The Stogie Guys

It’s been nine months since the StogieGuys.com team published a new list of Gold Star Smokes. As you might recall, this special designation celebrates cigars that we feel are worthy of strong recommendations. They don’t necessarily have to be five stogie-rated—just commendable smokes we turn to time and again.

Co-Founder & Editor in Chief Patrick A

The La Musa Μελέτη Lancero is pretty limited (only 200 boxes are made available annually) but it is highly worth seeking out. It is a Nicaraguan puro with dark chocolate pre-light notes that transition to flavors of nougat, bread, espresso, and leather. It’s a bold, fuller-bodied smoke with plenty of complexity and excellent combustion qualities. When I have it on hand, I often reach for it as an after-dinner accompaniment to a cup of coffee.

Co-Founder & Publisher Patrick S

Winter is when I like to turn to corona-sized cigars, and one of my very favorites is the Tatuaje Noella Reserva. This Connecticut Broadleaf-wrapped Nicaraguan smoke is full of chocolate, coffee, and spice. I’ve smoked through multiple boxes and have always found them balanced and well-made. Plus it’s the type of cigar that goes equally well with a cup of coffee or your favorite spirit. It can be a bit hard to find but it’s certainly worth seeking out.

Tampa Bureau Chief George E

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Stogie Guys

I’m working my through a few more rye whiskeys before putting together a Guide to Rye, along the lines of our A-Z Guide to Bourbon (part 1 & part 2). Rye whiskey is increasingly popular these days and we want to help you sort out the over-hyped from the real gems.

High West distills whiskey and other spirits at its distillery and saloon in Park City, Utah, which bills itself as the world’s only ski-in distillery. However, the contents of Double Rye! (like most of High West’s aged whiskeys) weren’t distilled at the slope-side distillery.

Not that they hide that fact. As the back label explains, this is a combination of two straight rye whiskeys sourced by High West. One is a young two-year rye with a high rye mashbill (95% rye), probably from Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana. The other is an old 16-year rye with a more traditional mashbill (53% rye). (My bottle was from batch “13F11” and it was bottle number 599.)

The “blend of straight rye whiskies” sells for around $35 per bottle. And the handsome bottle is notable for it’s old west style with bubbles in the glass that give the handmade appearance. The rye is a pure gold color. The nose is a very unique combination of pine and iodine, but with bits of maple candy sweetness and mint.

The palate is all about the dueling layers. The young whiskey has a raw quality to it, but there’s just enough of the smoothness and sweetness from the older rye to prevent it from being overly acrid or harsh. It’s a fresh combination of pear, honey, cinnamon, and raw wood. The finish is a bit harsh and short.

This is a tough whiskey to judge because it’s so unique. The rough nature of the 2-year-old rye that (I suspect) makes up the majority of this blend is dominant and, at times, harsh and unpleasant. But there are quite a few redeeming characteristics: sweetness, complexity, and unexpected depth.

Cigar-wise, you’ll want a spicy cigar to pair with the Double Rye! (yes the “!” is part of the appeal, and it’s descriptive of this brash whiskey). While there are more than a few better rye whiskeys, for more or less money, High West Double Rye! still has it’s charms as a bold, unique rye.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

If you’re looking for a cigar that will help you expand your palate, pick up the Trunk Show MG-08. This massive cigar produces a greater variety of spices than you’ll find on the McCormick shelf at the local Safeway. Sit back and let them roll over your tongue.

General Cigar’s Michael Giannini’s four-country blend is satisfying, smooth, and balanced with a light finish. It’s not a powerful cigar, but a subtle treat in a limited edition (500 26-count boxes).

As is not uncommon when Giannini is involved, the tobacco used is designated only as proprietary, with the exception of the wrapper, a “Havano Ecuadoran Ligero.”

I’ve smoked at least a half-dozen or so of these behemoths (7 x 60), which have a most reasonable $9.25 price tag. One side effect has been that, while I haven’t enlisted in the army of large ring gauge smokers, I have given up my conscientious objector status.

I no longer reject a cigar simply because it could pass for a Yule log.

In this case, my view is also influenced by the excellent performance, not always found in big ring gauges. Each MG-08 I’ve smoked had fine draw, burned straight, and held a tight ash.

On the negative side, I would like a bit more smoke production, and I can’t say I’m a big fan of the smokable band. You can get it off, though usually in bits and pieces. Making the necessary time commitment for a cigar this size can also be difficult.

With production so low, you aren’t likely to find this Truck Show—or its sibling, the Liga YG-23 blend by Yuri Guillen—in every shop. (A third, the Liga JD-05, is sold only by catalog and online retailers.) But it is well worth seeking out. I rate this stick four stogies out of five.

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

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The Spectre by AJ Fernandez is easily one of the most unique, interesting cigars I have smoked in years. Now, we’ll discuss whether or not that’s a compliment in a little, but just go into this review knowing that this cigar is very distinctive and you likely have not smoked something like this before.

What makes this such a unique experience is the “secret blend” of tobacco used in making the Spectre, which reportedly includes latakia. For those who are not big pipe enthusiasts, latakia is a type of tobacco normally included in what are called “English” blends. It has a smoky smell, like a campfire, and normally has smoky and spicy flavors associated with it. At this point, some of you may be thinking of cigars like the MUWAT KFC or the Leccia Black, which feature Kentucky Fire-Cured tobacco. While the process these two tobaccos go through to achieve their flavor is similar, there is a distinct difference: KFC is American tobacco, and latakia is an Oriental process.

While some details about the cigar were not disclosed to the public, we do know this has a Maduro wrapper with Nicaraguan origin. Three sizes are initially offered: Toro, Robusto, and Gordo. I smoked three Robustos (5 x 50) for this review. The wrapper is very dark and oily, and the band shows a tobacco leaf in shadows, with a bright light coming up behind it. While it’s a small complaint, I don’t really like bands like this which take up more than 50% of the cigar. When clipped the cigar emanates very smoky aromas, with some spice and leather underneath.

Lighting up this cigar straight off the shelves is an insane experience. The flavor is so strong and interesting in the first half that it was honestly a little overwhelming. Your palate is blasted with smokiness, charred meat, leather, cocoa, and earth, with a sharp spiciness dominating the finish. The second half of the cigar burnt a little hot, but also allowed most of the flavors to mellow out and complement each other a bit more.

I feel the need to add in that I smoked the third cigar for this review after it sat in my humidor outside the cello for about two weeks. The experience was really different. That smoky-spicy latakia dominant first half was replaced by rich cocoa and earth, that were overpowered in the previous two I had smoked. Sadly, that experience also felt muted and one-dimensional in comparison to my first two.

This is a cigar that I cannot really recommend to just any smoker, due to the strength of flavor (the nicotine is a solid medium, by the way). However, if you’re looking for a unique experience, these sticks can be picked up at a pretty good price, and it’s worth trying them just to say you have. I personally like them, and they are well rolled, but considering the fact that this cigar would never enter my regular rotation, I will only give it three stogies out of five.

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

–Joey J

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 thought I was out of this limited and hard-to-find Lancero edition of the Liga Privada Único Serie until I found this cigar in a box in the bottom of my humidor. The L40 (7 x 40) features a Connecticut stalk-cut Habano wrapper, Brazilian Mata Fina binder, and Nicaraguan filler. It’s a classic combination of cocoa, espresso, wood, and earth. It’s medium- to full-bodied, very smooth, and balanced. While not as powerful as other Liga Privada smokes, this is a must try for Lancero fans.

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.”

Back in 2003, La Aurora celebrated its 100th anniversary by launching a new line called 100 Años. The oldest cigar maker in the Dominican Republic chose only Dominican tobaccos for the blend, including an oily Corojo wrapper. The resulting profile—characterized by flavors of bread, dry cedar, cream, and pepper—is bolder than most would expect from a Dominican puro. True to La Aurora form, the Robusto (5 x 50) smokes very well. Even with a price tag north of $10, this is an easy recommendation.

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) A heist recently occurred at the A.J. Fernandez warehouse in Sunrise, Florida. According to a press release from A.J. Fernandez Cigars, robbers stole product valued at $25,000 on the evening of February 13. “In a scene right out of a heist film, the burglars cut a hole through the wall of an adjacent business using powered cutting tools—disabling one sector of the alarm system—and gaining access to a delivery/staging area of the AJF facility,” reads the press release. “The gang of at least five burglars made off with several crates of product, which had been delivered earlier in the day from Nicaragua, but had not yet been unpacked by AJF warehouse staff. The criminals did not gain access to the main humidified area of the facility. Thankfully, there were no injures to AJF staff as a result of this incident.” Some readers may recall the Alec Bradley warehouse robbery in September 2013, which occurred in Hollywood, Florida—approximately 25 minutes away from the AJF facility. In that heist, the burglars made away with merchandise worth $300,000 at wholesale, or nearly $600,000 at the retail level.

2) The “On the Road” column in the New York Times this week offered information about a website that helps travelers find hotels that offer smoking rooms. Smoketels.com features 100,000 hotels worldwide. The column also dealt extensively with cigar smoking—unfortunately reinforcing the idea that we’re almost all wealthy conspicuous consumers—and quoted Cigar Aficionado‘s Gordon Mott about an app the magazine is developing to pinpoint hotels that permit cigar smoking and nearby smoking lounges.

3) Inside the Industry: General Cigar is introducing the Partagas 1845 Extra Fuerte, a “fuller-bodied, fuller-flavored follow-up to the [original] 1845.” According to two magazine ads posted online, the cigar uses an Ecuadorian Habano Ligero wrapper and Nicaraguan filler.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Fan fires up Fonseca 120th Anniversary. Cigar Inspector inspects Nat Sherman Timeless Collection. Stogie Review reviews Cuban Stock Triumph. Stogie Fresh smokes Nica Rustica. The Tiki Bar kicks back with LEAF by Oscar.

5) Deal of the Week: Maduro fans would do well to check out this special. Only $45 gets you 5 each of the Liga Undercrown Gran Toro and the Rocky Patel Private Cellar Robusto.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Google Maps