The 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) Not long after it was introduced at this summer’s IPCPR Trade Show, Joya de Nicaragua’s Cuenca y Blanco has been rebranded as simply “CyB.” “This change is being proactively self-implemented to satisfy the possibility of any unintended, potential trademark conflicts with other brands, and is being done so in the spirit of maintaining the harmony within our small industry of premium handmade cigars,” reads a press release from Joya de Nicaragua. The five-vitola line—named for Dr. Alejandro Martínez Cuenca and Jose Blanco—well receive new boxes, bands, and packaging, but the blend itself will remain the same.

2) Cigar Rights Update: Officials in the town of Central Falls, Rhode Island, have approved an outdoor smoking ban that would criminalize smoking cigars in parks and other public areas if adopted. Politicians in Oklahoma are pushing for a bill that would enable local governments in the state to pass smoking bans. As expected, Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law a 50-cent tax cap for cigars in Michigan, with the aim of helping his state’s cigar shops compete with online retailers. Arizona State University will enact a total smoking ban starting next August for its campuses at Tempe, Glendale, Phoenix, and Mesa.

3) Inside the Industry: The 2012 edition of the Alec Bradley Fine & Rare is now arriving at stores. Grand Empire Reserve, a box-pressed Nicaraguan from Reinado, is shipping to retailers. Cigar smokers in the Washington, DC, area (where StogieGuys.com was founded) may want to check out two upcoming dinners featuring La Palina and E.P. Carrillo.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Fan fires up a CAO Concert. Stogie Review reviews the Viaje 5th Anniversary. Half Wheel smokes the La Flor Dominicana Oro. Cigar Coop lights up a Pinar del Rio Reserva Especial.

5) Deal of the Week: This “Silver Tray Special” features five premium sticks and a travel humidor for just $30. Included are three Montecristos and two Romeo y Julietas.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Joya de Nicaragua

Fans of hot young blender A.J. Fernandez won’t be disappointed with his newest release, a powerful, complex cigar that delivers a first-class smoking experience. The six-vitola line debuted this summer and recently began hitting retailers’ displays, often alongside Fernandez’s popular San Lotano lines.

The Pinolero makes a strong first impression with its colorful band reminiscent, to me at least, of Antonio Gattorno’s style. The scene depicts two women, I believe, grinding corn. That would tie it to the cigar’s name, which I understand is a term that refers to someone from Nicaragua and derives from pinol, a corn-based flour.

After lighting up, you cannot help but be impressed by a volume of smoke so thick and abundant it rivals a refinery fire. And the flavors…Not to go too far off the deep end, but I couldn’t help but think of a double helix as I smoked. There’s a spicy thread that runs throughout the stick while flavors of leather, syrup, hay, and herbs run around it.

It has the smoothness of well-aged tobacco, the delicacy of expert blending, and an intriguing complexity as it changes from start to finish.

The toro is a 6-inch stick (the robusto is pictured right) with a generous 52-ring gauge and a smooth draw. Pinolero is a Nicaraguan puro with the filler identified as “Cuban-seed Nicaraguan and Fernandez family secret.” The toro retail price seems to be around $8 a stick.

On the negative side, the ash is thin and flaky. Don’t let it go far or it will end up in your lap. And the burn isn’t great. Not so bad that it required frequent touch-ups, but nowhere near razor-sharp. This isn’t a cigar you’ll want to nub; the flavors can turn harsh near the end.

Overall, I was impressed with the Pinolero and will certainly plan to smoke many more. I give the A.J. Fernandez Pinolero Toro four stogies out of five.

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

–George E

photo credit: 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

Yesterday was Columbus Day, which means summer is firmly in the rear-view mirror and the temperatures are dropping. If you’re smoking cigars outdoors, you may be looking for a drink pairing that will help keep you warm in the cold. Here are five drinks that will do the trick.

Hot Toddy — A classic that can be made with scotch (save the single malt, use a blend), bourbon, or even brandy. It’s simple to make. Just add sugar, lemon, and cloves to boiling water and your spirit. Hot toddies pair well with Connecticut-wrapped, milder cigars.

Stonewall Jackson — An American classic consisting of hot cider and bourbon (but rye, Tennessee whiskey, or even spiced rum fill in nicely). As I’ve written before, it’s a late fall drink that pairs nicely with stonger cigars, like the 601 Green or Fausto.

Hot Buttered Rum — Perhaps my favorite of the bunch, hot buttered rum is a little more complicated to make than the above drinks, but after you make it a few times you’ll find that it’s really not to difficult. Drink yours with a medium-bodied Honduran or Nicaraguan cigar.

Mexican Hot Chocolate — While there are lots of recipes out there, “normal” Mexican hot chocolate is spicy and intense with unsweetened chocolate, cinnamon, and chiles. Adding some tequila kicks it up a notch. While I use something similar to this recipe, I might also add a splash of triple sec. Sip on one with a cigar wrapped with a San Andreas maduro wrapper.

Coffee — There are lots of ways to make coffee (have you seen a Starbucks menu lately?). It still remains my regular pairing with a cigar. And although you can add almost any spirit to it, I almost always take mine black or with just a splash of milk. It will keep you warm while you enjoy your cigar, and coffee pairs well wih almost any cigar out there.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Nothing beats strolling into your local tobacconist to patiently select a personalized sampler of cigars. If you’re like me, you love perusing the shelves for old favorites, new adventures, and hidden gems. It’s one of the few times I actually enjoy shopping.

Buying an assortment of singles from a brick and mortar store, however, isn’t usually the best way to get bang for your buck. To stretch your dollar, sometimes it makes sense to instead order a sampler from an online retailer. But how do you decide from among the insanely high number of samplers that are offered by the many online retailers on any given day? Here are a few tips to help you make a good choice.

Buy from a trusted source. Online retailers should have excellent customer service, quick order processing, and safe delivery methods. Feel free to poke around online to see what others are saying about the various websites you can order from. Obviously you want your cigars to arrive safe and well-humidified, not late and damaged.

Read reviews. The online cigar community is thriving like never before, and this means nearly every cigar you can imagine has been reviewed. Having that information at your fingertips before hitting the “place order” button is critical. So if you’re unsure about a few of the cigars in the deal you’re considering, simply do a little reading first.

Notice the filler smokes. The typical sampler has a few expensive smokes in the lineup—these are the attention-grabbers—and a few filler cigars. Filler cigars can be house blends, value smokes, or unwanted inventory. Ideally, you’ll find a sampler with limited filler cigars, or one comprised of filler smokes that you’re actually interested in.

Consider the per-cigar cost. I like to take the total sampler cost (including shipping) and divide it by the number of cigars in the sampler to derive the per-smoke cost. You can take this a step further by taking the total sampler cost and dividing it by the number of what you think are non-filler cigars. If you think about it, it makes sense to buy a sampler with unwanted filler smokes if the per-cigar cost of the remaining smokes is low enough.

Have a tip or two of your own you’d like to share with StogieGuys.com readers? Feel free to leave it in the comments below.

–Patrick A

photo credit: N/A

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.”

George E beat me to the punch with his review of the new CAO Concert, which I also tried for the first time at the IPCPR Trade Show. He thought highly of the cigar and I agree, though I like the Amp (5.5 x 46) even better than the Roadie (5.5 x 54) he reviewed. Excellent construction, the norm on cigars made by General Cigar, is combined with the spice and bread flavors that I often identify with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The Concert blend isn’t all that different from the many cigars that rely on Ecuadorian Habano (rosado in this case) wrapper and Nicaraguan filler (though Concert also uses Honduran filler). It’s just a particularly well-done rendition of the genre with medium body, good balance, and a reasonable price ($5.75 for a single).

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.”

After a hiatus that kept Dona Flor away from the U.S. market for years, the Brazilian company is back on American soil with a variety of lines, including Seleção and Puro Mata Fina. Included in Dona Flor’s portfolio is the CC Bahia, which is comprised of a golden Connecticut shade wrapper around mata fina and mata norte leaves. The Robusto (5 x 52) retails for $7.75 and has a nutty, creamy, slightly spicy taste that’s devoid of the chocolate or depth I was expecting from a cigar packed with Brazilian tobacco. It isn’t a bad cigar, but it’s hard to be overly enthusiastic about it given the number of fine Connecticuts on the market that sell for less. I guess you could say I’m on the fence.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys