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.”

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 magnificent specimen from RoMa Craft Tobac includes a toothy, rustic, dark Mexican San Andrés wrapper, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and four different types of Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. It also boasts an aromatic Dominican olor component, and a Pennsylvanian double ligero leaf known as “Green River Sucker One.” The result is a strong, full-bodied cigar with dense, rich flavors packed into a compact (4.25 x 52) format. Notes include dark chocolate, leather, espresso, black pepper, nougat, and dry oak. Construction is exquisite. There are few better ways to spend $10.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The Montecristo Ciudad de Música, a new cigar line produced by Crowned Heads in partnership with Altadis U.S.A., is only the latest example among many instances of Crowned Heads invoking its love of music to help market cigars. At this point, it’s hard to think of the Nashville-based boutique outfit without conjuring images of live rock and artists like Led Zeppelin and Kings of Leon.

Let’s add Johnny Cash. Jericho Hill was “inspired by Cash’s rendition of ‘Cocaine Blues,’ found on Cash’s 1968 live album, At Folsom Prison,” according to the Crowned Heads website. “The song is a tale of a man, Willy Lee, who goes down a dark path brought on by the influence of whiskey and cocaine. Willy is captured in Juarez, Mexico, and is brought to justice by the sheriff from Jericho Hill. Cash was the fourth of seven children, and Jericho Hill marks the fourth regular production release from Crowned Heads.”

There are four original Jericho Hill vitolas, all inspired by lyrics and music from At Folsom Prison: .44S (5.1 x 44), LBV (6.5 x 46), OBS (4.75 x 52), and Willy Lee (6 x 54). All are made at the My Father Cigars factory in Estelí with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos.

The lightly box-pressed Jack Brown vitola (5 x 56) was added in 2015 and carries a suggested retail price of about $10. I smoked a handful in this size for this review. Each had a reddish, rustic wrapper with thin veins, plenty of wrinkles, and ample tooth. The cold draw was moderate—perhaps just a tad tight for my liking. The foot exhibits a cross-section of tightly packed tobaccos.

Once lit, faint pre-light notes of sweet cedar and oak transition to a medium-bodied, leathery profile. Individual flavors include leather, molasses, earth, dry wood, and banana bread. After only a quarter of an inch, the draw opens nicely and the smoke production is ample, sweet, and aromatic.

Towards the midway point, there is an increase in spice with tastes of cayenne and both white and black pepper. Leather is still the dominant force, however. The burn line is imperfect but not at all troublesome, and the white ash holds firmly off the foot. The final third can be characterized as medium- to full-bodied with additional bright citrus flavors.

When it was introduced in 2014, Jericho Hill marked a departure in strategy for Crowned Heads. It was the first regular production cigar to be produced at a factory other than E.P. Carrillo’s La Alianza in the Dominican Republic, and it was also the first time the company employed a San Andrés wrapper. The result is a well-balanced, earthy, leathery, well-made cigar. The Jack Brown vitola earns an admirable rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Baby, it’s cold outside. For those of us not lucky enough to be living in a tropical climate in the winter, November—with its diminishing humidity and plummeting temperatures—is a stark reminder that this time of year is not the most accommodating for cigars. It isn’t terribly accommodating for cigar smokers, either. Thanks to government-imposed smoking bans, thousands of decent cigar enthusiasts will be thrust into the cold and out of private restaurants and bars that otherwise would have welcomed them with open arms.

One strategy for beating the winter-time blues is to limit your exposure to the elements by smoking shorter cigars. And if you’re looking to pack a mighty punch into a stout format, one excellent option is the Aquitaine Knuckle Dragger from RoMa Craft Tobac.

By now, RoMa Craft—brought to you by Mike Rosales (the “Ro”) and Skip Martin (the “Ma)—needs no introduction. After all, the operation may be small with limited production, but it’s undoubtedly making some of the world’s best cigars. The lineup includes CroMagnon, Intemperance (EC XVIII and BA XXI), and Aquitaine.

Aquitaine has the same filler blend (Estelí, Condega, and Pueblo Nuevo) and binder (Cameroon) as CroMagnon. But instead of featuring a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper, Aquitaine has an Ecuadorian Habano Ligero wrapper. “This eighth and ninth priming Ligero leaf is thick, oily, and has amazing texture,” according to RoMa.

The Knuckle Dragger (4 x 52) retails for $6.25 and sports a wrapper that’s rustic, toothy, and oily. It is on the firm side and the pre-light notes remind me of dried apricot and cereals. The nicely executed cap, even when only barely pierced, conceals a smooth cold draw.

Right out of the gate, the flavor is bold with a rich, leathery texture on the palate. Introductory notes include leather, white pepper spice, espresso bean, and a bit of a cayenne heat in the back of the throat. A wonderful sweetness, likely a product of the Cameroon binder, adds a touch of cream to balance the blend.

Towards the midway point, the body ramps up from medium- to full-bodied to full-blown full. There’s a hearty nicotine kick. Notes of roasted cashew join the profile. From there, the flavor remains largely unchanged to the nub, save for an increase in spice and heat down the home stretch. All the while, construction is exquisite. Expect a solid ash, even burn, and good smoke production.

RoMa Craft has built its well-deserved reputation on quality, consistency, and great bang for the buck. The Aquitaine Knuckle Dragger lives up to these virtuous characteristics, and it does so in a winter-friendly format that delivers a ton of flavor in a relatively short time span. In my book, it’s worthy of a rating of 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.”

This Padrón Serie 1964 vitola is exclusive to Florida retailer Smoke Inn. It retails for about $12 and is presented in a small, winter-friendly format (4 x 50). Construction is sublime, and the flavor profile includes notes of cream, almond, cedar, cocoa, and vanilla. About five months have passed since I reviewed it in June, and I can’t really detect any discernible changes. That’s OK in my book, though, as this Nicaraguan puro was unsurprisingly wonderful from the get-go.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys