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.”

When my colleague awarded this cigar a rare five-stogie rating in March, I knew I couldn’t wait too long to try it for myself. My first experience was a pleasant one, as the Rogue Rothschild (5.6 x 54) yielded excellent construction, bountiful tufts of smoke with each easy puff, and a solid profile of dark chocolate, nougat, black pepper, dry wood, and spice. I can’t quite affirm my cohort’s high rating, but this Berger & Argenti Entubar V32 is an easy recommendation, even though it costs $11 to $14 each.

Verdict = Buy.

–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.”

I’ve written before about Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s knack for making cigars that hit just the right notes for me, but looking back I realized that there’s just one of his cigars that we never got around to writing up, the 2011 Short Run. From what I can tell, the cigar is very similar to the 2010 Short Run, with the exception of the wrapper: the 2011 uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper instead of the Ecuadorian Sumatra leaf that was featured in the first Short Run. The result is similar to the 2010 Short Run, only with a few twists. While it’s still cedary and toasty, it lacks some of the creaminess or balance that I enjoyed in the 2010, and there’s a very faint sourness that doesn’t quite hit my palate right. Still, with excellent construction and a reasonable price tag of around $6 each, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this cigar, even though I prefer the 2010 and 2012 Short Runs.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

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) Cigar Rights of America (CRA) reports politicians in Springfield are “dangerously close” to drastically increasing the cigar tax in Illinois from 18% to 35%. “This will give Illinois the highest effective rate of any surrounding state, and drive purchases online and out-of-state,” reads a CRA Action Alert. “The bill passed the Illinois House [last week] and passed the Senate in April of 2011. It now is going back to the Senate for debate and voting on the House’s changes.” The move comes less than three months after the Cook County Board increased cigar taxes in Chicago.

2) On Tuesday, New York State announced it would temporarily stop enforcing a controversial law that criminalizes outdoor smoking at state parks. Before this week, violators were subject to a citation for disorderly conduct. But a smokers’ rights organization claimed that the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation failed to comply with state rules about new policies, so the office has decided to delay enforcement until the policy can be properly vetted. “There’s a state rule-making process that we’re undergoing that will take a couple of months and in that time we will not issue tickets,” Dan Keefe, a spokesman for the parks office, told Reuters. Meanwhile, the office “hopes smokers will nonetheless choose to voluntarily refrain from the habit even without the threat of a ticket or citation.”

3) Inside the Industry: Christian Eiroa, former president of Camacho Cigars, announced he is launching the CLE Cigar Co., and that the company’s first two blends, CLE Corojo and CLE Cuarenta, are expected to hit the market in July. Carlos Fuente Jr. was honored with the 2012 Dominican Distinguished Humanitarian Award in recognition of his charitable work in the Dominican Republic. CAO is extending its Last Stick Standing promotion to July 31 to make sure everyone has enough time to get their ratings in.

4) Around the Blogs: Congrats to Charlie at Stogie Review on the birth of his child, Chase—enjoy that well-earned celebratory cigar! Cigar Fan fires up a few Macanudo Gigantes. Nice Tight Ash checks out Flor de las Antilles. Doc Stogie unveils his Cigar Safari video. Cigar Brief reviews the Obsidian. Cigar Explorer explores the Viaje Exclusivo 2012.

5) Deal of the Week: This “Rocky vs. General” sampler features 10 old favorites for just $30. You get the Vintage 1990, 1992, 1999, Sungrown, and Olde World Reserve by Rocky to compare against the Partagas Classic, Partagas Black, Hoyo Excalibur, Don Tomás, and Punch from General Cigar.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

Today we are sharing the second and third installments in our series of videos from our recent trip to Estelí, Nicaragua, with Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari.

In the first video, Mario Perez of Joya de Nicaragua shows us how seco, ligero, and viso filler tobaccos are bunched together in a binder leaf. This is, according to Perez, one of those “very special moments” in the creation of a cigar. We also see how a criollo Nicaraguan wrapper is applied to a cigar and why it is important to stretch the leaf during this process. Finally, Perez gives us a tour of the Joya’s aging room and shipping preparation room.

Wrapping up our Joya de Nicaragua coverage, this video shows the blending seminar we attended, which was hosted by Mario Perez and José Blanco. Of note are the haphazardly rolled “cigars” Patrick A and Patrick S bunched together to taste their respective blends. Let’s just say we’re thankful we didn’t actually have to roll the blends ourselves.

We’ll resume the video coverage of our Nicaraguan adventure on Monday. Meanwhile, you can check out our previously published coverage of the trip here and here.

–The Stogie Guys

video credit: Stogie Guys

In yesterday’s post, we explained that we had plenty of highly informative video content to share with you from our recent trip to Estelí with Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari.

Today we are proud to share the first in a series of videos that highlight the best and most interesting parts of our Nicaraguan adventure. In today’s segment, Mario Perez of Joya de Nicaragua gives us a tour of the Joya factory in Estelí. Included is a discussion of why Joya only ferments a select few wrapper leaves after receiving them, an illustration of wrapper preparation, info on why certain leaves need to be sprayed with water, and a demonstration of tobacco de-veining and classification.

Tomorrow we’ll provide the second half of Mario’s Joya de Nicaragua tour, including bunching, rolling, and video of the cigars being readied for shipping.

–The Stogie Guys

video credit: Stogie Guys

As you’ve no doubt seen if you’ve been following us on Facebook or Twitter over the past week, Patrick A and Patrick S participated in Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari in Estelí, Nicaragua.

First and foremost, we’d like to thank all the fine folks at Drew Estate and Joya de Nicaragua for showing us an amazing time on the incredible trip, especially Jonathan Drew, Steve Saka, Jose Blanco, Mario Perez, Pedro Gomez, and Johnny Brooke. We learned a ton and our passion for fine cigars was reinforced four-fold—as was our understanding that we have so much more to learn about tobacco. But that’s a learning process we embrace.

We know you embrace learning about premium cigars as well, and in that spirit we have a plethora of photos, videos, and other content to share with you from our recently concluded adventure. The video content is forthcoming shortly. In the meantime, we thought we’d share some of our favorite photos from the trip.

We had a tremendous group of guys for this trip, pictured here. Included are such notables as Jonathan Drew (red shirt and cap), Steve Saka (lower right), Doc Stogie (black CroMagnon shirt), and Brian Berman and Mark Brownlee of CRA.

The Drew Estate factory has a sense of style all its own, including this beautiful mural painted along the back of the factory and near the entrance to Subculture Studios, the nerve center of the company’s artistic creations.

As you might imagine, there were plenty of smokes available to us during the trip, and we weren’t shy about taking advantage of this awesome luxury. From Liga Privada No. 9 and Undercrown to Liga Privada T52 and Unico Serie, Cigar Safari was a great way to sample (and re-sample) all of the finest offerings from Drew Estate. The MUWAT Bait Fish, for example, was a favorite of ours as a potent post-lunch smoke with some dark coffee.

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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 my colleague awarded this cigar a 4.5-stogie rating in a full review about a month ago, I knew I had to try it soon, especially since I’m a big fan of Pinar del Rio. I was not disappointed. For $7, the Small Batch Reserve Maduro Robusto gets you dark, rich flavors of chocolate, coffee, and creamy nuts and outstanding construction. Fans of Brazilian-wrapped smokes should be especially sure not to pass up this cigar.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys