The Stogie Guys

While I’m hardly an expert on the thousands of varieties of scotch, I’ve gotten to know my way around most of the better-known brands and a few lesser-known malts. So when I noticed a bottle I hadn’t seen before at my local Virginia ABC liquor store (I’m still getting used to the fact that in Virginia liquor stores are a state-run monopoly), it piqued my interest.

Edradour is billed as “Scotland’s smallest distillery” and the numbers support the claim, although recently even smaller distilleries have opened. Edradour is a three-man operation (though I read they recently are down to two) and it produces only 95,000 liters per year, or 12 casks a week. (By comparison, Glenlivet, the best-selling scotch in the U.S., produces just under 6 million liters a year.) Interesting fact: With 100,000 visitors a year, Edradour is almost certainly the only whisky distillery in Scotland with more visitors than liters produced per year.

While the distillery traces its roots to 1825, it upped its quality in the past decade when new owners took over. Before that it was known for variation from batch to batch. With those problems behind them, it now makes a variety of single malts, including a number of special finishes using Bordeaux, Sauternes, and port barrels.

The only variety available at my store was the 10 Year, which I picked up for about $50. It’s bottled at 86-proof and is copper amber in color. The nose shows sherry, dates, and candied almonds. On the palate, it’s thick with rum notes, toffee, dried fruit, and toasted barley. The relatively short finish features more dried fruit, cream, and hints of vanilla.

It’s hardly the most refined single malt I’ve tried, but its rich mouthfeel and thick sweetness make it an excellent pairing with a fine cigar. It stands up to full-bodied Nicaraguan smokes. I tasted it with both the Tatuaje TAA Edition 2012 and the Cuenca y Blanco (now known as CyB), and found both to be excellent with a straight pour of Edradour 10.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Crafted by Jochi Blanco of Tabacalera La Palma and owned by Rafael Nodal of Oliveros, Aging Room is still a new brand on the cigar scene.

Yet Aging Room seems to be gaining in popularity as its blends continue to score well with the online cigar community and the mainstream cigar media. Among these blends is M356 (rated 4.5 stogies by us and named the 16th best smoke of 2011 by Cigar Aficionado) and F55 Quattro, which earned a rare 5-stogie rating back in September.

In 2012 Aging Room released Haváo to round out its portfolio. Offered in seven formats—Brio (5.25 x 42), Canon (6 x 46), Impromptu (5 x 48), Largo (7 x 50), Sharp (6.25 x 52), and Treble—the blend features a golden Ecuadoran Connecticut wrapper around Dominican tobaccos. It is marketed as mild- to medium-bodied.

The Canon sells for less that $6 and comes dressed in double bands of maroon, cream, and gold with a delicate exterior leaf that has the faintest tooth. Firm from head to foot, it also sports a nice cap and pre-light notes of sweet hay. A simple punch cut reveals a moderate draw.

With Connecticut smokes, I’m usually anticipating creaminess, bread, and a bit of sweetness, while hoping to avoid the major pitfalls of the genre: chemical tastes, or a complete lack of flavor that leaves me feeling like I’m smoking paper. All the Canons I sampled for this review exceeded those expectations. This slender cigar has a toasty profile with background notes of citrus and peanut. The finish is sharp and a little spicy.

Not much changes flavor-wise over the course of the smoke, and the profile always stays towards the mild side of the medium-bodied spectrum with very little nicotine kick. Yet it’s remarkably satisfying for such a light cigar (although it must be noted that I’ve always been very appreciative of milder smokes). With excellent construction, my only complaint would be that the Canon burns a tad too quickly. It nubs in less than an hour.

Without question, this is another winner from Aging Room. And at such an affordable price, it’s a must-try for fans of Connecticut-wrapped cigars. My verdict: It’s worthy of four 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.”

This monster-sized cigar is 6.1 inches long with a 64 ring gauge (that’s one full inch in width). It sports a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobaccos. The profile is of earth, oak, cocoa, and coffee. It’s full-bodied with little variation from stat to finish, which takes a full 90 minutes. At $10 each, less by the box, it’s not cheap, but then it’s a well-made, full-bodied smoke that will last most of a football game. Still, I prefer the Natural variation to the Maduro, which has more complexity to go with it’s large size and full-bodied flavors.

Verdict = Hold.

–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 just might be the definition of a good-looking cigar that makes a great first impression. The Series H Maduro Robusto (5.5 x 50) from Emilio Cigars sports a beautifully dark ligero wrapper from Jamastran, an extraordinarily firm feel, and a rich pre-light aroma of dark chocolate and earth. Once lit, the wrapper combines with Nicaraguan and Costa Rican tobaccos to yield a full-bodied, complex taste of dark coffee, creamy nut, cocoa, and a touch of leather. It’s downright outstanding and well worth the going rate of $7 for a single.

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) Tuesday’s outcome at the polls had decidedly mixed results for the plan to bar the Food & Drug Administration from regulating premium cigars. First, the good news. The sponsors, both Floridians, were reelected: Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and Rep. Bill Posey (R). And only one Senate cosponsor was lost: Nebraska’s Ben Nelson retired. But that’s tempered by the fact that, even with him, the bill had only 14 supporters. In the House of Representatives, where cosponsors constituted more than a majority, the hit was far more substantial. What this likely means is a long fight ahead. Consider that only a tiny fraction of bills introduced in the House get enacted, and that Congress faces large, contentious issues. So it’s hard to not be discouraged about the prospects for targeted legislation like protecting premium cigars, even with strong bipartisan support.

2) This week an appellate court upheld a St. Louis suburb’s outdoor smoking ban. A citizen of Clayton, Missouri, had “asked the federal courts to recognize smoking as a fundamental right and argued that any law restricting tobacco use deserves the utmost scrutiny from judges,” according to the Wall Street Journal. But the court decided it “need not determine whether outdoor secondhand smoke exposure actually causes harm. Because the City reasonably could believe this to be true, the Ordinance survives.”

3) Inside the Industry: Over two years ago we exclusively reported the introduction of the Tatuaje Anarchy, a Tatuaje cigar made only for the Smoke Inn stores in the Palm Beach area. Now, Smoke Inn and Tatuaje are following up that release with the Tatuaje Apocalypse. While Anarchy featured an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, the Apocalypse features a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. Pre-orders begin Thanksgiving Day and the cigar, which retails for $8.95 or $134.25 for a box of 15, will officially be released on December 14th.

4) Around the Blogs: Stogie Review reviews a Rocky Patel Burn. Cigar Fan fires up a T.L. Johnson Tempio Extreme Box Press. Cigar Brief checks out the J. Fuego Edición de Familia. Cigar Inspector inspects a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño. A Cigar Smoker smokes the Alec Bradley Fine and Rare 2012.

5) Deal of the Week: You may only have hours to grab this “Kitchen Sink Sampler” with 50 cigars for just $90. Highlights including CAO Gold, Griffin Maduro, San Cristobal Maestro, Cabaiguan Guapos Maduro, Avo Signature, CAO LX2, Casa Miranda, Tatuaje Hav VI Artistas, and Zino Platinum.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: FDA

Much of what I smoke is driven by the needs of StogieGuys.com: what we haven’t yet reviewed, what readers are asking us to review, what’s new, etc. This requires a ton of variety. (I know it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it). When I’m just smoking for sheer enjoyment, though, I find myself favoring a few select blends at any given time.

Over the past few days I’ve been smoking more for enjoyment and less for this site. If you follow us on Facebook, you’ll note that I recently took a brief vacation to Florida—a trip that afforded me the luxury of firing up whatever I wanted. I think it’s telling of my taste to look at the cigars I decided to take to Florida.

Tesa Gran Cru Limited Edition. This one-size, box-pressed cigar is all about balance. Anyone can put together a spicy, heavy-handed powerhouse, but few can construct a medium-bodied blend with such equilibrium as Tesa’s Chris Kelly. This torpedo’s Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, criollo ’98 binder from Jalapa, and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos combine to yield a woodsy flavor with notes of cream, salty peanut, and coffee. You can bet I’ll be all over this smoke again as soon as more become available at Kelly’s Chicago shop.

Nestor Miranda Grand Reserve. Remember this cigar? It was released in the summer of 2011 and then, as far as I can tell, sort of forgotten. But I’ve been impressed by the single size, a torpedo (6.1 x 52) with a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. The flavor has a dry spice with earth, coffee, and caramel. Normally priced around $12, my local shop put the Grand Reserve on special for $9.50 earlier this year, and I decided to stock up. I’m glad I did as it’s currently a favorite.

God of Fire Serie B Double Robusto 2011. I know I reviewed this cigar very recently. I know Prometheus is one of our advertisers. Ever since I tried the Serie B Double Robusto 2011, though, I’ve seriously been hooked. And for good reason. The Double Robusto (5.75 x 52) has an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper and a great profile of pepper, raisin, dark chocolate, and espresso. It also smokes like a champ, as it should for $22. I can’t afford to smoke this cigar too frequently, but my vacation was a nice excuse to burn a few of these.

Pinar del Rio Small Batch Reserve Habano Gran Toro. No, not everything on my list has to be expensive. While recently I’ve been reaching for a fair number of super-premiums, I realize this isn’t sustainable. So I’ve also been smoking a few more modestly priced smokes, like the Small Batch Reserve Habano Gran Toro from Pinar del Rio, which packs a flavor of sweet wood for about $6. It also boasts the excellent construction I’ve come to expect from Abe Flores’ brand.

Now these aren’t the same cigars I chose to smoke for pure enjoyment a few months ago, and they probably won’t be the same cigars I’ll choose months from now. My tastes tend to be somewhat seasonal. Just like I prefer rum in the summer and bourbon in the winter, I tend towards milder, creamier smokes in the summer and heartier, spicier cigars in the winter.

In addition, no matter how good a cigar is, I find the principle of diminishing marginal utility starts to apply if I fire up the same stick over and over. So it makes sense for me to rotate my favorites, even as they get interspersed with the cigars I smoke for this website.

In any event, I figured it might be interesting for me to share what cigars I’ve been selecting from my stash lately. Feel free to share your current favorites in the comments below.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Yesterday, voters in North Dakota and Missouri decided on ballot questions that will impact cigar rights in those states. While Missouri voters rejected the anti-tobacco “Prop B,” voters in North Dakota approved Measure 4.

North Dakota’s Measure 4, a statewide smoking ban to criminalize indoor smoking in virtually all “public” places including cigar shops, overwhelmingly passed 66% to 34%. The law calls for violators of the restrictive ban to be fined $50, and for a bar proprietor who allowed smoking in spite of the ban to have his or her liquor and tobacco sales licenses revoked. Arguments made by cigar smokers and the hospitality industry that the blanket smoking ban would infringe on property rights, harm small businesses, and unfairly restrict personal choices to smoke were not enough to overcome intense lobbying by anti-tobacco groups.

Prop. B in Missouri would have increased the state tax on cigars by 15% if passed, but the move appears to have failed by a slim margin. The latest numbers show “no” with 50.8% and “yes” with 40.2%, with a 42,000 vote difference out of nearly 2.7 million votes cast.

Any revenue from the tax increase was to be earmarked in equal proportions for education and smoking cessation programs, but critics point out that politicians regularly and easily raid such funds, so there was no guarantee of any net funding increase in the designated areas. Further, some people cautioned that raising the tobacco tax would just drive cigarette sales to neighboring states, and presumably would drive cigar sales to online retailers.

It’s not clear if the margin of defeat for Proposition B is enough to avoid a lengthy recount process. In early June voters in California narrowly rejected a 73% tobacco tax increase but, due to an extended recount and certification process, the result wasn’t finalized until a little over a month ago.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys