The Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

Words that commonly describe the Coyolar Puro line from Camacho are “bold,” “full-bodied,” and “heavyweight.” While it certainly isn’t mild, I have to agree with my colleague, George E, when I say that this cigar doesn’t exactly live up to its notorious reputation. What the Honduran does offer is solid notes of pepper and leather with excellent construction. Clocking in at four and ½ inches with a 50 ring gauge and a price under $4.50, the Rothschild is just the right size and price for a quick tobacco fix.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

Tags: cigars

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

Way back in November, Patrick A gave the Cusano 18 a sub-standard two stogie rating. Undeterred, I recently lit one of these robustos up to see if I could get a better result. Unfortunately, the result wasn’t much better; the same harsh chemical flavor greeted me that was so accurately described in the review. Occasionally, when the chemical taste subsided, I was greeted with lovely butter and nut flavors. Still, despite these few enjoyable moments and excellent construction, I cannot recommend the Cusano 18 Robusto.

Verdict = Sell.

–Patrick S

Tags: cigars

In our ongoing effort to make StogieGuys.com as entertaining and reader-friendly as possible, each Friday we’ll post a selection of quick cigar news and stogie-related snippets. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Victoria McKee of General Cigar recently let us know about new additions to some of General Cigar’s most popular brands. The Macanudo Gold, Macanudo Maduro, Partagas Black Label, Partagas Spanish Rosado and Cohiba Black lines are all adding new sizes. For the details see this article from Cigar Aficionado.

2) Ohio’s smoking ban may have hurt business in Ohio’s bars, but the outlook is rosier just across the border. Bars in Michigan and Pennsylvania are reporting booms as disenfranchised Ohio smokers cross the border for a place to have a smoke.

3) Around the Blogs: Leafy Times tries the Avalon Juke Blue. Cigar Beat reviews an Opus X. The Smoking Lounge lounges with a Rocky Patel Vintage 1990. Keepers of the Flame smokes a Macanudo Cafe Lords. Stogie Fresh has a Camacho Scorpion. Cigar Jack gives the Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill a try. Stogie Review fires up a La flor Dominicana Factory Press.

4) Deal of the Week: This week’s deal is a little different because it doesn’t just score you some good smokes… it also is charitable. Joining the Cigar Connoisseur Club by J.C. Newman Cigars gets you four great Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino Sungrown cigars and a sharp golf shirt. And in case that isn’t enough, a portion of your membership goes to the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation to build schools and health clinics in the Dominican Republic. (Of course, if you still haven’t got a gift for dad we suggest you check out last Friday’s Deal of the Week.)

–The Stogie Guys

Cigars can appeal for any number of reasons. Some offer a terrific bargain, others the opportunity to savor a rare treat. One cigar might earn a top rank because it can be enjoyed day after day, while another stick might be the perfect complement to a great Scotch. Whatever the appeal, we all have cigars that we think are special.

We’ve decided to recommend some cigars we feel are particularly worthy of your attention and call them Gold Star Smokes. From time to time, we’ll clue you into three favorites – one from each member of the StogieGuys.com team. I guess you could consider anything posted here worthy of the Stogie Guys Hall of Fame, if such a thing existed.

Also, feel free to leave your own suggestions as comments, and we’ll consider adding them to future Gold Star Smokes posts.

Co-Founder & Editor in Chief Patrick A

My first choice for our Gold Star Smokes series was an instant classic the moment I took the inaugural puff. At six and ¼ inches with a 52 ring gauge, the Rocky Patel Vintage 1992 Torpedo is a well-aged Ecuadorian masterpiece with rich notes of dark roasted coffee beans and almond. It’s not cheap at $8.75, but clearly worth every penny. This has become my one go-to cigar for extra-special occasions.

Co-Founder & Publisher Patrick S

The El Rey Del Mundo Robisto Larga is a favorite of mine that I seem to rediscover every six months. Big (six inches with a 54 ring gauge) and packed full of rich earth and chocolate flavors, it is the best vitola from the El Rey Del Mundo brand that never seems to get a fair shake. The presentation – each Robusto Larga is wrapped in tissue paper – makes it seem like a present, and the obscuro wrapper underneath is a pleasure to look at too. This is truly a rare cigar that goes equally well on the golf course or after a fancy dinner. All this for the bargain price of about three dollars per stick.

Tampa Bureau Chief George E

The Punch Champion is a little four and ½ inch bowling pin of a cigar that’s just plain fun to smoke. Pick one up and I’ll bet it feels great. Enjoy the light aroma of cedar before you light it. Best of all, it’s got that Punch spice, but it doesn’t stop there; other flavors kick in along the way. You can usually find them for around $4 per stick.

–The Stogie Guys

In the wake of the latest G8 summit in Germany, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to reflect on the truly international nature of the cigar industry. After all, your average premium stogie is a great example of the benefits of globalization.

Take a moment and consider your favorite cigar. For the purposes of this article, I’ll choose my most recently reviewed go-to smoke: the Toraño Signature Collection Toro.

Maybe I’m just easily amused, but I think it’s remarkable that the stogie’s brown maduro wrapper was grown in Brazil while the binders and fillers are products of the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. All this from a company that has major operations in Mexico and Ecuador and sells most of its products in the United States.

Call me crazy, but sometimes when I sit down with one of these excellent cigars, I think about all the entrepreneurs, farmers, rollers, truck drivers, graphic designers, ink manufacturers, marketing professionals, and administrative support that went into transforming my stogie from idea to seed to leaf to finished product.

Then I think about all the people and skills that were required to make each cigar rolling implement, each farming tool, and each…well, everything. When you get right down to it, countless people play at least some minor role in the manufacture of each stick.

This got me thinking about one of my favorite short essays of all time: “I, Pencil” by Leonard E. Read. A quick read and completely worthwhile, it was first published back in 1958, but its message is as relevant now as it ever was.

The essay, written from the point of view of a pencil, goes on to explain how millions of workers – from loggers to miners to the numberless people who refined and fabricated each necessary component – have a hand in every pencil produced, no one of whom even knows more than a very few of the others involved, and many of whom live thousands of miles apart.

Fascinating. At least to me, anyways. These truths are so easily applied to cigars (and most other products you can imagine for that matter) that each puff should be a wonderfully awe-inspiring delight. Well, maybe that’s a bit overboard. But you have to admit it is worth the thought every once in awhile.

Say what you will about the G8 and globalization (and, believe me, many people emphatically do), but I count myself lucky that millions of people take the time and effort to bring great cigars to my humidor – even if they don’t realize it.

–Patrick A

Tags: cigars

If there’s anyone out there producing as many fine cigars at modest prices as Oliva, I’d love to hear about them. I’ve already sung the praises of the company’s Serie G Maduro in an April Quick Smoke.

Now let me wax poetic about the extremely tasty and tiny Oliva Serie G Special. Its shape resembles the pig-in-a-python style of the Punch Champion, though the Oliva has a more tapered end and at three and 3/4 inches it is a half inch shorter. The ring gauge is listed at 48.

I enjoyed one recently at a shop when I had already smoked something else and ended up with more time on my hands than I’d anticipated. At $2.75 per stick, it’s a bargain. For a box of 48, I’ve seen Internet prices listed at under $80. That is an absolute steal.

For what surely must be a difficult cigar to roll, it smokes magnificently. The burn, often a concern with delicate African Cameroon wrappers, was sharp, the solid ash remarkably white, and the smoke thick and plentiful.

The Cameroon wrapper generated what I think of as tobacco’s typical understated zest, and it seemed to float under the rich tobacco taste of the Nicaraguan Habano filler and the Cuban-Seen Habano binder. Not overly complex or multi-dimensional, but would you really expect that in a cigar under four inches?

I think this would be great for new cigar smokers. It’s smooth on the palate, there’s lots of smoke to play with, and it won’t last too long. Just make sure not to smoke too fast and create too much heat.

If you’re like me and find little appeal in cigars the size of cigarettes, the Oliva Special is a satisfying choice when you want a smoke but don’t have much time. Based on the taste and value, I give this special little cigar three and 1/2 out of five stogies.

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

–George E

Tags: cigars

The following is intended to clarify the policies and practices of StogieGuys.com. Should you have additional questions or concerns, we encourage you to contact Publisher Patrick Semmens at PatrickS (at) StogieGuys.com.

Reviews Policy

From time to time, StogieGuys.com will review products created or sold by our advertisers or affiliates. We also accept free samples from manufacturers and retailers in order to provide readers with information on the widest range of cigars and cigar-related products.

Under no circumstances will the acceptance of product samples or advertising revenue influence our honest editorial decisions. We have no intentions to compromise the trust we have built with our loyal reader base.

Comment Policy

StogieGuys.com has an open comment policy. Since comments are instantly posted to the site, we cannot be held liable for their contents.

Like most sites with open comments, StogieGuys.com uses an automated filter to combat the numerous spam comments posted daily. Occasionally legitimate comments get caught up in this automated filter. If you believe your comment has been erroneously caught by our filter, please feel free to contact us.

StogieGuys.com editors have complete discretion to delete any comments that are off-topic, deemed advertisements or solicitations, or determined by the editors to be inappropriate for any reason.

Link Policy

StogieGuys.com cannot be responsible for the contents of other websites, including sites we link to. We do our best to ensure that links are correct when we publish articles. If you find a link that is broken please feel free to contact us.

Images Policy

Starting November 15th, 2007, StogieGuys.com has this policy on images.

Last updated: January 19, 2009