The Stogie Guys

I did a double-take at my local tobacconist the other day when, perusing the Tatuaje selection, I saw a box of “The Mummy” cigars. This smoke is part of Pete Johnson’s Monster Series, a Halloween-inspired limited run that comes out each October—and usually sells out shortly thereafter. Was this my lucky day?

For whatever reason, I didn’t jump on a box purchase of The Mummy last fall. I assumed I had missed the boat. But maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised to still see The Mummy for sale in April. Tatuaje produced about 40,000 of them, making it (while still rare) the most widely distributed cigar in the Monster Series to date. The second most prolific Monster Series blends—The Wolfman (2011) and The Face (2010)—were only offered in about half that quantity. They followed The Drac (2009) and the inaugural Monster Series cigar, The Frank (2008).

Some consider Boris to also be part of the Monster Series. Whatever the classification, I consider Boris to be among the finer cigars I’ve ever had the pleasure to smoke (I’ll admit lamenting that I didn’t give that stick a perfect five-stogie rating after recently revisiting it).

Needless to say, given the pedigree of its ancestors, its $13 price tag, and its relative rarity, The Mummy has a lot to live up to. This long, thin cigar (7.75 x 47) boasts a Nicaraguan sun-grown criollo wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Its surface is toothy, moderately oily, and splotched with random areas of dark discoloration. The foot, which emanates notes of cocoa and coffee bean, is unfinished. And while The Mummy is consistently firm to the touch, a punch cut is all that’s needed to yield a smooth cold draw.

Several wooden matches are required to thoroughly establish an even light. Once underway, I’m greeted by woody spice with bitterness on the back of the tongue. This quickly settles into a creamier profile of peanut, white pepper, clove, and dry cinnamon. The smoke production and burn are excellent while the white ash is sandy and overly delicate.

Once these flavors are set, I don’t notice a ton of changes throughout the long smoke, which takes me over two hours to complete. Yet The Mummy sufficiently holds my attention with its medium-bodied complexity and subtlety. What’s striking is how much balance can be achieved with a Nicaraguan puro—a testament to the solid partnership between Pete Johnson and the My Father Cigars factory.

The Mummy may not be the finest, rarest, or most collectible edition in this storied franchise, but it’s certainly worthy of the Monster Series name. Keep an eye out for wooden coffins of 13 cigars (the painted “dress boxes” are much rarer) both online and at your tobacconist. I highly doubt you’ll be disappointed, and I award Pete Johnson’s newest Halloween creation four 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.”

Abe Flores of Pinar del Rio makes a lot of cigars, but maybe its telling that he chose to put his name on the Serie Privada. The line comes with an Ecuador Habano wrapper (natural or maduro) around a Nicaraguan Habano binder and Nicaraguan Habano and Dominican Corojo filler. I smoked the Toro (6 x 54, though the box press makes it seem smaller) which retails for $11.25. It’s a medium- to full-bodied smoke with tons of flavor, ranging from cinnamon and toast to black coffee and leather. Flavorful and complex with excellent construction, this one is easy to recommend.

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.”

These Pete Johnson cigars come not from Tatuaje but from L’Atelier Imports, an outfit he formed with his brother and friends to make “consumer price conscious cigars.” The three-cigar namesake line, rolled at Don Pepin Garcia’s My Father Cigars factory, features a hybrid wrapper from Ecuador called Sancti Spiritus over Nicaraguan filler and binder tobaccos. The blend runs between about $8-10 per stick, with each one named for the ring gauge. It’s a medium-strength smoke with a lot of flavors that change throughout. A most enjoyable cigar. Highly recommended.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: N/A

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) Few expected Sam Leccia to stay away from the cigar industry any longer than he was legally obligated to. With the conclusion of his non-compete agreement with the Oliva Cigar Co., his former employer, Leccia’s return was formally announced this week. His new venture will be called Leccia Tobacco and it will debut with two blends—Black and White—that will sell in the $7-9 range and be distributed by Toraño. Black is of particular interest as it will be handmade with a rare fire-cured leaf. Leccia fans will recall he originally tried to jump back in the business in 2011 with a completely different Toraño-distributed brand called Debut, which prompted a lawsuit from Oliva and postponed his return until now. Leccia is best known for creating the stout Nub and ligero-laden Cain brands.

2) Drew Estate is expanding its My Uzi Weighs a Ton (MUWAT) brand with the release of Kentucky Fire Cured cigars, a project that was over two years in the making. “We took the wrapper off the T52 and placed a thick Kentucky fire-cured leaf in its place,” said Jonathan Drew in a press release. “The taste and aroma were simply amazing, but there was just one huge problem—the cigar would not burn properly…[which explains] the lengthy process.” KFC, as the line will almost assuredly be called, is made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory in three sizes: Just a Friend (6 x 52), Fat Molly (5 x 56), and Chunky (4 x 46).

3) Inside the Industry: What do you get when Rocky Patel, Jonathan Drew, Matt Booth, Nick Perdomo, Christian Eiroa, Ernesto Padilla, Charlie Toraño, and Kurt Van Keppel collaborate on a project? Apparently you get a feature film called Operation Smokescreen. Watch the trailer here. The film is set to debut April 24, 2013.

4) Deal of the Week: H. Upmann is a classic name in cigars with a history going back almost two centuries, but the newest H. Upmann cigars are pretty good too. This sampler includes three sizes of the new H. Upmann Legacy, plus two Upmann Short Figuardos, for $20.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Leccia Tobacco

My last Cigar Spirits article covered one of the priciest bourbons I keep around. This time, I’m looking at one of the least expensive: Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch Bourbon.

Just $15 will land you this bourbon from Heaven Hill Distillery which, in addition to Evan Williams and the eponymous Heaven Hill, also makes Elijah Craig, Old Fitzgerald, Larceny, and Parker’s Heritage, among others. Parker’s Heritage refers to Parker Beam (of the famous Beam bourbon family), master distiller at Heaven Hill along with his son, Craig. Since it’s founding in 1935, Heaven Hill has had a member of the Beam family as its master distiller.

The bourbon’s namesake, Evan Williams, was a Welshman who came to Kentucky via Virginia (although technically what is now Kentucky was part of Virginia then). According to legend, he became “Kentucky’s first distiller” in 1783. He was also a politician and a businessman.

Like the flagship “Black Label” bourbon, about a decade ago the small batch Evan Williams 1783 dropped its age statement. Prior to that, it was a 10-year-old bourbon (the Black Label was a 7-year-old back then). Now we only know that its designation as a straight Kentucky bourbon without an age statement means the youngest bourbon it can contain is at least four years old, but presumably it averages a bit older than the Black Label, which also has the same restriction.

The bourbon pours a light copper color and the nose reveals honey, sawdust, and a hint of citrus. On the palate the 86-proof bourbon shows more honey along with vanilla, oak, and burnt corn. The finish is medium-length with a buttered popcorn flavor.

The result is an easy-drinking bourbon that’s enjoyable neat or with a ice cube or two, even if it isn’t as complex as many higher-priced whiskeys. Its price makes it a guilt-free ingredient in a cocktail or even a bourbon and ginger.

And obviously it goes great with a cigar. I lit up a pre-release sample of the upcoming Recluse Draconian and enjoyed the pairing. Though I actually think a more mild- or medium-bodied cigar would go even better.

Some bourbon snobs may turn their nose up at this affordable, value-packed bourbon, but don’t let that influence you. Whether you’re a seasoned bourbon drinker or a novice, this is a very respectable, enjoyable spirit that’s worth drinking with a fine cigar.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Arturo Fuente’s Solaris. Tatuaje’s Anarchy and Apocalypse. My Father’s El Hijo. Padrón’s 1964 Anniversary SI-15. What do these cigars have in common?

They’re all part of the Microblend Series that’s sold exclusively by Smoke Inn, a Florida-based cigar retailer. Microblend Series is inspired by the growing popularity of U.S. microbreweries, harnessing how “limited production quantities allow for a greater emphasis to be placed on quality and consistency,” according to the Smoke Inn website.

To bring the Microblend Series to fruition, Smoke Inn has partnered with some of the most respected names in the industry to produce one-time limited batches offered in one size each. These cigars have garnered high reviews from my colleagues.

The newest addition to the Microblend Series will be Big Delicious, a large torpedo (6.25 x 54) with a shaggy foot that was crafted by Abe “Big Delicious” Dababneh of Smoke Inn and Matt Booth of Room 101 (see our previous reviews of Room 101 cigars here). The cigar’s 1970s-style marketing scheme is, to say the least, unique. This promotional website includes “The Adventures of Swanky White & Big Delicious,” a comic that chronicles the fictional making of the cigar.

Big Delicious is handmade at Tabacos Rancho Jamastran in Danlí, Honduras. It has a reddish Habano 2000 wrapper around tobaccos from Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Pre-light notes are faint and the cold draw is smooth.

I don’t know if the torpedo shape contributes to this association but, as soon as I lit up the Big Delicious, I was reminded of a cigar I used to smoke quite frequently back in 2007: the Magic Mountain by Maria Mancini. That smoke also boasts a Habano 2000 wrapper, which is a cross between Cuban-seed corojo and Connecticut shade that imparts—in my opinion—an earthy flavor with a warm, lingering spice.

With a thick, damp texture, the slow-burning Big Delicious lumbers to the midway point. There, flavors of cayenne spice, leather, and coffee creamer build to complement the musty core. The draw opens significantly as the final third approaches. Throughout, the burn line is perfectly straight and the finely layered ash holds extremely well.

In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan of Big Delicious’ immense proportions or pseudo-gimmicky marketing campaign. But I can’t deny how well it smokes, or its endearing flavor of warm, approachable spice. Keep this in mind since pre-orders start on Friday and the national release party is April 26. The cigar will sell for $8.95 (or $134.25 for a box of 15), and it’s worthy of a very solid rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

I subscribe to a newsletter about American whiskey called the Bourbon County Reader. (If you’re serious about bourbon, I recommend subscribing.) In the issue that just arrived in my mailbox, editor Chuck Cowdery observes the long-term trend of cheapening older product lines, especially those with more value-oriented prices.

He notes that over the years a number of bourbons have eliminated their age statement (which designates the minimum length of time that the contained spirit aged in new charred barrels), freeing the distillers to combine any combination of straight whiskey and giving distillers increased flexibility to ramp up production more quickly without the cost of longer aging.

Other bourbons have been watered down, often from bond strength (100-proof) to 80-proof, which is the lowest a bourbon can be without being labeled “diluted whiskey” (most notably, Jack Daniels was cut from 86-proof to 80-proof). The savings here are twofold: (1) adding more water means a barrel of whiskey produces more bottled spirit; and (2) since taxes are based on alcohol content, it reduces the per-bottle tax.

This got me thinking about cigars. Are older “legacy” brands being similarly cheapened? The answer is yes, almost certainly some are. The scarier part is that unlike bourbon, there’s no easy way to know which ones are.

Whereas bourbon labels have strict standards about what claims can be made, there is no similar standard for cigars. Of course most of the time there is no need to lie, because most cigar boxes and labels say very little about how the cigars are made or what is in them.

(I feel obligated to point out here that I certainly don’t want the government to increase regulation on cigars. Though I’ll admit the prospect of FDA regulation would be far less objectionable if I were convinced the goal was simply more information for consumers, and not actually government control over which cigars are available with the underlying goal of limiting the choices that adult consumers have.)

Considering that cigar makers have to produce the “same cigar” year after year, often in increasing quantities, some variation is to be expected. If it’s just the result of attempting to make the same cigar with the next year’s crop of tobacco, then I have no objection. (Though I’d still like a box or production date.)

The problem is when they attempt to make a similar cigar using lesser/cheaper materials, and pass it off as the same product. I suspect this accounts for at least some of the cigars that decline not long after being introduced. Perhaps they figure they can make a great cigar when introducing it to wholesale buyers, the public, and critics, then cut corners later and maximize profits. But the result is cheating their most loyal fans.

So what can a discerning cigar smoker do?

Take note of which companies keep quality and consistency high. In my experience, cigar companies that aren’t constantly releasing new lines (Arturo Fuente and Padrón certainly come to mind) do a better job. Also, the largest cigar companies seem to do well. Altadis, General Cigar, and Davidoff certainly have the capital to keep their products consistent and have invested millions into building their brands, which makes them less likely to risk long-term brand loyalty for short-term profit margins.

But there are always exceptions, for good or bad. Mostly it comes down to buyer beware, or at least be aware of the possibility that brands may have been diluted over the years.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Flickr