The Stogie Guys

Dubbed 5 Vegas’ “most elusive” creation, the Miami line is handmade by Don Pepin Garcia’s El Rey de los Habanos company. Five of the sizes, including this Torpedo, are made in Pepin’s Tabacalera Cubana S.A. factory in Estelí, while the sixth shape—a thick Toro with a shaggy foot—is made at the company’s factory in Little Miami. But like my colleague pointed out in his review of the Churchill vitola, 5 Vegas oddly makes no mention of Pepin on their website.

This is curious, obviously, because you’d think 5 Vegas would want to highlight any connection to Pepin given the famed cigar maker’s superstar status in the industry. As it turns out, the Garcia most involved with the production of the Miami is actually Don Pepin’s daughter, Janny.

At any rate, the Miami blend’s six vitolas feature Cuban-seed fillers, Nicaraguan binders, and Nicaraguan corojo wrappers. The flavor is touted as “Cuban-esque” in various marketing materials.

With the arrival of prelight hints of dark chocolate and earth out of the cellophane, the Torpedo (6.1 x 52) has the look, smell, and feel of a real winner. The toothy wrapper’s scant veins and virtually invisible seams showcase craftsmanship and care.

In what has almost become cliché to write, read, and smoke, the taste begins with Pepin’s trademark burst of black pepper spice. Not much nuance; just heavy-handed, simple, and predictable.

The flavor undergoes a welcome transition into notes of coffee, onion, and leather after the first inch. While more balanced and less aggressive than the beginning, this new combination isn’t exactly complex or unique. It is, however, significantly more agreeable than the overly bitter taste that dominates the final third of this $6-8 cigar.

Construction across the two Torpedos I smoked for this review wasn’t a problem. The draw is easy, the cut clean, and the burn never requires any touch-ups. I just wish the ash were a little less flakey.

With or without Pepin’s name, this 90-minute smoke is decent but not memorable. Some distinct flavor characteristics or added complexity would have gone a long way towards improving the 5 Vegas Miami Torpedo’s rating of three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

This review reinforces something we’ve been saying for quite awhile: take advantage of events at you local cigar shops. I probably wouldn’t have tried this gem of a cigar were it not for a La Flor Dominicana shindig at Cigar Connection in Arlington, Virginia.

There, I picked up a specially-priced sampler of a dozen LFD cigars and met Mark Phelgar, an informative abd friendly representative for the company. Included was this 6 and 1/4 inch by 52 ring gauge box-pressed Grand Maduro No. 5 from La Flor’s Premium line—the first line they ever produced. Of all of LFD’s regular production lines, the Premium Line is the one I was least familiar with.

In fact, the two cigars I smoked for this review are the first Premium Line maduros I’ve had, and they’ve done nothing to deter me from smoking more in the future.

The toro-sized No. 5 features a dark, attractive, almost jet black  wrapper that glimmers with an oily sheen. It’s firm to the touch and smooth, except for a few large veins.

Once lit, I’m greeted with a medium- to full-bodied smoke with lots of licorice flavors.  Underneath is a balanced medley that includes hints of sweet grass, toffee, coffee, fig, leather, and black pepper.

Even though the flavors remained relatively constant throughout the hour-long smoke, the complexity is very impressive for a maduro. In my experience, many maduros have a tendency to trade complexity for forward flavors, but no such sacrifice was made here.

The construction was also quite good, with an easy draw, even burn, and a fairly steady ash. The Grand Maduro No. 5 sells for around $8 per stick, so it isn’t a budget smoke. Still, for all it has to offer, that’s a very reasonable price when you consider how many lesser cigars sell for more.

For that combination of complexity, excellent construction, and a fair price, the La Flor Doninicana Grand Maduro No. 5 earns a rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: La Flor Dominicana

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

Olivas are highly regarded in the cigar community—and deservedly so—for their consistency, quality, and value. But something just wasn’t quite right about a five inch by 54 ring gauge Belicoso I recently bought and smoked at a Chicago B&M. The burn required constant touch-ups and, after the halfway mark, the full-bodied profile of leather and black coffee transitioned into a biting bitterness. Not nearly as pleasant as I had hoped.

Verdict = Sell.

–Patrick A

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar. The following is a Guest Quick Smoke, submitted by a StogieGuys.com reader. If you’d like to submit your own for publication, please contact us.

This 6 and 1/8 inch by 52 ring gauge torpedo is rolled at José Pepin’s Tabacalera Cubana S.A. factory in Nicaragua. Made with all Nicaraguan tobaccos, the Havana VI line is blended to reflect traditional Cuban cigar making. And, in true Tatuaje and Pepin style, it is well-constructed with a solid feel and no soft spots. The taste starts with a blast of pepper and spice that mellows slightly after the first inch. With emerging cedar and hay flavors, I would classify this as a solid medium-bodied smoke and a great buy in the $7-8 price range.

Verdict = Buy.

-Submitted by Patrick Mize of Gainesville, FL

In our ongoing effort to make StogieGuys.com as entertaining and informative as possible, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Wednesday marked the culmination of the protracted clash over SCHIP, one of the most critical political battles in the cigar industry’s history. Obama’s signature made it official: a 52.75% federal excise tax on large cigars (capped at 40.26 cents per stick) effective April 1. While by no means welcome news, these numbers, thanks to groups like Cigar Rights of America and the IPCPR, are a far cry from the $10 per cigar cap originally proposed by lawmakers in July.

2) Imperial Tobacco Group, the giant that owns Altadis, acknowledged this week that it expects the economic downturn to have a negative impact on its cigar output. Although Altadis makes many top-selling brands, the company’s cigar sales are dwarfed by its cigarette component.

3) Inside the Industry: Erneto Perez-Carrillo, the man who created the Miami-based La Gloria Cubana brand, is leaving General Cigars to start a company with two of his children. All sizes in the Cuban Cohiba Siglo line will be available in metal tubes. J. Glynn Loope was formally named executive director of Cigar Rights of America. NBC’s Today Show toured J.C. Newman’s Tampa cigar factory.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Jack smokes a Casa Fuente Pyramide. Cigar Inspector checks out a Diplomatico No 2. Stogie Review lights up an H. Upmann Reserve. Keepers of the Flame reviews the Troya X-Tra Cetro.

5) Deal of the Week: It’s not too late to take advantage of Super Bowl specials from Cuban Crafters. While they have quite a few deals, we particularly recommend the Cupido Tuxedo Churchills, which will be the subject of a StogiegGuys.com review in the near future. Get yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Washington Post

Thanks to politicians, self-interested health organizations, and biased doctors, most of us probably don’t fully understand the many advantages of tobacco. It may surprise you to learn that smoking cigars poses some serious health benefits. That’s right. Benefits.

I discovered some of tobacco’s benefits when a letter from Dr. William Campbell Douglass II came across my desk this week. Once voted “Doctor of the Year” by the National Health Federation, Dr. Douglass says, “When practiced in moderation, smoking can load you up with health benefits you never imagined possible.”

The letter, which likely dates back to 2004 when Dr. Douglass’ The Health Benefits of Tobacco was published, says the author is not on Big Tobacco’s payroll and does not advocate smoking in excess. But he does say “mountains of evidence” suggest smoking and health are not necessarily at odds.

According to Dr. Douglass, smoking can:

• Slash your risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
• Improve your memory and concentration
• Help prevent thyroid, breast, and skin cancer
• Produce new blood vessel growth around blocked arteries

Moreover, brothers of the leaf have an advantage over cigarette smokers because stogie manufacturers don’t add dangerous chemicals and fiberglass to their products like cigarette companies do. That’s why, to improve cardiovascular health, Dr. Douglass sometimes prescribes “three delicious cigars a day.”

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Maybe it is. As I wrote in a similar commentary about 16 months ago, I’m not a doctor and I don’t have the training or resources to fully examine Dr. Douglass’ claims.

Still, I thought bringing this to your attention was important. It seems nowadays, when it comes to cigars and risk, there’s more misinformation out there than information. And we can’t rely on special interest groups to find the truth.

So, if you’re interested, I implore you to seek out empirical evidence and continue to read about cigars and health with an open mind. Even though the notion of tobacco health benefits might seem crazy, is it any crazier than blindly accepting faulty “scientific” advice from the very groups that have fueled and profited from the fanatic anti-smoking movement?

–Patrick A

photo credit: Flickr

Back in December, I tasted the rare and expensive A.H. Hirsch 16-Year-Old Bourbon. While writing about that stellar spirit, I noted that A.H. Hirsh is the last of the bourbons made at Michter’s Distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. Today, a series of whiskeys are made under the Michter’s name, but none of them come from the original Pennsylvania distillery.

This Stogie Spirit article is of one of those post-Schaefferstown Michter’s whiskeys. It’s called Michter’s US 1 Single Barrel Straight Rye, which is made by an undisclosed Kentucky distillery.

As the name suggests, this is a single barrel straight rye, meaning it’s made with at least 51 percent rye mash (usually mixed with corn or barley) and aged in new charred oak barrels. Each clear bottle is individually numbered (my sample came from 8D-41).

All rye must be 160 proof or less and, like most, Michter’s comes in well below that at 91.4 proof. The color is an impressive shiny copper hue.

After pouring myself a few fingers, I notice an aroma of resin, vanilla, and citrus. The taste consists of  oak, pepper, and cedar that warms the corners of your mouth. The finish is long and smooth with a hint of mint.

This is a favorite rye of mine and, at a cost of $35 per bottle, it isn’t going to break the bank. In fact, that makes it about a quarter of the price of the Hirsh and nearly half of what Michter’s ultra-premium 10-Year Single Barrel Rye costs. The reasonable price also makes it a great candidate for a classic Manhattan.

As for cigar pairings, I’d pick a cigar with a little spice of it’s own to stand up to Michter’s classic peppery flavors. The CAO LX2, Don Pepin Blue Label, or even the Opus X seem well-suited for the task.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys