The 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.”

This Cameroon-wrapped Robusto from La Caya is one of those cigars I only rarely light up, but every time I do I wonder why I don’t pick up this smoke more frequently. For a Cameroon fan like myself, it has everything you’d hope for in an everyday smoke. The price is very affordable at around $5 apiece. The physical properties are outstanding, including a straight burn line and a solid ash. And the flavor profile has plenty of sweetness complimented by pine and clove. Give this cigar a try the next time you have a chance.

Verdict = Buy.

–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.”

CAO’s “Last Stick Standing” promotion will let cigar smokers help choose the next CAO blend. Three blends—“C”, “A”, and “O”—are offered for participants to rate without knowing anything specific about each blend. I received a tin of the three cigars in the mail and decided to light up the “C” blend the next day. The well-constructed smoke starts out with dry spice, wood, and buttery flavors. It’s medium-bodied (maybe medium-full) with good balance and a clean finish. After smoking it, I looked on the Last Stick Standing website and saw that it’s currently in third place, though only slightly. I can see why. While it’s a pleasant cigar with excellent construction, it’s not particularly complex (though I should note that it might not be completely fair to smoke it just a day after multiple days in the mail).

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

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) Ever since June 2009 when President Obama signed the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,” my colleagues and I have written ad nauseam about the severe dangers of granting the Food & Drug Administration jurisdiction over handmade cigars. We’ve also vociferously supported the “Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2011,” a bill that would protect premium cigars from FDA oversight. Now Cigar Rights of America and the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association are also looking to the Executive Branch for protection, filing a petition with the White House to designate premium cigars outside the jurisdiction of the FDA. Please click here to sign this petition.

2) New York City already has a ban on smoking in city-run parks, but now the state is also moving to criminalize smoking in some outdoor areas. A bureaucracy called the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation—which operates 178 parks and 35 historic sites across the Empire State—is now calling many outdoor spaces smoke-free, supposedly to protect people from secondhand smoke.

3) Inside the Industry: Oliva is launching its 2012 Studio Tobac tour (details here). Altadis is introducing a new modern-looking “boutique” Romeo y Julieta cigar called “Romeo,” which features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper that will be available in four thick sizes. The Pepin Family is shipping its new box-pressed Flor de los Antillas Nicaraguan puro, which is available in four sizes, selling for $6.60 to $8.70. Now is your last chance to buy tickets to the Midwest Smoke Out, held on April 19 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.

4) Around the Blogs: Stogie Review reviews the Morro Castle. Cigar Inspector inspects a Padilla Studio Tobaco. Cigar Fan fires up an Alec Bradley American Classic. Velvet Cigar smokes a CAO La Traviata Maduro. Tiki Bar kicks back with a Sosa Classic.

5) Deal of the Week: Smoke Inn has the new Ortega Serie D in stock (we reviewed the No. 12 here). Both 5-packs and boxes of 10 are available for $5.85 to $7.10 per stick.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

Like my colleagues, I’m an unabashed fan of Paul Gamirian’s cigars. I can’t think of one I’ve smoked I didn’t find to be excellent, and I’d heartily agree with Patrick A’s five-stogie review of the Symphony 20th. That cigar would be on my desert island list.

But until recently I’d not only never smoked anything from the PG Artisan’s Passion line, I‘d never seen them. And even though Patrick S reviewed it in 2011, I wanted to sing its praises as well.

This three-cigar line stands out for quite a few reasons. Perhaps most noticeable is the price. The short robusto is $7.60 and each of the others rises by 60 cents. For a manufacturer who specializes in finely crafted, aged cigars blended from top-grade tobaccos, that’s a good price.

Another noticeable factor is a powerful, full-bodied smoke that’s composed of all Dominican tobaccos, still unusual this many years after the introduction of Opus X.

The 52-ring gauge cigar starts with pepper that recedes quickly, overtaken by a pleasant taste of grass and hay. It produces tons of smoke from the start and burns evenly from beginning to end.

At the halfway point of the six-inch stick, there’s a terrific mix of spice and sweetness that carries through for another inch or so. The blend is incredibly smooth and the finish is great.

If you’re lucky enough to find this cigar, light it up. I think you’ll agree that it earns four stogies out of five.

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

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

I think it was Woody Allen who said 80 percent of life is showing up. Well, I got part of my percent the other day when I won a box of Di Fazio Picoso Torpedos from The Cigar Station last month for what I believe was the electronic equivalent of showing. I registered at the site, which plays music, interviews, and other cigar-related material.

I’ve smoked a couple, and they’re nice cigars—spicy, well-made, and smooth. Di Fazio  is a relatively new company, starting operations in 2008 with headquarters in Miami. The Picoso is made in Honduras, and I wrote a Quick Smoke on the Churchill last year.

I thought I should share my good fortune, so we’ve cooked up another contest to give StogieGuys.com readers a chance to win a Picoso five-pack. The goal of this contest is to support the backbone of our hobby: the cigar shop. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post that includes this sentence:

“I will buy a cigar in person at a cigar shop the next time I get a chance.”

For most of us, that’s a pretty simple promise. Some of you, though, live a long way from a B&M. That’s OK. We trust you. If you say you’ll do it, you’ll do it, whether it’s tomorrow or two years from now. You’re all on the honor system.

Here’s the fine print: Please enter only once. Include an email address so we can contact you to get your mailing address if you win. (If you’re concerned about spammers, feel free to wrinkle it up by spelling “@” or writing .com as “.cXX”. Just don’t make it so clever that we can’t figure it out.) The winner will be chosen at random in a week, and the judges’ decision is final. The rest of the fine print can be read here.

Since Di Fazio was kind enough to supply the cigar, I’d recommend you purchase one from their lines if the shop you visit carries them. But whatever you buy, enjoy it. And tell ’em StogieGuys.com sent you.

–George E

photo credit: N/A

A few weeks back I reviewed the new Viaje Skull and Bones FOAB (Father of All Bombs), and shortly after took a look at the 2012 MOAB (Mother of All Bombs). Today I review the third (and final) variation from the 2012 class of Viaje Skull and Bones: the “Red” Skull and Bones WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction).

The short, stout cigar is just 3.75 inches long with a ring gauge of 54. Only 7,500 cigars were made, coming in 300 boxes of 25 and selling for $9 each (around $225 per box). Fortunately, I picked up a five-pack just as they were released because they sold out days later.

The blend is 100% Nicaraguan tobacco with a criollo wrapper around unspecified Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. The cigar is firm to the touch and the wrapper has a bit of sheen and a few veins.

Once lit, I found a full-bodied cigar with bready and warm tobacco favors. Surprisingly—for a “nuclear” cigar with a “be warned” notice—it was not spicy at all, and frankly not even overly full-bodied. In the second half of the short smoke, it revealed a slight sourness.

Ultimately, it tastes a little young, making me wonder if more time might bring out more subtleties in this blend. On the positive side, the hour-long smoke demonstrated excellent construction from start to finish with an even burn, solid ash, and perfect draw.

Making the obvious comparison to Viaje’s other Skull and Bones releases, it’s easy to conclude that this is my least favorite of this year’s batch. It’s not a bad cigar, but it is underwhelming, especially for the steep price considering the small size. It’s also, somewhat surprisingly (given the nuclear vs. non-nuclear designations), not as full-bodied as the MOAB or FOAB.

When I lit up my first 2012 WMD, I expected a nuclear bomb of flavor, but instead got a fairly nondescript, though full-bodied and full-flavored smoke. Maybe it’s a victim of its own hype, but the Viaje Skull and Bones WMD 2012 is a classic case of good but not great, earning it a rating of three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

This year’s industry trade show is still months away, but that doesn’t mean new cigars aren’t debuting in the interim. Case in point is Inferno, made by Oliva.

Inferno is available from Famous Smoke Shop, an online retailer based in Pennsylvania. “Inferno cigars are one of the newest additions to Oliva’s stable of fine Nicaraguan cigars,” reads the Famous website. “Despite its potency, the smoke is velvety smooth with a complexity that will delight you even more than the affordable price.”

The price certainly is attractive, with the Robusto (5 x 50) sold for $4.50 for a single or $72 for a box of 20. The other two sizes in the blend—Churchill (7 x 50) and Toro (6 x 50)—are similarly priced.

I sampled three Robustos for this review, each provided to me free of charge by Famous Smoke Shop. The Robusto is a handsome smoke with a dark, reddish Nicaraguan Habano wrapper. You won’t find any soft spots, or any difficulties with draw, but you will encounter some harmless lumps and a few dark splotches. A nice aroma of dark chocolate emanates off the foot. For what it’s worth, the fire-themed red and gold band makes no mention of Oliva.

Quickly showcasing its filler tobaccos of Nicaraguan ligero, the Inferno Robusto kicks off with a full-bodied blast of heavy-handed espresso and black pepper spice. After a few puffs, though, it settles into medium-bodied mode, pulling back the reins on the espresso and pepper. What’s left is a muted core of cocoa sweetness and coffee.

At the midway point and into the final third, I start to appreciate the resting smoke more as I grow a little less interested in the Robusto’s actual taste. I guess that’s bound to happen. A cigar like this isn’t oozing with complexity or displaying a harmonious balance that begs to be appreciated. Instead, it’s delivering an honest profile at a fair price.

I think most of us are expecting (or hoping) for exactly that when we buy a box of cigars and the per-cigar price is less than $4. Here you get a nice golf course stick with excellent construction that won’t blow you away, but also won’t disappoint. That’s what makes the Oliva Inferno Robusto worthy of three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys