also had pipe smoking clergy from all sects. There are also interviews with individual pipe makers and the biggest factories, as well as tobacco blenders big and small.

Either way, no matter who the guest is that week, I hope to learn about them as a person as well as a pipe smoker. If I do what I want, it will sound like you are listening in on two people having a conversation. I also don’t care what kind or cost of pipe or tobacco a guest smokes, as long as they enjoy it.

SG: Do you know how many listeners you have? Any idea how many are younger pipe smokers?

BL: At least one, his name is John Seiler and he is always the first to comment on a show when we are done. Really, we average 14,000 downloads per episode. Some of the more popular episodes have over 200,000 hits on the file. Obviously the older shows have more hits then a new one. Thanks to the sponsors and Pipesmagazine.com we are able to keep all 125-plus episodes online and available to be played. That is a whole lot of data and me jabbering for over 125 hours.

The podcast of the show is also sent out through iTunes, Podcast.com, Podbay, Podkicker, Spotify, Stitcher and another eight or ten online sources, so it is hard to tell our demographics. The show has a Facebook fan page and I can tell you from that, 54% percent of the listeners are under the age of 44. That number is much lower then I thought it would have been. Women represent 8% of our fan base, and it is not because I am so sexy. About 30% of the listeners are outside of the United States. I have heard from six continents including all the major countries except for some reason we don’t have any listeners in North Korea. Go figure.

SG: What’s been the biggest surprise since you began the program?

BL: There have been several including the fact that the older demographic has embraced the show. The countries that the show reaches shocks me because we only do the show in English.

The biggest surprise has come from the feedback that we receive. Many of the comments we get say how the show is the listeners’ weekly “Pipe Club.” A large amount of pipe smokers do not know any other pipe smokers so this is their one chance each week to hear from me and other pipe people about the hobby, and that means a lot to me. I am glad we are connecting people in a digital way. I was also surprised at the beginning that anybody would want to hear from me, but they do and they wanted more.

SG: If you would, tell us a little about your favorite pipe and pipe tobacco.

BL: Nope. I don’t talk about my favorites for two reasons. One, I am in the business and my full time job as the National Sales Manager for the Sutliff Tobacco Co. makes me biased towards what we make as well as the other brands we import like Mac Baren and Brigham. However, being in the business gives me access to people that others would not get.

The second reason is really the biggest. I do not want to influence listeners or turn them off because of what I like and smoke. I want each pipe smoker to go on their own journey to find those pipes and tobaccos that are magic to them. I am happy to have every guest on the show talk openly about what they like.

I can say that I have a soft spot in my heart for my Disney pipes, and if anyone wants to learn more about my collection of Disney-related tobacciana and the fact that Disneyland and Walt Disney World had full service tobacconist on Main St. USA, they can see my entire collection on Facebook.

I will say that I enjoy some of the older pipes, especially the English factory pipes from the first half of the last century. I also think we are in a golden age right now as far as the quality of pipes and tobaccos that are on the market.

SG: What’s your advice to a cigar smoker who wants to get into pipes? How should they approach pipes and tobacco?

BL: First let me say to anyone getting started, the tobacco goes in the big hole and your mouth goes on the small hole. But, seriously, pipe smoking is a completely different experience than a cigar. I have smoked cigars for over 20 years so I know what I am talking about, yet I prefer my pipes.

Think of smoking a pipe like a martini and a cigar like a single malt. The martini takes preparation and tools to make and enjoy. A single malt is ready to go out of the bottle. A pipe is dramatically more personal then a cigar because you can pack your pipe using different methods. When you buy a cigar it is ready to go. Pipe tobacco tastes differently in different sized pipes.

If a cigar smoker wants to try a pipe I suggest they do the following: find a pipe that they like the look, feel, and style of. Find a few tobaccos that you like the smell of. You will also need a tamper, a soft flame lighter, and pipe cleaners. Get some advice on different pipe smoking techniques. These can come from forums, YouTube, or your tobacconist. Give it several tries before you give up. It took me six years of regular pipe smoking to find my pipe smoking style and preferences, so don’t give up after a few bowls. Listening to the Pipes Magazine Radio Show will help (or hurt) as well. I am also available to answer questions at brian@pipesmagazine.com

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Last month I reviewed the Atabey Ritos, a cigar sent to me by Barry Stein. Many of you know Barry as the founder (and former proprietor of) A Cigar Smoker, a former employee of Miami Cigar & Co., and a current employee of the New Hampshire-based Two Guys Smoke Shop, a chain of cigar retailers.

These days Barry is also doing some marketing for United Cigar, an outfit that “works with top cigar manufacturers throughout the world to create unique cigars built exclusively for the premium cigar retailer.” Among United Cigar’s other brands are Bandolero, Byron, Fleur de la Reine, La Gianna, and Garofalo.

The latter is named for David Garofalo, a Bostonian “who has spent over 30 years as a cigar retailer and is obsessed with cigars” (he’s the owner of Two Guys Smoke Shop and hosts a weekly radio show with Barry Stein). It is a four-vitola line—Robusto (5 x 50), Torpedo (5 x 54), Toro (6 x 52), and Churchill (7 x 50)—made in Estelí by Nick Perdomo to celebrate David’s 50th birthday.

The recipe includes a golden Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper around a Nicaraguan binder and a blend of three Nicaraguan fillers. “The finished cigar has been sitting in aging rooms for a minimum of six full months to marry the blend until it has reached optimum flavor,” according to the United Cigar website. “The flavor is rich and rewarding while elegant and refined.”

The Robusto, which retails for $6.79, features a triple-cap, a firm feel, and a clean exterior with only a few noticeable veins. For such an innocent-looking smoke, the pre-light notes are extremely pungent. I find aromas of hay, hickory, and syrup off the foot. Once clipped, the cap exhibits a moderately smooth cold draw.

After setting an even light, the first few puffs of the Robusto are predominantly nutty and slightly grassy. There’s also a chocolaty background with hints of caramel and a soft peppery spice. The body is mild to medium, and the aftertaste is short and sweet. Towards the midway point, some of the nuttiness fades, leaving behind a flavor that verges on papery and buttery. But the final third once again witnesses an enjoyably interplay between sweet, nutty, and spice.

As for physical properties, the Garofalo Robusto performs impeccably. All three of my samples demonstrated straight burn lines, above average smoke production, and a solid white ash that holds well off the foot.

David Garofalo reportedly spent two years and hundreds of test blends to finalize this cigar. If his objective was to create an interesting mild-bodied cigar that still packs considerable flavor, I’d say he did a job well done with this five-tobacco blend. And the price point is commendable. In my book, the Garofalo Robusto earns a solid rating of three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

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.”

It says something about my high regard for RoMa Craft Tobac that I chose the Aquitaine Cranium as my after-steak smoke last night. I was fortunate to have many cigars to select from for my birthday, yet I kept gravitating towards this one as I perused my stash. I’m glad I did. The Cranium (6 x 54) has the bold flavors I seek on a full stomach—including black pepper, subtle syrupy sweetness, cedar, espresso, and a tangy barbeque zing. Construction is superb. Plus, with an MSRP of $8.25, you don’t have to save this Ligero-wrapped smoke for special occasions.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. Below is our latest Friday Sampler.

1) Changes for U.S.-Cuban relations were announced by President Obama in December, but they fell short of ending the trade embargo outright or legalizing all travel to the island. Americans still need to be officially licensed to legally travel to Cuba, and such licenses are restricted to purposes such as education, religion, government business, and visiting family members. However, bipartisan legislation—S. 299, the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act”—was recently introduced in the Senate to repeal all restrictions on travel by Americans to Cuba, and a House version of the bill is expected shortly. The American Society of Travel Agents estimates “at least two million additional Americans would visit Cuba by 2017 if there were to be a full lifting of travel restrictions in 2015.”

2) This week the Miami New Times published an article titled “The End of the Embargo Could Kill Miami’s Cuban Cigar Industry.” While the headline may be sensationalistic, bordering on absurd, the story contains some fascinating history, in particular an in-depth interview with José Orlando Padrón. Padrón describes his fascinating and often tumultuous life experiences, which include: having his family’s Cuban tobacco farms seized by Castro’s government; meeting Castro and even sharing a cigar with the dictator while on a trip to push for the release of 4,000 political prisoners after the communist revolution; the violent backlash he faced in Miami and Nicaragua for being seen as too close to Castro after a newspaper published a photo of Castro smoking a Padrón cigar; meeting Nicaraguan strongman Anastasio Somoza who showed Padrón the potential of Nicaraguan tobacco; and fleeing Nicaragua for Honduras after the Nicaraguan Sandinista revolution led to his factory being burnt down. The whole article is worth reading for Padrón’s story alone.

3) According to Reuters: “Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for almost six years has overseen public health initiatives ranging from tobacco control and food safety to personalized medicine and drug approvals, is stepping down, the agency said on Thursday. Hamburg, 59, is one of the longest-serving FDA commissioners in the modern era. She was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 2009 and last year was named the world’s 51st most powerful woman by Forbes magazine… Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the FDA’s chief scientist, will fill Hamburg’s position until a new commissioner is named.”

4) Inside the Industry: Viva Republica is set to launch what will certainly be one of the most bizarre cigars of 2015. Called Jailbreak, it’s a lancero buried inside a larger cigar. “The cigar features a double-wrapper (Dominican Corojo and Ecuadorian Habano), undisclosed double-binder, and features ten different filler leaves,” according to a press release. “The lancero/center-chamber is rolled and aged prior to being re-rolled into the 6 x 58, which is then aged again.” Only 300 20-count boxes will be made. Jailbreak will retail for $12.50.

5) Deal of the Week: As we noted a few weeks ago, AVO’s re-branding/re-blending has resulted in some excellent deals on older AVO offerings. These deals from Emerson’s are no exception. Buy any box of AVO cigars and receive a 10-pack of AVO Classic No. 2 cigars (valued at over $100). We’d particularly recommend the AVO Heritage line, which starts at just $112 for a box (plus the bonus 10-pack).

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

On Monday, Florida Congressman Bill Posey introduced the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2015 (H.R. 662). The legislation, which Posey also introduced in 2011 and 2013, would prevent the Food and Drug Administration from regulating handmade cigars.

The FDA is close to finalizing a rule that would subject cigars to FDA oversight, including a pre-approval requirement that would likely halt the introduction of new cigars. (One FDA proposal would apply all cigars to the pre-approval process, while another would exempt non-flavored cigars over $10.)

The 2011-12 version of the bill gained support from a majority of the House of Representatives, while the 2013-14 version had 145  co-sponsors. Posey’s 2015 legislation was introduced with 34 original co-sponsors, which groups like the IPCPR and CRA will seek to build on over the next two years.

Even if the bill isn’t passed and signed into law, significant Congressional support would send a strong message to the FDA that many elected officials in Congress, which has oversight and funding authority over the legislation, don’t want the FDA to to extend its authority over handmade cigars.

The following bi-partisan group of Representatives are the 34 original co-sponsors of the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2015:

Rep Bilirakis, Gus M. [FL-12]
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7]
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1]
Rep Buchanan, Vern [FL-16]
Rep Calvert, Ken [CA-42]
Rep Cardenas, Tony [CA-29]
Rep Castor, Kathy [FL-14]
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1]
Rep Cole, Tom [OK-4]
Rep Collins, Chris [NY-27]
Rep Costa, Jim [CA-16]
Rep Diaz-Balart, Mario [FL-25]
Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5]
Rep Graves, Sam [MO-6]
Rep Grayson, Alan [FL-9]
Rep Griffith, H. Morgan [VA-9]
Rep Harris, Andy [MD-1]
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-20]
Rep Hunter, Duncan D. [CA-50]
Rep Jolly, David W. [FL-13]
Rep Kelly, Mike [PA-3]
Rep Kinzinger, Adam [IL-16]
Rep Murphy, Patrick [FL-18]
Rep Murphy, Tim [PA-18]
Rep Pascrell, Bill, Jr. [NJ-9]
Rep Pompeo, Mike [KS-4]
Rep Rogers, Harold [KY-5]
Rep Roskam, Peter J. [IL-6]
Rep Ross, Dennis A. [FL-15]
Rep Royce, Edward R. [CA-39]
Rep Sessions, Pete [TX-32]
Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3]
Rep Wilson, Frederica S. [FL-24]
Rep Yoder, Kevin [KS-3]

If your Congressman is already a co-sponsor, contact them and thank them. If not, contact them and demand they become a co-sponsor. (Unsure who your representative is? Find out here.) Read an example of a letter to Congress in support of the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act here.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Best Price Cigars