My shorthand description is that smoking this cigar is akin to lighting up a spice rack. Not the hot, peppery spices that burn, but the exotic tastes that light briefly on your tongue. By no means, though, is that all this limited-run cigar offers.
Matt Urbano just made it simpler and easier for undecided smokers to choose which of his Urbano boxed boutique cigars fits their palate.
The Viaje Friends and Family cigar was a personal blend of Viaje founder Andre Farkas. Farkas made a decision to make these available for sale. With the Friends and Family, this was truly a limited release.
J.C. Newman Cigar Co. is releasing a new size of Brick House, and it’s a short smoke designed to offer the smoker the foundations of the blend in a fraction of the time. The Teaser is 3 1/2 inches-long by 56 ring and is built like a Brick House but smokes for just a few minutes.
It’s a very nice looking cigar, slight tooth to the feel and a pre lit aroma of wood and spice. First draws gave a nice spice hit that quickly altered to spice and wood, and after about half an inch, hints of what seemed to be dried apricot joined in with the spice and wood soon followed very mild hints of leather.
La Palina El Diario KB is a diminutive cigar and, I don’t know about you, but I’m always a little wary of smaller cigars. I don’t know why, I have liked a few smaller cigars but there’s just something about small cigars that makes me wonder “How can they fit a lot of flavor in it?”.
Monday evening I grabbed a few year old CAO Brazilia Gol. A few years back my wife got me several samplers of CAO cigars, and this is about the last of them. Really nice, dark, oily, sweet Brazilian wrapper surrounding tasty Nicaraguan fillers.
I lit up the Partagas 1845 and got a wave of earthiness first, along with more subtle notes of cocoa powder and coffee bean. Notes of rum from the barrel aging were detectable mostly on the finish and the retrohale was nutty and peppery.
The Emilio AF Suave is a new Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapped cigar that is targeted for release this summer. There are two reasons I have been looking forward to the AF Suave.
Christian Eiroa, the longtime president of Camacho Cigars, has returned to the cigar business with the formation of CLE Cigar Co. His long-term plan calls for several cigar brands made in various countries.
Earlier this year, Eddie Ortega made some big new when he announced the launch of his own cigar company, Ortega Cigars. This was followed by the release of his first cigar, the Ortega Serie "D" Maduro.
The My Father Lounge Exclusive has been described as “Robusto-ish” but at 5.75 inches it almost meets the definition of a Toro...maybe with a couple extra ring gauge it would have been called that.
The Cohiba Piramide Extra is a handful! The wrapper is light brown with a reddish hue, similar in shade to the Classic line, and has a moderate amount of veins but no imperfections.
Wonderfully wrapped this is an attractive cigar. Once punch cut, I started the fireplace then torched the cigar. I sometimes ignore the first puff or two when lighting but that is impossible with this cigar, I was greeted with sweetness some akin to toffee which ran steady for the first portion of the cigar.
Manufactured in Esteli, Nicaragua, Lou Rodriguez Cigars is another truly boutique cigar company. There are many debates as to what classifies a company as boutique, but I can assure you that this company is. With their own factory and farms, this companies production is limited to their tobacco yield, and they have some great fields throughout the Esteli and Jalapa regions of Nicaragua.
The TNT is notable for it’s long, fuse-like pigtail cap and closed foot. The wrapper (Nicaraguan corojo ’99) features a bit of tooth and not many oils. It surrounds Nicaraguan binder and filler, and is made at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras.
Dona Flor U.S.A. has been hard at work since their announcing the return of Dona Flor Cigars to U.S market. Creating new ads which can be seen in current cigar publications and flooding the media with reviews and news is just one aspect of the return of Dona Flor Cigars.
At the 2012 IPCPR, Viaje Founder Andre Farkas unveiled his third iteration of the Satori Series - the Viaje Satori 2012. Farkas said there were no major changes made to the blend from the Satori 2011. The difference is in the vitolas and packaging.
The Dona Flor Puro Blend features a smooth, chocolate brown wrapper with minimal veins. The cigar is well rolled and plump. There is a bit of a soft spot towards the foot and the cap is a bit skewed.
This cigar was gifted to me a while back and for the life of me I cannot remember who sent it but thank you all the same. The wrapper has a heavy oily sheen to its maduro shade with no protruding veins it is quite nice to look at. The wrapper also has a sweet hay aroma off the unlit cigar.
After lighting this one up, we found this one to have a sweet coffee and nutty flavor with some pepper and spice. It was a fairly complex cigar with some transitions along the way. The construction was solid on it, no major problems for any of us.
The Oro line new blend being packaged in special gold tubos. There are three offerings in the Oro line: A natural parejo, a maduro parejo, and a chisel vitola offering (with the blend of the natural).
The cigar begins wonderfully, and I can taste that aged and wonderful Dominican tobacco. I am a big fan of Dominican puros, and the reason for that is because of this line, the 100 Años. The cigar begins by showing lovely notes of coffee, wood and spices, and there is this earthy, hay and leather finish to it.
The future is unclear for Washington states cigar smokers, after a proposal to allow them to smoke at some businesses became part of a tobacco-related measure Friday night. The amendment to House Bill 2565 would allow cigar smoking at up to 100 cigar bars and 500 tobacco retailers in the state.
La Traviata "Maduro" cigar by CAO is a medium-full bodied cigar manufactured in Esteli, Nicaragua. This cigar was introduced at the 2010 IPCPR Trade Show, and its the first time I smoked one. The only difference between the original Traviata is the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper.