The Stogie Guys

Altadis has been re-creating and re-branding some of its most popular brands, including Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta (check out my reviews of Monte and Romeo).

One development that received less attention was Altadis’ re-introduction of the once-discontinued Juan Lopez brand. Making its official debut at this year’s IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas, the new Juan Lopez recipe includes all Nicaraguan tobacco. “The Juan Lopez cigar perfectly captures the renowned boldness and richness of Nicaraguan tobacco,” reads the Altadis website. “Great care was taken to incorporate tobacco from each of Nicaragua’s three growing regions to create a complex blend that is sure to impress.”

Three vitolas are available: Selección No. 1 (5 x 54), Selección No. 2 (6 x 54), and Selección No. 3 (6 x 60). Boxes of 20 retail in the affordable $80-90 range, and singles run $5-6 apiece. This positions Juan Lopez towards the value end of the premium cigar market—which would make it a great deal if it lives up to its high Cigar Aficionado ratings.

The Selección No. 2 has a dark, slightly reddish Nicaraguan Habano wrapper that has minimal veins and very noticeable seams. The surface is characterized by tooth and lots of oils. At the foot you can see a cross-section of tightly packed filler tobaccos and smell musty, earthy pre-light notes. The double-cap clips to reveal a moderate draw.

Once lit, I find a thick, leathery texture with flavors of black pepper spice, damp earth, sweet cream, meat, and roasted nuts. Typically, I’m not a fan of the meaty flavor that can sometimes show up in cigars—whether it’s a chewy meat or a charred steak element. But here it’s balanced nicely by the creamy and nutty notes, and I find the overall impact quite pleasing. The resting smoke is very sweet and aromatic.

Throughout the slow-burning Selección No. 2, which takes me over 90 minutes to smoke, the flavors don’t change much at all, save for some increase in spice in the final third. All the while the physical properties are solid. The gray ash holds firmly off the foot. The smoke production is ample. And the burn line stays true. My preference would be for a somewhat easier draw, though.

I doubt Juan Lopez is the kind of blend that will wow many cigar enthusiasts, and I don’t anticipate it will make many best-of lists. But it’s a smooth, nicely balanced stick that will keep you company for a long time. And best of all, it won’t break the bank. You can’t argue with that. All this adds up to a nice rating of three stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click 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 verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

Last year was Viaje’s fifth anniversary, and I’ve kept this lightly box-pressed perfecto, created to celebrate that occasion, in my humidor since. The Nicaraguan puro is made at the Raices Cubanas factory just over the Nicaraguan border in Honduras. Many of Viaje’s special releases tend to be flavor-bombs, at the expense of the cigars’ balance. But this smoke is more refined. It’s medium-bodied, with woodiness, hints of pepper, and a slight syrupy sweetness. Construction is good, although you’ll need to clip a decent amount off the head to get a good draw. This cigar has been sold out for a year, but if you happen to come across one, pick it up.

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.”

When it came out December 2010, I really liked the Broadway Series blend, which La Aurora launched as an exclusive smoke for New York tobacconists to help them combat the onset of onerous cigar taxes. So I was excited to find a Sumo Toro (5.75 x 54) in one of my humidors, which I likely received as a sample sometime in January 2011. The cigar is absolutely wonderful today with the Ecuadorian Sumatran, Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Peruvian tobaccos combining to produce a bready texture accented by notes of almond, white pepper, and a creamy sweetness. If you live in New York, or whenever your travels bring you to the Big Apple, definitely pick up a few Sumo Toros if you come across them. The price of $12.25 (taxes included) is high yet completely justifiable.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

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) Our friends at Smoke Inn Cigars are hosting a toy drive to benefit the Kids Cancer Foundation, a Florida-based charity that provides a wide variety of support services for children diagnosed with cancer, and their families. All of us at StogieGuys.com encourage you to mail a new, unwrapped toy to the following address before Saturday, December 7: Smoke Inn Casa de Montecristo, Attn. Lady M., 1030 Gateway Blvd., Boynton Beach, Florida 33426. All those who do will receive one raffle ticket per gift donated, and have a chance to win one of six amazing prizes: a 48-count box of Liga Privada Parejos, a box of 2012 Tatuaje Little Monsters, a box of Room 101 Big Delicious, a box of Oktoberfest Dunkel, a 5-pack of Tatuaje Anarchy from 2010, and a Prometheus Ashtray. The grand prize is a 10-pack of 1999 Padrón Millenniums in a special box (value of $1,500). You do not have to be physically present to participate or claim your prize. Thank you for considering a donation to this important cause; your help can brighten this holiday season for a child in need of support.

2) While some cruise companies have become less friendly to smokers, others are emphasizing cigars with fancy cigar lounges and plenty of premium cigars available. USA Today lists the cigar smoking options on eight of the largest cruise companies. More than one company calls their cigar lounges “Churchills.”

3) Inside the Industry: The Oliva Tobacco Company, a grower that produces tobacco for some of the best-known cigar brands, has established a new farm in Ecuador to meet increasing demand for Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The 325-acre operation is currently focused on Havana 2000 and Corojo plants. Oliva Tobacco is unrelated to the Oliva Cigar Company.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Inspector inspects the Hoyo de Monterrey Grand Epicure 2013 LE. Cigar Fan fires up a Cult Classic. Stogie Fresh smokes the San Lotano Oval Maduro. Stogie Review reviews the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2. Tiki Bar kicks back with a Havana Sunrise Reserve.

5) Deal of the Week: Let’s not kid ourselves. The Gobble Gobble Sampler is a bit of a crap-shoot, but odds look good you’re getting a good deal. Only $80 gets you 40 cigars (just $2 per stick). And while the specific cigars aren’t specified, the brands represented are all reputable: La Aurora, Alec Bradley, Camacho, Rocky Patel, Toraño, Padilla, Quesada, Cubao, Martin Cigar, Xikar HC, CAO, El Tiante, and Onyx.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Smoke Inn

Don’t be surprised if you begin seeing numerous reviews of the new Romeo y Julieta line, the Nicaraguan RyJ, as well as some giveaways. Altadis, the manufacturer, has engaged not only in the common practice of mailing three-pack samplers to cigar bloggers, it added a twist.

“We wanted this experience to be magical, that’s why the first 15 bloggers who send me the link of their magical, innovative, and creative RyJ reviews… will receive a box of the new RyJ to share with fans and friends,” RyJ’s brand manager wrote in a followup email.

The issue of freebies can be divisive in the cigar world. It led to a flap at IPCPR, some smokers resent bloggers and reviewers receiving samples, and small cigar makers often see them as their best way to gain exposure.

After spending my career at newspapers where ethics was always a concern, I may be a little more sensitive to this issue than many. As with so many things, the more you examine it the greater the complexity.

Flying around the world with the Secretary of Defense? Seems pretty simple that the Defense Department has to be reimbursed. Having a cup of coffee with a university president? Refuse to let him pick up the check and you run the risk of appearing to be a sanctimonious ass.

Most papers where I worked had guidelines on freebies. Often, there was a limit allowing accepting of things valued under $10 or $20 to avoid that cup-of-coffee conundrum. Perhaps the most common freebies were books and musical recordings, which could nearly inundate the newsroom. One placed I worked auctioned the collections off a couple of times a year and donated the proceeds to charity, another gave them to institutions such as VA hospitals.

What to do about cigars can, likewise, be vexing.

First, I must say that the bloggers I’ve met do this because they love cigars and the industry around them, not for what they might get. Frankly, I’d be very surprised if most of those RyJ boxes don’t end up as contest prizes for their readers. (That’s what we’d do with such a freebie.)

Second, I can’t really say how many samples most bloggers get, only that I’ve received a lot at IPCPR and a relative handful throughout the year. Third, without samples there’d be a lot fewer small-label reviews or even knowledge about those cigars. Fourth, my practice is generally to go through my humidor a couple of times a year, cull a pile of smokes, including freebies I’ve received, and dispatch them to the troops.

Here at Stogie Guys, we keep it pretty simple. We don’t go looking for free cigars. Sometimes, they arrive out of the blue; sometimes, manufacturers email first to ask if we’d be interested in doing a review. When we write about cigars, we make it clear if they were samples. (You can read all our policies here.)

–George E

photo credit: Flickr

You don’t have to pour over cigar press releases, attend the IPCPR Trade Show, or even peruse the online cigar community to notice the trend toward thicker cigars. Ring gauges of 54, 56, 60, and even wider aren’t hard to come by these days.

Interestingly, there’s a paradox at play here. The cigar makers I’ve spoken to say they don’t care for large ring gauges. And I also find many of the most seasoned cigar veterans think of these bulging sizes as somewhat of a gimmick. Yet money talks, and the market is dictating the production of thick smokes in vast quantities.

Amid this shift towards large ring gauges is a renewed interest in thinner smokes, which I perceive as being led (at least in part) by regular cigar smokers and the online cigar community. This movement values the more concentrated flavors thin cigars afford over the “bigger is better” approach.

Picking up on this, some cigar makers are adding Lanceros—long, thin, elegant-looking cigars—to their lineup of the usual vitolas. Included is Gary Griffith of Emilio Cigars, who offers a limited edition Lancero to his La Musa Μελέτη, which also has a Toro, Torpedo, Corona, and Robusto. Only 200 Lancero boxes are made available annually to select retailers.

La Musa Μελέτη is the second of the blends that follow from the re-branding of Grimalkin (the first being the Habano Rosado-wrapped Mοῦσα, which is the same recipe as Grimalkin with a different name and band). Μελέτη boasts a dark, leathery Nicaraguan wrapper that leaves a fine coating of oil on the fingers. It has a rustic exterior and a firm packing of Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Pre-light, I find notes of dark chocolate and an easy draw.

After toasting the narrow foot and establishing an even light with a single wooden match, La Musa Μελέτη Lancero starts with a deep, bold espresso flavor. The texture is rich and a little gritty with a striking Nicaraguan zing on the aftertaste. Underneath is a creamy, almost nougat-like sweetness that helps add balance. At the midway point and beyond, bready flavors come and go, as do occasional meaty notes.

Construction is excellent. My two samples exhibited straight burn lines, good smoke production, solid gray ashes, and clear draws.

This is a more powerful smoke than Grimalkin was (or La Musa Mοῦσα is). I’d be interested to try it in a slightly larger ring gauge, since I assume the boldness would be less concentrated. But don’t get me wrong. This is a complex, balanced smoke with more substance than your standard flavor-bomb. And that’s ultimately why La Musa Μελέτη Lancero earns a rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

One of the great things about bourbon, when compared to, say, scotch whisky, is the quality of spirits available at affordable prices. The five bourbons I highlighted in my article about five good bourbons under $30 demonstrate the impressive spirits available at that price range.

Those are all bourbons I’d recommend to anyone, even if you told me price were no concern. Diving deeper into the value range, the following list of bourbons are available for $20 or less.

At the $20 price, you’re probably giving up at least one thing (complexity, proof, intensity), but I’m still impressed at what you can trade for a twenty-dollar bill: a satisfying bourbon that you can drink straight-up or with a few ice cubes, at a price that doesn’t make you wince when you mix it into your friend’s bourbon and Diet Coke.

Four Roses Yellow Label — I’m a big fan of Four Roses Single Barrel and Small Batch ($38 and $32, respectively), but my go-to house bourbon is Four Roses Yellow Label ($18). The bourbon is a blending of ten different bourbon recipes (two mashbills and five yeast strains). The result is a surprisingly rounded, complex bourbon with honey and fruit. My only wish would be to have a proof higher than just 80.

Evan Williams 1783 — The phrase “small batch” isn’t terribly descriptive, but the Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch is almost certainly smaller batch than it’s younger, more ubiquitous cousin who you might have encountered in a frat house. It’s also a nice step up for just a few bucks more (around $15). The 86-proof bourbon is a straightforward and pleasant combination of vanilla, oak, and burnt corn. (Read my full write-up here.)

Old Grand Dad 100 — For the money, I’m not a fan of the $40, 80-proof Basil Hayden, but I think highly of the $20, 100-proof Old Grand Dad. Which is interesting because they are basically the same whiskey (both use Beam’s high rye bourbon mashbill) and are named after the same guy (Basil Hayden is the “Old Grand Dad”). While Basil Hayden may be a bit thin, Old Grand Dad 100 shows off the rye spice with floral notes and a bit of citrus. Even better is Old Grand Dad 114, though it’s $5 more than the $20 Old Grand 100.

Wild Turkey 81 — The $18 Wild Turkey comes from the same barrels Wild Turkey 101 uses. While lacking an official age statement, it’s reportedly 6-8 years old. (The old, discontinued, 80-proof edition was made with four-year-old bourbon.) It has classic Wild Turkey bold flavors with oak, caramel, vanilla, and lots of cinnamon spice.

Old Forester — Old Forester uses the same recipe (mashbill and yeast) as Woodford Reserve. Reportedly, choice barrels are picked to be Woodford Reserve and the others end up as Old Forester, which isn’t aged quite as long and is bottled at 86-proof for $19. Old Forester is similar to its more expensive relative with lots of caramel, buttered corn, and dried fruit. Taste it side-by-side with Woodford and you’ll be surprised how well it measures up at half the price.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys