The Stogie Guys

Since it was formally announced on July 1, 2016, MBombay’s Gaaja line has only had a single blend available in a single vitola: a Toro, which I reviewed (and thoroughly enjoyed) last summer. That changed earlier this month when a second Gaaja format was added—a Torpedo—along with a Maduro blend. Today I review the new Gaaja Maduro Torpedo.

By way of background, MBombay is a small-batch brand of high-end cigars made in Costa Rica and produced by Bombay Tobak. The man behind the operation is Mel Shah, owner of an upscale cigar and wine lounge in Palm Springs, California.

Gaaja (pronounced Gaa-ya) is Sanskrit for elephant. The original blend took over four years to perfect and calls for an Ecuadorian hybrid Connecticut and Cameroon wrapper that’s grown in the desflorado fashion. (The process of cultivating desflorado tobacco requires the buds on the plants to be cut off before they flower to force the plant’s energy on leaf production instead of flower production.) The binder is Ecuadorian, and the filler is a combination of Seco from Peru; Viso from Ecuador, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic; and Dominican Ligero.

Gaaja Maduro uses the same binder and filler combination, but it replaces the Ecuadorian hybrid wrapper with a darker Brazilian Mata Fina leaf. “This wrapper has played a very important factor in increasing the flavor and the body to the cigar,” reads a press release dated February 6. “Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper has definitely added more complexity into the mix. [The] rest of the composition of the Gaaja cigar has not been changed, [but] the proportions have been adjusted to make the cigar taste more complete.”

There are two Gaaja Maduro sizes on the market, both of which retail for $15.50: Toro (6 x 54) and Torpedo (6.5 x 54). I smoked several of the latter for this review. The cigar is pungent and attractive out of the cellophane with rounded box press edges, a seamless wrapper, a nicely executed cap, and pre-light notes of dark chocolate and nougat at the foot. The striking appearance and overall feel of quality is only complemented by a unique band of gold, blue, and red that offers no text on the face (but reads “Gaaja” on one side and “Bombay Tobak” on the other). What’s more, its silky smooth, oily wrapper gives the Gaaja Maduro Torpedo a velvety feel. And, despite its firmness, the cold draw is surprisingly effortless.

I found the original Gaaja to be teeming with well-balanced complexity and flavors like honey, graham, bread, dry wood, cream, and almond. While the Maduro does have some almond and dry wood, its core is more focused on coffee bean, dark chocolate, salted caramel, and roasted nuts. In other words, delicious. Adding to the enjoyment is the aroma of the resting smoke, which is mouth-wateringly sweet. I would classify the body as medium to medium-plus. The texture of the smoke is light and sweet (I am reminded of marshmallows) and there is only moderate spice with no traces of heat or harshness.

In addition to a harmonious, interesting, well-balanced profile, and, as you should expect from any cigar with a super-premium price tag, the combustion properties are excellent. The burn runs straight and true from light to nub, the ash holds very well off the foot, the draw remains clear throughout, and the smoke production is above average.

Don’t be turned off by the price; this is not one to miss. I like everything about the Gaaja Maduro Torpedo—the taste, the aroma, the way it smokes, and the way it looks. In fact, I think it’s up there with the finest. And that’s why I’m awarding it our highest rating: five stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. A list of other five-stogie rated cigars can be found 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 take on a single cigar.

My first experience with Undercrown Shade was a bit of a mixed bag: well-made, promising flavors, but marred by a hint of bitterness and an unpleasant grassy element. This more recent experience was markedly better. With an Ecuadorian wrapper, Sumatra binder, and Nicaraguan and Domincan fillers, this cigar was well-balanced and medium bodied. Flavors included roasted cashews, cafe-au-lait, and cedar. With Drew Estate’s characteristic excellent construction, it is an excellent smoke anytime of day.

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.”

This line from Caldwell Cigar Co. is billed as the maduro version of the Eastern Standard line, with an Arapiraca wrapper. The Toro (6 x 52), about $12.50, that I smoked kicked off with a very nice spice for about a quarter of an inch and then settled into more common maduro flavors like coffee and chocolate. It burned slowly and produced a great deal of smoke, except at several airy spots where the smoke almost disappeared. I also had trouble with the wrapper burn throughout. Not a bad smoke by any means, but it required too much effort for me.

Verdict = Hold.

–George E

photo credit: Caldwell Cigar Co.

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 518th in the series.

1) This week, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (pictured above), the Cigar Association of America, International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, and Cigar Rights of America filed a motion for summary judgment and opening brief in a lawsuit challenging the FDA’s cigar regulations. The three industry associations are asking the court to deem the regulations unlawful and in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act and the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. The summary judgement can be read in its entirety here. Among the cigar industry’s arguments are claims that the FDA is (1) arbitrarily imposing premarket review provisions without clarifying the substantial equivalence pathway for cigars, (2) applying the regulations to premium cigars without any basis for doing so, (3) levying unreasonable burdens on small businesses, and (4) forcing the adoption of warning labels without citing statutorily mandated findings. “The premium cigar industry continues its adamant objection to the [FDA regulation] and its defective implementation,” said Glynn Loope, executive director of Cigar Rights of America, in an email press release. “This process has resulted in premium hand-made cigars being subjected to requirements that will cause irreparable economic harm to this artisan industry…” The lawsuit hearing is scheduled for July 28.

2) Maybe you’ve seen the headlines declaring smoking bans instantly save lives. Well, the real science is in, and… not so much. “While science can inform, though not fully determine, the boundaries of where people are allowed to smoke, the debunking of the previous decade’s heart miracles should provide some grounds for humility. It may be neither feasible nor desirable to set back the clock and permit smoking everywhere, but laws in a liberal society can accommodate the rights and preferences of smokers and business owners far better than they do now.” In an exchange with the author of the Slate article, the study authors even admitted that, in fact, the 40% reduction in heart attacks they claimed had a margin of error so great the true number could actually be just 1%.

3) Inside the Industry: Black Works Studio (BLK WKS), a project of Black Label Trading Co., yesterday announced two new event-only cigars that will be available starting in March. The first, Green Hornet Kato (4.5 x 46), will feature an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper with a “Candela swirl cap and closed foot” and retail for $9.50. The second, Killer Bee Lonsdale (6.5 x 42), will sport an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper with a “Connecticut linear cap” and retail for $9. Both are made at Black Label Trading Co.’s Fabrica Oveja Negra factory in Estelí. “We are very excited to launch these new additions to the Killer Bee and Green Hornet lines,” said company founder James Brown. “Both of these cigars are unique versions of the original blends and highlight the creativity of our factory. I wanted something special for our retailers who support us with events, and these two cigars are exactly that.”

4) From the Archives: Talisker Distillers Edition 1996 Single Malt Whisky: “As is characteristic of Talisker, peaty and smokey flavors dominate. But underneath is an added sweet element, with rich dried fruit and toffee. The finish is long and spicy with a hint of chocolate… With it’s double cask aging, it simultaneously has the classic salt water peat flavors I’ve come to expect and enjoy from Talisker coupled with a hint of sweetness that reminds me of a fine bourbon. Not surprisingly, the Talisker Distillers Edition 1996 makes for an excellent pairing with a fine cigar.”

5) Deal of the Week: Ten cigars (and some pretty good ones, too). Just $30.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Google Maps

When large companies find themselves under assault from smaller operations with innovative products, the response is often to try to replicate what’s leading the attack.

Think of Ford’s Pinto to compete with smaller foreign imports, or MillerCoors’ Blue Moon reaction to craft beer brewers, or any one of many similar situations.

In the cigar world, a prime example is General Cigar’s Foundry Tobacco Co. The division was created in 2012 under the now-departed Michael Giannini, who’d come to General after Swedish Match bought Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s successful boutique brand that made La Gloria Cubana.

Foundry has featured nearly every card in the boutique deck: exotic packaging, silly and obscure brand names, baroque themes, limited editions, elaborate back stories about the tobaccos, etc. Additionally, General Cigar has moved some of its historic, if under-appreciated, brands like Bolivar, Ramón Allones,  and Temple Hall under the Foundry umbrella.

With Time Flies, Foundry joined in the collaboration trend. This four-size line, introduced at the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show, was created by Giannini and A.J. Fernandez and rolled at Fernandez’s factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

With all that surrounds Time Flies—skulls, wild colors, aphorisms on the band, a $35,000 humidor—you’d be forgiven for assuming the line is just another gimmicky creation. In this case, though, I believe you’d be wrong. The half-dozen Time Flies robustos I’ve smoked are strong, satisfying cigars.

The regular release Time Flies smokes feature an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. MSRP on the 550 robusto (5 x 50) is $7.50, and the most expensive in the line is the 660 at $9. (There’s also a limited edition with a Sumatra wrapper, which I haven’t tried.)

The opening notes of the cigar are hot pepper, which remind me of some of Don José “Pepin” Garcia’s early creations. The volume lowers about an inch in, which is where you begin to pick up woody notes and dark coffee.

At the halfway point, the pepper reemerges and mingles with some cedar. Toward the final third, there’s some sweetness as well.

I found the overall strength to be on the higher end of medium, though it ramps up a bit in the second half. The finish is fairly light. Construction, burn, and draw are excellent, as is the smoke production.

All in all, I enjoyed Time Flies and rate it four stogies out of five.

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

–George E

photo credit: Foundry Cigars/Stogie Guys

Over the course of twelve years of serious cigar smoking, I’ve learned a thing or two. True, there’s still so much more cigar knowledge to absorb—that’s one of the beautiful things about this complex, engrossing hobby—but I’ve come a long, long way since my early days as a young brother of the leaf.

I was thinking about this a week ago today, on my 34th birthday. Birthdays are a natural time for reflection, a chance to take stock in what has been accomplished, what is yet to be achieved, and, of course, lessons learned.

My cigar development—and the development of any new cigar smoker, I think—can be broken down into a few different categories of knowledge. First is gaining an understanding of your own palate. What you like, what you don’t like, and which cigars tend to satisfy you the best under different circumstances. This category is incredibly personal. There are no right or wrong answers, and your palate’s preferences may be entirely unique to you. This is why the phrase, “The best cigar in the world is the cigar you like the best,” rings true.

The second category concerns learning how to properly evaluate and taste a cigar. While the outcome of any evaluation might be completely subjective (for reasons mentioned in the preceding paragraph), there are a few criteria that, more or less, are universally applied. Think broad standards for characteristics like appearance, flavor, aroma, balance, burn, draw, smoke production, etc. For any one of these—like flavor, for example—there might be a number of tools that can be employed to assist with a thorough examination, like a tasting wheel or prevailing cigar literature about flavors commonly found in cigars.

Finally, I tend to lump all other cigar knowledge into a catch-all category for cigar-related tips, ritual know-hows, cultural norms, and other miscellaneous items. Here, you’ll find stuff like how to properly cut a cigar, how to store/age cigars, cigar shop etiquette, etc. This final category, I think, is teeming with misinformation—tidbits that 22-year-old me read or heard, accepted at face value since I didn’t know any better, and have since learned were either incorrect or misleading.

Allow me to throw out a few examples. For instance, ever recall learning that only wooden matches or butane lighters were suitable for lighting a cigar? Something about lighter fluid tainting a cigar’s flavor? Well, I’m going to call bullshit on this one. Not only have I used lighter fluid to ignite a cigar many times without noticing any impact to taste, but I have personally witnessed many of the world’s foremost cigar authorities doing the same. If the occasional use of a gas station-bought Bic lighter is good enough for some of the most admired cigar makers/blenders, then it’s good enough for me.

Here’s another load of crap I was taught early on: “To fix an uneven burn, you can rotate the cigar so the slow-burning part is at the bottom of the cigar. Because a fire needs oxygen to burn, the bottom of the cigar will burn faster (as it has access to more oxygen) than the top. This is also why you should rotate your cigar as you smoke.” I’ve tried this technique thousands of times and can’t say I’ve ever seen it work. If your cigar starts to burn unevenly, just touch it up with your lighter and be done with it. Problem solved.

One last example for you. When I was younger, I used to obsess over monitoring the humidity inside my humidors. I had read 72 percent relative humidity was ideal, and I made every effort to achieve and maintain that level. Then I read 69 percent was best. Then I started to pay attention to a crowd that suggested certain types of cigars aged best at one humidity level, and others required different conditions. Enough already. After much trial and error, I don’t think it matters much. Somewhere between 65 and 72 percent is probably best. These days I just get the 69 percent Boveda packs, throw them in my humidors, and don’t even bother to worry about reading and calibrating the hygrometers anymore.

Am I starting to sound like a bitter old man? Maybe. But I think I’ve been around the block enough to form my own cigar-related opinions, however incorrect they may seem to some.

On that topic, if you disagree with anything above, or if you have other cigar myths you’d like to dispel, please let me know in the comments below. I am eager to continue to learn, and I am excited to see what knowledge I can attain over the next twelve years.

–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.”

This new offering from My Father Cigars immediately brings back thoughts of the early cigars made by Don José “Pepin” Garcia: opening with a blast of pepper; winding gradually down a bit to a creamy, rich taste; and building in strength along the way. Box-pressed and nearly covered with bands, The Judge, a regular production line, combines the My Father Nicaraguan filler blend with an Ecuadorian Sumatra Oscuro wrapper. At about $12, it’s a bargain.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: My Father Cigars