The 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.”

CAO’s newest offering is much more than a marketing scheme focused on muscle cars and pinup girls. Combining a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with a Habano Connecticut binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, Flathead is a wonderful, balanced blend that has plenty of body yet little spice. The result is a rounded profile of cocoa, leather, and cream, and the physical properties are excellent. If you haven’t gotten around to trying Flathead yet, you’re missing out. The V554 Camshaft (5.5 x 54) is well worth the asking price of $7-8.

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) Inspired by the Jason Voorhees character from the Friday the 13th franchise, this year’s Monster Series release from Tatuaje is called JV13. It will come in one large format (7.5 x 52), retail for $13, and feature a broadleaf wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Only 666 special coffin boxes of 13 cigars will be shipped to 13 “unlucky” retailers, all of which were announced this week: Buttheads Tobacco Emporium, Danbury, CT; Prime Cigar and Wine Bar, Boca Raton, FL; Town & Country Cigar Bar, Euless, TX; Havana House, Akron, OH; Fine Ash Cigars, Avondale, AZ; Union Cigar Society, Seattle, WA; Liberty Tobacco, San Diego, CA; Atlantic Cigar Co., Folcroft, PA; Don Francisco Cigars, East Brunswick, NJ; Humidor Pipe Shop, Huntsville, AL; Tobacco Shoppe of Midland, Midland, MI; Cigar Masters, Boston, MA; and Leesburg Cigar and Pipe, Leesburg, VA. JV13 is the sixth Monster Series cigar (hence the “6” on the box). It is preceded by The Frank, The Drac, The Face, The Wolfman, and The Mummy.

2) October 1 marked the beginning of Arkansas’ tax cap on cigars. “In March, Arkansas passed a bill that caps the state’s excise tax on premium cigars at 50 cents per stick, down from the previous tax of 68% of the manufacturer’s price,” according to CS Decisions. “[The Cigar Association of America] noted that this cap will be good for retailers and consumers, and should encourage the in-state purchase of tobacco products.”

3) Inside the Industry: My Father Cigars is shipping a limited edition to its popular Flor de las Antillas line. Called the MAM 15, the cigar (6 x 48) is being sent to a a group of stores in the South and Southeast.

4) Deal of the Week: Corona Cigar has tweaked its Stogie Guys Sampler. Now $29.95 (normally $55) gets you an Avo Lounge, a Davidoff, plus five house blends from Corona Cigar. You also get free shipping on your entire order.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Tatuaje Cigars

Last week I attended W. Curtis Draper’s Little Puff, a fantastic event in DC that raises lots of money for good causes. First and foremost, the event highlights the generosity of the cigar community. (After last year’s event, Little Puff had topped $600,000 raised for charity.)

But in addition to charity and generosity, fine cigars, food, and drink are featured. Like many cigar events, attendees are given a card with the names of all the cigar makers in attendance, who then punch the card when you pick up your cigar from their table.

The result is a lot of cigars. Some were new releases: Fratello, La Gloria Serie R Black, CLE Plus, Drew Estate’s Nica Rustica, just to name a few, all of which I’m looking forward to.

But I actually enjoyed some of the other cigars more. It isn’t that they are necessarily better, but these are cigars I don’t normally smoke because, writing for Stogie Guys, I tend to spend a lot of my smoking time trying the latest releases.

I can’t remember the last time I smoked a regular old Padrón Maduro, but lighting one up the next day I was reminded what an excellent cigar it is, especially given the price. It’s a cigar that was a staple in my rotation when I first got into cigars, but now I maybe smoke one a year.

The same goes for the Don Pepin Garcia Blue, La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet, Tatuaje Regios Reserva, Alec Bradley Prensado, Fuente Chateau Sun Grown, Oliva Connecticut, and La Aroma de Cuba (original blend). Cigars I don’t frequently light up, even though each is well made and quite good.

It’s a reminder not to get too focused on the latest and greatest. You’re not buying a smartphone where technology becomes quickly out of date. It’s more like music. Sure there’s some good music coming out today; but sometimes it’s better to tune into the classic rock station for dependable favorites that remind you of good times from the past.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Arturo Fuente’s Solaris. Tatuaje’s Anarchy and Apocalypse. My Father’s El Hijo. Padrón’s 1964 Anniversary SI-15. Room 101’s Big Delicious. What do these have in common?

They’re all part of the Microblend Series that’s soldby Smoke Inn, a Florida-based cigar retailer. The Microblend Series is inspired by the growing popularity of U.S. microbreweries, harnessing how “limited production quantities allow for a greater emphasis to be placed on quality and consistency,” according to the Smoke Inn website.

With that inspiration, it was only a matter of time before Smoke Inn partnered with Manuel Quesada to put new twist on one of Quesada’s most popular lines: Oktoberfest. Just in time for the German festival, Smoke Inn is now shipping the Oktoberfest Dunkel, named for the German word for “dark” that’s typically used to describe a dark lager.

“In the spirit of Oktoberfest, the Dunkel uses the same binders and fillers of the regular Oktoberfest release, with the exception of the wrapper,” reads a Smoke Inn press release. “A very select broadleaf maduro wrapper envelops this rich cigar with a slight underlying Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper at the foot, thus giving the appearance of a dark, rich Dunkel beer with a savory, foamy head.”

Dunkel is sold in one size (6 x 54) at a cost of $8.95 per single, or $134.25 per box of 15. It’s obviously a unique-looking cigar, which may be why Quesada chose to keep the band exactly the same as the regular Oktoberfest blend. Aside from the different wrapper at the foot, Dunkel’s other aesthetic properties include a tremendously oily exterior, pungent pre-light notes of earth and cocoa, and a dense, firm feel.

The initial profile is reminiscent of the original Quesada Oktoberfest with dark cherry, burnt coffee, and an occasional bitter bite. Sweet notes are more apparent on the aftertaste than each individual puff. But during the outset of the smoke—the one covered in the Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper—the texture is very creamy.

Spice and leather take center stage once the cigar passes into the broadleaf maduro phase. Here the Dunkel becomes more full-bodied with a little more nicotine kick. Perhaps not surprisingly, though, the creaminess prevails, rendering Dunkel one of those flavorful smokes with ample spice and complexity yet a creamy undertone.

All of the Quesada Oktoberfest Dunkels I smoked for this review exhibited admirable physical properties, and all were, quite frankly, a joy to smoke. While I’m no fan of pairing beer with cigars—as I’ve written before—the quality of this smoke is undeniable regardless of pairing. That earns it a solid rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

A surefire way to get a heated discussion going is to bring up the issue of aging.

Everything from the basic definition — It’s aging after one year. No, that’s still resting; aging starts after three years. Well, I think two years is when it starts. — to which cigars benefit most from the process is a veritable minefield.

Over the years, I’ve looked quite a bit into aging, including talking with some pre-eminent cigar collectors and reading about it from a scientific standpoint, and, frankly, I’m more convinced than ever that there is no hard and fast answer.

Like most things involving cigars, aging is a matter of personal taste. I do know that most makers of good cigars don’t expect you to age their sticks. They use well-aged and fermented tobaccos and attempt to ship their products so customers get them at their peak.

I’m talking about non-Cubans. There, I don’t believe this was the case some years back when Cuba was scrambling to meet demand and exercising poor judgment about nearly everything, from the tobacco being used to quality control. Nowadays, I think things are better.

If you want to age cigars, feel free. About the only thing I can say with any degree of certainty is that you’ll rarely, if ever, find that time makes a poor cigar, especially one with low-grade, badly fermented, or un-aged tobaccos, anything other than an older, poor cigar.

My advice, for what it’s worth, is that if you want to age by the box if possible. That way, you can sample the cigars periodically to see whether they’re changing and have a good chance of catching them near the peak. It’s also a good idea to keep notes at each stage of the process on cigars you’re aging. You’ll find that helpful not only with the cigars at hand but in selecting future cigars for aging.

At any rate, I suggest smoking rather than fighting.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

At one time, Miami was a hotbed for cigar production, especially among Cuban expats seeking to rebuild after the Cuban Revolution stole away their businesses. Rising labor costs eventually necessitated most of this production move overseas to countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic.

These days, Miami is witnessing somewhat of a renaissance in cigar making. Crémo Cigars, launched near the end of 2011, is part of this revitalization, proudly proclaiming its commitment to American production. Crémo’s blends are crafted at the El Titan de Bronze Cigar Factory on Miami’s Calle Ocho. The factory is “known best for its old-school Cuban entubado techniques, [and] is a family-owned and operated ‘fabriquita’ which employs level-nine rollers from Cuba,” according to the Crémo website. “These torcedores, like a painter to a canvas, handcraft each cigar with meticulous detail.”

Following up on the Crémo Classic (blended by Willy Herrera prior to his departure to Drew Estate) and the Crémo Classic Maduro, Crémo’s newest blend is Capa Caliente. It is intended to be a full-bodied, full-flavored cigar—and that’s exactly what it is. It features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around a Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Capa Caliente comes in two formats: Robusto (5 x 50) and Toro (6 x 52). They cost $8 and $12, respectively. Each has a dark, reddish wrapper with ample oils and neatly executed triple-caps. The foot—a cross-section view of the entubado style of cigar rolling—emanates bold pre-light notes of earth and leather.

The Toro starts out as advertised. It’s about as full-bodied as a cigar can be with a bold, salty spice and flavors of espresso, black pepper, and charred steak. The taste coats the palate with a heavy, leathery texture unequaled in any cigar I’ve smoked in recent memory. The overall impact can be knee-buckling, even on a full stomach.

At the midway point the Toro becomes a little less aggressive, and at times it’s almost creamy. Still, the core notes are pervasive, and the strength is mostly unrelenting. All the while the construction is excellent. The gray ash holds firm off the foot, the draw is smooth, the burn line is straight, and each puff yields ample smoke.

If you’re a power-monger, the Capa Caliente from Crémo is one blend you absolutely have to try. If, like me, you’re more strength-agnostic and instead seek balance and harmony, this may not be the best selection. Like many things with cigars, it all depends on your point of view and personal preferences. For me, all things considered, while I prefer Crémo’s two previous blends, the four Toros I smoked for this review result in a rating of three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys