The Stogie Guys

Yes, I admit it. I’m a little obsessed over HR 1639, the bill to bar the Food & Drug Administration from regulating premium, hand-rolled cigars. Frankly, though, I cannot understand why every cigar smoker isn’t.

I believe enactment of this legislation would offer extraordinary protection for cigars smokers and the cigar industry. By recognizing a specific category for premium cigars, it would make it easy to exclude them from future tobacco taxes and restrictions.

The good news is the bill is tantalizingly close to the support it needs for passage in the House of Representatives. But now is not the time to let up. Soon, the solons will be off for the summer and for campaigning. Little will transpire on Capitol Hill.

The bill has just over 180 supporters, but, alas, Guam’s representative has no vote, and David Wu resigned after signing on. I’ve recently spent time analyzing the list of cosponsors and discovered some interesting data. What’s most interesting is I think it can help push the bill to enactment. And maybe it’ll inspire more readers to get in touch with their representatives and urge them to get on board.

• As you’d expect, Florida has the most supporters. Still, only 18 of its 25 representatives are signed up. Next up, Pennsylvania, undoubtedly second only to Florida for cigar shops and retail sales, and Texas, are tied with 13. Again, that leaves quite a few who aren’t on board in both states.

• Surprisingly, the state most identified with tobacco, Virginia, has under 50% signed up, with 5 of its 11 representatives sponsoring the bill. Granted, most of the state’s tobacco connection involves cigarettes, but General Cigar Co.’s headquarters are in Richmond. And Connecticut, home of the eponymous high-quality wrapper, has but 2 of 5 representatives as cosponsors.

• Five states, admittedly all small, have seen all their representatives endorse HR1639: Arkansas (4), West Virginia (3), Kansas (4), Hawaii (2), and New Hampshire (2).

• Three times that many states have no representatives on the list. They’re generally concentrated in New England and the West: Massachusetts (10), Rhode Island (2), Vermont (1), Maine (2), New Mexico (3), Montana (1), Idaho (2), Utah (3), Oregon (5), Washington (9), Wyoming (1), Alaska (1), North Dakota (1), South Dakota (1), and Delaware (1).

• While Republicans outnumber Democrats among supporters by about 3 to 1, the bill has strong bipartisan support. Just consider those states that are fully signed up: Arkansas has 3 Republicans and 1 Democrat; West Virginia, a Democrat and 2 Republicans; Kansas, 4 Republicans; Hawaii, 2 Democrats; and New Hampshire, 2 Republicans. And it isn’t just the parties. Supporters include every point along the ideological spectrum, something well worth pointing out to anyone who isn’t a supporter.

So, how can all this help? First, I hope you’re inspired by how close to passage this legislation is. Then, you can see how just a little more pressure applied at the proper points could push HR1639 across the finish line.

If you’re a cigar smoker who hasn’t taken action, be sure to write, email, or telephone your representative if he or she isn’t a supporter.

If you own a smoke shop and there are representatives in your area who haven’t signed on (I counted more than two dozen Massachusetts shops that are IPCPR members and 15 in Oregon, for example) invite them to your shop for an event where they can meet constituents, enjoy a cigar, and learn firsthand why this bill is so vital.

You can find all the information you need about the bill’s cosponsors here and how to make contact here. Let’s get this bill passed. Then I can go back to obsessing over other important things, like humidity levels in the humidor.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The Dominican-made Romeo y Julieta brand has been a longtime staple in the portfolio of industry giant Altadis. But over the years, even as the brand grew to ten blends of varying strength, Romeo y Julieta always seemed to be associated with the milder spectrum.

The newest Romeo y Julieta blend, called simply Romeo, aims to change that. “A manly cigar, bold and robust, Romeo is an awesome smoke, rich in complex flavor sensations,” reads a marketing pamphlet from Altadis. “It is, quite likely, the finest Romeo y Julieta ever.”

Romeo is certainly the most modern-looking, sporting a unique band that breaks from the traditional motifs of its predecessors. The line’s sleek, curved boxes are definitely not traditional. And Romeo also adopts the contemporary mantra of “big and bold” with large ring gauges and a recipe of tobaccos that’s evidently built for power.

That recipe includes a dark Ecuadorian Habano-seed wrapper, a Dominican olor binder, and Dominican filler tobaccos of the piloto and olor varieties. The line is comprised of four vitolas that are crafted at the Tabacalera de Garcia in the Dominican Republic: Churchill (7 x 56), Toro (6 x 54), Robusto (5 x 54), and Piramide (6.1 x 52). I sampled three Toros for this review, each—in the interest of full disclosure—provided to me free of charge by Altadis.

The Toro is a clean-looking smoke with a hearty weight and a firm feel from head to toe. The foot confirms a tight cross-section of tobaccos. The pre-light aroma is musty and earthy and the draw is moderate.

After setting an even light, the introductory taste is bold yet stale. By this I mean there’s tons of strength from the smoke but very little in terms of identifiable flavor beyond pure heat. My strategy on cigars like this is to let them rest un-puffed for a few minutes to see if they settle into a more enjoyable profile as the foot cools.

Fortunately, the Romeo Toro does. Before crossing the half-inch mark, tastes of leather, dry wood, and espresso become dominant with a bit of nougat on the finish to add sweetness and balance. The resting smoke is quite sweet. Later, at the midway point, I find the body settles back toward the medium spectrum and some nutty notes take precedence over the leather. The final third features a reprise of power. All the while the construction is near perfect.

Altadis has made a considerable effort to get samples of Romeo in the hands of many internet reviewers, so I expect you’ll see much written about this cigar in the weeks to come. It will be interesting to read all the reviews. From my perspective, this is a fine smoke that will do well on the golf course. I would recommend picking up a Romeo as the blend hits the shelves of a tobacconist near you. I think cigar enthusiasts who typically stray away from Altadis smokes will be pleasantly surprised by the Toro, which is worthy of three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

I didn’t know what to think when Camacho announced a partnership with jewelery maker Matt Booth in 2009. Camacho would be making cigars to be sold under Booth’s Room 101 brand, named after the torture room in George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Four years later, I’ve enjoyed quite a few of the Camacho-made Room 101 cigars, particularly the Conjura and Namakubi. I found this latest Room 101 San Andrés the way I find many cigars, by simply walking into my local cigar shop and asking, “What’s new?” The answer on this particular day was the Room 101 San Andrés, which was released last month.

By my count, San Andrés is the fifth Room 101 blend, created by Room 101-creator Matt Booth and Camacho Cigars. It’s the third regular release joining the original Room 101 and the Connecticut-wrapped Namakubi, while the OSOK (One Shot One Kill) and the Conjura are limited releases. The result is a more affordable cigar that comes in five sizes selling in the wallet-friendly $5-7 range.

For this review I lit up three of the corona-sized 213s (5.5 x 44) which cost me just under $6 each. The cigar features a San Andrés wrapper grown by the Turrent family in Mexico. The largely vein-free, milk-chocolate wrapper surrounds a Honduran Corojo binder and Corojo and Criollo filler from Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

It’s a serious departure from Room 101’s previous releases, but very pleasant with chewy peanut butter, cocoa, and a slightly spicy cedar core. As the cigar evolves, coffee becomes apparent and more spice comes forward towards the second half of this hour-long smoke.

With perfect construction and a reasonable price tag, the 213 is a very enjoyable medium- to full-bodied cigar. That combination earns this Room 101 San Andrés vitola an impressive rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Last week Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation that would increase federal taxes on premium cigars. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are co-sponsoring the bill.

The goal of the legislation, as stated by the senators, is threefold: to bring all tobacco products in line with the relatively higher taxes that are levied on cigarettes, to discourage the use of tobacco products by minors, and to increase government revenue. “The current loopholes in the taxes on tobacco products encourage the use of products like pipe tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and ‘nicotine candies’ as a cheap source of tobacco, particularly among young people,” Durbin said in a statement. “This bill will stop tobacco manufacturers from gaming the system and protect more children and teens from this dangerous habit.”

It is also expected to boost government coffers by $1 billion.

Additionally, the senators aim to make it more costly to purchase premium cigars. Durbin’s so-called “Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2012” would raise the per-cigar tax ceiling on large cigars over 150%, from 40.26 cents to 100.66 cents. It would also establish a per-cigar tax floor at 5.033 cents. This move comes only days after Durbin and Lautenberg publicly encouraged the FDA to regulate cigars and ban “flavored” cigars outright.

Senator Durbin and his cohorts do not have the courage to say that they’d like to regulate and tax cigars out of existence, but that seems to be the outcome they’re shooting for. Cigars are already taxed quite high, especially when you add up the federal, state, and local taxes. And we’ve written before that regulation of cigars by the FDA would be devastating to the industry, which helps provide 85,000 jobs in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands in Latin America. Ingredient disclosure, testing, and marketing restrictions would stifle the development of new cigar blends and eliminate events where cigar makers pass out free samples to cigar shop patrons.

Be sure to take a few moments to effectively contact your senators and urge them to not support the Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2012.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Flickr

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 can’t say I’d read much about the PIO Cigar Company when I lit up this sharply-pressed $8 offering. The wrapper is dark brown with multiple jet-black splotches, which takes away from an otherwise very attractive cigar. An easy draw reveals cedary wood and roasted nut flavors. The wrapper also imparts a slight spice on the lips. The cigar’s medium- to full-bodied flavors don’t vary much from start to finish, yet the construction is excellent and the flavor is enjoyable. Best of all, the Resurrection Robusto makes me want to try more offerings from PIO.

Verdict = Buy.

–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.”

With its unusual name and award-winning pedigree, this cigar is intriguing even before you light up. But when you do, the Toro (6 x 52) really begins to shine. Fairly strong, this Nestor Plascencia blend of all Honduran tobacco performs excellently and produces massive amounts of smoke. The leathery taste I often associate with Honduran tobacco is present, but so are many other flavors in this complex stick. I found pepper, nuts, coffee, and a syrup-sweetness all woven together with silky smoothness. Give it a shot for around $7-9.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: N/A

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) As we mentioned in the latest edition of our free email newsletter yesterday, May marks the six-year anniversary of StogieGuys.com. It has been our privilege and honor to bring you daily content from the world of cigars (over 2,100 unique posts and counting). Loyal readers will recall that we launched a complete site re-design last year at this time in celebration of our fifth anniversary. We think the new layout continues to provide a cleaner look, easier access to our vast archives of articles and reviews, upgraded search capabilities, and more reader interaction. And while we’re not planning another site overhaul anytime soon, we continue to welcome your comments and feedback so we can help make the next six years even better. Feel free to contact us anytime with your comments or suggestions. And thank you for your continuing readership!

2) If you’re attending the PGA’s The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, this weekend, be sure to pick up a copy of Ponte Vedra Life magazine. The latest issue is a guide to watching the tournament, known as “the fifth major,” and it features an article by the Stogie Guys about golf and cigars.

3) Inside the Industry: Litto Gomez has officially trademarked the Chisel, protecting the cigar shape he invented for La Flor Dominicana in 2003. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo is launching a new line called “Inch” that will feature three sizes with ring gauges of 60 or higher. Miami Cigar & Co. is expanding its La Sirena series with a new blend called “Merloin” that will be offered in three sizes and sell in the $9-11 range. Alec Bradley is releasing the American Sun Grown as a bang-for-your-buck smoke that will sell for around $5.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Explorer explores a Padron TAA 2012. Nice Tight Ash checks out a PG Reserva Exclusiva. Stogie Review reviews a Room 101 San Andres. Cigar Brief checks out an Ortega Serie D No. 8. Cigar Coop smokes an Avo XO. Cigar Inspector inspects a Viaje Double Edged Sword.

5) Deal of the Week: This mega-sampler includes 20 cigars for just $60. Included are such cigars as a Romeo y Julieta Habana Reserve Corona, a La Aurora Preferido Cameroon, a Gran Habano Corojo #5, a Don Pepin JJ Maduro, Carlos Torano 1959, CAO Cameroon, Rocky Patel Vintage 1990, an Entubar Double Corona Natural, an Oliva Series G Churchill Cameroon, Gurkha Raider, a Gurkha Gold, Sungrown, Intensa (from Raices Cubana) and a House Resolution (by JC Newman).

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr