The brand I’m referring to is of course Carlos Torano. In fact, there’s only one other review up on our site from a Torano line and it’s the Carlos Torano Casa Torano that I reviewed back in March 2011, almost a whole year ago. Today’s line I’ll be reviewing is the Carlos Torano Signature Collection in the Toro vitola.

This particular blend seems to be hailed by a few retailer websites as the best blend in their inventory, so it will have some big shoes to fill in this review. The interesting mix of fillers and binder leaves is a curious one, and on paper it sounds very tasty. The blend seems to have been first released back in 2000 and according to the official website, Torano.com, it comes in 5 vitolas ranging from a Perfecto up to a Churchill.

It’s interesting to see that for a cigar that’s been available for 12 years there isn’t much history or interesting news on it. The basic word is that it sells well and is a top performer in the Torano brand. The factory that makes this particular cigar is located in Honduras and is rolled completely by hand. I haven’t had one in awhile but we’ll see how close my older notes hold up to today’s experience…

Cigar: Carlos Torano Signature Collection
Drink: Lake of Bays Brewing Company Mocha Porter
Vitola: Toro (6 x 50)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Brazilian Maduro
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Dominican Cubano Ligero & Nicaraguan Habano Ligero
Price: About $7.50
Burn Time: About 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this cigar looks like it got beat with a meat tenderizer, it’s got bumps and dents and even looks a bit crooked
• The wrapper looks to be a very dark and consistent chocolate color, almost too dark and consistent, perhaps a bit of dye was used here?
• Despite the rugged nature and shape of the wrapper, there are very few large veins here but the wrapper definitely has a sandpaper type of feel to it
• The single cap has a slightly rough application to it which fits in with the rest of the cigar
• The foot looks very well packed and the entire length of the cigar has a fair bit of firmness to it

Burn:
• Toasting was nice and slow and resulted in a evenly glowing foot after about 30 seconds
• We’re off to a good start with some razor sharp burn through the first inch or so
• No problems as I pass the halfway mark, the burn is moving along at a very nice pace
• When I don’t have much to say in this section it’s a good thing, damn near perfect burn right to the end

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw is giving me a good amount of smoke with very little effort
• Even though it’s pumping out lots of smoke on the draw, the resting smoke is actually fairly moderate and not overpowering at all
• Ash looks to have a nice pattern of medium gray and some dark, almost black striping
• The ash is lasting just over an inch before it shows some signs of weakness and I tap it off
• No flaking on this ash, it’s clean and tight

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper doesn’t have too much aroma but I do get a faint hint of sweet tobacco
• The foot tells a very different story giving off tons of barnyard aromas
• The pre-light draw reveals lots of woodsy and earthy notes with a touch of the barnyard flavors thrown in there
• Initial flavors are some mild woodsiness with a touch of sweetness and a slightly creamy, yet dry, finish
• Within the first inch, I get a nice introduction of some subtle cooking spices, somewhere in the white pepper range
• The body has started off fairly mild so far with a small bite on the retrohale and a barely detectable woodsy finish
• The flavors are continuing to develop nicely as we hit the halfway mark, some more woodsiness, a bit of leather, earthiness and still a touch of those spices is lingering
• As I move into the last third the body as barely reached medium and I’m starting to get some sweetness added to the mix, maybe like a coffee with sugar type of flavor
• A lot of the flavors seemed to fade into a woodsy and leather mix near the last 1.5 inches, not bad but not as interesting as they were

Final Thoughts:
If you’ve been following some of my posts here or even on Facebook (Like us Please! ) and Twitter, I think you’ll find I’ve historically not been a huge fan of the Carlos Torano lines. I’ve never found any of them to be bad but just not exactly the profile I would gravitate towards. I think we found a slight exception to that rule today. Although this cigar didn’t knock me off my socks, I did find it to be a nice relaxing and enjoyable cigar. The burn was nice, the flavors were varied and enjoyable and it never tried to go out on me. I was a bit surprised that the body was a lot weaker than expected, the ligero didn’t pack the punch I was preparing for but I’m fine with that. The last bit of the cigar did go a little bland but it wasn’t off putting or bitter, just bland. My only real gripe is the price. I know, I sound like a broken record here but if I’m forking out almost $8 for a cigar it should be a very good cigar, not just a “good” cigar. Having said that, I did see them on sale for some more attractive prices so if you can find them on sale I’d say they are worth a try.

Pairings:
I don’t find too many bottles from the Lake of Bays Brewing Company at my local store but when I saw this one recently I decided to give it a try. The brewery is located about 2.5hours north of the city of Toronto in a place called Muskoka. You might have heard of Mukoka before, it’s a pretty popular escape to a cabin or cottage on some beautiful lakes and forested areas where a lot of celebrities actually own cottages. Todays offering is their Mocha Porter. I was expecting a bit more chocolate in this brew but for the most part it’s more like a coffee porter. Lots of smooth and tasty coffee flavors without any bitterness and very little malt. There is a touch of chocolate in there but not much. It actually paired very nicely with the Carlos Torano Signature Collection since the brew wasn’t too bold and complimented the flavors nicely.

I have to admit I’m a bit of a newbie when it comes to the Zino Platinum cigars, the Z Class is the only cigar in their line-up that I’ve had. Now I have had myself a few Davidoff cigars and they are the creators of the Zino Platinum lineup. Davidoff is well known for producing high quality cigars so does the Zino Platinum Z Class live up to that name?

The Z Class is one of the newer lines in the Zino Platinum inventory and are claimed to be a smooth and spicy medium-full bodied cigar. One thing about the Z Class I really love is their packaging. The box is actually a sleek Gun Metal colored tin packed with 20 cigars each. It also rounds out the line-up with the fuller bodied profile and comes in 4 standard sizes, Toro, Robusto, Pyramide and Corona.

The name and the sleek box remind me of a Mercedes-esque imagery for this line-up of cigars. The whole package is fairly attractive and now it’s time to see if it lives up to the reputation of it’s parent company and the look and feel of the brand as a whole.

Cigar: Zino Platinum Z Class 643C
Drink: Southern Tier Brewing Company Imperial Choklat Stout
Vitola: Corona 643C (6 x 43)
Wrapper: Dominican
Binder: Peruvian Pelo de Oro
Filler: Nicaraguan and Honduran Ligeros
Price: MSRP $8.00
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Z Class presents with a dark cinnamon brown wrapper that is rugged and rough
• There are a fair bit of visible veins but none seem to be too large or concerning
• The weight of this cigar is fairly heavy compared to others in the same vitola
• The top of this cigar is finished with a clean double cap while the foot looks to be moderately packed, there are a couple of small visible caps
• From cap to foot, the whole cigar is fairly firm when squeezed
• The cap was very tough and took quite a bit of effort to clip off with my double bladed guillotine cutter
• Initial draw seems pretty tight as well, lets hope that opens up

Burn:
• Toasting took a good amount of time and left me with a fairly evenly glowing foot, just a couple dark spots that refused to catch until my first draw
• We’re off to a bit of a wavy start here, hope that doesn’t keep up for too long…
• The slight wave at the start never did correct itself so I needed to give it a small little touch up around the 1/3rd mark
• After that touch-up the Z Class is smoking much better with a fairly clean burn, there is a slight wave but nothing out of control as I pass the half-way point
• I also have to note that this cigar is burning very slowly, definitely giving you time to enjoy without having to draw too often

Smoke & Ash:
• Despite a pretty tight draw, I’m still getting a ton of smoke from this cigar
• Even while resting, the Z Class is pumping out a fair bit of smoke and giving off a burnt wood type of aroma
• The ash comes off with a nice light grey tone but it is flaking quite a bit
• Due to it’s visible weakness, I’m ashing this cigar at about a half-inch right now
• Ash seems to get pretty weak consistently around the half inch mark, so I’ve been ashing it to avoid any disasters

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on the Zino Platinum Z Class is fairly woodsy and musty, a pretty bold aroma
• The foot adds more of the mustiness and with that comes a touch of spice and sweetness
• First thing I noticed on the pre-light draw was a spicy tingle on my lips and tongue, beyond that I was met with a very pleasant sweet cedar flavor
• Initial draws are filled with the musty woodsiness I was picking up on the aroma, so far the spice and sweet cedar are no where to be found
• Within a few draws, the mustiness seems to have disappeared and I’m left with the woodsy flavors and a variety of spices, mostly like a mild or white pepper
• The spice has started to settle down as I reach the end of the first third, now I’m balancing out nicely with some woodsy and earthy flavors
• So far the body has been in the low end of medium and the small bite on the retrohale is combined with a somewhat dry spice finish
• The sweet cedar seems to be trying to make an appearance but the earthy and woodsy flavors are drowning it out, hopefully they will balance out a bit more although I am enjoying it as is so far
• The sweet cedar is putting up a good fight and starting to be more dominant, I’m really enjoying the balance here now
• The bite on the retrohale remains fairly tame but the dry finish has changed to a more smooth creamy finish, adding the the enjoyment factor on this cigar
• The last third is turning out to be a creamy and enjoyable finish, the balance is just right with the cedar, sweetness, earthy and spicy flavors
• The nub of the cigar was easy smoking with lots of flavor and no harshness, a good finish to a tasty cigar

Final Thoughts:
This was my first venture into Zino Platinum territory so I went in with an open mind and no biases for or against the brand. I didn’t really know much about the brand at all before I did research for this review. Turns out that the Z Class is a pretty tasty cigar. It had an interesting flavor profile and burned fairly well. There was nothing that really stood out too much but the whole experience was enjoyable and I don’t really have any complaints. The price was a tad bit higher than I would have liked for a corona sized cigar but the flavors were very enjoyable so I’m a bit torn here. Drop these to $6 for the corona and I’d be more interested. But having said that, if I saw them at a B&M I’d be curious to try some of the larger vitolas as there definitely is some potential here, I may enjoy those a lot more. I think some people would really enjoy these so I’d have to suggest giving a 5-pack a try, there is definitely a market for this profile. I think this cigar has definitely sparked in interest in trying more Zinos, they are very tough to find for me but maybe my next trip south or the border, these will be on my radar.

Pairings:
I believe this is the final brew I have remaining from the haul I brought back from Florida earlier in the summer. It is the Imperial Choklat Stout from Southern Tier Brewing Company. This brew pours super black but with surprisingly little foam in the glass. The flavors are pretty unique here and I wouldn’t compare this to a typical stout. It’s definitely got a lot of hoppy bitterness but it doesn’t have much of the creaminess I tend to find in a lot of stouts. It’s almost closer to a porter in my humble opinion, but I am no beer guru. But despite that, the beer has some very good flavors going on here. There is a ton of dark chocolate flavors in this brew and they pair amazingly well with the hoppy bitterness I mentioned. There’s also a hefty serving of malt making this taste almost like a non-creamy alcoholic milkshake? lol. I’m surprised to see it also clocks in at 11% Alc./vol., I can’t even tell it’s that strong since it’s so smooth. So did it pair well with the cigar? Indeed it did! The smooth and bold flavors on the Choklat Stout mixed nicely with the flavors of the Zino Platinum. Similar stouts and porters would do well here, and of course a nice Port would have been even better! haha

Now there isn’t a whole lot of info out there about the ELO #3 so I’ll do my best here. If anyone has any more accurate or additional info, feel free to add it in the comments and I’ll be glad to append it to the review! From what I found while researching, this cigar comes exclusively from New Havana Cigars and is an “encore” release of a popular cigar they had previously sold in 2008.

It seems the cigars were sold at record speeds as do many of the limited releases from Tatuaje and especially from New Havana Cigars. As with many cigars from Pete Johnson of Tatuaje, this is a Nicaraguan puro and is rolled at the My Father Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. At the moment only New Havana Cigars is selling the ELO series from what I understand but it is possible that the retailers could expand, depending on demand and supply of course.

Now this next part is pure speculation but there may be some truth here. Apparently, the ELO series, which runs with numbers 1 thru 5, are overruns of some other popular Tatuaje cigars. And just to clarify, an overrun is not a 2nd, it’s basically just extra stock without any imperfections. From some reading, it seems this ELO #3 is the counterpart to the Tatuaje Verocu #2. Reading that and looking at some pictures of the Verocu 2 seems to be pretty accurate, but who knows.

So remember, a lot of this info is just stuff I found randomly and not from any official sources, so I’m not sure how accurate it is. Feel free to share any more info on his cigar if you have it, I’d love to learn more about it! Now I won’t do any more speculation or yapping, let’s just get straight to the review!

Cigar: Tatuaje ELO #3 2011
Drink: Muskoka Brewery Winter Beard Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout
Vitola: Robusto (5.5 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $6.50
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Tatuaje ELO #3 2011 has a pretty rough and beefy wrapper on it
• Despite having quite a few decent sized veins the oily sheen of this cigar definitely makes it attractive to look at
• The triple cap topping off this cigar is very smooth and well applied, so I can’t complain there
• Now the foot of the cigar looks like it has it’s fair share of filler leaves in there, very packed
• Surprisingly though, there is a nice give and spring to this cigar when squeezed
• The more I look at these veins the more they worry me, I’m hoping they don’t cause any burn issues here…
• The cut with my double bladed guillotine cutter made a huge mess and little pieces of tobacco leaves went everywhere
• The pre-light draw seems a bit tight but we’ll see how it goes
• The draw actually turned out to be ok, it is a bit tight but it’s not affecting the experience so far

Burn:
• The toasting was slow and steady and although there were some problematic spots it all lit up fairly evenly in the end
• The burn through the first inch of so has been razor sharp and super slow, so far so good!
• The burn continues to be stellar and slow through the whole first half, I’m actually very surprised because I saw a few good sized veins
• I had one little peninsula form in the last third of the cigar but it actually corrected itself, all in all this was a superbly burning cigar!

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke coming from this cigar is plentiful but it seems a little thin, not a bad thing just something to note
• The resting smoke is fairly minimal but it does give off a nice woodsy aroma
• The ash on this ELO #3 2011 is a very nice whitish color with accents of black striping here and there
• The ash lasted easily past an inch with a strong and clean looking structure before I tapped it off into the ashtray
• Loving the strong and clean ash on this cigar, another easy passing of the 1 inch mark on the second ash

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper of this cigar has surprisingly little aroma, maybe just a touch of woodsiness to it
• The foot is similarly lacking in aroma but I did detect a touch of floral notes in there, kind of surprised cause I’m used to getting a lot of spice from Tatuaje cigars
• The woodsy and floral flavors are still there on the pre-light draw but now I’m definitely picking up the trademark Tatuaje peppery spice that I’m used to, tingling my lips and tongue
• The first few draws had a very charred taste, might have been due to the extended toasting but I’m glad they went away fairly quickly
• The next array of flavors seems to be a musty woodsy type of flavor with a side order of mild spices and just a dash of leather
• The retrohale on the Tatuaje ELO #3 2011 has just a small bite and a smooth creamy cedar finish
• The body is resting at a comfortable mild-medium right now
• Now I’m not sure if it’s partly the beer here but I’m getting a nice thick rich flavor on this cigar, like a dark chocolate or roasted espresso, really enjoying it
• The flavors continue to get richer as the cigar burns, the spice has mostly disappeared and I’m left with a nice woodsiness backed by those delicious espresso and dark chocolate
• The body started to kick up into the full category in the last third but it still maintained a smooth creamy finish and lots of rich flavors
• The strength of this cigar seemed to sneak up a bit on me at the end, I got a little bit of a nicotine kick but not much. Might be due to smoking this earlier in the day and having only a small lunch
• The flavors diminished a bit as I hit the nub but they didn’t get harsh, just sort of washed out, still enjoyed it up until my fingers were burning

Final Thoughts:
Now this was a darn tasty smoke. I’ve had a bit of an up and down experience with Tatuaje lately but I always come back because when Pete Johnson does it right, he does it really right! The perfect burn, the awesome ash and the great array of rich flavors made for a superb smoking experience. The slow burn also gave me plenty of time to enjoy the cigar without the need to babysit it. I have to say that this blend definitely carried some similarities to the Verocu line, especially the Verocu Tubo since I smoked it not too long ago. So maybe there is some truth to that info… If you can track down a few of these I would definitely recommend you give them a try.

Pairings:
Today’s pairing is definitely an interesting one. It comes from a brewery about an hour North of me in what we call “Cottage Country”. It’s from Muskoka brewery and it is called their Winter Beard which is a Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout. Now I took a bit of a risk here since I actually haven’t even tried this brew before today and I’m glad to say it worked out rather well. I was a bit scared that the cranberry flavor would be overpowering but it’s actually barely discernible at all. You can get a touch of sweetness but it’s not a super fruity flavor at all. Even the double chocolate is fairly balanced. Once thing to note is that this is probably one of the thickest beers I’ve ever drank. It poured out like well aged port but it surprisingly had very little head (foam) to it. I found the richness of the beer to be a perfect match for the richness of the cigar, they both played to each others strengths and made for a great overall experience.

The Good Stuff: La Herencia is an exclusive brand brought to you by cigar.com/cigarsinternational blended by the one and only A.J. Fernandez. A.J. is a master, and has been on a roll kicking out some of the last few years best cigars. The Dos Capas is a limited edition run and sports the same mold as the standard La Herencia Cubana which is composed from an all Nicaraguan mashup of tobacco grown in the Estelí, Condega, and Jalapa regions. The Cigar is then wrapped in a beautiful Ecuadorian Sumatra (same as the Cubana), only with a twist (pun intended). A.J. decided to have a little bit of fun and barber pole the wrapper with the Ecuadorian Sumatra and a deep, dark, Pennsylvania Broadleaf. These cigars run for $6.50 a cigar.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra/Pennsylvania Broadleaf  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  -   Body: Medium

Prelight: The La Herencia Cubana Dos Capas is a thick, rustic looking barber-pole style cigar. The wrapper is composed of two wrappers, a dark, brown oily maduro, and a medium brown, and orange oily wrapper twisted parallel around the body of thick cigar. There is only one larger vein running in both the maduro and lighter shade wrapper at around the same area. Despite being a barber pole cigar, its really durable and you can handle it pretty heavily without risking the delicate construction. The La Herencia Cubana Dos Capas is finished off with a huge, rounded, maduro double cap. The band is similar to most of the other bands in the La Herencia line. Red, brown, gold and white with a huge crest carrying the name “La Herencia Cubana” on the front, and a smoke red lion in the back.

The wrapper of the Dos Capas gives off a great, strong sweet tobacco scent while the foot gives off more of a timid chocolate and earthy aroma. The La Herencia Cubana Dos Capas cut clean and easy using my double bladed Colibri Cutter. The cold draw kicked out some nice chocolate and tobacco flavors along with a really neat earthy grain that I wasn’t really expecting.

First Smoke: The La Herencia Cubana Dos Capas starts out with just a ton of bittersweet chocolate, and sweet tobacco flavor. There is a bit underlying spice and pepper, but not a whole lot. This cigar tastes like it was dipped in melted Hershey bar. The Aroma from the stationary smoke compliments the chocolate, and tobaccos tastes perfectly. The draw is perfect, again filling my mouth with just enough thick, white smoke after only two puffs. The burnline is razor sharp and dead even leaving behind a trail of solid white and light grey ash. It will be interesting to see how well the burnline does as I get further into the cigar due to the crazy wrapper this cigar has. The ash held on for about an inch and a half before toppling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: The chocolate is still by far the dominant flavor. There is a bit more spice starting to creep its way in as well as a little cedar, and even honey. This is a sweet cigar through and through. The retrohale even produces an excellent chocolate priming with a ton of cedar mixed in there. The burnline is still perfect despite me thinking that the burn would start to go haywire at some point. The cigar is so smooth, and mild that I am feeling absolutely no nicotine even after the second third.

Finish: Even though this La Herencia Cubana Dos Capas is giving out some neat favors, it’s starting to lose my attention into the final third. It’s got some awesome flavors, chocolate, cedar, and spice, but nothing that really stands out nor are there any considerable changeups from the second third into the last. It’s a smooth, mild cigar. There is no nicotine kick, and absolutely no harshness into the final inch. The cigar took about an hour and a half to take down, and burned flawlessly with no touch ups or relights required.

Overview: This La Herencia Cubana Dos Capas is a great cigar. Well balanced, smooth, and sweet. It was just a little too smooth for my liking. This would be an excellent cigar for someone who is just starting out, or even a perfect morning smoke. I’d just stay away from it if you want a more robust, and complex experience. It’s definitely worth having around, but I wouldn’t run out and buy a box or anything.

Pairing: Since we are due for some snow in out chilly El Paso desert, I decided to pair this La Herencia Cubana Dos Capas with a New Belgium Snow Day. Snow day is an experimental Winter Warmer style ale brewed at the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. A year or so ago, the brew masters at New Belgium became snowed into the brewery. They did exactly what any good brew master would do, brew some beer! They created an experiment. Basically they hopped the hell out of a winter warmer ale and created an interesting Pale Ale style winter brew. That’s right. Interesting enough the beer comes in at 6.2% ABV and carries a very hoppy taste similar to most pale ales, but threw in some awesome spice, cinnamon, malt, and orange to give it this special winter twang. It made for a great pairing, but the entire time I smoked the cigar I kept telling myself “Man, this thing would go perfect with some black coffee”. Try it for yourself.

Yesterday I took advantage of the fact that all my clients would be off celebrating. I decided to stay home and light up a good cigar with a tall glass of beer and enjoy the slightly warmer weather. I decided to sit down with this years Monster release from Tatuaje, dubbed the Wolfman. If you didn’t know, Pete Johnson has been releasing a Halloween themed cigar each year for the past few years and it’s called the Monster Series.

Last year, Tatuaje released “The Face” which we reviewed here. Before that you would have seen the Boris, Frank or Drac. Each one is inspired by a horror creature from a story or film. This years Wolfman release is no different, named after the infamous werewolf. The cigars came packed in a limited selection of dress boxes with 13 cigars as well as a slightly larger release of 10-count plain boxes. They were sold out very quickly across the country so I’m glad I was able to snag a few to get a review in.

The Wolfman comes in with a shaggy foot to keep inline with the character of the cigar. Pete wanted to give it a sort of “ugly” unfinished look to match the theme. Other than the shaggy foot, the cigar looks to be of excellent construction. The band on this cigar also has one new thing from the older Monster Series sticks. On the sides of the band you can see “MONSTER” and “HALLOWEEN” written beside the normal Tatuaje name. Normally, there was nothing else on the bands aside from the brand.

Now I know I’m coming in a little late to the game with this review but it did take quite a bit of digging and asking around to get these cigars. Especially up here to Canada where they aren’t sold and very few B&M’s are even willing to ship to. Tony’s local shops also don’t seem to get these in so we were both in a bit of a bind trying to track a few down. Alas, determination leads to success and I got them. So here I am, sitting down and getting ready to light this cigar and write down my thoughts for your reading pleasure.

Cigar: Tatuaje Wolfman – Monster Series 2011
Drink: Trafalgar Ales & Meads – Smoked Oatmeal Stout
Vitola: Box-Pressed Torpedo (7.5 x 52)
Wrapper: Sumatran
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: MSRP $13
Burn Time: a little under 2 hours

Construction:
• The Tatuaje Wolfman is a nice looking cigar with a chestnut brown wrapper
• The wrapper is slightly rough with some veins running through it but none look to be large or worrisome
• The whole cigar actually feels a little soft when squeezed
• The cap is finished with extreme care and blends into the cigar with ease, the foot is left uncovered and shaggy but still looks to be fairly well packed
• Cap cut cleanly and easily and left me with an easy draw, make sure not to cut too much off this cigar or it will be very open
• As soon as I finished burning past the unfinished foot the draw got super-tight so I needed to cut the cap a bit more and now we’re all happy

Burn:
• Toasting seems fairly easy and even and took a good 30 seconds or so to get the foot glowing, I was expecting a messy toasting with the unfinished foot but it wasn’t messy at all
• Burn got off to a wonky start on one side that needed a quick correction early on
• After that correction, things have been burning a lot smoother with a nice sharp and even line
• Another small correction as I pass the halfway mark, nothing major and didn’t affect the flavors

Smoke & Ash:
• There’s a ton of smoke from each draw as I’ve come to expect from pretty much all of Pete Johnson’s cigar, he really knows how to nail the thick billowy smoke
• The ash from the unfinished foot was super weak and fell off quickly, before I even had a chance to snap a picture
• Seems that suicidal ash is the trend today, lost the first two ash to the floor after about an inch each, sigh…
• The ash seems to be fairly weak and a little bit messy with a light grey color to it
• Considering there is so much smoke on the draw, the isn’t much resting smoke to be found on the cigar and it’s giving off a nice cedar aroma

Tasting Notes:
• The aroma off the wrapper is slightly sweet with a peppery touch
• The foot adds a hefty helping of cedar added to the sweet and spicy notes
• Pre-light draw brought more of the cedar to the mix, quite a nice flavor
• Initial draws after lighting were mixed mostly of cedar and a spicy pepper undertone, no sweetness at this point
• The pepper seems to be staying as a soft undertone but now I’m getting some other more interesting spices in the mix, mainly like a nutmeg or clove type of flavor
• I’m also picking up on some leathery and earthy notes on this cigar, lots of flavors going on here
• The cedar flavors continue to dominate and I think I’m getting some coffee notes in the mix now too but that might be the stout I’m pairing with
• The body of the cigar has been a nice comfortable medium since the start, a good well balanced smoke so far
• The retrohale brings with it a slight peppery bite and smooth cedar finish
• A little past the halfway mark I’m starting to pick up a little bit of that initial sweetness, let’s hope it develops a little more
• The sweetness didn’t really develop any further and faded soon after, but the coffee and cedar really grew together into a nice mix
• All the flavors slowly ramped up near the 2 inches but the body stayed in a nice smooth medium range
• No harsh or bitterness right to the nub, enjoyed every last cedar and coffee filled draw

Final Thoughts:
I think Pete Johnson has another winner in the ever popular Monster Series of cigars from Tatuaje. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s his best ever but these are tasty right out of the box and they seem to have some aging potential as well. Other than a couple minor touch-ups the cigar burned fairly well and offered a lot of complexity to the palate that kept me interested the whole way through. And that is sometimes a hard task when the cigar is this length of vitola, I tend to have a short attention span, lol! The Wolfman was quite balanced and smooth through the whole experience and I enjoyed it from start to finish. They are getting harder and harder to come by each year (especially for a Canadian!) so I’m glad I was able to grab a few. If you manage to find some, definitely pick a couple up for a special occasion!

Pairings:
Today’s brew comes from a local brewery called Trafalgar Ales & Meads which is located about 45min from where I live in a place called Oakville, Ontario. I don’t actually see many other brews from these guys but I have picked up this brew a few times. It’s called the Smoked Oatmeal Stout. The first time I saw this I thought it was going to have a heavy smoked flavor like a scotch or something, but that’s not the case at all. It’s actually a fairly light stout but it’s got the most head out of any beer I’ve seen before. I mean if you shake this bottle even a tiny bit, it’s going to explode when you crack it open. And pouring it takes like 30min to let the foam settle, it’s ridiculous but worth it. The flavors you get are chocolate, coffee and a malty deliciousness that mix together so well. The array of flavors also makes for an excellent pairing for nearly any medium to full cigar, it would easily overpower a mild stick though. I think a nice Tawny Port would have gone excellently with the Wolfman or possibly even a strong coffee or black tea.

Today we have a fairly limited cigar up for review that I actually don’t think got all that much Press. It comes from the B&M Exclusive line by Pete Johnson of Tatuaje. If you haven’t stumbled across any of these before, you can find one of the previous ones reviewed here on Casas Fumando, it was the Tatuaje Barclay Rex 100th Anniversary. Pete Johnson continues this line with the Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011.

The TAA in the name actually stands for the “Tobacconists Association of America” and unlike his previous B&M Exclusive releases, you will actually be able to find these in more than just 1 store. The total distribution went out to 40+ TAA retailers across the United States of America. There was also a larger production turned around for this cigar with numbers totaling up at 30,000 cigars. This worked out to 1,500 boxes of 20 cigars per box, and if you had a retailer in your area, they would have sold between $10 and $11 per cigar.

As with most exclusives from Tatuaje and Pete Johnson, they don’t last too long on shelves and are already fairly scarce in most areas. One thing that made them a bit of a draw to Tatuaje fans is that Pete hinted the blend was similar to that of the Pork Tenderloin and the Brex. Both of those were limited releases from Tatuaje that were difficult to track down. Pete also decided to change up the shape of this cigar a little bit. You can find that it is a slightly rectangular box-pressed shape and the 5.675 x 54 vitola is also non-standard. I actually found the vitola here to be a good balance between a Toro and Robusto.

The cigar itself comes wrapped in an interesting Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Now the wrapper alone doesn’t make the cigar, but both Tony and I both seem to have a great appreciation for a lot of Broadleaf cigars so I’m hoping this continues the trend. It’s terribly cold out here today but I’ve got my propane heater to keep me warm from the outside and a nice tall bottle of beer to keep me warm on the inside. So let’s see what the Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011 has in store for me!

Cigar: Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011
Drink: Wychwood Brewery Bah Humbug Christmas Cheer
Vitola: Box-Pressed Toro/Robusto hybrid (5.625 x 54)
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $10
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Tatuaje TAA is actually a tad rough looking on first glance with a few medium to large sized veins and some uneven areas in the diameter
• The wrapper looks like a tasty chocolate bar with a bit of toothiness and I’m actually getting some sort of glitter type effect on it, could just be my lighting (I later realized the glitter was likely caused by the temperature being so cold that the humidity droplets were icing over…)
• The cigar sports a closed foot and a box pressed shape, the triple cap ties up the presentation nicely
• There is a bit of inconsistency with regards to firmness on the cigar too with some areas being soft and springy while others are very firm
• The cap clipped away fairly cleanly with my double-bladed guillotine cutter, I’m met with a bit of an open draw here that concerns me
• The draw remains very open which is disappointing

Burn:
• I actually peeled away the closed foot pieces to reveal a nice clean foot for my toasting since I’ve had terrible luck in the past with closed feet
• This resulted in a nice and evenly toasted foot and kicked me off to a great start
• A bit of a wave started after the toasting, we’ll see how it progresses
• The wave is progressing to be worse and will definitely require some touch-up soon
• The cigar almost went out and needed a fairly hefty touch-up, but we’re chugging along again now
• The draw seemed to get a bit tighter after my relight/touch-up and the burn has been a little more consistent, although still a tad wavy

Smoke & Ash:
• There is an absolute insane amount of smoke coming from each draw of this cigar, I could make smoke signals rivalling campfires with this cigar!
• Surprisingly, there isn’t much resting smoke coming off the cigar, just a moderate amount giving off a burning wood aroma
• The ash appears nice and clean so far with a light grey color tone
• First ash lasted just about an inch before falling off into the ashtray
• Second ash seemed to keep with the 1 inch mark as it’s standard

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has very little aroma, maybe just a bit of sweet tobacco
• Since the foot is closed, there isn’t much variance on the aroma but I do get a little bit of spice there
• The pre-light draw brings more sweet tobacco and spices, both in greater intensities now
• The initial draws offer an interesting mix of spices dominated by a white pepper type of flavor, mixed in there is also some cedar woodsiness that balances it all out
• The array of spices keeps changing as I smoke the Tatuaje TAA, there’s a variety of cloves, nutmeg and raw cinnamon along with the white pepper
• The initial sweetness I detected is pretty much gone but the cedar flavors seem to be balancing out the profile for now
• There is a very small bite on the retrohale and the finish is a nice smooth cedar flavor
• The body seems a little hard ot place right now, but I’ll say we’re near medium so far, I suspect that will increase soon though
• As I approach the half way mark I can’t say I’m getting much else in the flavor department, still spices and cedar
• It’s not a bad profile but I’m hoping it changes up a bit soon to keep me interested
• The balance of the cedar seems to be fading away and I’m getting more into a bland tobacco flavor paired with some mixed spices
• The Tatuaje TAA never really passed the medium threshold, stayed in the range until the end with only a slight buildup
• I really wish that initial sweetness made a presentation here, it would really bring a nice dimension to this cigar…
• Flavors going into the last 1.5 inches are really fading away, mostly getting a burnt woodsiness and some leathery flavors
• Had to put the cigar down a bit early as the flavors started getting harsh

Final Thoughts:
The Tatuaje showed some promise initially and I was enjoying the flavor profile from the start. Unfortunately, that profile didn’t change much as the cigar progressed and actually got a little bland shortly after the halfway mark. I also had a few issues with the burn and an extremely open draw. I think the cigar had some potential and maybe needed a little more rest time in the humidor, I’m not too sure. I’ve come to expect a higher calibre of cigars from Pete Johnson’s B&M exclusive lines and I don’t think this one lived up to the expectations I had. I’d definitely want to try another couple after they’ve had time to rest though and see how age treats them.

Pairings:
As we all know, Christmas is just around the corner and that means by favorite time of year in the brewery world! Christmas and Winter ales are probably my favorite seasonal brews and there’s always cool gift packs available too. You may recognize the Wychwood Brewery name from their famous Hobgoblin ruby ale which I’ve enjoyed in my review of Illusione 888 Slam and it’s own review here. This offering is called “Bah Humbug Christmas Cheer” and is one of theie seasonal ales. I actually found the flavors to be very similar to the Hobgoblin and not as “heavy” as you might expect. It’s basically got that smooth ruby ale character with an added touch of spices common in winter seasonal ales, such as cinnamon. I found it to be a very tasty pairing to the Tatuaje TAA since it offered a change of pace from the cigars profile and kept the whole experience a little more interesting.

Andre Farkas is the brand owner of Viaje and has been leading the brand into a successful time with a pretty large following. For the most part the Viaje lines are fairly limited so this results in a split opinion between a lot of people. Some cigar smokers are not fans of seeking out rare or limited cigars while other love the thrill of the hunt! Tony also reviewed a couple other Viaje’s recently including the Platino Lancero and the Oro Reserva #5.

One of the lines that Andre and Viaje have been releasing is called the “Skull And Bones”. We are into the 3rd iteration of the brand and each year the band and blend is changed. Tony reviewed last years release which was simply called the “Skull and Bones #2″ and had a White on Black band with the “Jolly Roger” logo on it. In case you didn’t know, the “Jolly Roger” is the skull and cross bones symbol that was commonly flown by pirates. There are other variations of the “Jolly Roger” but this is the most common. Below this band you will find a thinner White on Black band that just says “Skull and Bones”. Oddly enough, there is no mention of Viaje on the cigars.

Now this years “Skull and Bones” carries essentially the same two bands with the exception that the White parts of the band are now Red. The look of the cigars is pretty interesting and I like the way the band looks. Another difference I noticed is that the foot of this cigar is clean cut while in Tony’s review of the #2, there is a closed foot. This release of the Skull and Bones series came out in March of 2011. As mentioned, this is the follow up to the previous “#2″ and the first released “Daisy Cutter” and apparently this years blend should pack a heftier punch, I guess I’ll find out soon!

The names of the vitolas may seem odd to some people but there is a method to the madness. The original Skull and bones release was called the “Daisy Cutter”. A quick search shows that a “Daisy Cutter” is a bomb used to flatten forests into a nice helicopter sized landing zone. There are also 2 vitolas released for this years blend, the WMD (Short Robusto) and the MOAB (Short Torpedo). WMD stands for “Weapon of Mass Destruction” and MOAB is “Massive Ordinance Air Blast”, both of which keep the trend of bomb related names. So let’s see how explosive this cigar is and dive right into this review!

Cigar: Viaje Skull And Bones WMD
Drink: Creemore Springs urBock Dark Beer
Vitola: Short Robusto (3.75 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun-Grown Criollo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $9.00-$10.00
Burn Time: almost 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Skull and Bones WMD has an awesome dark chocolate wrapper that is super toothy with a touch of oil
• There are some minor veins here and there that are visible but none seem large enough to pose and problems
• The entire length of the cigar has a nice give to it when squeezed, never too firm
• The foot looked to be very well packed and I’m not sure if the picture will get this but you can pick out two very distinct colors of filler leaves
• The cap is finished in a very clean triple cap and looks well composed
• Draw is a tad tight but nothing that will bother me through the cigar experience

Burn:
• Toasting was even and slow, leaving me with a nice glowing foot
• The start of the burn is going a little wavy, I’m hoping it kicks itself back into line without a touchup
• Luckily, the burn did correct itself and although we’re still going a little wavy it’ more in control now
• I had a couple small touchups needed here and there but none were too major, it burned quite well for the most part
• A quick note, I think burn is EXTREMELY important on short vitolas like this so a poor burn would cost a lot of points so I’m glad it burned nicely for the most part
• The whole cigar burned surprisingly slow, good value for the dollar

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw is giving me a very full mouth of smoke that is thick and billowy
• The ash has a bit of a medium grey tone to it and is showing signs of some flakiness early on
• The ash fell apart before even hitting a half inch
• The flaky ash continues but this time we got closer to an inch before falling off
• The ash continued to be flaky and a bit messy, falling off before reaching one inch each time

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper aroma is fairly light with just a hint of woodsiness
• The foot has a similar woodsiness with a hint of peppery spice that tickles your nose
• Pre-light draw is dominated by a nice light cedar
• Initial draws are very interesting, I’m getting a burning wood flavor that reminds me of a fresh campfire. I LOVE the smell of a campfire so I’m loving this start. (Note: I’ve never tasted a “Campfire” but if it were possible it would taste like this, lol)
• Aside from the campfire flavor, I’m getting some peppery spice and a bit of leather
• The retrohale has a nice medium bite to it but a bit of a rough woodsy finish
• So far through the first inch I’m getting a comfortable medium bodied smoke
• The woodsiness continues to be the most dominant flavor with some other spices sneaking in now, more like a strong nutmeg or close and a bit of earthiness
• Not too much change-up as I head into the last third, the whole cigar has been nicely balanced and smooth
• As I get to the nub there is a definite build-up in body to the full range but it’s not getting harsh, i like that
• Near the end, the main flavor was still cedar but I started getting some nice coffee and nutty notes
• Brought out the toothpick near the end to get that last bit of enjoyable cigar burned down without burning my fingers

Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this cigar, especially for it’s size. I’ve been leaning towards larger vitolas lately but had a short timeframe this afternoon and went for a shorter cigar. There were enough favors to keep me interested and on my toes the whole time and it burned very well for the most part. I was a little worried about the cigar being strong after reading some reviews but it wasn’t as ass kicking as I was expecting. It is full but it didn’t give me a hard nicotine kick. the price for a cigar this size is also a bit high although it is actually cheaper than previous years releases. Luckily it burned a lot longer than I expected so I felt I got my money’s worth on it. The limited nature of these cigars (and most Viaje’s) make them harder to find but if experience is any indicator, most of Andre Farkas’ work is worth tracking down.

Pairings:
Creemore is actually a little town not too far from where I live. They pride themselves in making their brews with all natural spring water direct from their local spring. The Creemore Springs brewery mainly focuses on their Lager but they also brew a lot of other varities in smaller batches. The beer chosen today is a Dark Ale called an urBock. Bock beers began in Munich and can be traced as far back as 1612. It is actually a Ruby beer and not the darker chocolate color of some other Dark Ales. It’s also surprisingly fuller and thicker than the average Dark Ale with a smooth roasted malty flavor. It paired very well with the Vieje Skull and Bones WMD and is an excellent brew to pair with almost and strength of cigar. Other good pairings for this cigar would be coffee, a dark cola, or some Porto of course! lol (Are you tired of hearing that yet??)

Courtesy of www.CigarsInternational.com

With Tony away this week I wanted to fill the week with at least two reviews. Seems that time was not on my side though as a co-worker has also been off all week and his workload got dumped on me. Yeay! But have no fear, I did some digging and found this blind review that I never had the chance to post. I think you all know how much I enjoy doing these blind reviews so I’m not sure how this one slipped through the cracks.

As a caution, this was done many moons ago so the pictures admittedly suck and I’m glad to see how much I’ve improved over time! lol. (I can’t believe I used to use the flash, I’m sorry about that! haha) So bear with me on that, I promise some better pictures next week! I’m not sure on the exact date that I wrote this but I believe it was at least a year and a half ago, somewhere in early 2010 or possibly even late 2009. I happened to find it on one of my hard-drives from a crashed laptop. Glad I’m a pack-rat when it comes to electronic junk!

The cigar ended up being a La Herencia Cubana Oscuro Fuerte which is one of the growing number of exclusive cigars from Cigars International. It is also another blend from the great AJ Fernandez who has turned out some excellent cigars lately such as the recently reviewed San Lotano Oval and the Man O’ War Armada. Both of which received excellent reviews from us. The cigar being reviewed today is a much older blend and packed with some Ligero long-filler. It’s currently offered in 4 vitolas at very fair prices. Let’s see how it faired in my blind impressions.

Cigar: La Herencia Cubana Oscuro Fuerte
Drink: Mill Street Brewery Coffee Porter
Vitola: Robusto (5.5 x 54)
Wrapper: Pennsylvania Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: MSRP $4.20
Burn Time: A little under 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The cigar is wrapped in a very dark chocolate brown wrapper
• Lots of veins but none of them very large and don’t look to pose any potential problems
• Foot is soft and springy but head is fairly firm when squeezed lightly
• No oiliness on this wrapper, it actually appears a bit dry
• Clean triple cap to finish off the top of the cigar
• Foot looks graciously packed and full
• Cutting the cigar with my double bladed guillotine was a little messy, but nothing major
• Draw is good right off the start, I like that!

Burn:
• Toasting was mostly even although there was one dark spot in the center that just wouldn’t catch
• As we progress, the burn has been dead on and razor sharp through the first-half
• Just past half-way got a slight wave in the burn that ended up correcting itself
• Had another peninsula form past the halfway mark that seems to be correcting itself slowly
• The last half of the cigar needed a few more draws to keep lit although the first half was burning nicely
• Burn took a turn for the worst near the last 3rd, hard to keep lit and very wavy

Smoke & Ash:
• Giving off a big mouthful of smoke from each draw
• Resting smoke is almost non-existent and a very light burning tobacco aroma
• Ash is light grey in color with the occasional darker streaks
• The ash is tightly packed and appears strong so far
• Each ash lasted a little short of 1 inch and made an explosion when they hit the ashtray, not sure why but it was definitely messy

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper has aromas of cocoa and a barnyard/hay type of scent
• Foot aroma is of cocoa and a touch of spice on the nose, almost a mild pepper
• Pre-light draw is mostly the barnyard/hay type of flavor and a bit of the spice
• Initial draws are nutty, earthy and a touch of spice, it’s also very dry on the back of my throat
• Getting a toasted wood flavor about an inch in
• Retrohale is medium bodied with a barnyard flavor and a very mild kick
• The body has been medium right from the start
• Flavors haven’t changed much up to the half-way mark and its still very dry
• Passing the halfway mark, the only flavor left is burning wood and getting a bitterness here too
• The bland flavor and bitterness stuck through to the end, disappointing considering the first half was very good
• The bitterness got too powerful in the last 1.5 inches, had to put it down…
• I’m pretty sure the poor burn factored into the harsh flavors here since the good burning start had much more enjoyable flavors

Final Thoughts:
I think you can tell from my notes that I wasn’t too impressed by this cigar. It started off pretty decent but unfortunately the flavors didn’t change much and only dwindled away as the cigar progressed. The extreme bitterness at the end was also a big disappointment. I’m not sure if it was just a bad stick from the batch since I haven’t had this cigar before. That’s probably one of the main downsides of a blind review, a single bad stick could ruin your impressions on that cigar for the future. Even with it’s incredibly cheap price I think I’ll be avoiding this cigar in the future unless I get some glowing recommendations from a lot of people.

Pairings:
The brew I chose to pair today is from the local Toronto based brewery called Mill Street. This is their Coffee Porter which as the name implies, is a Coffee flavored Porter (Complicated, right? ). I’m a big fan of this brew to pair with cigars, it’s got a full feel to it and the coffee notes pair excellently with cigars. I wrote up a full review on the brew if you are interested, you can find it here. It’s also made locally and I love supporting local business whenever possible. This was probably the highlight of the review for me and I really enjoyed the brew. As I mentioned, it pairs excellently with a variety of cigars including full and mild. It paired well with the La Herencia Cubana Oscuro Fuerte and complimented the initial good notes I got from the cigar. I would definitely suggest a strong pairing with this cigar to combat the harshness I got on the end, something like a Porto, Stout of strong coffee would go well.

Berger & Argenti’s Entubar Quad Maduro isn’t anything new to the cigar scene. In fact, it was released last year at the IPCPR show in New Orleans, and the Entubar has been circulating cigar stores for about a year before that considering the company has only been around since early 2009. The thing is, much like many other brands, Berger & Argenti isn’t a brand that’s easy to come by here in El Paso. Not to mention Berger & Argenti is a Brick & Mortar exclusive product. These were actually sent over to me by one of our greatest sponsors, Bonita Smoke Shop.

The Good Stuff: The Entubar Quad Maduro is the second release in the Entubar series. The first being the standard Entubar which carried a Habano wrapper vs. The Nicaraguan Sun Grown Maduro wrapper the Quad Maduro that has been aged in oak barrels since 2002. It runs around $9 – $10 a stick.  Here is their description on the blend:

Each deeply aged Nicaraguan filler leaf is carefully rolled into itself creating delicate ‘scrolls’ of rich, flavorful tobacco. This age-old method ensures open chambers of air flow from the foot to the head of the cigar, creating a superior draw…The ligero tobacco leaves that lend the cigar its unique full body is bunched independently from the rest of the blend before it’s re-bunched directly into the center of the remaining Entubar rolled filler blend. This ligero channel ranges the full length of the cigar and extends ¼ beyond the finished trimmed foot, creating a startlingly unique fuse like appearance that virtually assures a perfect, conical burn with a long white ash.

Size: 6 7/8 x 56  (torpedo) -  Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun Grown Maduro  -  Binder: Nicaraguan  -  Filler: Nicaraguan/Dominican  -  Body: Full

Now if this isn’t a crazy looking cigar, I don’t know what is. The Entubar Quad Maduro starts off with this crazy looking foot. It’s much like any other box pressed cigar but it has this large nub sticking out of the middle of it. Along with the nub is a HUGE yellow warning band stating “ADVISORY – Thoroughly toast entire cigar foot before smoking. I don’t know about smoking a cigar with a warning label on it (as if cigar smoking was healthy to begin with). We’ll have to see if this really does affect the experience, or if it’s nothing more then just a cleaver marketing ploy.

Once you pass the strange foot you come to the body of the cigar. Almost pitch black with dark brown and black colors. The wrapper is very spotty, which when it comes to maduros is a good thing. It shows that Berger & Argenti don’t dye their wrappers like some other manufacturers out there. The wrapper is very smooth and durable with a slight tooth, and almost non-existent veins. The band on this cigar is awesome looking. It’s a very basic brown and white wrapped band with the name of the manufacturer on it topped op with a nice, elegant gold Berger & Argenti sticker that almost looks like the old school melted wax seals they used to seal envelopes. After the band is a very sharp, pointed torpedo style cap. All in all this is a very good looking cigar, albeit a little gimmicky we’ll have to see how the crazy composition plays into the experience. The wrapper gives off a very very, sweet and pungent tobacco scent while the foot remains very neutral with just soft hints of chocolate and spice.

First Smoke: Berger & Argenti’s Entubar Quad Maduro start off with this crazy, almost overwhelming chocolate within the first few puffs. After the first few puffs the chocolate subsides a bit and lets through a really nice mixture of spice, tobacco, and just tons of coffee. This is probably the closest you can get to an infused cigar without actually smoking an infused cigar. Now, that’s not a bad thing at all, in fact, it’s starting off incredibly enjoyable, smooth, and very flavorful. The draw is just incredible. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the silly nub, but if so, it’s worth it. Each puff delivers this massive cloud of thick white smoke. I’m not having to hit this cigar more than once or twice to get the amount of draw that I enjoy. Usually, it takes at least 2 to 3 on most other cigars. The burnline for the most part is pretty even with the exception of a few wider waves. I wasn’t expecting that considering how difficult it was to maneuver my lighter around the nubby foot. The ash left behind is a bright white, lighter grey mixture which seems pretty solid with the exception of a few larger flakes towards the very beginning of the foot. The ash only held on for almost an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: Crazy enough, I didn’t pick up any pepper at the start of this Entubar Quad Maduro, but I am getting a ton of it now. Usually this is the point where it starts to really fade. Interesting. Along with the pepper came a lot more body from this Entubar Quad Maduro. The spice really picked up too with the bittersweet chocolate, and coffee taking the back burner. The retrohale was way more pepper-based then I thought it would be, and almost rough at times but leaves behind an awesome dark-chocolate priming. I just can’t handle retrohaling this cigar too often. The burnline is still producing some non-threatening, wider waves, but it hasn’t needed any attention from lighter yet.

Finish: At this point Berger & Argenti’s Entubar Quad Maduro has really started to smooth out. The pepper has all but faded away, the spice is a bit more dormant, and now I am left with this awesome mocha-latte flavor. What an interesting experience. This has been a rollercoaster of flavor and to be honest, I am happy to see the cigar really mellowing-out at the end. Not to say it wasn’t flavorful, but the body really dropped out. The burnline has been a bit wavy the entire time, but I t never needed touch-ups or any relights. The body was medium-full, then full, then back to a more dormant full. You can feel it the entire time, but it doesn’t knock you on your ass. All in all, it took about an hour and a half to take down this beast of a cigar.

Overview: Berger & Argenti’s Quad Maduro is really a departure from the norm. If you are looking for a unique experience, without getting far away from what we have all grown to love in most cigars these days then this is definitely a cigar you want to try out. The robust flavors, and interesting way in which the Entubar delivers them makes for a really different cigar. I personally really enjoyed this cigar, and the consensus among a lot of other reviewers are the same. And to be honest, I was really skeptical at first thinking that this is just another gimmicky cigar, and another attempt and cigar marketing, but Berger & Argenti really came up with a solid cigar.

Pairing: Since it is coming to a close of the summer season I decided to pair this cigar with another all time favorite summer ale, Dupont’s Saison. I’m a sucker for Sasion/Farmhouse Ales, slap a “product of Belgium” stamp on there and I’m sold.  Dupont’s Saison is one of the world’s most famous, and enjoyed Saisons coming in at 6.5% ABV brewed by Brasserie Dupont, in Tourpes Belgium. Dupont’s Saison is a rich, thick, ale with a very fruity, floral bouquet of flavors finishing in a nice, sharp citrus aftertaste. Did it go well with this cigar. Neh. I struck out this time, and I should have known it. Maduros, especially complex maduros such as Berger & Argenti’s Entubar Quad usually pair better with porters, and stouts. Anything with a richer, more coffee/chocolate build up. Since this was a deeper, sweeter cigar the floral and citrus flavors from the Saison just sat on top of the Entubar’s profile. Coffee would have went great with this cigar or even some nice whiskey.

Today’s cigar is his latest edition to the regular production cigars that was unveiled officially at IPCPR 2011. It is the EP Carrillo Core Line Maduro. It will join the other regular line cigars which now include the EP Carrillo Core Line Natural and the New Wave Connecticut. If you read my above linked revore of the Natural Core Line, you’ll notice I wasn’t a huge fan. Having said that, I really enjoyed the New Wave Connecticut and so did Tony in his review of it. So is this another winner in the line-up?

The Core Line Maduro has the same band as the other regular production blends with the only difference being a black backdrop in the bottom section of the band. The similarities don’t jsut end there… The binder used on the Core Line Maduro is the same as the wrapper used on the regular Core Line Natural. Filler content is also the same but the percentage of Dominican vs Nicaraguan leaveswas adjusted slightly to set it apart and balance nicely with the new wrapper.

According to Ernesto, the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper used here is actually one of the same ones he originally used back in the 70’s when he was blending for La Gloria Cubana. That’s not to say the wrapper is 40+ years old… just a similar crop/region which should give a similar profile.

A Brazilian wrapper was also in the running for this cigar but Ernesto decided to go with the Connecticut Broadleaf instead. That’s a tough call, I enjoy both of those leaves as wrappers. Maybe we’ll see something in the future with that leaf if he’s already testing it out in some sample blends? We can hope and wait! But for now let’s see how the EP Carrillo Core Line Maduro stacks up!

Cigar: E.P. Carrillo Core Line Maduro
Drink: Cigar City Brewing Cubano-Style Espresso Brown Ale
Vitola: Club 52 (5.875 by 52)
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Ecuador Sumatra
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
Price: $7.20 MSRP
Burn Time: Just short of 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This is a fairly dark chocolate colored cigar with some occasional brownish areas
• The blemishes actually make it seem as if this cigar may be dyed a little bit
• For the most part it has a little bit of give and spring in it when squeezed and it’s consistent from one end to the other
• The top of the cigar is finished off with what looks to be a slightly scrunched triple cap, and it possibly has some extra dye on it cause it’s very dark
• The foot appears only moderately packed, hoping it doesn’t give me any tunneling problems
• The cap clipped off super cleanly and fell in one neat package to my ashtray
• The draw is a little bit open but it’s not overly airy so it should hold out well

Burn:
• The toasting was a bit difficult and uneven, most likely cause the foot had some holes in it
• Within the first inch I had a major canoeing problem that needed adjustment with my single torch lighter
• Ran into a pretty slight tunnel just past the halfway mark. Likely it was only the wrapper that wasn’t burning and it didn’t tunnel too far, a quick touch up fixed it
• A few more tunneling problems as I get to the end of the cigar

Smoke & Ash:
• The is a lot of smoke coming off this cigar right from the first draw
• The resting smoke is also fairly abundant and consistent
• The ash is pretty dark grey, almost black through the first couple inches but I’m blaming that on my relight at this point
• The ash seems a bit flaky but still holding on past the one inch mark, I will tap it off now before I make a mess
• The second ash had a little bit of a lighter grey tone to it but it flaked out like a blooming flower

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on this cigar gives an almost sweet barnyard type of aroma, sounds weird to explain but that’s what I’m getting
• The foot has a bit of the barnyard and sweet aromas but it packs a fresh cedar aroma in there along with a touch of coffee
• Pre-light draw is giving me some sweet coffee notes and a very bitter chocolate mixed with that fresh cedar
• Initial draws have a nice mix of bitter and sweet chocolate and coffee. They take turns fighting for dominance
• The body has been mostly mild to start and the cedar is making an appearance now and then
• The slight bitterness I’m getting on the chocolate and coffee is very interesting, it’s not bad in any way. It’s almost like a very dark chocolate or a strong espresso without sugar, I’m enjoying it
• As I head into the halfway mark, there haven’t been too many change-ups. I think the bitterness has subsided and it’s getting a little sweeter, dominant flavors are still coffee, chocolate and some cedar
• Body remains mostly mild, and retrohale has been giving me a very soft bite with a smooth coffee flavored finish
• Luckily, the touch-ups for the non-burning wrapper tunnels haven’t affected the flavors all that much
• As I get to the last 3rd, the slight bitterness is back as well as some nutty flavors in there
• The cigar finished nicely with no harshness

Final Thoughts:
Overall I enjoyed this cigar. It was plagued with some burn issues but it doesn’t seem the flavors were affected by my touch ups. The flavors themselves were fairly straightforward but enjoyable if it’s the type of cigar you are looking for. This is a traditional maduro cigar so don’t expect a big kick of nicotine or a full bodied flavor here. I think it helps fill a niche that a lot of manufacturers are overlooking lately and helps balance out the EP Carrillo brand for more consumers. I found this to be an enjoyable and relaxing cigar that can be shared with new cigar smokers as well. I would recommend trying a couple of these if you can track them down. If you are someone who only smokes full bodied powerful smokes, then this probably isn’t the cigar for you.

Pairings:
As some of you may know, I recently took a little trip down south to Florida. While there, every place I went to was pushing a new brewery located in Tampa, not far from the historical cigar location of Ybor City. The brewery is called Cigar City Brewing and as you can guess, they have many cigar related, or cigar complimenting brews in their inventory. They seem to be making a huge splash in the area. Today’s brew in called Cubano-Style Espresso Brown Ale. The name pretty much explains what to expect when you drink this, it’s not a nice dark and slightly thick pour with a complimentary espresso flavor to it. It also mixes in some tasty malty flavors and drinks very smoothly. As for this pairing, I think it was perfect! Coffee flavors played a big part in both the EP Carrillo Maduro and in the chosen brew, which made them compliment each other perfectly. The cigar isn’t overly powerful so stick to a pairing that allows you to enjoy the flavors it has. Some good picks would include coffee, another similarly flavored brown ale, or perhaps even a dark soda.

The Limited Edition 2011 is similar to the Reserva Especial which was released last year (we actually chose this as one of our best cigars of 2010) but with a few tweaks which in my opinion, really made a huge impact on the final blend.

The Good Stuff: The Limited Edition starts off with the same, beautiful Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper as the standard Reserva Especial, only with a higher priming. After the wrapper Jaime decided to showcase some of his choice Pelo De Oro leaf as well as two different types of Cuban Seed. These cigars were showcased at this year’s IPCPR convention, and started to hit shops in August. This box came straight to us from Bonita Smoke Shop. Although this run is limited to 3700, Bonita still has them in stock and if you’re lucky enough you can pick them up here before they are sold out.

These cigars come in elegant boxes of 15 and each box contains a special 16^th cigar. The only difference with this cigar is it carries a Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper. This isn’t something we see from My Father cigars often. It’ll be interesting to see the difference in taste when smoking the exact same blend with totally different wrappers.

The box is incredible. It even has piano hinges, much like a humidor and could probably even be re-used as one if taken care of properly. The top of the box is clean and elegant sporting Jaime Garcia’s name as well as the blend. The entire box it coated in this crazy manilla/white/pearl paint which actually gives off a crazy deep purple hue when held in the right light. The front of the box has the logo again with a format stamp as well as “3700/2011” stating the limited run numbers as well as the year. There is also a My Father Limited Edition Quality seal on one side of the box.

As soon as you open the box you get this huge whiff of a new lumber, or paint. At first, I was slightly upset thinking that the paint on the inside of the box hadn’t dried properly (we all remember what happened with a certain extremely exclusive cigar a few years back) after a further inspection I realized it was simply the etching and burning technique used in the inlay wood that holds the cigars. Whew. Furthermore, I’ll reveal a spoiler here and let you know right away that it had no effect on the cigars at all.

Size: 6.5 x 52  -  Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf  -  Binder: Nicaraguan Pele de Oro  -  Filler: 2 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan  -  Price: ~$16

Prelight: Anyways, back to the review. The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition starts off with a very dark, very consistency, toothy, and oily wrapper that looks identical to the wrapper chosen for last year’s “Reserva Especial” release. There is only one rather large vein that I can see running the length of the body of the cigar. Following the almost sand-paper-like wrapper, you come to two, wonderfully designed, and attention grabbing bands. That’s one thing about My Father cigars, they really overdo the band designs. They’re remarkable. The Reserva Especial Limited Edition is no exception to that rule. The main band follows the same manila, brown, blue and gold band design as the Reserva Especial. Underneath the main band is a similar designed band with blue and gold being the prominent colors with a gold embossed crest with the words “JG, Limited Edition” and Jaime’s signature. The Reserva Especial Limited Edition is then finished off with a large, round triple cap.

The wrapper of this Limited Edition is really tough and hard. You could probably use this cigar to break into a car. While the wrapper of the cigar gives off a very smooth cedar and spice aroma the foot carries this extremely powerful oaky, and earthy aroma. It actually burned my nasal passage a bit as I took my first big whiff. The cigar was extremely easy to clip using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw is really interesting on this Reserva Especial Limited Edition. It starts off with just a ton of really strong, dark, bitter chocolate before transcending into a nutty, cedar flavor.

First Smoke: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition lit up with ease, even under my simple single flame butane torch. The first initial flavors was this subtle pepper, some really sweet spice, tons of chocolate and espresso with just a touch of tobacco. The cigar really starts off like a nice, bold, strong cup of coffee.  The draw on this cigar is soooo easy and effortless, but not loose. Each little puff gives me the same amount of smoke as 3 puffs of any other cigar would normal pump out. The Limited Edition doesn’t give off too much stationary smoke, but its actually really pleasantly scented with a nice cedar and chocolate. The burnline on this cigar is razor sharp and crazy even leaving behind a really thick, tightly compacted light grey and white ash which held on for almost an inch and a half before falling to it’s doom in my lap and all over my feet.

Halfway There: The pepper has completely diminished at this point and I am now left with a really smooth mash up of coffee, chocolate, cashew, cedar, and a little berry. You can tell right off the bat that this is a stronger cigar, but at this point the balance between flavor and strength has been so well played that you really don’t pay any mind to the fact that it is such a strong cigar. The retrohale is VERY sharp and the pepper really shows through so I really don’t find myself doing it too often. It almost burns as it exits my nasal passage. Another plus was the secondary band removal. I always have such a hard time with excess of glue on my bands, and you would figure bands as large as these would give me a headache. Luckily, the band popped right off without leaving any trace of glue. Let’s hope the larger, main band has a similar experience.

Finish: Wow. Into the final third of this Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial the cedar has REALLY taken off as well as the body of the cigar. The cedar is really sweet, and powerful with some nice chocolate and espresso still mixed in as well as a nice cashew aftertaste. I am still so impressed how smooth this cigar is considering the strength. It’s full for sure. The burnline and ash on this cigar has been exceptional the entire experience requiring no touch ups at all. And another big plus, the large band popper right off as well. Whoohoo! All in all this cigar took about an hour and a half to take down and astonishingly had no harshness building up into the final inch.

Overview: Needless to say this is an incredible cigar and I wouldn’t be surprise if this blend makes out top cigars of 2011 as well. The full body and mass amounts of smooth flavors really made this cigar a perfect blend for me. I love a full body cigar that doesn’t kick your ass, but has enough complexity and balance that you really don’t pay attention to the strength of the cigar. The Limited Edition does just that. This is Boxworthy by far, even with the elevated price tag this is something that I would love to keep in my regular rotation. I may not recommend this to the novice smokers though, the body may just been too much for them.

Pairing: I kept my pairing relatively simple with this selection combining the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition with some simple Sam Adams Rustic Saison. A lot of things go into pairing selections, type of cigar blend, body, time of day, and even time of year. With 100+ weather outside I went with something really simple, crisp, and refreshing that I knew wouldn’t overpower the cigar. Sam Adams Rustic Saison is a farmhouse style summer seasonal ale. It’s orange, cinnamon, and caramel composure made a nice treat and extended balance to the Limited Edition. It had just enough flavors not found in the cigar to extend the cigar’s character.  This cigar would go GREAT at night, with a nice stout, or even on a mid-morning brunch with some nice, black coffee.

A batch of these cigars were actually sent to me by one of you, our readers! If you are familiar with out comments section you’d see the name “JJO” popping up a lot more lately. Jeff has been one of our most constant readers and reached out to me to get my thoughts on this cigar. If any of you ever want me or Daniel to take a look at a certain cigar, all you have to do is ask! Now, if you like this review give a quick thank you to JJO for providing them, and make fun of Daniel for something. You know how we do. Anyways, thanks again Jeff, now onto the show!

The Good Stuff: Est. 1844 has been popping up a lot in a few of my mail order catalogs. Cigar.com and Cigarsinternational.com to be exact. And the only other site I have ever seen them on is cigarbid so I think it’s safe to assume that these are another exclusive cigar, but I could be wrong. Another more confirmed rumor is these are actually blended by the master-blender AJ Fernandez. If that is in fact the case, then I wouldn’t doubt these would be exclusive to the above sites.  I was able to track down some information on forums saying AJ did in fact blend this cigar, but I wasn’t able to confirm that on either of the above sites. The blend starts out with a San Andreas Maduro Mexican wrapper. This is another tobacco that AJ is familiar with which further solidifies that he just might be the mastermind behind this blend. The Binder and Filler are both Nicaraguan puro. One thing that I do know for sure is that if you’re lucky and you catch these cigars on sale you can actually snag them for less than $4 a stick.

Size: Amerada No. 50-extra (6″ x 50)  -  Wrapper: Mexican San Andreas Maduro  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  -  Body: Medium

Prelight: I can’t remember the last time I smoked a figured. Flying pig maybe? I’m not sure, but I do know that figurados aren’t something I smoke regular. Not that I don’t like them, they just aren’t made in most blends. But that didn’t stop the est. 1844 from making them. In fact, every cigar in the line is some sort of figurado.  Outside of the obvious obllonged shape, the est. 1844 starts with a very old. Rustic, almost wet-muddy-maduro looking wrapper. The wrapper is very spotty, with medium and dark brown colors doing most of the work. There are a view larger veins, but in this case they almost add to the character of the cigar. The wrapper pairs wonderfully with the interesting map-like/ancient designed band that spans around the cigar simply stating “est.” in light bright and “1844” in a dark read on top of a tan, gold and light brown print.  I actually really like this band. It’s a departure from the everyday band design. The cigar starts with a small foot which immediately blows into a full ring width before tapering off to a very pointy cap near the head of the cigar. The wrapper is very tooth and has a really rough/dry feel to it. The 1844 is very, very firm as it’s tough for me to get any play when I squeeze it. No soft spots at all.

The wrapper has a very sweet chocolate smell to it. It almost smells like brown sure, or chocolate  chip cookies while the foot just explodes with spice and tobacco. This may make for a very interesting mix-up. The cold draw produces just a nice, smooth tobacco flavor. I was expecting to really taste the sweetness from the wrapper, but it didn’t shine thought to the cold draw. Hopefully I pick up a bit more of it in the actual experience.

First Smoke: The est. 1844 starts off with a really nice pepper flavor. Just enough to really tease my tongue and the back of my throat. Under the pepper is some real soft spice, lots of upfront tobacco, a little chocolate, and just a bunch of really earthy, natural flavors. The draw is really easy and pumps out a ton of smoke, but one thing I might mention is the thickness of the smoke isn’t something I’m used to. It’s actually very light and dissipates almost instantly when it hits the air. Kinda strange, but nothing off-putting. I just thought I’d mention it. The burnline is surprisingly even for a perfecto, producing a nice, solid white and light grey ash that held on for a little under an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: Into the second third of this est. 1844 and I am enjoying the flavors so far. The wrapper really brings in some distinct sweet, chocolate flavors into this portion of the cigar while maintaining a traditional profile with woodsy, natural tobacco, and earthy flavors. The retrohale is very smooth, coating with a very nice chocolate spice prime. The burnline is still dead even and the ash is holding up particularly well considering how windy it’s gotten over the last 20 minutes or so. I am not feeling any nicotine at all from this cigar. It’s medium at best, but not mild in flavor.

Finish: Going into the final third of this cigar I was surprised to catch a bit of harshness so early on. It wasn’t really strong, but it was there. Looking through that the flavors have remained the same, but dulled out quite a bit. The est. 1844 has now became a more woodsy, natural tobacco taste with some harshness and just a bit of sweetness on the aftertaste. The burnline has remained dead even the entire times and I am surprised how well the ash held together on the cigar despite the increasing winds outside. I wish I could say the same for my ashtray though, I fear there wont be any ash left to lay my band in for my final photo.

Overview: This is a good solid smoke for the money. Towards the end of the experience the est. 1844 started to fall pretty flat, but was very tasty up until that point. I’d love to try one of these in a smaller size, but wouldn’t really reach for the larger ones. Considering the price point these are good sticks to keep around. They are mild enough to smoke in the morning with coffee, but have just enough flavor to enjoy after dinner as well. Ideal for novice smokers, but the more seasoned bunch may crave just a little bit more from a cigar.

Pairing: I decided to pair this 1844 with a VERY strong ale. This usually isn’t a good recommendation as the beer can easily overpower the cigar, but in this case the cigar’s flavors really stood it’s ground and made for a delightful pairing. Stone brewing  (home of Arrogant Bastard) is known for its EXTREMELY strong and bitter beers. They aren’t for everyone, and are proud of that. The beer I paired with today is called “Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale”. Dark in color this 8.7% ABV beast isn’t for the faint of heart. Don’t let the dark color fool you. This ale is very bitter, very hoppy, and balances out with some oaky, malty flavors. I really enjoy Stone’s beers, but again, be careful. They are an acquired taste. I think the est. 1844 is the perfect cigar for iced tea, which I paired one with not too long ago. This cigar would also go great with coffee and any brown soda.

In celebration of this day I thought it was fitting to dig something special out of my humidor and out of the fridge. The cigar of choice ended up being a fairly rare Cohiba. It is the Cohiba Edicion Limitada 2006. It’s a very nice looking Piramide shaped cigar. Apart from it’s normal Cohiba band, it’s also adorned with the standard Cuban limited release band. This second band is gold with raised black lettering and border which says “Edicion Limitada 2006”.

These limited edition Cuban cigars are usually fairly easy to track down when they are initially released but after a few years they become a well sought after cigar to add to any humidor. I was recently lucky enough to track down a few through a friend and I grabbed them to save for special occasions like this.

This Piramide vitola was also the vitola for Cohiba’s 2001 Edicion Limitada. It was met with such great fanfare and reviews that they decided to re-release a similar blend. Each of the leaves within the cigar were aged a minimum of 2 years before being rolled into these rare cigars. 2006 also marked the 5th year that Habanos S.A. began offering limited edition cigars on a regular basis.

Cigar: Cohiba Edicion Limitada 2006
Drink: Innis & Gunn Canadian Cask 2010
Vitola: Piramide (6.1 x 52)
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Price: Originally a little over $30. No idea on current value but it’s much higher!
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This is a rough and oily looking cigar, the wrapper definitely has signs of bumps and veins
• The color on this cigar is a very dark chocolaty tone and has some nice bloom signs of aging
• The cap is finish with a single piece of tobacco that wraps around the cigar 3 times
• The foot appears to be fairly well packed
• A slight squeeze along the length of these cigars gives a mostly firm feel with some slightly soft and springy spots
• The cut was very clean using my double bladed guillotine and made no mess
• The pre-light draw is a tad tight but we’ll see how it goes

Burn:
• Toasting was nice and slow but perfectly even, had the foot glowing nicely
• Burn line stayed nice and straight through the first couple of inches, glad to see that!
• Immediately after I wrote the previous line I started getting a peninsula on one side that soon required a little encouragement from my lighter
• After that initial touch up a few more were required as the cigar burned, I’m always disappointed when this happens on such limited release cigars

Smoke & Ash:
• Despite the tight draw, I’m getting a nice mouthful of smoke from each puff
• There is only a light amount of resting smoke and seems to come and go, it gives off a nice toasted bread type of aroma
• The Ash is coming along nicely with an interesting deep ripple effect and ashes off a little past 1 inch
• The color on this ash is mostly a medium gray with some dark accents
• Subsequent ashes were a little messier and shorter due to the touch ups
• One of the last ashes managed to hang on for almost 2 inches

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on the Cohiba Edicion Limitada 2006 is mostly aroma-less, just a slight cedar touch, probably from the humidor
• The foot of the cigar has a nice spice note to it, maybe a mild white pepper, along with some cedar
• Pre-light draw brings more of the white pepper and cedar flavors
• Initial draws have an interesting combination of cedar, chocolate and espresso, great start!
• The retrohale on this cigar is just fantastic, a great array of coffee and chocolate notes hit my sinuses with no bite and a smooth creamy finish
• The coffee and chocolate flavors seemed to dominate through the first half with some minor appearances of white pepper and cedar
• The body on this cigar has been mild through the first half along with a great balance of flavors and a super smooth creamy finish
• Had a little tar buildup, probably due to my small cut on the cap. A little trim fixed that issue
• As I get the half way mark, there is a bit more spice and a bit more body in the cigar, bt the awesome espresso and chocolate mix is still there
• Now I’m getting something interesting, it’s a good mix of spice and chocolate, almost like a chili spice. If you’ve ever had those gourmet chocolates made with chili you’ll get an idea of how this tastes, very unique!
• The body of this cigar has also gone into the high medium range right now but still offers a smooth and creamy finish
• The cigar burned a little hot near the end and the coffee flavors developed back into a nice strong espresso flavor and kept the interesting chili chocolate notes

Final Thoughts:
The flavors on the Cohiba Edicion Limitada 2006 were extremely enjoyable right from the start to the finish. They offered some unique touches and kept me on my toes the whole time. There’s no doubt that they did a quality blending job on this cigar. I was obviously disappointed with the number of touch ups it needed but oddly enough it didn’t affect the flavors much at all. I keep all my limited edition and expensive cigars in a smaller humidor that has a perfect 65-67% humidity almost all the time. The smaller area gives me more control over it, but doesn’t seem like that made a difference. As with most limited editions it usually comes down to a matter of cost and if these are worth their dollar value. At the original price of $30 these were a hard pill to swallow and their value has only gone up since then. The closest cigar I can compare this to is Cohiba’s own Maduro 5 line which was very close in flavor profile, possible just with a bit more spice in the Edicion Limitada 2006. But for the cost, I’d rather pay for and enjoy 3 or 4 Maduro 5’s. See my review of the Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos here. Of course, that doesn’t mean I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this rare piece of cigar history! The chocolate and chili combo was especially unique and enjoyable!

Pairings:
With my special cigar tonight I picked out a special brew and one that fit the Canada Day theme as well. It comes from one of my favorite breweries, Innis & Gunn. The beer is called “Canadian Cask 2010”. This brew was made specifically for Canada Day last year. I bought a few of them last year and had one left that I was saving for this year. I also reviewed it awhile back with the Camacho Liberty 2009. There’s not much I can say about this beer other than it is fantastic. Basically take their already fantastic Oak Aged Beer and add in some light whiskey barrel and rye flavors and you have an even better brew! Each batch is also aged a longer amount of time in the whiskey barrels, 54 days to be exact. The cigar was not over the top strong so it actually paired well with this full flavored beer. I’d also recommend a fine smooth scotch, cognac or port with this cigar. A nice coffee would also pair well here as a non-alcoholic alternative.

The Good Stuff: The Macanudo 1968 is a “different” type of release from what Macanudo smokers would usually expect. Coined with the slogan “Rich, Dark, and Unexpected” the 1968 was released in 2008 to celebrate the 40 years that Ramón Cifuentes has been blending for the company (and possibly 100 years of Macanudo?). According to General Cigar the Macanudo 1968 contains tobacco “grown by General Cigar or cultivated for the company under an agreement of exclusivity…aged in tercios and charcoaled wooden barrels to further enrich its flavor”. The blend features Dominican and Nicaraguan filler,  with a Connecticut Habano Binder, wrapper with Honduran San Agustin leaf. These cigars run about $8 -$9 a stick, but General cigar recently announced that it will be slashing the prices of the 1968. Expect a savings of about $3.50 a stick, but only at Brick and Mortar stores.

Size: 5 x 50  -  Wrapper: Honduran San Agustin leaf  -  Binder: Connecticut Habano  -  Filler: Dominican/Nicaraguan

Prelight: The Macanudo 1968 starts off with this old, rustic looking dark brown/orangish with dark spotted wrapper. The construction is ideal, only containing a few larger veins leading up to a kind of pointy, round, double cap. The band is a really nice, common cigar crest with the Macanudo company logo. The only difference is the band is a nice black and gold color with slight red accents (which looks really nice on the darker wrapper), and a gold “1968” printed just below the crest. The cigar is firm for the most part, but the foot is pretty squishy.

The wrapper gives off this really strange, beef jerky type aroma. No joke. This thing smells like a thick stick of Jack Links. The foot of the cigar releases a really strong tobacco, and chocolate aroma. The cigar cut easy and clean using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw is interesting. Its VERY natural tasting with a ton of grass, and wheat bread type flavors. Maybe I am just hungry, but this cigar is throwing me quite a few curve balls.

First Smoke: It’s kind of strange but the meaty flavor I picked up in the aroma of the wrapper kind of came through into the taste of the first third of this Macanudo 1968. It’s a slight beef type flavor, but it’s there along side a bit of leather, a bit of cedar, and just some really nice natural tobacco type flavors. I was really expecting a loose draw on this cigar since it didn’t feel like it was packed very tight at all, but the draw is great, easily filling my mouth with a nice amount of thick smoke. The burnline is kinda thick, and started off with a few slight waves, but nothing too concerning. The ash left behind is a nice, semi-compacted white and grey ash with just a few flakes coming off of it. The ash held on for about an inch before giving away.

Halfway There: Halfway though this Macanudo 1968 and it really hasn’t changed up too much. The flavors are still slightly meaty with cedar and earthy natural tones, but the seemed to have really simmered down. It’s still an enjoyable smoke but it is leaving me craving more dimension early in. Hopefully the final third adds to the flavor profile.  The 1968’s retrohale is really nice though. Very light, coating my nasal passage with a nice, light cedar prime. I am feeling no nicotine at all from this cigar and the burnline is dead even and fully corrected at this point.

Finish: What a huge ramp up in body! It’s not a full bodied cigar but I really got a nice little kick into the final third of this 1968.  The flavors did in fact increase a bit too. Nothing to write home about, but the cedar became much stronger as well as a little bit of pepper sneaking in to compliment the Macanudo’s already existent natural flavors. This cigar took about a little over an hour to take down. There was just a very slight bit of harshness built up into the final inch, but nothing too off-putting.

Overview: I didn’t really know what to expect the first time I smoked a Macanudo 1968. For sure I didn’t expect the cigar to have beef jerky-like flavors. What I did expect was a decent smoke at a good price and that is exactly what I got. There wasn’t really anything too terribly wrong with this cigar, just as well there wasn’t anything really spectacular. A bit one dimensional, but at the price point, you really can’t ask for more. Smooth, subtle, and well balanced. Perfect for the average and novice cigar smoker, or just an all around everyday smoke. One thing is for sure, this cigar is a venture from what one usually thinks of when they think Macanudo. Hopefully we can expect more cigars like this from the company in the near future.

Pairing: As the summer heat thickens, I have decided to pair more cigars with nice, light, summer ales. This selection is one of New Belgium’s latest editions, Somersault. Somersault is a well balanced, light blonde ale peaking at 5.2% ABV. Somersault is a citrus explosion and is probably one of the smoothest beer I have ever had. I could probably drink 100 of these back to back. The cigar paired well with the Somersault’s sweet, fruity composition and the cedar tastes blended in perfectly. This cigar would go perfect with water, tea, or apple juice. Beer? Either a nice ale, or a really bitter beer to help add to the flavor.

And now… For the contest.

General Cigar has been kind enough to offer up a full box of Macanudo 1968 Trompetas for our lucky readers! That’s right. And we are going to make this contest another easy one to enter.

Recently Daniel and I decided to take Casas Fumando on facebook. All you need to do to enter is follow this link (http://www.facebook.com/casasfumando) and “Like” our page! Already like it? They you are already entered!

We will be updating the Facebook Page constantly with our reviews, news, and even what we have been smoking on the side.

I understand a lot of you people aren’t on facebook, so we are going to add a second entry for anyone who leaves a comment on this contest post. Simply post what your FIRST cigar was! Tell us about it! We all have skeletons in the closet. You will get two entries for liking us on Facebook and one for commenting on this post.

We will run this contest until Wednesday June 22^nd. At that time a winner will be chosen at random and shipped this box of cigars. 18 and over please, and you Canadians?!?! We don’t hate. Enter and I will happily ship to you! Cheers, and hopefully you’ll spend some Facebook time with us!

I can only assume BMF stands for Big Mutha F******R, but I could be totally wrong. Maybe it stands for Baby Mouth Feet? Bob’s Math Fundraiser? Bad Mommy Foundation?! Whatever it is, I trust one of my better-educated readers might be able to fill in the blanks for me. (Blanks Must be Filled?)

The Good Stuff: I was contacted by a twitter buddy of mine Ryan (@revjava) who is in cahoots with Gary Griffith over at Delaware Cigars. Emilio Cigars (@EmilioCigar) is Gary’s brain-child and is a new cigar company starting to make a name for itself. The AF1 is the first blend released by Emilio Cigars. For the AF1, Gary teamed up with the infamous AJ Fernandez and spent over 2 years perfecting his ideal blend. Due to the extreme grasp on quality, the AF1 is limited in production and may often see restrictions on supply. These cigars run for about $7.50 a cigar. Not bad for the size.  The one thing that caught my attention right away was AJ and Gary’s decision to use a San Andreas born Mexican tobacco for the wrapper. I can probably count the number of manufacturers using this Mexican wrapper on one hand, and all of them are just ridiculously tasty. So, is this just another run of the mill cigar company that will put out a single cigar then raise white flags? Or, is Emilio Cigars destined for greatness? Let’s find out.

Size: 6 x 58  -  Wrapper: San Andreas Mexican  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan

Prelight: It’s impossible to overlook just how ridiculously dark the wrapper on the Emilio’s AF1 is. It’s such a dark brown that is almost black. The wrapper is incredibly toothy, and shows really no larger veins throughout the entire thick body of this big ass cigar. The top of the AF1 is capped out with a nice, round double cap that blends in so flawlessly with the cigar that it was hard to even see where the body ends and where the cap begins. The cigar feels a lot lighter than I expected with its large stature, but is extremely tough, and shows no signs of soft spots when squeezed. I’m really impressed with the pre-light construction on this cigar. It almost looks fake, like a plastic prop used in a movie.

The wrapper gives off this massive, pungent, barnyard and leather aroma and surprisingly the foot has a nice spice and oats type aroma. This should be an interesting mixture once lit up. The cap cut a lot easier than I thought it was going to, based on the thickness, and toughness of the wrapper. The cold draw shockingly didn’t give off a lot of flavor. All I was really able to pull from it was the oaty, almost bread tasting flavor that matched the aroma I got from the foot of the cigar, but even that was very faint and hard to pull out.

First Smoke: After being robbed from what I thought was going to be a glorious cold draw, the AF1 delivers big with a just blast of flavor right off the bat. The Mexican wrapper is just delicious. Emilio’s AF1 starts off very smooth with no pepper, a really nice chocolate and fruit flavor paired with a bit of honey and some spice on the after taste. The draw on this thing is perfect kicking out a mouth full of thick smoke after only the first or second draw. This cigar really doesn’t emit a lot of stationary smoke, but you can let it rest quite a while without it going out on ya.  The stationary smoke really smells like a melted chocolate bar or dare I say smores? The burnline is dead even from the start leaving behind a tightly compacted white, and light grey ash that held on for an inch and a half before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: What a flavor bomb this AF1 is! The wrapper is really taking off as well as the cigar. Introducing the second third is this huge ramp up in more chocolate/coffee flavors paired with some nice dark fruit, and just a dash of spice. The retrohale leaves you with a nice woodsy, chocolate priming. Very smooth. The burnline is still rocking even, and the body of this cigar isn’t really effecting me at all yet. It’s more medium than anything at this point. Really creamy and smooth.

Finish: The flavors began to mellow out a bit, but not in a bad way. The leading contender is still this really nice chocolate flavor with coffee and spice backing it up. The body of the cigar encountered a nice little kick, but not enough to put it over the edge. It still isn’t a really powerful cigar, but instead maintains a great balance of flavor and strength. Despite the huge size of this cigar it still only took me about an hour and forty five minutes to take down. It didn’t smoke fast, I just really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t any harshness build up into the home stretch of the AF1. Finished nice and smooth.

Overview: What can I say? AJ Fernandez nailed it, as he often does. This is another perfect example of using the Mexican wrapper correctly. EO Brands hit the nail on the head when they used it on the Murcielago, Tatuaje  hit home a run with the Face, Ashton owned it with the the La Aroma de Cuba, and now Emilio’s Cigars and AJ Fernandez kicked out another Mexican wrapped winner. Honestly, I didn’t know what to think going into these cigars. I didn’t know much about the cigar, nor the blend. So many new cigar manufacturers are popping up and I figured this was just another one of them. Needless to say I am VERY impressed. All their hard work paid off and I am VERY interested in what the future holds for Emilio. The price is spot on for this cigar as it’s definitely something I would smoke again, and very box worthy.

Pairing: Just look at the wrapper on this cigar. Who wouldn’t want to pair this thing with a nice, deep, thick stout? That’s exactly what I did. Reaching way back in my fridge I stumbled across a favorite beer of mine. Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout. Samuel Smith’s oatmeal stout comes from the UK and is brewed at the Samuel Smith Old Brewery Tadcaster. The oatmeal stout is a very heft, malty chocolate/berry mixture with a smooth, creamy, coffee finish. At a modest 5% ABV this beer is the perfect pairing and blends seamlessly with almost identical flavors from the Emilio AF1. The only other pairings that really stand out in my mind with this cigar would be some warm creamed coffee, a hefty strong porter, or maybe some Dr. Pepper.

Along with the AF1, Gary sent over the new blend due out this month, the Grimalkin. I try not to do back to back reviews often, but would this be something you guys would like to see reviewed next week? Leave me a comment and let me know!