The Stogie Guys

Single malt scotch whisky tends to be aged in bourbon and sherry casks, which makes this relatively new addition to the Balvenie line particularly interesting. After a period of aging in a traditional oak bourbon barrel, this 14-year-old single malt is finished in rum casks.

Introduced in 2010 as a U.S.-only release, the 14 Year Caribbean Cask Balvenie sells for around $60. It’s a bit more expensive than their 12 year Doublewood (an excellent value) but similar in price to Balvenie’s 15 year Single Barrel.

The whisky pours a golden straw color that’s not as dark as I would expect. The nose is where the unique character of the Caribbeam Cask starts to shine through as citrus and tropical fruits join with toffee and muted oak.

Once you get down to sipping your dram, you’ll find burnt sugar, a bit of smokiness, oak, dried fruit, and maltiness. It has a great roundness on the palate, not heavy, but crisp and lively. The finish is medium-long with both sweet and dry flavors.

A very good single malt, the lightness surprised me, but it wasn’t a bad thing. It’s the type of Scotch that goes well with a milder cigar, something with a Connecticut shade wrapper and Dominican filler (or a milder Cuban like an H. Upmann). No matter the cigar, the Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask Single Malt is a tasty whisky with it’s own character that leaves a hint of the tropical influence of its production.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

A sibling of Holt Cigar Co.’s house brand created by Don Pepin Garcia, the Gold Label takes its name from the light brown Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. But if it were receiving medals for the taste/price ratio, I think it could be in contention for gold as well.

With the Connecticut wrapper, it is, as you’d expect, a bit milder than the original corojo-wrapped Old Henry. But only a bit, and in some ways the Gold Label blend accentuates the pepper and spice from the Nicaraguan filler. I used a V-cut to slice the pointed head perfectly, and my lips were tingling before I put flame to the foot. To me, it’s a medium strength cigar that’s full of flavor.

The Belicoso is a 5.5-inch stick with a 52-ring gauge. It’s the only one of the line’s five sizes I’ve tried, and each Belicoso was excellently constructed. They burned straight and even, with a draw that was the way I like it, not loose or tight and full of smoke.

I’ve been a fan of the original Old Henry since the first one I smoked. I suggest you check my colleague’s 2008 review for a somewhat different view. One interesting note: The prices seem to have actually gone down since then!

I think they’re pretty darn good cigars, especially considering the price. Holt’s lists the Belicoso at $5.50 for a single, but it’s more than a dollar cheaper than that by the box of 25.

When you consider that the catalog giant often throws in some freebie with an Old Henry box order, it’s nearly unbeatable. (I remember once they threw in a couple of coffee cups, and I was so disappointed when they arrived because they had the Holt’s logo and not the great looking visage of Old Henry I was expecting.)

I usually have Old Henrys on hand, and now I think I’ll alternate the original with the Gold Label. I find it tough to rate. I’d have to say I don’t think it’s complex enough to be a four-stogie smoke, but I think it deserves a good bit better than a fairly routine three stogies. I guess I’ll split the difference and go with three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–George

photo credit: Holt’s Cigar Co.

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.”

Erik Espinosa’s new factory in Estelí, “La Zona,” is now the home of 601, Murcielago, and Mi Barrio. It’s also producing “Espinosa,” which was released at the 2012 IPCPR Trade Show, a Nicarauan puro featuring a medium brown Habano wrapper. The cigar starts off a bit hot with a sawdusty edge, but very quickly becomes more balanced and pleasant. At its core, it’s a medium-bodied smoke with lots of dry wood and hints of spice, hay, and earth. Construction is good and the price ($6) is reasonable.

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.”

I remember a lot of cigar enthusiasts being, well, enthusiastic about the value-priced CAO La Traviata Maduro line when it was introduced in 2010. Since, I haven’t heard much about the blend, which features an Ecuadorian wrapper around a Cameroon binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. So when I came across a Luminoso (4.5 x 50) in my humidor that had been resting for about two years, I couldn’t help but fire it up. What I found was a cigar with excellent construction and a surprisingly spicy profile of red pepper, leather, cocoa, nut, and warm tobacco. You can’t argue with that for $5.

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) StogieGuys.com is pleased to announce Bruce Dyk of Bismarck, North Dakota, as the winner of our most recent contest giveaway. Bruce was chosen at random from among the many Cigar Rights of America (CRA) members who left comments on our October 4 post. Contest sponsor Prometheus will be sending Bruce a fantastic prize: a Prometheus 20th Anniversary Edition God of Fire Serie B five-cigar assortment box (pictured) and a Prometheus Retro 20th Anniversary Lighter (combined MSRP $198). Please join us in congratulating Bruce. We would also like to thank CRA and all of its members for everything they do to support cigar rights, as well as Keith Park of Prometheus for graciously donating the outstanding prize. And remember: Even if you didn’t win this contest, it always pays to be a CRA member.

2) Arturo Fuente is planning an invitation-only event at the refurbished 110-year-old cigar factory in Tampa that will become the company’s headquarters. The building, located at 22nd Street and 3rd Ave. in the historic Ybor City district, was constructed in 1902 and bought by Arturo Fuente a few years later. The restoration has been underway for years and is likely to not be complete until 2014, as the Fox affiliate in Tampa reports. But in November the Fuentes are holding an event to celebrate the building as “a lasting piece of history and a tribute to the city where the company was formed.”

3) Following the dangerous trend of government-imposed outdoor smoking bans, officials in Orange County, North Carolina, are mulling regulations that would criminalize smoking “at bus stops, sidewalks, parks, shopping malls, and any other public domain,” according to the Daily Tar Heel. The regulations will be voted on by the county’s board at a November 20 meeting. If passed, they would apply to the entire county, which includes the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the town of Hillsborough.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Fan fires up a Cuban Stock Royal Selection. Cigar Coop checks out a CAO Concert. Cigar Inspector inspects a Romeo y Julieta Petit Pirámides LE 2005. Tiki Bar samples a La Palina Classic. Stogie Review reviews the Dona Flor Puro Mata Fina.

5) Deal of the Week: This Midnight Madness sampler features ten premium maduros for $30. Included are five La Gloria Cubanas and five Romeo y Julieta Vintage Maduros.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Prometheus

Bourbon often gets more costly (and usually also better) as you go from large production, to small batch bourbons, to single barrel expressions. Saint George Spirits—a small “artisan distiller” in Alameda, California, that’s been in operation for 30 years—took a different approach when it created its Breaking & Entering bourbon whiskey.

Dubbed a “super-bourbon,” B&E is the result of blending approximately 80 different barrels of bourbons from different sources all ranging from five to eight years in age. Through what they call “barrel thieving,” Saint George selects their favorite barrels from various Kentucky distilleries, then blends them together.

The result, according to their website, is “greater than the sum of [its] parts…a criminally delicious bourbon whiskey shaped by a Kentucky pedigree and California ingenuity.” At around $40 a bottle, I figured it was worth a try.

The first striking element of B&E is its deep bronze color. Even more notable is the nose: sweet fruit and lacking in spice, it has an almost cherry cola aspect to it.

When you finally get down to the business of tasting this “super-bourbon,” you find a chewy combination of corn, moonshine, fig, oak, toast, and caramel. It’s nicely balanced and very complex. The finish is bright and clean.

While it’s different from many other bourbons being made these days, it’s a winner in my book. Dink it neat and you’ll find a sweet, complex whiskey that goes down smooth.

It pairs very well with both the Honduran puro Camacho Corojo or the multi-country blend (super-cigar?) E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2010. But I think you’d be hard-pressed to find many good cigars that don’t go well with this versatile bourbon.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Following a disturbing trend, officials in Toronto are considering measures that would criminalize smoking in certain outdoor areas of the fifth largest city in North America.

“Toronto’s board of health will launch a series of public consultations on a proposed expansion of the city’s smoking ban,” writes CTV News. “The board came to the decision after reviewing a report calling for an expansion of the city’s anti-smoking by-laws at their meeting Monday afternoon…Under the proposed expansion, smokers would be prohibited from smoking on hospital property, public fields, restaurant patios, and the entrances and exits of most city buildings.”

Before Toronto officials vote on the expansion of the city’s smoking regulations, a period of “public consultations” will be held. Shortly thereafter, in 2013, Toronto’s chief physician, Dr. David McKeown, will present the findings of the consultations to members of the city council, who will then vote on the smoking ban expansions. Some indication of the council’s leaning on this matter may be gleaned from the fact that members voted unanimously this week to launch the consultations.

Outdoor Smoking Bans on the Rise

Once thought laughable, outdoor smoking bans are quickly becoming more commonplace, rendering the harmless act of enjoying a cigar in a city park a criminal activity. When New York City banned smoking in parks, plazas (including Times Square), and beaches, it was perhaps the most notable example, but certainly not the first.

“New York follows in the footsteps of 105 municipalities (in states including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New Jersey) that have banned smoking on public beaches,” wrote CNN back in 2011. “Major cities include Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Seattle. In states including California, Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, and New Jersey, 507 municipalities impose laws that prohibit city parks, or specifically named city parks, to allow smoking. Major cities include Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City.”

More recently, London appears poised to join the ranks of cities that ban outdoor smoking.

If this trend continues, it may not be long before the only place to legally enjoy a cigar is inside your own home or on your own property. This is no time to be complacent. Anti-tobacco zealots will not rest until smoking is outlawed completely. Many thanks to those of you who have donated your time, money, and voices to the noble cause of cigar rights.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Flickr