The Stogie Guys

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

I recently discovered this gem of a cigar tucked in the bottom of my humidor where it had been aging for well over six months. Simply called “Ybor City Handmades” this pyramid is sold at King Corona Cigars in the center of Tampa’s historic Ybor City cigar district (bundles are also available online for $60). This solidly built torpedo features a nearly veinless Connecticut wrapper and mild creamy flavor with an abundance of pleasant almond notes. The next time you’re in Ybor I suggest you pick a few up.

–Patrick S

Tags: cigars

In our ongoing effort to make StogieGuys.com as entertaining and reader-friendly as possible, each Friday we’ll post a selection of quick cigar news and stogie-related snippets. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Following yesterday’s review of a sub-par, machine-made Cuban, we thought it appropriate to draw your attention to this article by James Suckling, European editor for Cigar Aficionado. Today’s best Cubans, according to Suckling, “cater to the wants and needs we have as lovers of the leaf, and to the modern life we all aspire to” better than any others in the country’s rich history of stogie production.

2) The second batch of Gurkha Estate Select Reserve and Estate Select Vintage Shaggy cigars started to make its way to the U.S. yesterday. The popular “Shaggy” cigar gets its name from the filler tobacco leaves jutting out from its uncut foot.

3) Around the Blogs: Velvet Cigar smokes an Oliva Serie V. Stogie Fresh lights up a Bucanero Canon Cubano. Cigar Jack reviews a Don Pepin Garcia Blue. Leafy Times smokes the CAO Black VR. Keepers of the Flame goes with the Por Larranga Cuban Grade. Stogie Review fires up a Romeo y Julieta Anniversario.

4) Deal of the Week: If you figure that the aluminum case included in this week’s deal runs $4 (and it probably costs four times that much), then that means you get these big name cigars from Fuente, Partagas, Macanudo, La Gloria, CAO, Padrón, and others for just $2 per stick. Included in the 13-cigar sampler is the exclusive CAO Gold Maduro, which you won’t find anywhere else. It is definitely a steal, so grab yours today by clicking here.

–The Stogie Guys

Here at StogieGuys.com, we don’t get to review many Cuban cigars. So while we plan to change that shortly, I jumped at the chance to smoke the Guantanameras a friend was nice enough to gift me after his overseas trip.

The brand is named for the famous Cuban song of the same name which means “girl from Guantánamo.” Guantanameras have a reputation for their mild flavors and inexpensive prices.

The Compay is a small vitola (four and ¾ inches by 40 ring gauge) that comes in boxes of ten for about $25 American. With a crumpled, wrinkly wrapper, even a novice stogie enthusiast can tell it’s machine-made.

Exposed behind sealed cellophane, the interesting, cedar-colored band makes no secret of Guantanamera’s forbidden origin. The head comes pre-cut, and the small foot is easy to light with just one wooden match.

The taste is very mild and a bit papery right out of the gate. This was somewhat of a disappointment to me because the tobacco – grown in the Vuelta Arriba region of Cuba – radiated rich earthy aromas once I peeled away the cellophane.

At the midway point, a clove-tasting spice introduces itself, and this adds some much needed flavor. Then the papery taste gives way to notes of leather. For me, these changes were too little too late.

While the burn and draw are just fine, the ash is about what you’d expect from a machine-made stick: flakey and unstable. This characteristic, coupled with the cigar’s rustic appearance, made me thing of Altadis’ Backwoods.

When it’s all said and done, this 45 minute smoke just doesn’t amount to much. I’ve heard Guantanameras are popular with American tourists who don’t want to waste money on pricey Cubans just to have them confiscated by customs upon their return home, but I’d rather take a chance on something decent.

So even though I tried to review this cigar on its merits as an inexpensive, machine-made Cuban, I can’t give the Guantanamera Compay anything better than a sub-par two out of five stogies.

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

–Patrick A

A little over a week ago Rich Perelman published some great cigar import data at his always interesting CigarCyclopedia. Among the figures was the fact that imports are running well up from 2006 and 2005.

Looking at the numbers, though, prompted me to think about how important context is, and how you might want to utilize the data if (or when) your state is considering increasing its tax on cigars.

I think the first thing to impress on any legislator is that for tax revenue, cigars are a poor resource to mine. On a state level, in fact, the cost of collecting and recording the taxes could come close to the amount paid. And that’s not even factoring in the potential cost if the state starts trying to police Internet sales or is forced to deal with a black market.

For the truth is, cigar smokers constitute a small market. Consider the figures:

• Perelman notes that the record for premium cigar imports was 417.8 million in 1997. This year, he says, the figure might approach 335 million.

• Compare that to cigarettes. In 2006, according to the CDC, there were 371 billion cigarettes consumed in the United States. (I’ll save you the math; it’s 18.55 billion packs.)

While it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get an accurate figure on the number of people who smoke premium cigars on any sort of regular basis, the figure I’ve seen most often is about 1 million. Even if you want to multiply that by five, it still pales when compared to the number of cigarette smokers. There are 45.1 million of them, according to the CDC.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Perhaps the legislator will reply that, rather than increasing revenue, the goal of higher taxes is lowering underage smoking. You then might want to point out that virtually no children smoke premium cigars, either unaltered or stuffed with marijuana. As evidence, the CDC notes that the two brands preferred by those 12 and above are Black & Mild (22.8%) and Swisher Sweets (14.4%).

If cutting underage smoking is the goal, and the legislature believes increasing the cost will help accomplish that, then it should focus on the cigars favored by that group. For example, cigars that include paper, homogenized tobacco, plastic tips, etc., could be taxed at a much higher rate than those containing only tobacco.

Is that fair? Probably not, but then is it fair to tax beer, wine, and distilled spirits at vastly different rates? Again, probably not. But states do so all the time.

The truth is that the biggest impact of a major increase in the cigar tax is likely to be the bankruptcy of small business owners who have cigar shops in the state.

Will using this kind of information help persuade legislators? Probably not with those who are totally anti-tobacco. (To them, though, I would say they should have the courage of their convictions and propose a ban on all tobacco sales. But that’s another story.)

I would hope, though, that facts would make an impression on least some reasonable lawmakers.

–George E

Tags: cigars

You may have missed it, but last week was President Bush’s 61st birthday. So did he celebrate with a cigar?

At StogieGuys.com, we generally don’t go out of our way to celebrate presidents’ birthdays – unless they’re dead and we get a day off work. But Bush’s birthday did remind us of a little-known fact: While he gave up booze and harder drugs many years ago, he still enjoys a cigar from time to time.

It isn’t in his official White House bio, but according to the Houston Chronicle these days his “chemical indulgences…are limited to coffee and diet sodas, and an occasional stogie.” That makes him only the latest in the long list of presidents who smoked cigars.

The first known stogie-smoking president was none other than Washington’s heir: John Adams. (Washington grew tobacco at his Mount Vernon estate but was never seen smoking a cigar.) The first confirmed commander in chief who smoked in the White House, however, was James Madison.

Some Presidents were seen more often with a cigar than without one. White House drunk and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant smoked a reported 20 cigars a day. Others like William McKinley relegated cigars to private life.In the early 20th century, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, and Calvin Coolidge were all stogie smokers. Coolidge particularly was known for ending his breakfast meetings with a cigar, and later sitting on the porch in the evening for a cigar or three.

The modern presidency also had its cigar smokers. Eisenhower, Kennedy (who famously bought up over a thousand Cuban cigars the night before signing the embargo), Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon all enjoyed their smokes. And of course Bill Clinton famously enjoyed cigars in more than one way, although the White House was made smoke free during his Presidency.

So is it possible that Bush celebrated his birthday last Friday with a cigar? We really don’t know. But given his dismal poll numbers, an hour to relax with a cigar probably would have been the perfect birthday gift.

–Patrick S

Tags: cigars

With hopes of creating the finest cigar in Cuba, José Alonso established La Carolina in the 1840s. Over the brand’s 160 years of production, it isn’t surprising that many things have changed. Stewardship is now in the hands of Henry “Don Kiki” Berger. Production has shifted from Cuba to Nicaragua. And the brand name has even changed from La Carolina to Cupido and back.

For all these transformations, however, many elements of these boutique cigars remain the same. With only 7,000 boxes available each year, they are still “handmade in small batches with extraordinary attention to each and every detail.” And they still yield that floral, low nicotine taste that earned them accolades such as a 90 from Cigar Insider and an 89 in Cigar Aficionado.

The Capitan is a six inch by 52 ring gauge stick that sports an oily wrapper with just a few prominent veins. Sadly, my picture doesn’t do the attractive band justice, which features a Mona Lisa-style portrait of some undisclosed señorita.

Before the first puff, I noticed the wrapper leaves a sweet, berry-like taste on the lips. As the Keepers of the Flame pointed out last year, the sensation is similar to a Baccarat. I too never cared for such “flavored wrappers,” as the taste almost always takes away from – rather than adds to – the flavor of the tobacco.

But this torpedo-shaped Nicaraguan puro is quite different. The sweet taste of the wrapper is complimented by fruity notes and a bit of spicy leather. And, although I’ve never understood using the term “bouquet” to describe a cigar’s flavor, this one packs some deep floral tastes as well.

Despite a spongy feel, the draw is a bit tighter than average. But each puff still produces an abundance of delicious smoke. The other physical properties are on par, including a razor-sharp burn that stays true until the end and a white ash that’s just a tad too flakey.

When it’s all said and done, this is an excellent 60 minute smoke – especially when you consider that each Capitan will cost under $4.60 apiece when bought by the box at Cuban Crafters.

Considering their unique, complex flavor (and the fact that I just smoked my last one), I won’t be waiting long to pick up a few more. I give the La Carolina Capitan a noteworthy four and ½ out of five stogies.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. To purchase this cigar from a StogieGuys.com affiliate, click here.]

–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.

From the fine brown Connecticut wrapper to the classic, understated band, this cigar looks inviting. Unfortunately, the invitation isn’t followed by a pleasant visit. Not that it was unpleasant; it was just bland and boring. The five inch by 50 ring gauge stick began with a little spice, but that quickly dissipated and was replaced by virtually nothing. For what is often touted as the top of H. Upmann’s seemingly endless brand extensions, this Dominican was a major disappointment.

Verdict = Sell.

–George E

Tags: cigars