The Stogie Guys

The premise of Habanos’ new Añejados line, first introduced in 2015, is simple: Cuban cigars aged for at least five years in their box before being released. The appeal is obvious, too.

Cuba’s national cigar maker has a reputation for distributing cigars that, even if not obviously under-aged, benefited from extended post-purchase aging. Now, rather than age the cigars yourself, you can pay a premium for cigars with five to eight years of age.

The Hoyo de Monterrey Hermoso No. 4 Añejados was introduced in early 2016, along with the Partagás Corona Gorda Añejados. (In 2015, the original Añejados offerings consisted of a Romeo y Julieta Píramides and the Montecristo Churchill.)

The Hoyo de Monterrey Hermoso No. 4 Añejados is a new size (5 x 48) for the Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey lineup. I purchased two samples for about 18 euros each, including taxes.

The cigar features solid construction despite it’s slightly spongy touch, a frequent characteristic of Cuban cigars. But combustion is excellent, with a open draw, even burn, and solid ash.

The dominant flavors include balanced cedar and café au lait. There’s also hickory notes along with subtle clove, especially towards the second half of the cigar.

This is a good Cuban cigar, with medium-bodied flavors, though it’m not sure it is far better than a standard Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey that has a year or two of age.

Ultimately, you pay a premium for an assurance of a cigar that isn’t underaged, but the balanced, rich flavors of Hoyo de Monterrey Hermoso No. 4 Añejados still earns it a very solid rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Habanos/Stogie Guys

Back in October, I reviewed the Fable Fourth Prime Mersenne (5.25 x 56), an intense, flavorful cigar that’s a highly enjoyable experience. I made it a point to try other sizes in the blend. Next up is the gran toro-sized Sapta (6.25 x 54), which runs about $11 (not including horrid taxes here in Chicago).

For the uninitiated, Fable comes from RoMa Craft’s home factory in Estelí, Nicaragua: Fabrica de Tabacos NicaSueño S.A. The brand debuted in early 2016 and is made for owners Sean Kremenetski and Mitul Shah.

Fourth Prime is Fable’s inaugural release. (There is only one other line listed on Fable’s website, Fourth Prime Limited Production; but, again, the brand has only been around for about two years, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a small portfolio, especially if that portfolio is really solid.) The line pays homage to “the story of the number seven and the significance it holds in our world.”

Fourth Prime is described as “medium to full strength” with “full flavor” and “full aroma.” It is available in four sizes: Sapta (6.25 x 54), Mi (5.75 x 46), Doc (4.25 x 52), and Mersenne (5.25 x 56). The recipe includes a dark Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, an Ecuadorian Habano Ligero binder, and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

The name “Sapta” is “derived from the Indian cultural term Saptarisi, or Sapta Rishi, meaning ‘Seven Sages’—prominent religious figures that parallel the traditional saints of mainstream religion. This size has a personal connection to Mitul Shah through his roots in Indian culture, religion, and tradition.”

Like Mersenne, Sapta is toothy and textured yet devoid of anything but the slimmest of veins. It is rectangle-pressed and fairly firm to the touch. Despite that firmness, though, the flattened cap clips easily to reveal an ultra-smooth cold draw.

Unlike Mersenne, which starts full-bodied, full-strength, and spice-forward with a meaty texture, Sapta is more airy, almost marshmallow-y, in texture. It tastes of nougat, cream, dark chocolate, and coffee bean. There is little spice or heat. This makes it possible for the aforementioned flavors to shine through in a balanced, harmonious way.

My comments about the construction of Mersenne can be repeated verbatim for Sapta: “The combustion properties are impeccable, as one would expect from NicaSueño. The burn line is perfect, the white ash holds well off the foot, the draw is super-clear, and the smoke production is ridiculously voluminous.”

The key differentiation between these sizes is the thick meatiness and grittiness of the Mersenne profile. Sapta is lighter, sweeter, airier, and—in my option, at least—more complex, better balanced, and more enjoyable. I recommend the Fable Fourth Prime Sapta highly and award it four 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.”

All things being equal, I’m not a big fan of cigars that employ Mexican San Andrés wrappers. But this Churchill-sized Illusione, which has over three years of age and also uses Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 and Corojo ’99 tobaccos, is no average Mexican Maduro. It features a medium-bodied combination of oak, cocoa, slight clove, wood, and leather. The complex smoke has a flawless burn, including a sturdy ash that holds for a full two inches.

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.”

Killer Bee (4.5 x 46) retails for $7.50 and sports Nicaraguan tobaccos beneath its dark, clean, oily, and moderately veined Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper. Its closed foot, beautiful “linear cap,” and eye-catching band of black, gold, and green makes this a striking petit corona from an appearance perspective. The flavor is bold and powerful with notes of spicy cedar, char, oak, and molasses. Construction is impressive. I’ve had this particular specimen in one of my humidors for nearly 20 months. Time seems to have smoothed it out a bit, resulting in a more complex, balanced experience. Thinking back on my review from September 2016, I enjoyed the Killer Bee more this time around.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

In recent years, single malt distilleries have introduced a number of new scotches that lack a statement of age, commonly called No Age Statement (NAS) whiskey. It’s easy to dismiss these new introductions as attempts to grab extra dollars from consumers and sell younger whiskey at premium prices.

In many cases, this reaction is accurate. Single malt distilleries don’t have enough properly aged whiskey, so they release NAS whiskey while discontinuing, or raising the prices of, their offerings with age statements.

But there are some genuinely interesting NAS offerings. For my tastes, Talisker Storm is one of them. The distillery on the Isle of Skye introduced Talisker Storm to its line of offerings in 2013. According to reports, Storm is a mixture of single malt between 3 and 25 years old.

The result is a single malt that shows off the light peat and smokiness of the Talisker 10, but with additional intense sweetness. The nose features light smoke and brine along with honey and floral notes.

On the palate, the complexity shines through with classic Talisker smoke and light peat combined with oak, sticky butterscotch, pineapple, and rum cake. The finish features more intense smokiness mixed with honey and pepper.

Talisker Storm is priced similarly to Talisker 10 ($50-60), but it is the better, more interesting (if less classic) single malt.

For those getting into scotch, I’ve often recommended Taliskler 10 as the gateway (as in, if you like it, try these next) to the more singularly peated Islays like Ardbeg 10, Laphroaig 10, and Lagavulin 16. That would make Talisker Storm a slightly different gateway towards some of my favorite Islays (which feature significant sweetness on top of the classic peat) like Ardbeg Uigeadail, Laphroaig Loreor Cairdeas, and Lagavulin Distillers Edition. (In many ways, Talisker Storm reminds me of a slightly less rich, but more affordable and not limited, Talisker Distillers Edition.)

Pair Talisker Storm with a medium- or full-bodied Broadleaf-wrapped cigar like the Liga Privada No. 9 or Tatuaje Reserva Broadleaf Collection Havana Cazadores.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Caldwell Cigar Co. was launched in 2014 by Robert Caldwell with a lineup of Dominican blends. The company seemingly came out of nowhere; its cigars debuted only about eight months after Caldwell walked away from Wynwood Cigars, a co-venture with Christian Eiroa, formerly of Camacho. Most people will tell you eight months isn’t nearly enough time to create and execute a vision for a new brand, but Robert Caldwell isn’t most people.

The following year, in 2015, in an effort to reach segments of the market that don’t typically seek Dominican smokes, Caldwell introduced Blind Man’s Bluff. The line is crafted at Agroindustrias Laepe S.A. in Danlí, Honduras—best known as the factory that produces Camacho—using a “their kitchen, our chef” approach. Caldwell says the intention was to make a “Caldwell-eqsue” cigar from tobaccos to which he didn’t previously have access.

Then, in 2016, Caldwell introduced Eastern Standard Midnight Express. Unlike the Dominican Corojo-wrapped Eastern Standard line, which is billed as mild- to medium-bodied, Eastern Standard Midnight Express is marketed as medium- to full-bodied. Its recipe calls for a Connecticut Arapiraca Maduro wrapper, a Habana Dominicano binder, and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua (Habano) and the Dominican Republic (Criollo ’98 and Corojo).

The Caldwell website lists four Eastern Standard Midnight Express sizes—Corona, Robusto, Piramide, and Toro—but, at my local tobacconist, I found a Lancero (7.5 x 42), which cost me $11.85 (not including insane Chicago taxes).

The Lancero is a handsome, firm, moderately oily, Colorado Maduro-colored cigar with a dark band of black and gold and a ring at the foot that denotes “Midnight Express.” While a pigtail cap may have been the intention, the result (likely from packaging and shipping) is more of a twisted tail that’s flattened to the cap’s surface. The foot exhibits faint pre-light notes of honey and dry wood.

A single wooden match is all that’s need to establish an even light. On the palate, the Lancero is moist and woody with notes of oak, damp earth, leather, and some cayenne heat on the finish. There’s also a background sweetness that reminds me of cherry and dried fruit.

There are some changes to the flavor as the cigar progresses. For starters, the spice amps up a bit after an inch or so. Notably, this is a cinnamon spice, not black pepper. Here, I’d classify the body as solidly medium. Then, at the midway point, there’s a heavy dose of charred meat, salt, and black coffee. The meatiness—a taste of which I’m not particularly fond—tends to play  a greater and greater role as the Lancero progresses.

Construction is good throughout. Expect a slow, straight burn, a moderate draw, solid smoke production, and a gray ash that holds pretty well off the foot.

For me, the Eastern Standard Midnight Express Lancero starts complex and promising, only to become overly meaty and salty in the second half. Smoking with a deliberately slowed pace doesn’t seem to noticeably offset this trend. That’s ultimately why I’m settling on a score of two 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.”

Each year I look forward to receiving the Tatuaje Saints & Sinners member exclusive smoke kit. Details on the blends are limited, but 2017’s “Blend 4” is a robusto with a Broadleaf wrapper. It’s a powerhouse of a cigar with damp earth, dark roast coffee, and pepper. Construction of the full-flavored cigar was flawless, and it’s one of the best cigars I’ve smoked this year.