The Stogie Guys

The year is 1980. The U.S. boycotts the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union. Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is topping the charts. President Jimmy Carter bails out the Chrysler Corporation. Yours Truly is three years away from being born. And the Cameroon wrapper on this cigar is harvested.

Yes, you read that right. General Cigar launched the Cohiba Edición Diamante in December 2011 as an ultra-premium line with a wrapper that pre-dates the Reagan Administration. Originally, two sizes were available in the $22-25 range: Robusto (5 x 50) and Toro (6 x 54). Two new vitolas have since been added: Gigante (6 x 60) and A (8.25 x 49). All four feature an Indonesian binder and Dominican Piloto Cubano filler.

But the real star of the show is the ancient wrapper. “It is a widely held belief that the 1980 crop of Cameroon wrapper tobacco remains one of the most exemplary leaves ever cultivated,” reads a General Cigar press release from the summer of 2011. “In the more than thirty years since this outstanding tobacco was harvested, General Cigar’s tobacco masters have cloistered these rarified leaves, nurturing them for the perfect occasion. That time is now…”

You’d expect a cigar with a 33-year-old wrapper to look old, and the Cohiba Edición Diamante Toro does. Its wrinkles, green splotch, lumps, and dry, toothy exterior all suggest age. But don’t get me wrong. This is a great-looking smoke that I’ve had the pleasure to admire through my glass-top humidor. It begs to be smoked. And it’s not exactly like any additional age is going to make much of a difference.

So with no reason to further delay this Toro’s fate, I light it and take note of its flavors. The outset is characterized by a dry, woodsy profile of oak, cream, and toast. The body borders on mild-medium yet there’s ample cedar spice on the lips—particularly on the aftertaste. Faint sour notes come and go, as does a fleeting sweetness. The texture is bready and the resting smoke has a pleasant, sugary aroma.

The Toro’s construction is flawless, as one might expect from General Cigar (especially on a stick with a price tag north of $20). The burn is straight, the draw clear, and the white ash holds well off the foot. Smoke production is above average with each easy puff.

Given its price and age, it’s impossible to light up the rare Cohiba Edición Diamante without high expectations. While my experience with the Toro didn’t disappoint, I can’t quite say this cigar is worth double the many excellent smokes that can be had for half the price. Still, there’s some undeniable novelty and intrigue associated with smoking such an ancient specimen. All this adds up to a rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–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) Representatives of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) and Cigar Rights of America (CRA) this week met with the White House Office of Management and Budget about the looming threat of regulation of premium cigars. “The high-level meeting helped focus attention on the economic needs important to cigar retailers, including: in-store humidors, self-service displays, seasonal releases and special editions, access to financial capital, sampling events, age verification, and preserving the cigar store experience,” according to the IPCPR. “IPCPR expects FDA regulations on premium cigars to be released for public comment within the next few weeks.” Such regulation is expected to deplete cigar innovation, render limited edition smokes more difficult to produce, stifle cigar advertising, and impose burdensome testing requirements on cigar makers.

2) For the time being, the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act has stalled in Congress. This bill, which would require online retailers to collect sales tax, was being closely watched by the cigar industry. The major online cigar retailers were obviously against it, while many brick-and-mortar tobacco shops were for it, arguing the law would level the playing field. Many expect the bill to be revisited in the foreseeable future.

3) Inside the Industry: While previously disclosed, Altadis USA formally announced its new RyJ by Romeo y Julieta cigar this week. The blend is different from other Romeo y Julieta blends as it is a Nicaraguan puro rolled in Honduras. According to the announcement, the cigar uses “a special wrapper cultivated and grown exclusively for RyJ,” double binders from Estelí and Jalapa, and filler from Estelí and Jalapa, including from the storied La Mia farm (in Jalapa) which was once controlled by then-Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. The cigar will come in three sizes: Piramide (6.1 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), and Bully Grande (5 x 54). They will retail for $8-8.75.

4) Deal of the Week: Cigar Place has a bevy of discount codes available. One particularly good deal is on the Liga Undercrown Corona Viva, our favorite size of the Undercrown blend. After you add it to your cart, add the promo code “liga” to knock the price down 15% to just $104 for a box of 25.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: IPCPR

A little over a month ago, My Father Cigars began shipping a limited size of it’s Flor de las Antillas blend to select retailers. The cigar (6 x 48) will be offered in a round format, unlike the standard Flor de las Antillas slightly box-pressed vitolas. (You can see the difference in shapes in this photo.)

Dubbed the MAM-13, the cigar is limited to 500 boxes of 20, all exclusive to five retailers located in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. I received three samples from Emerson’s Cigars (one of the five retailers) which sells five-packs for $36 and boxes of 20 for $130.

Except for the shape and size, there’s no difference between the MAM-13 and the rest of the Flor de las Antillas Sun Grown line, which features a Nicaraguan sun-grown wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. (It’s the second Flor de las Antillas size that isn’t a box-press.)

The wrapper is dark brown and a bit rustic. It’s framed by the classic, old-school Flor de las Antillas band and burgundy-colored foot ribbon. Pre-light the foot features a pungent earthy aroma.

Once lit, the MAM-13 reveals wood, leather, baking spices, and a little dryness on the roof of the mouth. It starts out a little rough around the edges but smooths out after the first third. There’s also a bit of pepper spice that really shows up on the retrohale.

It’s very well-constructed, which is hardly a surprise for a Pepin-made cigar. Each of the three samples I smoked burned perfectly and drew flawlessly.

The change in size and shape didn’t alter the flavor very much so, if you’re fan of Flor de las Antillas, you’ll like the MAM-13. Personally, MAM-13 is more my size than the box-pressed Toro, which has a ring gauge of 52, but that’s more a function of ring gauge than box-press.

More fundamentally, the three samples I smoked confirmed my thoughts about Flor de las Antillas, which received plenty of attention after being named Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year for 2012. It’s a solid, enjoyable smoke, but not extraordinary. In fact, there are at least a half-dozen blends made by My Father Cigars that I enjoy more.

You may, as I do, slightly prefer the MAM-13 to the rest of the line because you prefer smaller ring gauges. But it’s not a significant change from the original line, which is medium- to full-bodied, well-made, flavorful, but not particularly complex. That earns the Flor de las Antillas MAM-13 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

Released earlier this year by Altadis USA, Monte is the newest blend in the storied Montecristo portfolio, which includes Classic, Platinum, Epic, and White, among others. It is being sold as the strongest Montecristo to date.

In addition to its strength, Altadis is also drawing attention to Monte’s dual binders. “The Monte’s signature feature is the inclusion of two binders: a spicy Dominican Olor combined with a strong and aromatic Nicaraguan Corojo, which adds strength, firmness, and complexity,” reads the Montecristo website. “This brand new offering from the Grupo de Maestros is the most robust Montecristo yet, putting a revolutionary twist on a revered classic.”

Paired up with those dual binders are aged Dominican filler tobaccos and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper that’s dark, oily, and virtually veinless. Three vitolas are made in the Dominican Rebublic: Conde (5.5 x 48), which retails for $8.95 and features a pigtail cap; Monte (6 x 60), an extra-large smoke that runs $9.50; and Jacopo No.2 (6.1 x 54), a “square-pressed” torpedo that costs $9.25.

I smoked several Jacopo No. 2s for this review, each provided to me by Altadis. This is a unique-looking smoke in that the box-press has four equal sides (as opposed to the traditional box-press that creates more of a rectangular effect). The recognizable brown and gold Montecristo band is complemented by a second Monte band of black and red. With its symmetry, relatively sharp corners, perfectly pointed cap, and extremely clean wrapper, the Jacopo No. 2 makes a good first impression.

While lighting the cigar, I notice the torpedo cap and the square-press significantly concentrate the draw on the tip of the tongue. This leads me to hypothesize that the other Monte vitolas might have a very different taste.  As far as the Jacopo No. 2 is concerned, though, the initial profile is one of dried berries, white pepper, and oak. The texture is bready and the strength is medium-bodied. The resting smoke is toasty and sweet.

As the cigar progresses, the dried berry flavor really comes to the fore, and I find myself constantly reminded of strawberry—a taste that’s very unique in the world of non-flavored premium cigars. I also find the draw, which is a tad stiff at the outset, opens nicely after the first third, yielding much better smoke production. Throughout, the body remains medium with a short finish, and the burn stays wonderfully straight.

While I don’t agree Monte is “the most robust Montecristo yet” (I recall the Cabinet Selección was much more intense), I have to say it is a complex smoke with flavors that aren’t easily found elsewhere in the premium cigar market. That, combined with good construction and great presentation, earn the Jacopo No. 2 an excellent rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Here’s a tip of the hat to Davidoff, the storied cigar maker in the Dominican Republic. Introducing one of its new Camacho blends recently, the company sent out a press release that went beyond the typical advertising buzzwords and hype.

Perhaps responding to entreaties like that of Patrick A. last year, who made the case for more specific information, Davidoff went into detail.

Beneath a photo of its new Blackout Limited Edition 2013 cigar that was opened to reveal the components—each labeled with country of origin—were several paragraphs packed with great specifics for the inquisitive mind.

These include the production years of the wrapper, binder, and filler leaves and how long the rolled cigars were aged (two years). Davidoff also revealed where the wrapper came from on the plant and why that is meaningful, as well explaining how that tobacco was fermented.

Sure, many smokers don’t care about these things. They just want to know whether they like the cigar or not. That’s fine. One of the great things about cigar enjoyment is that the field is wide open. But in this new age of great cigars and cigar appreciation, a growing number of passionate smokers crave more. They want to know a lot about what they’re smoking.

And Davidoff has taken a step in the right direction. They deserve recognition and, hopefully, other manufacturers will agree.

–George E

photo credit: Camacho

A recent report on youth smoking and flavored tobacco generated headlines and is likely to become ammunition in the efforts to bring cigars under the Food & Drug Administration.

Now, there’s a lot to look at in the article, but I want to bring out a couple of points that I think could be useful in making the case to exempt premium, hand-rolled cigars from FDA oversight.

First, the cigar component of the study deals largely with what are known as little cigars. These are more or less the same as cigarettes, the biggest distinction usually being the composition of the wrapper. In most places, little cigars are considerably cheaper than cigarettes because of the tax structure and offer a ready substitute for cigarette smokers looking to save money. Little cigars have almost nothing in common with premium, hand-rolled cigars.

Next, I think there’s a big hole in the study: no mention or exploration of young people using cigars to smoke marijuana. A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control told me the agency “does not have data on cigar use in relation to marijuana use.” I’m no expert on kids and grass, but I think it’s reasonable to assume that a fair percentage of the kids who said they smoked cigars did so after replacing tobacco with marijuana. Again, nothing to do with premium cigars.

Then there’s the whole question of “flavored.” The report is based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey, in which students in grades 6 through 12 note their own activity. Cigarettes flavored with anything other than menthol have been outlawed since September 2009. So how, in a 2011 survey, did more than a third of the youth smokers report using flavored cigarettes? Among the authors’ conjectures: The kids could have confused cigarettes with little cigars, or they could have been referring to menthol cigarettes as flavored. Have you ever smoked, or seen, a menthol premium cigar?

Finally, I think it’s a good idea to keep all this in perspective. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in December that “while 17.1 percent of 12th graders were current (past month) cigarette smokers—the lowest it has been in the history of the survey—22.9 percent were current marijuana smokers.”

I’d be the last to argue that smoking doesn’t have inherent risks, and I see nothing wrong in the public health sector pointing them out. I also believe keeping tobacco away from under-age boys and girls is worth considerable effort. But it’s also important to recognize the difference between premium, hand-rolled cigars and other forms of tobacco, and not simply lump everything under a single umbrella.

By the way, if you’re looking for more on this topic, check the latest Cigar Aficionado. I was flipping through it about an hour after I wrote this and found that the Editors’ Note addresses many of the same points.

–George E

photo credit: Flickr