The Good Stuff: The Casa Magna line is the product of two major hitters in the cigar industry putting their heads together to produce a quality line of value priced cigars. Back in 2008, Nestor Plascencia and Manuel Quesada teamed up and produced the shocking sleeper “Casa Magna Colorado” cigar that took top honors as Cigar Aficionado’s cigar of the year. The Colorado version was a Nicaraguan Puro, where as the Oscuro is all Nicaraguan minus the wrapper which is grown in Honduras. Distributed by SAG imports, the robusto I am smoking retails between $5.75 and $7 a stick.

Size: 5 x 52 – Wrapper: Honduran Oscuro – Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan – Body: full

Prelight: The Casa Magna Oscuro is a tremendously dark wrapped robusto sized cigar. The wrapper is very dark, and consistent dark chocolate brown topped off with a rounded double cap. The construction is immaculate. I really had to strain to find the very small veins hidden, and embedded in the body of the cigar. There is only one soft spot located in the dead center of the cigar’s body. The band on the Casa Magna Oscuro is identical to the Casa Magna Colorado with the only differences being the silver color vs. gold, and the word “Oscuro” inlayed on a red ribbon across the bottom. The wrapper of this Casa Magna Oscuro gives off a very strong, and pungent tobacco aroma with an almost floral finish. The foot of the cigar gives off very sweet tobacco notes with earthy hints and spice. The cigar cut off very easily and clean using my Cuban Crafters double bladed perfecto cutter. The cold draw produced some unexpected sweet organic tobacco flavors along with grass and grain.

First Smoke: The Casa Magna Oscuro didn’t start off with the initial burst of pepper I figured it would. Instead it lead me in with a very light and smooth organic tobacco and chocolate flavor backed by a nutty taste mixed with spice and just a splash of pepper on the finish. The draw is slightly tight, but still manageable producing a very nice, thick cloud of brown woodsy smelling smoke. The burnline is sharp as hell and very even with only very subtle waves. The Casa Magna Oscuro does leave behind a nice, hefty trail of spicy tobacco smelling stationary smoke so it may not be the best cigar to fire up around anyone who dislikes smoke. One note is the wrapper is starting to give off a very bitter taste on my lips. I really hope this fizzles out cause its pretty bad. The cigar is burned extremely slow, producing a nice looking medium grey ash with a few slight flakes which held on for about an inch and a half before giving way.

Halfway There: As I had hoped the bitter taste only lasted a few draws and then crawled back into it’s dark little hole where I hope it stays for the remainder of the experience. The second third of this Casa Magna Oscuro had quite a few interesting change ups in it’s flavor profile. The chocolate and cocoa flavors are now the big contenders backed by nut, spice, and a very woodsy taste. The retrohale is very smooth producing a nice woodsy prime. I am not feeling much of a nicotine kick, if any from this cigar so far, smooth all the way. The burnline is still dead even and extremely thin, my only worry now is the harsh build up that may effect the last third of this cigar. I am having slight trouble keeping this cigar going so I am taking hits more often than usual. Hopefully this won’t complicate things further down the road.

Finish: The Casa Magna Oscuro is really starting to ramp up in body now. I am definitely feeling the nicotine at this point. The flavors seem to have outgrown the cigar at this point and have become a bit dull and bready. You can still taste the wood and the chocolate but that’s about it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it lead to a much smoother finish than I had expected with very little harshness into the final inch. The burnline stayed sharp and even the entire smoke, and the only real annoyance was the cigar’s tendency to want to go out on me. It never fully did, but there was a few close calls. All in all it took about 1.75 hours to take down the slow burning little robusto.

Overview: This is a great balanced cigar and an excellent catch at it’s low price. This is no beginner’s cigar. The last third really proved to be a powerhouse that I think would stretch the limitations of the novice cigar smoker. This is one of those everyday rotation cigars you have mixed in when you want that extra stout/full bodied smoke. I would recommend it in singles and for the fair price, even a box pickup.

Pairing: I paired this Casa Magna Oscuro with another favorite of mine, Chimay’s Tripel or White Label. This is a hefty little triple weighing in at 8% alcohol and a whole lot of goodness. This light profile beer contains a perfect mixture of both fruity sweetness and zest making for a great balanced beer. In retrospect, this probably wasn’t the best pairing for this cigar as the abundant chocolate and stout profile wasn’t an even mashup for the beer. This beer would pair much kinder with a light Connecticut or even Cameroon wrapped mild cigar. The Casa Magna Oscuro would be perfect with some Dr. Pepper, iced tea, or coffee.

The Good Stuff: This stick was amongst a package sent over from out friend at Cigars Direct some time ago. They carry a large variety of Opus X with this stick at a price point of $19.95 a piece. I can’t think of a line that is anywhere near as hyped up as the Opus X due to price point, and rarity. The Opus X line, is one of the very few cigars blended perfectly enough to use Cuban seed tobacco grown exclusively in the Dominican Republic. After being rolled, the cigars are then cured in rum barrels, and then aged for at least a year before being packaged and shipped.

Size: 4.88 x 40  -  Wrapper: Dominican  -  Binder/Filler: Dominican  -  Body: Full

Prelight:The Opus X Perfecxion No. 5 is a nice box-pressed style petit corona. The wrapper is almost calico colored, spotted with orange and medium brown with lots of small darker brown spots. The wrapper is silky, and extremely shiny and almost sticky to the touch. The Perfecxion No. 5 is then topped off with a rounded triple cap (that was capped so cleanly it took a very close inspection to even figure out how many times it was wrapped) and branded with the standard Fuente Fuente Opus X signature gold and red band that demands the attention of just about anyone’s eyes. The Perfecxion No. 5 is extremely firm to the touch, with no soft spots and only one larger vein running through the body of the cigar. Perfectly constructed. The wrapper gives off an extremely pungent tobacco scent of notes of citrus and spice. The foot gives off a very similar scent, only with added grain and oat aromas. The Perfecxion No.5 clipped cleanly using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw produced very earthy flavors with hints of oats and leather.

First Smoke:The Opus X Perfecxion No .5 starts off very smooth and creamy with a small burst of pepper and spice backed by cedar, leather, cocoa, and tart plum. I was actually surprised how smooth this cigar started out as I was expecting something with a little more punch, not that I am complaining in anyway. The Perfecxion No. 5’s effortless draw kicks out a thick, cedar scented cloud of smoke while giving off very little to almost not stationary smoke. The burn line on this Opus X Perfecxion No. 5 is razor sharp and dead even producing a beautiful, tightly packed white and light grey ash that held on for about two inches before giving way.

Halfway There:Halfway into this Perfecxion No. 5 the Pepper flavors and the body really began to ramp up. The main flavors outside of the pepper are still very earthy and leathery with a bit of spice and sweetness. There is also a little bit of plum still in there but the sweet tobacco is starting to overpower it. The retrohale is a bit strong and spicy, but gives off a great cedar primer. The full body is really starting to make itself more apparent. The burn line has started to produce a few small waves, but nothing to be concerned about at this time.

Finish:I don’t know if it is just me, but I swear I taste some type of meat in this cigar. Beef maybe? Maybe I am just hungry. Who knows. The nicotine in this little cigar is starting to hit me like a ton of bricks. Very strong into the final third. Outside of the meaty flavor, the cedar and spice mixed with a bit of sweetness are the flavors taking center stage, with a ton of earthy notes to back it up. The burnline has corrected itself and is now burning dead even. The Perfection No. 5 burned pretty slow and actually took about 1.75 hours for me to smoke from start to finish.

One thing did irk the crap out of me. From the beginning I had wondered just how much glue is used to hold a band as large as the opus x band in place. The answer, too damn much. As you can see from the picture below when carefully removing the band I found that glue had seeped out of the band and on to wrapper destroying it upon removal. Not a good sign from such an expensive cigar.

Overview: After all is said and done the Opus X Perfection No. 5 is a damn good cigar. The complex, and plentiful flavors make for a great cigar experience. The body, and complexity is probably too much for the novice cigar smoker, but perfect for just about any enthusiast. The price point is the only thing that concerns me. $19.95 a piece from the Cigars Direct. I honestly think I’d much rather have a nice little Padron or even a Fuente Anejo over Opus X at that price point.

Pairing:I decided to change pace a little bit and pair this cigar with a glass of Sandeman’s Founder’s Reserve Tawny Port. This port is an extremely dry, powerful wine with strong black cherry, raspberry, cinnamon, and grape notes. It made a great pairing with the opus X, although at times I had to put it down and sip on water just to ensure myself that the citrus and plum flavors I was picking up in the cigar we not that of the wine itself. The Opus X Perfecxion No. 5 is a flavor bomb, just waiting to go off. You really want to be careful and pair this with something dry, of flavorless. Unsweetened tea, dry wine, water, or scotch make for a perfect combination.

I got a box of these cigars in the mail as a gift from a great BOTL @cigarsthomas. They were shipped over from the great guys over at Buckhead Cigar Club who still have plenty in stock! This is yet another cigar that I have been trying to get a review out for, but each time I light up I kept pushing the review aside to just sit back and enjoy the experience.

The Good Stuff: The AVO LE10 was released to celebrate Avo Uvezian’s 84th birthday. One abnormal trait in this cigar’s construction is the filler is completely composed of ligero tobacco. Ligero, being the stronger tobacco, is seldom used in full force by AVO and it will be extremely interesting to see just how well of a balance AVO can pull off with the Mexican Sumatran, Dominican Ligero, and Ecador Sun Grown tobacco used to create this limited edition cigar. The AVO LE10 only comes in very limited production boxes of 10, and run for about $150 a pop.

Size: 5.5 x 55  -  Wrapper: Ecuador Sun Grown  -  Binder: Mexican Sumatran  -  Filler: Dominican  -  Body: Full

Prelight: The AVO LE10 is a very bulky, thick ring gauged cigar. It’s nice to see something a bit meatier add to the AVO portfolio. I’ll start with the beautiful double bands the LE10 carries. Carrying the AVO tradition the LE10 has a very similar band to all the rest of the AVO lines. The A V and ) logo inlayed with black ink and silver metallic crested on a purplish brown band with the words “Avo Uvezian” and “LE10” inlayed in silver on the band. The secondary band is silver, lined with white with a silhouette of Avo himself, along with the words “Limited Edition” on it. The wrapper is a consistent orange/milky brown with quite a few larger veins running through the entire length of the cigar topped off with a beautiful round triple cap. The wrapper is just beautiful in construction, thick, and extremely oily. Some of the AVO LE10’s oil actually rubs off onto your fingertips as you hold this cigar. This is a wonderful smelling cigar, even before lighting up. This is a very well constructed cigar with no signs of any flaws or soft spots. The LE10 gives a ton of resistance when applying pressure to the body of the cigar. The wrapper emits a powerful sweet-cedar scent with backing notes of citrus and tobacco. The LE10’s foot is one of the only smokes I have had that gives off less of an aroma than the wrapper itself. The LE10 gave a little push back, but in the end clipped cleanly using my Cuban Crafters double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a very oaty, bready, tobacco flavor, where as the wrapper adds slight pepper to my lips.

First Smoke: The AVO LE10 lit up with extreme ease under my triple flame butane torch lighter. I was greeted with a soft, pepper welcome upon taking my first few draws which was accompanied by very spicy, woodsy, mossy earth flavors with a ton of pale spice transferred from the wrapper to my lips. The draw is extremely effortless and produces a good amount of thick smoke. The LE10 doesn’t give off a ton of stationary smoke, but it is very heavily scented of tobacco, with leather. Probably not the best idea to light one of these up around people who don’t like smoke. The retrohale is a bit sharp, but primes the nasal passage with a ton of the more woodsy/cedar flavors the LE10 carries. The burnline is razor sharp and has developed one large wave that seems to be correcting itself as I continue to smoke this cigar into the second third. The ash is a tightly packed very nice light grey with slight flakes and held steady for almost 2 inches before stumbling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: Surprisingly the pepper is still very evident going into the second third. The main flavor now is a very bold cedar backed by the earth note, a bit of leather, and some well balanced citrus with even a bit of graham. I am really enjoying the complexity of the flavors in this LE10. Just into this portion of the cigar I am already feeling a bit of the nicotine. It’s a very nice touch, and isn’t too strong, just enough to differentiate itself from the more mild cigars that AVO usually produces. The burnline corrected itself as I was hoping and is burning line a champ.

Finish: I am surprised yet again the pepper in this AVO LE10 is still alive and strong. Just strong enough not to overpower the other flavors in this stick. The LE10 has become much more smooth, and a bit more tame as the nicotine begins to take a backseat to the flavors into the final third. The most dominant flavors are that of the earthy moss and leather notes that have carried all the way through the cigar. The citrus is no longer evident, but the graham and bready flavors are still alive and make for a perfect mash up with the other flavors produced by this cigar. There is absolutely no harsh buildup in this cigar, no matter how hard I hit it. The burnline is still super sharp, and dead even. All in all this cigar actually took almost 2 hours to take down from start to finish.

Overview: In my opinion, AVO has a real winner with this LE10. Too bad they are produced in such limited quantities. Hopefully future AVO blends will carry similar characteristics. Buy again, for sure. Box worthy, of course! If you can find these, by all means stock up. If you can’t there are many retailers that are willing to ship these cigars. Get them while you can. I would strongly recommend these to any trained cigar smoker, although the complexity may be a bit much for the novice (and me) I still think it is a very enjoyable smoke to anyone that enjoys a good cigar. Although finishing very smooth, be prepared to walk away from this cigar was a nice little nicotine buzz.

Pairing: Keeping the doppelbock train alive, I decided to pair this cigar with one of my favorite Doppelbocks,Weihenstephaner Korbinian. Korbinian is a strong, bold and flavor enriched beer. The alcohol content averages at 7.4% and brings flavors such as chocolate, coffee, and fruit as well as a bit of bitterness to the pallet. It made for another excellent pairing with the AVO LE10. I think, with the complexity of the LE10 just about anything stout will be a great pairing with the cigar. Coffee, scotch, wine, a stout, or a doppelbock are ideal. Just don’t overdue it with anything too flavorful.

The Good Stuff: A few samples of this blend was sent over to me by our friends at Rocky Patel. As the name states the 15th anniversary cigar is being released in celebration of Rocky Patel’s 15 proud years of production. Since the begenning of his time, Rocky Patel has produced enourmous amounts of award winning blends and has become a staple in just about any cigar smoker’s humidor. The 15th Anniversary is being produced in Rocky Patel’s own factory in Nicaragua in 4 sizes, Corona Gorda, Robusto, Toro, and Torpedo. I don’t have the specs on the sizes but I’m sure you get the jist of it from thier names. They will come in boxes of 20 with a release date set of July 30th, 2010. The size I am going to be reviewing is the Robusto.

Size: 5 x 52 (I’m guessing the ring gauge) box-pressed  -  Wrapper: Habana Ecuador  -  Binder: Jalapa  -  Filler: Nicaraguan  -  Body: Full

Prelight: The Rocky Patel 15^th Anniversary is a beautiful, boxpressed cigar. The wrapper is an extremely consistant, milky brown that leads up to a perfectly applied triple cap. The cigar is very firm to the touch in all spots accept close to the foot, where it is noticeably softer. There are a few very small veins, but nothing too big or in need of any concern. Outside of a very small tear close to the foot of the wrapper the 15^th anniversary’s construction is spot on.  The scent of the cigar is a very, very pungeant tabcco flavor. It stinks so good. Really. Outside of the very strong tobacco aroma the 15^th anniversary gives off slight earthy and cinimon tones, only to be more prominent from the foot of the cigar. The 15^th anniversary clipped with ease using my Cuban Crafters perfecto double blade cutter. The cold draw is effortless and produces a very sweet, spice and cinnamon mixture with tobacco undertones.

First Smoke: The Rocky Patel 15^th anniversary surprised me with a splash of pepper right off the bat that was only present long enough to tickle my toungue. The pepper faded quickly and was quickly replaced with organic tobacco, chocolate, cinimon, cedar and a slight zesty tart flavor I couldn’t really pick out. It wasn’t prominent at all.  The burnline was a bit wavy right away with a few little runs that I hope don’t get too crazy. The draw was thick and effortless producing a very cedarisque scent upon release. This cigar prodces almost not stationary smoke, and the slight breeze made it extremely difficult to detect any scent being produced by it. The ash produced from the 15^th anniversary is a light grey with subtle darker spots and very flaky around the edges and held on for about an inch and a half before giving way. The ash and burn produced from this cigar reminds me of most cubans I have smoked. One note is how much I enjoy this vitola. Fits perfectly in your hand, and even more comfortably in your mouth.

Halfway there: Just as the tart flavor was beginning to overpower this cigar, I was pleasantly surprised with a burst of floral flavors.  The flavor has now became  much more sweet with hints of sweet tobacco, the floral I announced prior, cedar and cinnamon. This was a very welcomed change up as the tartness was just about to become unbearable. The retrohale is very pleasant, and helps coat the nasal pasagges with a cedar aroma/taste. I am starting to feel a slight dash of nicotine, but nothing too powerful at the moment. Still running very smooth, with no signs of harshness.

Finish: The tart, and harshness is starting to form now, but is casually cloaked by a strong boast of cedar. Along with that the floral flavor is still running full steam. This cigar definitely has it’s share of surprises. Each time the experience starts going down hill another characterstic is brought to the center stage. I am actually starting to feel the nicotine ramp up to a slight nicotine kick in the final third. The burnline is still even for the most part with no need to touch up, or relight the cigar. There was a quite ramp up in harshness within the final third, which sadly I expected. I took my time smoking this one too in hopes that it would offset any harsh buildup.

Overview: Honestly, There aren’t a lot of Rocky Patel cigar that really stand out in my opinion. That being said, the 15^th anniversary is one of the better sticks produced by Rocky Patel. This isn’t a cigar I’d pick up a box of, but due to the great change ups and constant differences in flavor it is something that I wouldn’t mind smoking again. It does keep you on your toes. But don’t let my opinion discourage your from picking up this product. I think the flavors produced and the overall experience would be stellar as far as other people’s wants from a cigar goes. Just not mine. Pick a few up if this sounds like something you’d like. Especially if you’re a fan of Rocky Patel.

Pairing: I paired this cigar with one of my all time favorite beers, Ayinger Breweries Celebrator Dopplebock. As many of you know, I love my Double’s and this beer is the cream of the crop.  Produced in Germany… you know.. Germany.. the country that should have won the world cup… but that’s a story for another day. (kidding of course, Spain is a really good team and deserved it) most, if not all of Ayinger beers are produced under the Germany beer brewing purity law of 1516 which limits of  all beers to be produced using only 4 ingredients. Barley, Wheat, Hops, and water. This Dopple Bock boasts a alcahol content of 6.7% enriched with flavors such as wheat, caramel, chocolate, and wheat. This made a great pairing for the cigar, but overpowered the mild stages in the experience. This cigar is best paired with something more mild such as tea, a nice pilsner or wheat beer, and even milk. That’s right milk.

The Good Stuff: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial is the second cigar blended by the legendary Don Pepin Garcia’s son, Jaime Garcia (My Father being the first). The Reserva Especial is a blend consisting of two different Nicaraguan tobaccos. One grown by the Pepin family, the other grown by the well known Oliva Tobacco Company wrapped in my personal favorite wrapper, the Connecticut broadleaf.

The size I am doing a review of is the toro. You can easily order these from the great team over at Bonita Smokeshop, along with just about any other Pepin product.

Size: 6 x 54 – Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf – Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan – Body: Medium/Full

Prelight: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial is a toothy little beast. The cigar is wrapped with a beautifully, very dark chocalatey brown. The wrapper gleams from the massive amount of oils from the foot, all the way to the rounded off, triple wrapped cap. The Reserva Especial is firm to the touch near the head of the cigar, but quite softer then most cigars movie down to the foot. There aren’t any real soft spots, but the softness of this cigar almost worries me. It does have a good weight to it though. There is only one, very small vein on the underside of the cigar. The band stays true to form with most of the my father cigars we see coming out of that factory. Its an off-white with a full brown, gold, and blue crest stating “Jaime Garcia” and “Reserva Especial”. The underside of the band simply states “My Father Cigars”. The wrapper gives off a very sweet, chocolate and mocha type aroma where as the foot of this cigar has a more pronounced oat and tobacco scent with cocoa undertones. The cigar was clipped with ease by my Cuban Crafters Perfecto double blade cutter. The cold draw was very firm with rich tobacco, cocoa, and lots spice.

First Smoke: As I have come to expect from most cigars produced in the My Father factory the Reserva Especial starts off with a boom of spice and pepper. This initial hit pairs seamlessly with the sharp spice of the New Belgium Biere De Mars that I have decided to pair this cigar with. Once the pepper begins to wear off, subtle notes of cocoa and coffee become present over stronger notes of sweet tobacco, leather, and wood. The burnline is razor sharp but has developed a bit of a wave pattern early into the cigar. The draw is very loose, and produces a very thick, cedar scented cloud of smoke. The Reserva Especial gives off little to no stationary smoke, and what little bit of smoke that does is escape is pleasantly scented with a strong cedar aroma as well. The ash is a very light grey and very tightly packed in most places. The ash held tight for about an inch and a half before falling.

Halfway There: The pepper introduction to this cigar was just that, and is not longer present. The dominating flavor is by far the woodsy, grassy flavor that began as just an afterthought in the first third backed by the sweet tobacco, and a strong, almost espresso coffee. There retrohale on this cigar is to die for. Almost pure cedar, and in credibly smooth. I’m impressed thus far with how just perfectly smooth this cigar is. The burnline did a heck of a job fixing itself, and has burned perfectly and still razor sharp all the way through the second third. Up until this point I still have yet to feel any signs of nicotine.

Finish: What a smooth finish, and I can’t stress that enough. This cigar is definitely @KightRid acceptable with no signs what so ever of nicotine. The Reserva Especial finished off very clean and smooth with the dominant flavor still being wood and grass, backed up by cocoa and lots of strong coffee notes. The burn went a little wavy into the final third, but cleaned itself up and there was no need for any types of relights or touch ups. The pepper did make a slight come back deep within the last inch or so, but it was more of just a reminder of how this cigar started out. All in all it took only about an hour and a half to take down this Toro sized cigar.

Overview: Overall I was VERY impressed with this cigar. I am a Pepin love through and through and this cigar didn’t fail in any way shape or form. The woodsy, sweet, soft cocoa and coffee flavors preformed brilliantly with one another. Near perfect burn, medium body, and great aftertaste. And with the affordable price point? You really couldn’t ask for me. Perfect for a beginner cigar smoker, and everyday cigar for the aficionado, This cigar will be in my regular rotation from this point forward. Box worth by far.

Pairing: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial was paired with one of my favorites, New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Series Biere De Mars. New Belgium has a knack for coming up with some of the best traditional brews, and as of late some of the better non traditional. They save these brews for the Lips of Faith collection. Very sought after, and VERY hard to come by these brews are more expensive to produce, and require a more skillful team making them so rare. The Biere de Mars I drank was picked up on my latest trip to Denver Colorado. I ventured north to the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins and picked up a few beers to take back with me.

Biere De Mars is a Celestial collision of orange – hued ale, citrusy lemon verbena, and unidentified flying brettanomyces.

I don’t know exactly what that means, but its good stuff. 6.2% citrus, bready, spicy beer. It was just an absolute perfect match for this cigar. I would recommend something of the sort for pairing, or even a hefty stout, iced tea or apple juice. Something citrusy, and sweet.

New Belgium - Lips of Faith - Biere De Mars - Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial

To this:

Follow this link to the guest review over at Toasted Foot. Great guys, with a great site.

This review is dedicated to the late Aaron Boyd. A great BOTL, and friend who was killed in a motorcycle accident this passed weekend. He was a self proclaimed “Tatuaje Whore” and in fact sent me a package a while back containing a few hard to find Tatuaje sticks. This Tatuaje Black Tubos in which I will be reviewing was amongst the many cigars Aaron packed up for me. You’ll be missed bro.

The Good Stuff: There isn’t a whole lot of information out there on this stick, outside of its release in 2009. The Tatuaje Black Tubos was released with a sister blend, the Tatuaje Verocu (or red) Tubos and sold only in boxes of ten. They are a very limited release, and only 4,600 boxes will ever be made. The Black Tubos is actually labeled as Pete Johnson (creator of Tatuaje Cigars) own personal blend.

Size: 6.15 x 52  -  Wrapper: Sun Grown Criollo  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  -  Body: Full

Prelight: The Tatuaje Black Tubos comes packaged in a sleek, and semi-odd looking Tatuaje branded Tubo with the Tatuaje logo on one side, and the Fluer de lis in silver paint on the other. The screw off cap has yet another Fleur de lis embossed in it. Inside you will find a beautifully cedar wrapped Tatuaje Black. The cigar itself carries a very dark, consistently chocolaty brown wrapper. This particular cigar has a little bit of age and signs of plume are already starting to show. The Black Tubos has quite a few soft veins running through it that I don’t think will become a menace in any way. The cigar is then polished off with a nice, quadruple wrapped torpedo style cap. The cigar is very firm to the touch and there are absolutely no signs of softspots or misconstruction. One item to note is the fold over style foot this cigar carries. The wrapper smells of a very soft pine wood with perfumy almost floral notes, where as the foot carries an identical aroma with just a splash of spice. The cap was a bit tough to cut using my Cuban crafters double bladed perfecto cutter (I usually use my trusty Palio but alas, it is no where to be found). The cold draw is a bit tight, and pumps out a very sweet tobacco taste, with notes of pine and other floral instances.

First Smoke: It took a little while to get the Tatuaje Black Tubos lit under my triple flame butane torch, but when it did finally light up it was off like a rocket. I was curious about the draw since I wasn’t able to get much from my cold draw and was quite surprised how effortless it was. The Black Tubos produced a great mouth full of thick, brown, lingering smoke with every puff. The stationary smoke fluctuated quite a bit, one minute it was pumping out tons of smoke, the next it was as if the cigar went out. The smoke was pretty pleasantly noted with hints of pine, flowers, and cashew. I love the flavor this cigar started out with. VERY floral, with tons of other flavors mixed in. A bit of cashew, pine, cocoa, lemon, and even just enough pepper to set a nice tingling sensation dancing down the back of my throat. The burn was almost so sharp it was invisible, and dead even. The ash produced by the black Tubos was a very light grey, with bits of darker grey mixed in, very lightly packed, and very pretty. The ash lasted about an inch an a half before falling to its fate on my patio floor. I’ve been really bad about catching ash in my ashtray lately.

Halfway There: just a note, but the Black Tubos burns ridiculously slow in comparison to a lot of the other Tatuaje I have had lately. This is a GREAT thing. Tatuaje cigars are usually milder, with a ton of flavors and usually burn out leaving you craving more. The pepper held its own in the first third and is barely now making its exit. The flavors have now morphed into a smooth woodsy flavor, dominated by floral and spice with a bit of chalkiness mixed in. The Black Tubos is a really dry smoke, make sure you have a refreshment on stand by. The retrohale on this cigar is awesome, very smooth and it helps you pick out even more of the woodsy and cocoa flavors. There is a slight crack forming on the head of this cigar, but nothing too alarming. Its mostly just wrapper and the binder is doing a good job containing any stray smoke. The burn line is producing some very slight waves, and is still incredibly sharp.

Finish: The Tatuaje Black Tubos required a bit more attention towards the end. It didn’t get as bad as too need any touch ups or relights, but make sure you hit this bad boy often or it will go out on you. Towards the end the most dominating flavor is the sweet, sweet organic tobacco flavor I have learned to love from most of Pete’s cigars. It’s almost a trademark for him. The sweet tobacco lies in the hands of soft cocoa, the floral flavors that always stayed evident and center stage, as well as pine and even a bit of pepper that made its return in the final third of this cigar. All in all I felt a very slight nicotine buzz from this cigar. It was smooth all the way through and had only a light harshness into the last inch. All in all, this cigar took about 1.75 hours to finish. Quite impressive.

Overview: This was a great cigar, I loved it from start to finish. I am really happy that it did in fact carry a much slower burn giving me just enough time to sit back and enjoy it. The only Tatuaje Blacks that I have had have been in Tubo form. I know Pete mentioned that he would not be doing Tubos ever again, so I need to start a search for some of the other Black vitolas that are out there. I would purchase these again hands down, and I would eve go as far as saying these stick are definitely box-worthy. Find them, smoke them, enjoy them. They would appease any cigar smoke for a novice, well into any aficionado.

Pairing: I decided to pair this Tatuaje Black Tubos with an all time favorite beer of mine, Delirium Tremens produced by the Huyghe Brewery in Melle. The name Delirium Tremens actually refers to a condition also known as “the shakes”, “the fears”, or “the heebie geebies”. Not to be confused with its sister brew “Delirium Nocturne”, Delirium Tremens is a strong golden ale boasting with a lovely alcohol content of 9%. This fruity, tart, ale produced a very interesting, and almost counterbalancing act for the smooth and shy Tatuaje Black Tubos. The floral hints from the Black Tubos married up very well with the floral aftertaste the Delirium Tremens gives off. Honestly, I would recommend something very soft to pair with the Black Tubos. Water, Tea, or even cranberry juice. Anything with a bit more punch may just overpower the complexity that this cigar contains.

Thanks Aaron.

The Good Stuff: The Litto Gomez line is poperly named after their creator (Litto Gomez Diez), and were released in 2004 to celebrate La Flor Dominicana’s 10th anniversary. Going against much speculation the Litto Gomez is one of the very few 100% dominican blended cigars due to finding a usable binder, filler, and wrapper is very difficult in the Dominican region. Litto Gomez joins the ranks of few cigars that have been able to pull this feat off correctly such as, Arturo Fuente Opus X and La Aurora 100 anos. This particular stick was sent over to me by our friends at Cigars Direct. The vitola that I will be reviewing today will be the Cubano, one of the 5 vitolas made for this blend.

Size: 5 x 50  -  Wrapper: Dominican  -  Binder/Filler: Dominican  -  Body: Full

Prelight: The Litto Gomez sports a thick, and semi hard wrapper. The wrapper itself is a consistent tan, with almost an orange hue to it topped off with a beautiful rounded triple cap. There is only one major vein running 90% of the length of the body of the cigar.  As far as soft spots go the Litto Gomez is free of softness, and any other major construction flaws.  The Litto Gomez is banded by a beautiful maroon and gold embossed band with the words “Litto Gomez Diez” and his initials along with  “Dominican Puro – 2009”. It’s a gorgeous band. The wrapper gives off a nice, sweet, birch wood scent with hints of pepper and cocoa. The foot of the cigar gives off an almost straight up cocoa aroma with a bit of nuts mixed in.  The Litto Gomez clipped just nicely with my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw through some surprising flavors my way. A cinnamon – bread, very doughy and wheaty, with cocoa and raw tobacco aftertastes.

First Smoke: The Litto Gomez starts off with a massive blast of pepper before mellowing out to a smooth, creamy, woodsy taste with a ton of sweet tobacco aftertaste along with just enough pepper to tickle my lips, tongue, and back of the throat.  The draw is a bit tight, but once I get it going it produces quite a lasting amount of thick brownish, blue smoke. The Litto Gomez give off an incredible amount of stationary smoke, luckily in this case its very pleasant smelling with notes of sweet tobacco and even an almost perfume-like afterthought. The burline is a bit thicker than I anticipated, and there are about two little waves that seem to have a mind of their own. The ash produced by the Litto Gomez is a bit flaky, but a brilliant white with noticeable dark grey spots. The ash only lasted a little over an inch before giving way on my patio.

Halfway There: Huge turn of events going into the second third of the Litto Gomez. The draw opened up, the flavors became much more intense, the burn corrected itself, and the burnline became razor sharp. I can’t remember the last time I smoked a cigar with such low maintenance. The most pleasant change-up was the draw. The Litto Gomez is now producing this massive, lingering, thick cloud of angry looking smoke. The flavor became a much more pronounced, and robust woodsy flavor with spicy undertones. The retrohale really helped pull the spice notes out without burning a hole through my nasal passage. Surprisingly I am already starting to get a heck of a nicotine kick off this cigar. Don’t let the smoothness fool you, this is a strong smoke.

Finish: Ahh yes, the infamous Nicotine kick I haven’t experienced lately. Although I enjoy stronger cigars, this one was a little overbearing and left me slightly light headed. Along with the nicotine kick came a bit of harshness. Nothing too bad, but it is apparent . The flavors remained consistent with the second third with wood being the dominant flavor, backed by spice, and tobacco. I even got a bit of a chalkiness into the final inch. The burn stayed impressive, correcting itself and burning clean, thin, and even all the way through.

Overview: Boy was this a dry smoke. Make sure you have something to drink when taking on the Litto Gomez. In my opinion, this stick built me up, but left me hanging, wanting something more. I think a lot of this was due to how dry, and harsh the cigar ended. The flavors were great, burn was great, but overall experience was par at best. I would totally recommend picking up a few of these if you stumble across them, but hesitate saying they are box-worthy.

Pairing: The Litto Gomez was paired with some St. Clair Vineyards  Port. This port is an award winning, dark red with in your face flavors of plum, black current, and pepper. The port finishes off warm with hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, raspberry, and black cherry. It was an excellent pairing and I think Daniel will be proud of me, choosing wine over beer on this one. If I was to pair this with a beer, I think I would choose something really hoppy, such as an IPA, or a Trippel. The strong woodsy flavor needs a complimenting strong component to knock it back down to earth.

The Good Stuff: I didn’t have a whole lot of information to start with on these sticks, so I tagged Ernesto and he provided the following information:

The cigar was made  to lead up to the core blend which will be introduced at the IPCPR.  And the plan is to come out with a Short Run version once or twice a year.

The blend is Nicaraguan and Dominican filler with a criollo binder and Sumatra Ecuadorean wrapper. The names are the Delirios 50 x 5 7/8 and Populares 50 x 4 7/8. These two are coming out at the end of this month, and the Dominantes 60x 6 1/4 in mid June. The prices range from $6.25 to $8.50.

The vitola I received was the Delirios 50 x 5 7/8. I am anxious to see how the Short Run measures up to the Edicion Inaugural Encore 2009 that I reviewed just a few weeks ago. From my understanding this will be the only production of the Short Runs until this year’s convention in August.

Prelight: The EP Carrillo Short Run is very similar in construction to the EP Carrillo Edicion Inaugural 2009 that I reviewed just a few weeks prior. The wrapper itself is much darker and sports an almost calico mix-up of dark and light brown with orangish spots throughout. The cigar itself is very firm with the a small soft spot just under the band, and a few spots around the foot of the cigar. The Short Run is then polished off with a beautifully solid, round triple capped head. I can’t pin point any flaws in the construction what so ever. The bands on the Short Run is identical to the Inaugural Edition with only the second band being slightly different, the obvious black instead of red, with the words “Short Run” embroidered in gold print. The body of the cigar gives off very slight aroma with hints of cocoa, tobacco, and spice, where as the foot smelled much more organic, lacking the spice and replacing it with tobacco and citrus. The cap clipped off nicely using my Palio double blade cutter. The cold draw produced a very bold cocoa, and bittersweet chocolate flavor with just a tad of tobacco mixed in.

First Smoke: The Short Run lit up with ease under my triple flame torch. The Short Run welcomes you with a nice little burst of pepper accompanied by sharp tobacco, sweet sugar cane undertones, and hints of spice and cocoa leaving behind a wonderful cedar aftertaste. The draw is remarkable and effortless. I am a sucker for a big draw and the Short Run doesn’t disappoint. I have had real good luck with my most recent reviews and effortless draws and the EP Carrillo just help boost that streak with its perfect draw producing massive clouds of thick brownish blue smoke. The Short Run does give off quite a bit of stationary smoke, but the scent is a bit more pleasant carrying hints of cocoa and sweet tobacco. The burnline is burning pretty steadily, and razor sharp. A few larger waves produced at the beginning of the experience have all but corrected themselves about an inch into the cigar. The ash left behind is very bulky, semi flaky, and a brighter white and light grey color.  The ash fell about and inch and a half in.

Halfway There: The first note going into the second third is the change-up in the tightness of the ash. The foot was very loose and I expected it to fall at any moment. Where as into the second third the ash of the Short Run solidified and tightened up immensely. I am assuming the weakness in the ash towards the foot was due to the softness I felt during my pre-light inspection.  The cocoa flavor I was picking up in the first third is slowly fading away and being replaced with a citrus soaked cedar flavor. It’s very interesting and produces a very pleasant mix up in the flavor of the cigar. The sweet tobacco is still there, as well as the cedar/woodsy aftertaste. The retro hale on this cigar is very smooth. So far, no harshness, and no nicotine kick. Just the way I like it. The burn line continues to be hair-thin and dead even.

Finish: One great sigh of relief as the band came off with ease. Just the right amount of glue. It’s so frustrating when you come to the last third of the cigar, only to have the wrapper demolished by a drop of misplaced glue. The pepper and spice made a bold return in the final third of the EP Carrillo Short Run replacing just about all of the front standing flavors. The backing flavors were that of sweet tobacco, cedar, and even a bit of leather at this point. It’s been a very interesting mixing of flavors and the changes kept me asking what I would run into next. There was very slight harshness built up towards the very last inch of the cigar, but nothing too bad. I loved just watching the oils burn off the wrapper of this cigar. The burn line was dead on from start to finish, and there was no need for any relighting or touch up what so ever. I felt little to no nicotine off this cigar which says a lot considering how bold I though this cigar was.

Overview: Ep Carrillo created a lot of buzz with the release of his first cigar (Edicion Inaugural Encore 2009) since the separation of General Cigar. I am pleased to say the Short Run keeps up with his latest trend, creating a rich, complex, and overall enjoyable experience. There were a plethora of flavors that I am sure I even failed to full capture. When they hit the shelves in the coming months be sure to grab them before they are gone.

Pairing: This EP Carrillo Short Run was paired with a bottle of North Coast Brewing Company’s Le Merle Saison. Le Merle is a spicy little farmhouse ale sporting an alcohol content of 7.9%. The fruity bitterness helped counter balance the smooth, sweetness of the Short Run. It was a great pairing but I think the EP Carrillo would probably be best paired with coffee, or something with more sweetness such as a port, cola, or sweet tea.

The Good Stuff: The Murcielago is the newest blend kicked out by Espinosa and Ortega at E.O. Brands. The Murcielago made its big debut at this past year’s IPCPR convention in New Orleans. It took a while for me to get my hands on these sticks, but luckily the first batch that hit my front door were ever so graciously sent over to me form the guys over at Buckhead Cigar.

I’m not entirely sure where Espinosa and Ortega got the name “Murcielago” or “Bat”. There are a tons of theories from them just coming up with it out of the blue, to the metaphor of the dark characteristics from the cigar itself. The Murcielago is primarily constructed from an ultra dark Mexican wrapper grown in San Andreas, and bound with a Mexican binder, stuffed with the finest Nicaraguan filler.

Size: 6.12 x 50 (Toro)  -  Wrapper: San Andreas Mexican  – Binder: Mexican  -  Filler: Nicaraguan  -  Body: Medium/Full

Prelight: The Murcielago is an extremely darkly wrapped,  box pressed cigar. The wrapper itself is and extremely dark, chocolatey brown and very toothy. The toothyness I am referring too looks a lot like that texture on a cat’s tongue, or sandpaper. The color is extremely consistent and the wrapper gives off a slight sheen as light is bounced off its oils. The Murcielago is then capped off with a round triple cap. The cigar is very firm to the touch, and the only soft spots I was able to find were near the foot of the cigar. There is a very slight separation in the wrapper that exposes just the slightest bit of the binder near the head of the cigar, but it’s not anything to worry about I am hoping. I do however see band removal being a chore and even tearing the wrapper if it has too much glue on it due to the separation. The wrapper on the Murcielago gives off a very bold smell with scents of oats, cocoa, tobacco, and musk. Where as the foot of the cigar is a bit more on the sweet side, carrying the tobacco and cocoa smell. The cap of the Murcielago clipped right off under my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produced although effortless, produced only very subtle hints of tobacco and pepper.

First Smoke: The Murcielago kicked out quite a bit more flavor than expected from what I took off the cold draw. The more dominant flavors are cocoa, strong tobacco, wood,  a sweet nutmeg, and hints of pepper. The draw the Mucielago gives off is amazingly large and effortless, and results in a huge cloud of thick, bluish-brown smoke. The cigar gives off very little stationary smoke so it was a bit harder to conclude what kind of aroma this stick gives off, but the notes I picked up were very leathery, with scents of spice and wood. The burnline is dead even and razor sharp leaving behind a very thick, white, compacted ash. I got about an inch and a half into this cigar before the first ash gave way.

Halfway There: The flavors in the Murcielago keep on coming. I absolutely love when the flavor profile of my cigar changes up on me and the Murcielago definitely keeps you on your toes. The pepper has all but faded, giving way for a much sweeter tobacco flavor back with hints of cocoa, raisin, leather, and oats. The Aventinus double-bock style wheat ale is really adding the “fruity” element to this flavor mashup.  The burn line is still dead even, draw is magnificent. This cigar is very smooth and I am not getting even the slightest nicotine buzz from it, even though I am smoking like a champ. One side note is the stationary smoke has become quite a bit larger over the course of the smoke. Giving off a very pleasant spicy/woodsy aroma.

Finish: I have ashed a total of 3 times up until the final third, all of which ended up on my shirt. And it’s not cause the ash flakes off and falls unexpectedly, it’s actually just the opposite. The ash produced by the Murcielago is very thick and each time I try to see how far it holds on for, consequently they fall on me instead of the ash tray.  The flavors have remained pretty similar to the second third of the stick, with the exception of slight pepper being reintroduced into the experience, and a very subtle cardboard type flavor that I didn’t care much for. I am feeling a slight nicotine kick from the end of the stick, but nothing too alarming. I am still enticed by how large and easy flowing the draw on the Mucielago is. I wish all cigars were this easy to smoke. Luckily, my fear never became a reality and the band had just enough glue to come off with ease. All in all this Murcielago took me about an hour and a half to smoke. It really took off at the beginning and I was scared it would burn too quickly, but once that binder and filler got a chance to mashup it was smooth sailing.

Overview: The Murcielago is a solid stick. The complexity is gratifying as well as the consistently superb construction kicked out by E.O. Brands not only on this stick, but pretty much anything they produce is top notch. This cigar is smooth enough for a novice smoker, and complex enough for any aficionado. The Murcielago does come with a higher price tag, cresting in the upper $9 range for stick, but I wouldn’t mind paying for it any day. Definitely box-worthy.

Pairing: I decided to pair this Murcielago with some Schnieder-weisse Aventinus Dopplebock. The Aventinus is a strong wheat based double bock with tons of fruit and spice flavors that range from apples and cinnamon to Orange zest and pepper. The combination of those flavors and that of the Murcielago create a complete package for flavor and aroma therapy. I would recommend anything sweet or dark as a proper pairing for this cigar. Apple juice, sweet tea, coffee, porter, or hell, even a lambic.

UPDATE: Shortly after posting this review, the Man Eddie Ortega himself left a comment with some very exciting news:

Great review, this is my favorite cigar we make. As you know by now, we have just merged with Rocky Patel. Because of the merger, we were able to significantly drop the price on all our brands. The murcielago’s new MSRP price range is between $6.20 and 6.80, the prices on the cubao and 601 lines are also down anywhere between 2.50 and 3 dollars per stick.

-regards

Eddie

Now, at those prices.. This stick is a STEAL. Go out, buy some, buy a lot. Its worth it! Not to mention the 601′s at the price point. I’m a sucker for the blue.

I recently got a nice little package from our good friends over at www.toastedfoot.com. If you are unfamiliar with these boys I would strongly urge you to pay them a visit. Great people, with amazing reviews. I actually had the pleasure of doing a review swap with them a few weeks ago. In case you missed it you can find Toasted Foots guest review on Casas Fumando of Ashton’s San Cristobal here, and our reivew on Toasted foot of Drew Estate’s Liga Privada Flying Pig here. Anywho, in that package, amongst tons of other goodies I found a La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107. I have been dying to get my hands on this cigar. Needless to say, I wasted no time firing this one up. Keep in mind I only had one of these sticks and this review will be based solely on this one cigar.

I started to look for some information on this stick and quickly found multiple postings of this press release. I really don’t think I could go more into detail, so I am just going to stick the release in here and get on with it!

The Good Stuff:

MIAMI FL — Miami Cigar & Company, the exclusive distributor for La Aurora brands in the United States, announces the release of the La Aurora Serie 107 Anniversario to mark the company’s 107th year of operation in the Dominican Republic. As part of a year-long campaign to Rediscover La Aurora, 107 retailers across the U-S will be giving away 107 robustos on April 30th. The list of participating retailers can be found at http://rediscoverlaaurora.com.

Miami Cigar president Nestor Miranda says, “We have represented La Aurora for over 20 years and feel this is one of the best cigars they have made so far. We believe so much in the 107 that we are giving cigar smokers the chance to try it for free. All anyone has to do is buy a cigar, any cigar, at one of the participating retailers on April 30 and we’ll give you a free 107.” La Aurora vice president Guillermo Léon adds, “We realize that while our family has been making fine handcrafted cigars for more than a century, some cigar smokers still have not tried our products and others remember when we only made cigars in the mild range. La Aurora has been developing medium to full bodied cigars with full flavor and we want to let people know how we have changed. The Rediscover La Aurora is part of our outreach to those smokers.”

The 107, which uses a Sun Grown Ecuador wrapper over 6 year old fillers and binder from Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, will come in boxes of 21 with a suggested retail price between $6 to $8, plus any local taxes. There will be 3 sizes: Robusto (4.5×50); Toro (5.5×54); and a Belicoso (6.25 x 52). The 107 will only be available at brick and mortar tobacconists.

Prelight: The La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 is a short, nubby little stick, topped off with a rounded little cap. The wrapper is medium to light brown with little spots and speckles of a darker brown leading up to a darker shade towards the head of the cigar. There are quite a few larger veins running through this 107 that I hope don’t interfere with my burn. As I said, I only have one stick so there won’t be any benefit of a doubt points handed out on this one. The cigar itself is really firm and the wrapper feels very fragile as most Ecuadorian wrappers in my experiences do. The construction is near perfect minus the fact that the cap could have used a bit more attention. It seems as though it was carelessly placed on the head of the cigar and not really nurtured the way it should have been. There are quite a few uneven points, and bumps pushing through the head. The band resembles a similar color palette and design from other La Aurora cigars. It’s even sporting the lions head we have seen pop-up as of late, and a gold ring running the length of the band that carries the words “Serie 107 Aniversario”.  The wrapper smells very sweet with hints of honey, graham cracker, and tobacco while the foot of the cigar gives off more of a oat type smell with a dash of spice. The cap cut off very clean and easily with my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw flavors produced from the La Aurora 107 carry more of an oat and grain character with again, just a hint of spice thrown in the mix.

First Smoke: The La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 lit up with extreme ease under my triple flame butane torch. The first flavors I was able to pick up was just a little bit of up from pepper followed by grain, tobacco, nutmeg, pine, and hay. There was also this awkward bitter taste that only lasted through the first few draws and then diminished. The draw produced by the La Aurora 107 was spot on. The draw was very large, effortless, and produced a mass amount of really thick grey smoke. There isn’t a whole lot of stationary smoke coming off this cigar, but what is produced smells of wood, and straight tobacco. Probably not the most public-friendly smelling cigar. The retro hale is very smooth, and helped me pick up a bit more of the pine and woodsy notes. The burn line is a lot thicker than I expected, but it is burning relatively even leaving behind a dark grey, semi flaky ash. The ash was a bit loose and surprisingly only held on for just short of an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: Now the La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 is really starting to shine. I was fearful that the oat and grain would be the bland, prominent flavors produced by this stick. Instead, into the second third the woodsy, cedar, honey, sweet tobacco flavors just take off. I’m not sure if it was the apricot infused India Pale Ale beer I paired this cigar with or not, but I am getting a slight hint of lime off the aftertaste. The retro hale is extremely enjoyable at this point. Outside of the great flavor profile, the 107 did however start to see some burn issues. One portion of the cigar, about 1/3 of the ring was left trailing way behind the rest of the burn line. I touched it up shortly after the first ash fell and it has been rocking solid ever since. The burnline is still pretty wide, and I don’t expect that to really thin out much through the rest of the experience. At this time I feel absolutely no nicotine from this cigar.

Finish: I was scared that I was smoking this cigar too fast and that I would build up quite a harsh end to such a smooth cigar, however that was not the case at all. The final third of the La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 finished incredibly smooth, and flavorful. This cigar did smoke pretty fast, about an hour total even after I slowed down halfway through. The cedar/woodsy flavor was still in the driver seat, backed by the sweet tobacco and honey notes I grew to love. The burnline was still pretty wide with the occasional wave, but it didn’t require any further touch ups what so ever. There were no signs at all of nicotine from this stick. Very mild, very smooth, and very enjoyable.

Overview:  The La Aurora 107 is a cigar best taken slow. Kick back, take your time, and enjoy this stick. If you speed through it with excitement you are bound to miss out on a great, complex flavor mash-up. The 107 for me, was mild/medium from start to finish. Although the very last of the final third ramped up slightly, I don’t think the body of this cigar ever went above medium. For the relatively low price of this stick I would honestly recommend anyone who catches them in store to pick a few up, heck even a box will do. The all around smoothness of this cigar is great for a breakfast or lunch break, and appeals to not only the novice cigar smoker, but complex flavors will keep even the greatest aficionado entertained.

Pairing: I decided to pair my La Aurora 107 with some of Dogfish Head’s Aprihop Apricot infused India Pale Ale. It was surprisingly a great pairing as the sweet fruit, and bitter, hoppy beer helped me pick up even some of the deepest flavor notes within the cigar. I would recommend pairing this cigar with a light ale, an IPA, a red ale, water, or tea. Anything too dark may actually overpower the smoothness of the 107.

On a side note: If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to check out the contest Casas Fumando’s Daniel is putting on. He has some GREAT smokes up for grabs. Trust me, you won’t be dissapointed.

-Tony

Size: 5×50, Robusto (Clasico)

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Strength: Full

Price: Box of 22, $157.95

Ashton Cigars and Don Pepin Garcia together revitalized the San Cristobal, a Cuban blend from the 20^th Century and a name that Ashton has owned since the mid-80s. Ashton kept the name largely in waiting until they came across the right blender. The ratings on the San Cristobal have been very strong and many have called it Ashton’s strongest release yet.

This Nicaraguan puro is sold in 8 sizes and in cedar chests of 21 and 22 and retails for just over $7 a stick when bought as a box. The available sizes are a Robusto (5×50, Clasico), Torpedo (6.1×52, Fabuloso), Corona (5.5×44, Francisco), Pigtail (6.6×46, Guajiro), Perfecto (6×60, Maestro), Churchill (7.2×49, Monumento), Gordo (5.7×55, Papagayo), and the Toro (6×50, Supremo). All sizes are sold in chests of 22, except for the Gordo, which comes in chests of 21.

I’ve had this one sitting in my humidor for way too long, so let’s toast it!

Pre-light:

First things first, the label on this smoke was an eye catcher. The Parrot on the wide label dominated the eclectic colored band, with San Cristobal at the top, all spread over a curling map. The Corojo wrapper was dark and oily with minimal veins and a well constructed, Cuban-style triple cap at the head. The Clasico was tightly packed with no soft spots to be found. The pre-light aroma was of mature tobacco with a woody barnyard aroma at the foot. The cold draw produced notes of earthy Nicaraguan tobacco with a hint of spice on the edges of the tongue.

Burn:

The San Cristobal toasted and lit well but a noticeable V developed right off the bat. The draw was perfect, producing an excellent amount of smoke with minimal effort. The ash was nice and white but it did not hold as well as I expected and flowered at times throughout the smoke. The burn corrected into the second third and evened out for the finish. The temperature of the cigar was very nice and never became too warm at any point in the smoke.   

Flavor:

The first puff on the smoke produced woody notes of tobacco with a short but pleasing finish. As I moved into the first third, the richness of the tobacco was prevalent and this produced a heavy finish on the palate.  One half of an inch in, the spice picked up but was not obtrusive at all – it laid into the flavor profile very well. The second third followed the above profile, but became more defined with notes of wood, nuts, and spice. The last third saw an increase in spice with some coffee notes interspersed. The flavor profile was excellent, complex, but not overwhelming.

Overall:

Pepin and Ashton have a great product in my opinion. Every time I’ve picked up a San Cristobal, it has been a consistently great smoke. Though not an everyday smoke for me at over seven dollars a stick, it is still worth the money for an every now and again smoke. Also, if you keep your eyes peeled, you can find these in samplers at a great price from some of the online retailers.

Again, you can visit Toasted Foot online or follow them on Twitter. Drop them a line, leave them a comment, tell them hello!

I recently received a package from a good friend Mike (@KnightRid) over at Stogie Review. Inside that package was a couple of sticks that Mike had known I have been wanting to try for quite sometime now. Alas, the time has come to fire up EP Carrillo’s Edicion Inaugural 2009.

The Good Stuff: Early last year Ernesto Perez-Carrillo decided it was time to seperate from his long time partnership with General cigar to set out and create his own family boutique brand. The first blend hitting the shelves of that brand is the EP Carrillo Edicion Inaugural 2009 which was announced at laster year’s IPCPR in New Orleans.

The EP Carrillo Edicion Inaugural takes a spin on standard cigar manufacturing by using two different binders in this blend. One Dominican, and one Nicaraguan which is then surround by a Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The wrapper itself will not be able to be produced for a few years to come, even at that point who knows if this is a cigar that will be added to Carrillo’s standard portfolio. With only 150,000 sticks being made, it is safe to say that this is one exclusive cigar that you don’t want to miss getting your hands on.

Size: 5.5 x 52  -  Wrapper: Ecuadorian  -  Binder/Filler: Dominican/Nicaraguan  -  Body: Mild/Medium

Prelight: The EP Carrillo Edicion Inaugural 2009 sports a very consistent light, almost sandy brown wrapper. Many very small veins can be found throughout the wrapper which is polished off by a very smooth, rounded cap that blend seamlessly into the body of the cigar. The Edicion Inaugural is extremely firm to the touch with little bounce-back, and absolutely no soft spots. Construction on these cigars a subpurb. The Edicion Inaugural is fixed with a dual band system, one smaller red one with the title of the blend embossed in cold ink, and a much larger band with the EP Carrillo emblem resting upon a earthy yellow, gold and black wrap with small tobacco leaves embed upon it. The wrapper gives off a very sweet, graham cracker aroma as the foot of the cigar only enhances the graham smell with a bit of earth toned tobacco. The head clipped right off with my double bladed Palio cutter.  The cold draw produced a spicy, graham cracker, and bread type flavor mixture.

First Smoke: This Ep Carrillo lit up with extreme ease under my triple flame butane torch. The first few draws of the Ep Carrillo Edicion Inaugural produced a very smooth, yet complex mixture of graham cracker, cinnamon, natural tobacco, and almost a citrus zest. The draw is effortless and produces a great amount of thick, grey smoke.  The Edicion Inaugural produced a whole mess of  woodsy, tobacco scented stationary smoke.  The burnline started out a bit rigid and sharp, but quickly corrected itself leaving behind a beautiful tight, white ash. The ash lasted  about an inch and a half before falling to it’s fate in my ash tray.

EP Carrillo Edicion Inaugural 2009

Halfway There: Halfway through this EP Carrillo Edicion Inaugural I noticed s light change up in taste. The dominant flavor is now that of pine wood with a heck of a little spice kick and citrus taking the back seat. Even the stationary smoke aroma became more woodsy than it already was. The retro hale at this point is very tasteful and smooth. Unlike most of Carrillo’s blends the Edicion Inaugural is very smooth and mild. I am not feeling even the slightest bit of nicotine as I truck through this bad boy.  The burnline is still perfectly even, and razor sharp.

Finish: The larger of the two bands had a massive amount of unnecessary glue applied and took a rather large chunk of the cigar’s wrapper along with it. Thank god the Edicion Inaugural has more binder than normal or this could have caused quite a few problems. Lucky for me, the missing portion of the wrapper didn’t cause any problems in the draw, but it did lead to quite a bit of cracking. It just goes to show how frail this Ecuadorian wrapper can be. I didn’t get any harshness at all from this EP Carrillo. In fact, I am pretty surprised the entire experience was as smooth as it was. The finishing flavors were a bit more bold in the pine-wood department, with strong tobacco flavors and subtle spice and graham cracker. The burn was perfect all the way through with no needs to touch up, or relight. Again, no nicotine kick whatsoever, no harsh build up towards the end, smooth pine, and tobacco flavored finish.

Overview: If it wasn’t for the fragile wrapper and excess in glue on the band I would have walked away with absolutely nothing bad to say about this cigar. Even with that, I think it was a very pleasurable experience and would highly recommend this smoke to the novice, and the enthusiast. Again, it will be a matter of years before the wrapper on this cigar can be produced again, and even then it is unclear if we will ever see this cigar hit production again. So if you are luckily enough to stumble across these cigars I strongly urge you not to pass them up. You will regret it.

Pairing: I decided to pair this EP Carrillo Edicion Inaugural with some Erdinger Dark Heffeweissen (Dunkelweissen). Erdinger dark is a heavy, unfiltered wheat based beer with light citrus notes and dominant cinnamon and brown sugar flavors. The match was near perfect as it complimented the sweet notes of the EP Carrillo while really bringing the zest out of the cigar.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

This cigar just recently started hitting the market, and are quickly flying off cigar retailers shelves nationwide. These sticks came direct from the wonderful people at Bonita Smoke Shop, who are currently stocking the Triunfador as well as many other Tatuaje blends.

The Good Stuff: This is a re-release of Tatuaje’s old blend of El Triunfador. The only main differences are the new blend is released in 6 different sizes: The #1 which is a 6.5 x 42, the #2 which is a 5.5 x 52, the #3 which is a 5.62 x 46, the #4 which is a 4 x 48, the #5 which is a 4.4 x 42, and the #6which is a 7.5 x 38 vs the old blend (which will still be in production) only came in lancero form. And the wrapper, the old Triunfado blend was wrapped in broadleaf, where as in the new Triunfador blend, the cigar is wrapped in Habano.

Size: (#1) 6.5 x 45  –  Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  -  Body: Mild/Medium

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Prelight: Pete Johnson and Don Pepin are no strangers when it comes to excellect craftmanship in thier products, and The Triunfador is a great case study for that. The wrapper is extremly oily, silky smooth, and a very consistent rich brown topped off with the famous, rounded tripple cap. The #1 is a box-pressed cigar, but much like the La Riqueza the edges have quite a bit of roundess to them.  Although this vitola is very thin, the cigar is still very firm with little give when squeezed, not to mention I could find no soft spots what so ever on this stick. The band on the new El Truinfador is a simple, yet elegant red/white/and gold design, again resembling a scaled down version of Pete’s La Riqueza’s Band. The Triunfador gives off quite a bit of aroma, ranging from very sweet tobacco to an almost nutmeg that I can only hope carries through in the actual taste of the cigar. The cold draw produces a very similar taste to the aroma, sweetness, tobacco, and a hint of spice. I had no problems clipping this cigar using my Palio double bladed cutter.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

First Smoke:Tatuaje’s Tabacos El Triunfador lit up instaneously under my triple flame butane torch. I was expecting to be hit with the burst of pepper that most Tatuaje cigars start out with, but instead I was greeted with an extreme sweetness. The main tastes overall where a mixutre of very sweet tobacco (gotta love that), nutmeg, and a nutty after taste. The Triunfador starts off very smooth, and you can almost tell right of the bat that this is going to be a very mild cigar. I actually smoked this one for the review first thing in the morning. I am not a morning smoker at all, which shows just how mild this cigar really is. The draw was effortless and plentyful, producing a thick, lingering cloud of dark-grey almost brown smoke. The Triunfador doesn’t give off very much stationary smoke at all, but what little smoke that resides is very light scented with sweet tobacco, bits of cocoa, and cedar. The burn line was razor thin, and dead even leaving behind a thick, solid, light grey/white ash. The ash held on for about an inch before tumbling into my ashtray.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Halfway There: I’m halfway into this Triunfador, and I am extremly impressed with how sweet, and smooth this cigar is. The sweetness is still present in full force, where as there has been off and on hints of pepper, mixed with lots of nutty aftertastes. There is also quite a bit of woodsy/cedar tastes making face in these complex mashup. The nutty after taste seems to be very prominent once I take a few sips of the water that I paired this cigar with. The burnline is still dead even, and I haven’t needed to touch this cigar up at all. One side note is the speed in which this cigar burns. This was a longer vitola, and it only took me about 25 minutes to get halfway through it. I am not the fastest smoker, but I am far from a slow one so just be prepared, this won’t be an all nighter.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Finish: As if the Triunfador didn’t already shine in the first 2 thirds, the last third put it over the top. The sweetness stayed strong from start to finish, the pepper taste had completely vanished after the second third only to be replaced with cedar and nut. The last third really layed down the cedar flavor matching it up with the sweet, sweet tobacco for a perfect pairing. I had absolutely no problems with draw or burn. There was no harshness, and I was honestly very surprised that the cigar did not burn very hot at all towards the nub. I was able to take this one down as far as I could hold it without burning my fingers. Smooth smoke from start to finish with no signs, at all, of any nicotine. All in all this cigar took about an hour to smoke.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Overview: Needless to say, I am all about this cigar right now. AWESOME flavor profile, just enough changeup to keep my attention, smooth from start to finish. The El Triunfador is a winner in my book. Pretty much my only gripe about this stick is the fact that it smoke so fast. If it would burn any slower though, I am sure there would be a bit of harshness built up so I am willing to give it a free pass on that one. I honestly think this cigar would appeal to anyone who enjoys smoking. Don’t pass this one up! Price point is about $7 – $9 a stick, and although you’ll tear through them quickly, I think its a great price for the product.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

On a side note:If you are interested in the Triunfador, a good friend of ours Dan Reeve is actually on an adventure to smoke, and review each vitola in the new line. Head on over to his site ( http://crookedburn.blogspot.com/ ) for full coverage!

Cohiba Robustos

 This stick was sent over to me in a bomb by pretty much my most loyal reader not only abroad, but probably globally as well. Thanks Sergeant! I know some of the slack that I will get off of this review is the fact that I didn’t age this cigar for more than a month or two. I know, I know, Cubans need more time in the humidor, but you know what? Who cares? Ha, I’m antsy and wanted to get this thing going.

The Good Stuff: I didn’t do much digging around on the Cohiba Robustos post-smoke. I really didn’t want to taint my views of it prior to smoking it as it will be my first Cuban cigar review. So skipping all that messy business I am just going to go straight into the review.

One note to any novice cigar smokers out there. This cigar isn’t to be confused with the Domican Cohiba Robusto made by General cigar (greenish grey band). Two totally different smokes.

Size: 5 x 50  -  Wrapper:Natual Cuban  -  Binder/Filler: Cuban  -  Body: Medium/Full

Cohiba Robustos

Prelight: The Cohiba Robustos cigar has a very consistent light to medium brown wrapper polished off with a smooth, rounded double/triple capped head. This cigar is extremely firm to the touch and VERY tightly packed. I’ve noticed that to be a trend in most Cuban cigars that I have had as of late. There is one very large vein running the entire length of the cigar that I am hoping won’t be too much of a burden. The area around the foot seems to provide the only soft spot, with the rest of the cigar sporting perfect construction. The wrapper doesn’t give off much of a scent at all, just a bit of tobacco and grassy aroma. The foot of the cigar carries a similar, just more pronounced story.

I had no difficulty clipping the head of this cigar using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw produced very earth tastes with hints of grass and spice. Where as the wrapper itself gave off a very bitter, almost tart taste that I am hoping isn’t present the entire experience. This Cohiba lit up fairly quickly under my triple flame butane torch.

Cohiba Robustos

First Smoke: I am eager to get this Cohiba up and running. After the first few puffs the Cohiba Robustos produces a nice, clean, thick draw. I was concerned that the tightly packed cigar would produce a plugged draw, but that wasn’t the case. Extremely effortless. The initial flavors were very nutty, with a bit of tobacco, honey, and grassed mixed in there. The wrapper is still producing this strange bitterness, but the more I smoke, the more the bitterness fades out and is quickly replaced with a sweetness. Thank god. I don’t know why that bitterness was there, or where it came from. The Cohiba robustos produces quite a bit of stationary smoke, luckily the scent is filled with burning wood and a bit of tobacco. Early into the smoke the burn line already started to take off in a bunch of random thick waves. No need for touch ups yet, but I am almost certain these won’t even themselves out. The ash left behind was very flaky, but thick and a dark grey color with darker grey striped. The ash held on for a little over an inch before giving out.

Cohiba Robustos

Halfway There: As expected I needed quite a touch up after the first ash drop. One portion of the cigar was burning quite a bit faster than the other half. I’m used to most of the Nicaraguan blends that I smoke starting off with a punch of pepper, and then fading away. In the case of the Cohiba the tale was much different. Halfway through I started to pick up a very dominant pepper flavor, along with pine and honey. Needless to say the flavors are comforting and so far the smoke is very smooth with no signs of nicotine at all. The burn line hasn’t gotten any better, but it isn’t as bad as I began with.

Cohiba Robustos

Finish: The Cohiba Robustos finished just as smooth at it stated. I smoked this cigar down in just a little over an hour and I can honestly say I walked away feeling no nicotine kick at all. The pepper flavor faded way towards the least third and left behindvery woodsy, sweet honey and tobacco flavors in which I really enjoyed. The burn seems to be the only redheaded stepchild in this cigar. It really did have a mind of its own. I did need a few more slight touch up towards the end of the second third, but those were more of just me being anal and probably weren’t “necessary”. One interesting not was that I was able to take this cigar well into the nub without the increased amount of heat that I am used to. I’m not sure if this was due to the Cuban tobacco, or the massive amount of tobacco packed into this cigar. Maybe even a mixture of both.

Cohiba Robustos

Overview: All in all this was a tasty cigar. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a high-quality Cuban stick. But it just didn’t do as much for me as I wanted it to. Not to say this wasn’t a great stick, there are just quite a few more available cigars that I would choose over this one. I guess I was just expecting gold. A lot of this was due to the burn, and the mild flavors. The flavor change-ups were extremely intriguing and kept my attention, but I would have wanted to see a bit more, bolder flavors in the mixutre. I would honestly love to pick up a couple more, as I’m sure this is a cigar that would grow on me. But we’ll just have to see how that goes.

Cohiba Robustos

Pairing: This Cohiba Robustos was paired with some Klosterbrau Braun’s Weisse that was sent over to me within the bomb. I haven’t had this beer before, and probably would never have the chance to have it again, but it was a nice, full heffeweise and paired great with the Cohiba. The sweetness helped pick up the subtle honey and pine flavors as the slight bitter after taste helped clean the pallet before each puff. Great Little beer. I would also recommend a Dunkel-weissen with this cigar. It’ll just add to the overall flavor of the cigar.

Cohiba Robustos and Klosterbrau Braun's Weisse