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.”

This line extension from Jochy Blanco’s La Galera is made at Tabacalera Palma and celebrates his family history in the cigar industry. It sports a Habano Ecuador wrapper with a Dominican Criollo ’98 binder and Dominican Piloto Cubano and Criollo ’98 filler. It begins a bit harsh with a spicy finish. But the good news is it smoothes out after a quarter of an inch or so. Construction and performance are excellent. This isn’t a complex smoke, but if you’re looking for an everyday, low-priced cigar—I’ve seen this robusto (5 x 50) online for under $5—this is one to check out.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: La Galera

Earlier this year I reviewed the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial TAA 2017, noting it reminded me “to revisit the regular offerings in the Jamie Garcia Reserva Especial line.” It also inspired me to pick up the new Reserva Especial Limited Edition 2017 at a recent My Father Cigars store event. The new cigar was released in May and carries a hefty price tag of $17.

The Limited Edition cigar first appeared in 2011. That release came in boxes of 16, whereby 15 had a Broadleaf wrapper and one had an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper. This year, only 3,000 boxes of 16 are being made, a slight decrease from the 2011 release. (The ribbon helps differentiate this release from the 2017 release.)

The 2017 release is all made with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper (no experimental wrapper single this time) in a toro (6.5 x 52) format. The recipe sports Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos, including reportedly two leaves of strong, flavorful, but hard-to-grow Pelo de Oro from the the Garcia’s Nicaraguan farms.

The cigar features many of the oak and chocolate notes of the regular Jamie Garcia line with considerably more intensity and strength. It is highly complex and full-bodied. Initial dark chocolate and minty spice notes quickly turn to sharp black pepper and barrel char. There are also roasted notes and coffee bean, although the interplay between wood, cocoa, and spice dominates the two-hour smoke.

While one of the two cigars I smoked had an unfortunately tight draw for the first quarter, it soon opened up and a sturdy, monotone, light gray ash developed that held for two full inches before I tapped it off. Besides that self-correcting issue, construction is excellent.

This is a significant step up in complexity, flavor, and strength from the regular line, and even from the Especial TAA 2017. Fans of Connecticut Broadleaf cigars will want to seek this one out, even if the price means it will probably be only an occasional indulgence. That’s why the Jamie Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition 2017 earns a rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

In March 2009, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo ended his nine-year tenure with General Cigar to establish his own family-owned boutique. He wasted no time in that endeavor. With a factory in Santiago and a work-in-progress website, the EPC Cigar Co. was up and running in time to debut its first blend at the IPCPR Trade Show that August.

Few in the industry doubted he would be successful in his new venture. That Perez-Carrillo has done well on his own over the past eight years is no surprise to anyone. One industry insider described him to StogieGuys.com as the tobacco world’s “mad genius.” And Alan Rubin of Alec Bradley calls him “the original rebel.”

Say what you will about Cigar Aficionado and its annual Top 25 list, but it must have been incredibly gratifying for Carrillo to see his Selección Oscuro Piramides Royal (6 x 52) capture the number four spot in 2016. I’m sure the publicity didn’t hurt sales, either.

In addition to Piramides Royal, there are three other vitolas in the line: Robusto Gordo (5 x 54), Small Churchill (5.5 x 50), and Especial No. 6 (6 x 52). All are made at the Tabacalera La Alianza factory in the Dominican Republic with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, an Ecuadorian binder, and loosely packed filler tobaccos from Nicaragua.

I recently picked up a 5-pack in the Especial No. 6 size for $41.50, which comes to $8.30 per cigar. Out of the cellophane, this cigar oozes pungent pre-light notes of cocoa and dried fruit, especially at the foot. The exterior is toothy and oily with only a few noticeable veins across its lumpy, rustic surface. The ornate, regal band of red, gold, and black is a nice improvement upon the design from the 2015 launch (you can see an example of the old band here; some of these are likely still on the market).

At the outset, the Especial No. 6 exhibits dry wood, black pepper spice, cayenne heat, and plenty of Nicaraguan zing. It’s full-bodied and zesty with a leathery texture from the get-go. Then, after about half an inch, the profile mellows considerably—now it’s decidedly medium-bodied—and the flavor transitions to milk chocolate, cherry, raisin, marshmallow, and coffee. This is how the cigar remains until the end, with no increase in intensity at the finale.

Across the five samples I smoked for this review, four had near-perfect burn lines and one required a touch-up or two along the way to stay even. All had smooth draws and abundant smoke production. The resting smoke has loads of mouth-watering sweetness.

The Selección Oscuro Especial No. 6 is a solid addition to the impressive E.P. Carrillo portfolio. Aside from the first half-inch, this toro boasts less strength than you might expect and instead rewards you with balance, subtlety, cool smoke, and a delightful interplay between gentle spice and sweetness. For that, it earns four 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.”

If you’ve been smoking cigars for more than a decade, you might remember Pinar, a brand claiming to use pre-embargo Cuban tobacco. This article from 2005 unquestioningly retells the story. Some of their cigars were puros. The Serie B, however, only claimed to use some Cuban tobacco (supposedly 40 or 50 percent) with the rest Ecuadorian or Dominican, depending on what source you read. I purchased a five-pack in 2006 for just $21 and, over a decade later, I’m lighting up one of two remaining cigars. It features leather and sour notes, with underlying damp cardboard. Despite decent burn and combustion, this is simply a poor-tasting cigar. It’s so bad I put it down less than halfway through, which probably explains why I never finished the five-pack I bought eleven years ago. Fortunately for you, you won’t be able to find a Pinar 1958 Serie B Pre-Embargo Cuban Rothschild to buy.

Verdict = Sell.

–Patrick S

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.”

Not to be confused with the Ezra Zion Tantrum P.A., which my colleague reviewed in November 2014, this is the original Tantrum (4.44 x 44, $9.50), which is presented in a single vitola called Prensado Pequeño. It sports an all-Nicaraguan blend featuring a seven-year-old wrapper. This particular cigar had likely been resting in my humidor since it was introduced in 2013. The profile includes strong cedar, roasted nuts, coffee, and milk chocolate sweetness. It’s well-constructed and enjoyable.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Earlier this month, I reviewed the Padrón Serie 1964 Prototype Natural, the result of an arrangement between Padrón and Smoke Inn whereby the latter has exclusive distribution on one-time release of a vitola that isn’t available elsewhere.

Hermoso is the newest size in the 1964 Anniversary Series, added in 2016. “When Padrón first began toying with their new 1964 Anniversary Hermoso cigar (4 x 56), they first came to us with a more manageable (4 x 50) vitola,” reads the Smoke Inn website, which refers to the 1964 Prototype as “an exclusive pre-release cigar.”

Including Hermoso, Serie 1964 has 12 box-pressed vitolas, each available in either a sun-grown Natural wrapper or a dark Maduro leaf. All of the tobaccos in the Nicaraguan puro are aged for four years. The line was launched in 1994 to commemorate Padrón’s 30th anniversary (there’s also a 1926 Serie that honors the year of José Orlando Padrón’s birth.)

In essence, what the Prototype Maduro offers is the ability to smoke the famed Serie 1964 blend in an otherwise unavailable format (4 x 50). I recently bought a 5-pack for $59.75 ($11.95 per cigar). At the time of this writing, 5-packs and boxes of 20 of both the Natural and Maduro are still available at Smoke Inn.

As you would expect given the pedigree and price, the Prototype Maduro leaves nothing to be desired in terms of appearance. The familiar 1964 double-ring band is very reassuring; it reinforces the only thing that’s “prototype” about this cigar is the format. Everything else—the quality of the tobacco, the craftsmanship of the construction, etc.—should be up to the high Serie 1964 standards.

The exterior leaf is thick and oily with ample tooth and only very thin veins. Once lit, pre-light notes of cocoa and caramel transition to a medium- to full-bodied profile of espresso, dark chocolate, and white pepper spice. The draw is effortless and the smoke production well above average. The flavor might be rich and thick, but the texture is actually light and sweet—almost marshmallow-esque. The sweetness is nicely offset by some salted caramel and cayenne heat, especially in the second half.

Construction is thankfully in line with what we’ve all come to expect from Padrón. Expect a straight burn line that requires no touch-ups and a solid gray ash that holds well off the foot. (In the picture above, I was smoking outside under fairly windy conditions; that said, I smoked five samples for this review, and the other four all burned beautifully.)

As I wrote in my review of the Natural iteration of this cigar, I don’t think I’m going to surprise anyone when I say the Padrón Serie 1964 Prototype Maduro is a terrific smoke. It’s a compact, concentrated iteration of a blend we all know and love that delivers exactly as expected. For my money, I would give the slight edge to the Maduro, which also earns a very impressive 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.”

The Churchill-sized Taino has always been an underrated vitola in the original Tatuaje Brown Label line. Like the rest of the Broadleaf Collection, this cigar features the same binder and filler but with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The well-constructed cigar sports a profile of espresso, dark chocolate, and light wood spice. I’ve been surprised by the variation in the Broadleaf Collection (some have been excellent; others less so), but this Taino is excellent.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys