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.”

Looking for a good way to spend $5? It’s hard to think of a better buy than the 1878 Cubano Especial Capa Natural Robusto from Pinar del Rio. This Abe Flores creation has a mixture of Ecuadorian, Nicaraguan, and Dominican tobaccos that combines to produce an outstanding profile of dry oak, grass, nuts, and cream. With excellent construction, this five-inch cigar is an easy recommendation. Try it with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

You’ve got to hand it to Pete Johnson, the creator and owner of the Tatuaje cigar brand: The annual Halloween cigar release is marketing genius. Each year Tatuaje fans seek out the Halloween limited release with many buying an entire box before smoking a single one.

Cigar Aficionado even wrote an article about the “distribution nightmare” that the Halloween release has become. With 666 numbered “dress boxes” going out to 13 “unlucky retailers” (plus another 1,500 plain boxes of ten), there is still more demand than supply. But it’s hard to feel to sorry for Johnson for having too many people wanting his annual Halloween cigar.

Wrapper leaf generally is judged by two key attributes: taste and appearance. A testament to that marketing genius, by making ugly “scary” cigars cool, the Halloween release is free to use wrapper that while plenty tasty, would normally be far too rustic in appearance for most $13 cigars. Indeed, the Sumatra wrapper, while oily, is two-toned with reddish brown and plenty of black veins.

Inside the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper is binder and filler based on the Tatuaje Cojonu. The cigar is a large (7.5″ x 52) box-pressed torpedo with an unfinished foot that is exposed for half an inch before the wrapper starts.

Once lit, the unfinished foot creates an unbalanced start. When the wrapper kicks in, though, you get a full-bodied, complete smoke. The Wolfman has a notable dried fruit sweetness, combined with leather and a hint of woodiness. There’s also a little sourness that comes and goes.

The flavors change only slightly as the long smoke moves past the halfway point. Some cedary spice develops and the dried fruit notes continue. The medium- to full-bodied profile reminds me an awful lot of the NHC Capa Especial, another box-pressed, Sumatra-wrapped Tatuaje.

Despite a somewhat loose draw, construction is excellent. The burn is even and, except for the unfinished foot, the ash holds steady for over an inch.

In the end, the newest Halloween is much like its predecessors: a little different and a little quirky, but ultimately pretty good (and yes, the dress box is pretty cool too). It’s not the best Tatuaje I’ve ever smoked, but ultimately it’s enjoyable and worthy of a rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

“We are the cigar for the majority cigar smoker, not the…corporate exec sitting in his big leather chair smoking a $20 cigar…You, the majority cigar smoker, are who we labor for.”

That’s the idea behind C&C Cigars, a new outfit that announced itself at the IPCPR Trade Show in July. Reading through the company’s website, you get the idea that C&C intends to position itself as a purveyor of premium cigars that won’t break the bank, and it hopes to win over cigar veterans who are looking for a solid values.

You’ll remember C&C’s owner, Joe Chiusano, as the former president of Cusano, a brand that ended up getting purchased by Davidoff in 2009. He and his team of former Cusano/Davidoff employees—including Jeff Aronson, Maurice Tisseur, and Shane Hays—have cooked up three premium lines that are handmade in the Dominican Republic: Corojo, Maduro, and Connecticut.

The Connecticut will ship towards the end of the month, and the Maduro and Corojo started hitting retailers in late October. Each blend is available in three sizes of 18-count boxes: Robusto (5 x 50), Toro (6 x 52), and Churchill (7 x 50). In keeping with C&C’s goal of value, the MSRPs on these cigars all fall in the $3.99 to $4.49 range.

The Corojo Robusto certainly doesn’t look like a smoke that costs less than $4. The samples I examined for this review each had clean, moderately oily Ecuadorian wrappers and nice triple caps. Underneath, the Dominican binder and filler tobaccos are packed in well enough to create a heavy, firm feel in the hand, yet carefully enough to yield a smooth draw. The pre-light aroma is earthy.

The first few lit puffs give off a smooth, oaky character with virtually none of the spice that I associate with corojo tobacco. After a half inch, though, a richer profile emerges. Notes include molasses, toast, graham, and a soft spiciness that lingers in the finish. As C&C says, “the spice sneaks up on you.” I’d have to agree.

While the flavors don’t really change from the first inch to the nub, they do tend to slowly increase in intensity throughout the smoke. Despite this amplification, the Corojo Robusto remains toward the lighter end of the medium-bodied range.

With these characteristics and outstanding physical properties, the C&C Corojo Robusto is a very good choice if you’re looking for a milder corojo that won’t break the bank. No, you won’t find a ton of complexity here. But even discerning smokers will agree that, for the money, this is a welcome addition to the market, one worthy of three stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The quest for the perfect cigar does not always end in riches, but sometimes the accomplishment is in the journey itself. I rolled into Mexico last week with my wife and a couple of friends for eight days of R&R at a resort on the island of Isla Mujeres, off the coast of Cancun. Being in a tropical paradise and a country where Cuban cigars are legal, I obviously set out to find the perfect cigar. In the end, it was the experience of the adventure and the search for the cigar that yielded more enjoyment than the cigar itself.

The first stop was the duty free-shop in the Cancun airport. I encountered the usual Cuban staples: Partagss, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta. Three-packs and five-packs, most in the $50 to $100 range. A total rip-off. Are they even real? They had the hologram and the seal from Habanos, but I knew those were easy to fake. I decided to give it a chance though— given that I was in a duty-free shop and not talking to some vendor on the street, I figured the odds were slightly in my favor. I bought a three-pack of Romeo y Julieta No. 5 cigars for $25.

Motioning for the attendant to unlock the glass case, he smiled and asked, “¿Habla Español?” I held my thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “Un poquitito.” Just a tiny little bit. “¿De donde?” He asked. Where are you from? “Minnesota.” “Ah,” he nodded. “Venezuela.”

“No,” I waved a hand. “Mnnesota.” I pointed to my baseball hat and quickly realized I’ve just pointed to the red and white Minnesota Twins TC embroidered on my hat, surely confusing the poor gentleman. He’ll never connect TC to Minnesota, I thought, so I quickly explain, “The Twin Cities.” He nodded and smiled and I’m not sure how much he understood, or how much he cared, because the next thing he did was point me to the cash register. I paid for my three-pack and the girl bagged my stogies in plastic and secured them with a twist tie. I passed through customs and an hour later, my party and I were on Isla Mujeres.

I knew the island would be filled with cigars and vendors pushing them on every corner and after five minutes I knew that even if these Cubans were real, I wouldn’t want to touch them. The vendors cared for their cigars the same way I care for my dirty laundry. If there was a bin they could have used to toss these cigars in for their store for display, they would have used one. I saw boxes of cigars arranged outside on the steps leading into a shop, probably boiling to death under the 90-degree sun or sopping under the 90-percent humidity. I saw wrappers cut and wrinkled like the cigar had been carried in someone’s pocket. I saw gnarly, makeshift variety-packs where a Cohiba shared a box with a pair of cheap Montecristos and a handful of nameless mix-and-match cigarillos. The prices weren’t bad but these cigars were so unattractive that I was happy I brought a six-pack of Sancho Panza Double Maduros from home.

I shared the Romeo y Julietas with the couple we traveled with, giving one to the husband, another to the wife, and keeping the third for myself. This would be the first cigar either of them had smoked and they needed a quick seminar. I cut their ends and demonstrated how to light it, and how to puff on the stogie. “Don’t pull too fast,” I warned them. “You don’t want to hotbox it.” “Do I inhale?” asked the wife. “No,” I said. “Just enjoy the taste.”

We sat on a cliff overlooking Mexico’s easternmost point, watching and listening to the waves, smoking Cuban cigars. After 15 minutes of peace and solitude unknown to the American hustle-bustle, it was time to move on. “How do you put it out?” they asked.

“You don’t,” I told them as I gently placed my smoldering nub on the edge of the cliff. “Just let it go out on its own. Respect the stick. Leave it here, and let it be.” They did, and we walked back to our golf cart and began the journey back to our hotel.

On the way back we passed a small baseball stadium with a capacity of probably 5,000. There was a bronze statue of a baseball player outside but we passed it too quickly for me to read the name. Then I realized, they have their own baseball heroes in Mexico. Their own great games, their own legendary moments. Mexican baseball was a whole new universe, and one where I could happily spend a lifetime.

When we got closer to our hotel, the vendors appeared with their calls to Cuban cigars. But aside from the Romeo y Julietas, the Sanchos were all I smoked. Sure, the vendors are constantly pointing to their, “Cigars! Cuban cigars!” They think that since you’re a guy, you’re going to jump all over them but these guys are clearly marketing to the cigar-ignorant, and based on the volume of product available, this is a market that thrives.

Sadly, I never found the perfect cigar. Sure, the cigars from the airport were good, but I was hoping to try an authentic Cohiba Behike. All I encountered was the bottom of the bargain bin. As I stared into the blue water I realized that every quest does not end in glory, especially the quest for the Holy Grail. My crusade would have to continue on another trip, to be resumed on my next journey overseas. Until then, I could only relish in the excitement of the search and the anticipation of another adventure.

–Mark M‘s latest project is a comic anthology called Germ Warfare.

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.”

 

Viaje is known for making its cigars in small batches, which makes the ultra-small batch White Label Project exceedingly rare and very tough to find. This particular version, of which only 5,000 cigars were made, is based on the the 50/50 Red blend. Viaje owner Andre Farkas says the blend was designed to be slightly stronger than the full production 50/50 Red line (and presumably not quite as strong as the 50/50 Black line). The well-made Nicaraguan puro is firm to the touch with no soft spot between the two blends, and features a nearly flawless criollo wrapper, a pigtale cap, and slightly closed foot.  It starts out with a burst of spice but quickly settles into a smooth, woody, medium- to full-bodied profile. After the midway point, it evolves only slightly as the sweetness picks up and the cigar develops a leathery, syrupy element. Except for a somewhat tight draw, construction was excellent on this limited but enjoyable cigar.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

“Made in the U.S.A.” is a phrase not often associated with premium cigars. But that’s the sort of spirit Walter “Lilo” Santiago wants to bring to his new brand, Crémo Cigars.

When Crémo actually hits the market in early 2012, Santiago will be promoting the fact that the cigars are crafted at the El Titan de Bronze Cigar Factory on Miami’s Calle Ocho. The factory, according to a recent Crémo press release, is “known best for its old-school Cuban entubado techniques, [and] is a family owned and operated ‘fabriquita’ which employs level-nine rollers from Cuba, who have worked for Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Corona, and Partagas. These torcedores, like a painter to a canvas, handcraft each cigar with meticulous detail.”

I recently received several samples of Crémo’s inaugural blend—called “Classic”—in the mail from Santiago. Sure enough, along the side of each cream-colored band is the phrase “handcrafted in Little Havana.” But the tobacco within the blend is not American. It is comprised of a Habano wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Exclusively blended by Willy Herrera prior to his departure to Drew Estate, Classic will be offered in three vitolas: a corona gorda called Magnum Opus (5.75 x 46), a robusto called Excelsior (5 x 50), and a toro called Intrepidus (6 x 52). The robusto will carry an MSRP of $8 while the other two formats will be priced in the $10-12 range.

The Intrepidus is a pale-looking smoke with a roadmap of thin veins across its otherwise smooth surface. The cap is constructed well, and there’s a moderately soft feel from head to toe. I notice faint pre-light notes of honey and hay as I take a draw before touching fire to the foot.

After establishing an even light, the cigar starts with a dry wood flavor, some coffee, and plenty of Nicaraguan kick. The latter taste, which comes across as a black pepper spice, slowly fades after the first inch, leaving a creamier texture and a more rounded profile. I’d be willing to say the Intrepidus starts fairly full-bodied and transitions to the medium-bodied range rather quickly. That’s where it remains until the end, giving off floral notes and cedar along the way. Construction on the toro is about as close to perfect as you can get.

Santiago tells me Crémo will be introducing a maduro line at the company’s official launch at next summer’s IPCPR Trade Show in Orlando. I look forward to trying that. For now, the Classic Intrepidus has made an impression on me, with all three samples smoking well, yielding complex flavors, and producing aromatic resting smoke. For these reasons, I have no qualms about rating this up-and-coming smoke four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Ask any cigar enthusiast to name his top three cigar brands, and there’s an excellent chance Padrón will be one third of his answer. This vertically integrated company has been in the business for almost 50 years, and it has produced some of the most sought-after cigars this side of Cuba—including the Anniversary Series (both 1926 and 1964) and Family Reserve.

Not to be overlooked is the original Padrón line, which includes over a dozen vitolas that are available in either Natural or Maduro formats. (By the way, with similar wrapper shades and no distinguishing markings, it’s really hard to tell a Natural from a Maduro without holding two next to each other.) Each is comprised of Cuban-seed Nicaraguan tobacco that’s aged for two and a half years.

The Executive is a double corona that measures seven and a half inches long with a ring gauge of 50. I picked it up for $7 at a tobacconist in downtown Chicago. It’s a long, rugged-looking cigar that takes a good two hours to smoke to completion. Before setting fire to the foot, it’s impossible not to take note of the Executive’s pungent pre-light aroma of chocolate and earth.

I’ve read that the draw on this vitola can be a bit airy, especially for its length. Using a punch instead of a guillotine cutter yields a perfect draw. Once an even light is established, a syrupy taste of coffee, leather, and pepper emerges. And while there’s a bit of sweetness on the finish, the cigar is far less chocolatey than expected.

I don’t really mind that because the Executive’s taste is agreeable and the resting smoke is very aromatic and pleasant. These are important points, especially since the profile hardly changes from beginning to end. A two-hour smoke with an unwavering flavor can often be a bad thing. But, in this case, the taste is interesting and balanced enough to hold my attention.

With superb physical attributes—including a solid white ash and a straight burn—the Executive Maduro is a great way to get that classic Padrón quality without paying top dollar. Sure, the complexity doesn’t match the Anniversary Series or the Family Reserve, but try finding those premier smokes for $7. I rate this vitola three and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys