The Stogie Guys

Buffalo Trace makes plenty of great bourbons: Blanton’s, George T. Stagg, Elmer T. Lee, W.L. Weller, Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, and a little bourbon called Pappy Van Winkle. (Pappy has become excruciatingly difficult and expensive to acquire in the past few years.)

That’s why I was enthusiastic about trying one of Buffalo Trace’s newer offerings: E.H. Taylor, named after Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., one of the founding fathers of the bourbon industry and one-time owner of what is now called Buffalo Trace Distillery. Taylor was a proponent of the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, which ensured quality standards for “bottled-in-bond” bourbon (back then lots of bourbon was mixed with things like tobacco, turpentine, or other horrible additives to appear more aged than they were). The Act also ensured that the federal government could more easily collect taxes.

Naturally, the many styles of E.H. Taylor are all “Bottled-in-Bond” in compliance with the 1897 law, most of which is still in effect. In order to meet that standard, a bourbon must be 100-proof straight whiskey, must be made at one distillery and distilled in one season, and must be at least four years old. Up until the 1980s bottled-in-bond whiskey was guarded by federal treasury agents in special warehouses where taxes were collected only when whiskey was bottled for sale and departed the warehouse.

The E.H. Taylor line currently includes six whiskeys. The single barrel bourbon variety sells for $60-70 a bottle. And it’s a handsome bottle that comes in a matching tube. It also belongs on my top shelf, along with George T. Stagg, Smooth Ambler, and Zaya Rum, if only because, like those, the bottle is too tall to fit on any of my other shelves.

I’ve seen the age listed at 11 years and 7 months, but the bottle doesn’t have a formal age statement, so take that with a grain of salt. The resulting 100-proof spirit is a dark amber color with a rather muted nose of caramel notes.

On the palate, E.H. Taylor Single Barrel demonstrates fudge, nut, dried fruit, winter spices, and just a bit of oak. It has a rum-like mouthfeel. The finish is medium-length and smooth with more dried fruit and fudge.

There’s a fair bit of nuance to the Taylor Single Barrel, so you’ll want to go with a mild or medium-bodied smoke with lots of balance. Think Tesa Vintage Especial, Ashton Classic, Arturo Fuente King T Rosado Sun Grown, Cabaiguan, or the Cuban Cohiba Siglo.

Overall, I enjoyed E.H. Taylor Single Barrel, but for the price I’d expect something a bit more exceptional. It’s only a bit better than Elmer T. Lee or Eagle Rare 10 Year (and at least double the price) and not nearly what George T. Stagg is (if you can find it) for not too much more money. Connoisseurs may want to seek this out, but if you’re just getting acquainted with bourbon there are better options that provide more value.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

We often get questions from people who read our reviews and say something along the lines of, “But I can’t taste flavor X, Y, or Z; my palate isn’t developed enough.” And they’re probably right, most people just smoke and enjoy cigars, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There’s obviously a good deal of personal preference when it comes to reviewing cigars, but when reviewers frequently notice the same flavors in the same cigars, it’s evidence that there’s also quite a bit of science to tasting cigars. In my experience, it’s mostly a question of training yourself to observe all the complexities that a cigar can demonstrate. To that end, for those who want to develop their palate and become better at cigar tasting, here are five suggestions:

Take Notes – If observation is step one then documentation is 1A. Not only will writing down your observations help you remember what you noticed while smoking a particular cigar, but putting pen to paper will force you to think about the descriptions you use and make sure they are evocative and precise so they will be useful later.

Re-taste – There’s a good reason why we make a point of sampling multiple cigars (usually at least three) before writing a full review. Not only can one particular cigar be off, or just different, but the situation in which it is smoked can make all the difference. Taste the same cigar more than once and you’ll start to realize what is the cigar and what is you, and the more you taste a cigar the more easily you’ll be able to pinpoint the defining characteristics.

Clean Your Palate – While I love pairing cigars with a fine spirit or a good cup of coffee, I find the best way to really focus on the cigar is absent a flavorful pairing. Spring water is good. The best is room temperature or slightly-chilled club soda. The bubbles clean the palate while making sure it isn’t too cold will prevent your taste buds from being dulled.

Smoke Two – I’ve written before that one of the best ways to develop your palate is to smoke two cigars at once. It’s like that game you did at a kid where you had to pick out the differences between two seemingly identical pictures. If you smoke two similar cigars side-by-side, you’ll be forced to notice the contrasts and complexities that you wouldn’t smoking one alone. (Not to mention, most people smoke cigars too quickly, so alternating between the two will force you to slow down.)

Retrohale – It’s said that 90% of what you taste is smell, or more precisely that only 10-20% of taste is through the tongue. That’s why smoking through the nose, also known as retrohaling, is an excellent way to observe flavors you’d otherwise miss. My colleague wrote an excellent description of how to retrohale here.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The fact that Illinois, unlike Virginia, doesn’t have a state-controlled monopoly on the sale of liquor didn’t factor into my decision to move back home to Chicago in 2011. But it certainly didn’t hurt. Liquor store competition generally results in better selection, lower prices, and an overall superior experience. The absence of a state liquor stores was a welcome change.

Our home in the Lakeview neighborhood is a short walk from a Binny’s Beverage Depot, a chain of nearly 30 liquor stores in the Chicagoland area—most of which have a walk-in humidor. While one might expect a liquor store to have a paltry stock of smokes, I’ve consistently found my local Binny’s to have excellent prices and a selection that would be the envy of many stand-alone cigar shops. I can’t go in there to buy libations without perusing the humidor to see what’s new. The whole arrangement is downright dangerous.

One new noteworthy display is the Flor de las Antillas Toro Grande, a cigar that’s crafted exclusively for Binny’s by My Father Cigars. Binny’s is the third tobacco retailer to get its own exclusive Flor de las Antillas vitola, the others being Texas-based Up in Smoke (Lancero) and Philadelphia-based Holt’s Cigar Company (Short Churchill). The formats may be different, but all adhere to the same recipe: a Nicaraguan sun-grown wrapper around Nicaraguan tobaccos.

The box-pressed Toro Grande (6 x 60) retails for $9.70 per cigar, or $174.95 for a box of 20. Only 500 boxes will ever be made for a total run of 10,000 cigars. I sampled four for this review. Each came equipped with a maroon band across the foot, a triple-cap, a firm packing of tobaccos, and pre-light notes of sweet cocoa and earth.

Slightly less awkward in the mouth than a normal 60-ring gauge smoke because of the box press, the Toro Grande starts with a delightful profile of cream, pepper, vanilla, and a spice that reminds me of nutmeg. The texture is bready and a little airy. The midway point witnesses no increase in the medium-bodied profile and more of a focus on coffee and dry wood. The finish is characterized by less sweetness and more bitter notes.

With damn near perfect combustion qualities, the Flor de las Antillas Toro Grande is a solid buy for less than $10—even if its large format means the cigar overstays its welcome a bit. While I’ve never been a big fan of large, thick cigars, I can see myself keeping a few of these on hand for those times that call for extra-long smokes. That results in a rating 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

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.”

Proud of his family’s tobacco heritage, Christian Eiroa also declared his cigar independence with an eponymous creation earlier this year. It’s a Honduran puro from beginning to end, rolled at his new factory in Danlí. Four sizes have MSRPs from $8.95 to $10.95. I smoked the Toro (6 x 54) and was impressed. It’s tasty and fully lives up to Eiroa’s description of “bold and full-bodied.”

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: N/A

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 new perfecto from Aging Room is a super-premium smoke that’s not to be missed. A Dominican puro, the M21 Fortissimo measures 5.75 inches long with a ring gauge of 47 and costs $13. But don’t let that price tag dissuade you. The profile is complex and balanced with notes of dry oak, espresso, white pepper, cream, and peanut. Construction is perfect. Only 3,000 boxes of 10 cigars will be made, so don’t miss your chance to give it a try.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

This year has been a big one for Tatuaje Cigars, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary—not that it’s easy to miss. The company switched up the packaging on its original Brown Label line, including anniversary bands, and added new sizes.

The tenth anniversary also influenced Tatuaje’s third annual TAA release, which has just arrived on the shelves of Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) stores. TAA is a small (relative to IPCPR) association of cigar shops that includes many of the most prominent U.S. tobacconists.

This year’s TAA release is different from previous editions in two notable ways. First, the packaging is a variation of the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary cigar with a black background instead of brown on the band. Second, the blend is based on the regular Brown Label line, where as in past years it used a blend based on the Barclay Rex 100th Anniversary blend, one of my all-time favorites.

That means it uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler. Like the other additions to Brown Line beyond the original six, this is made at Don Pepin Garcia’s My Father Cigars factory in Estelí.

The cigar is 6.4 inches long with a ring gauge of 54 (with a closed foot), one of the bigger editions of the original Brown Label blend. It sells for $11 each, less by the box. I acquired the three I smoked for this review from Emerson’s Cigars, which still has them in stock.

Even though we’re told it’s the same blend as the original Brown Label, the wrapper seems a bit darker and less reddish than the Brown Label smokes I’ve had lately. There were other aspects that seemed slightly different than the original Brown Label.

The cigar features the excellent balanced combination of wood, cream, bread, and subtle pepper spice that makes the Brown Label a popular medium- to full-bodied cigar. There are also darker charred oak and meaty notes that I don’t recall finding in the other Brown Label sizes. Like most Pepin-produced cigars, construction was excellent.

All in all, it’s a tasty rendition of the Tatuaje Seleccion de Cazadores (the full name for Brown Label), with just a few tweaks caused either by the size or a slight variation in the blend. I was a bit disappointed Pete Johnson didn’t continue the TAA blend of the previous years (though it will be back next year), but the Tatuaje Grand Chasseur TAA 2013 is still an excellent cigar worthy of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

With its extremely sharp press, this cigar makes a strong first impression that’s enhanced by a strong pre-light aroma from the Habano ’98 wrapper.

I smoked three of these, supplied recently by Flex Assouline Cigars, with whom we failed to personally connect at the IPCPR Trade Show this summer in Las Vegas. The Blaze is 6 inches long with a ring gauge of 54, an MSRP of $7, and an international composition. The binder is Indonesian and the filler comprises Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco.

Overall, Havana Sunrise is an enjoyable cigar, with balanced flavors that are medium in strength. The finish is a bit harsh at the start, though that soon rounds out.

But I did encounter some negatives, mainly with the burn. The worst came in the second sample, when a tunnel developed about half way down, airing out the smoke and creating a terrible off-kilter burn I tried vainly to correct again and again.

I wasn’t particularly concerned since I was smoking outdoors with the attendant hazards of errant breezes and still-high Florida humidity. And the first Blaze I smoked outdoors burned just fine, produced thick smoke like a forest fire, and had an excellent draw.

Unfortunately, the third cigar also had a tunnel, though less severe. There was also a problem shared with the earlier stick: a rock-hard ash as the tunnel developed, which can be indicative of problem tobacco.

According to the Flex Assouline website, distribution is limited. So you might not see these cigars at your local shop. If you do, though, I’d recommend giving them a try. It’s the kind of cigar a lot of smokers will enjoy. Unfortunately, the performance issues were a drawback. I rate it three stogies out of five.

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

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys