The Good Stuff: I was one of the very many people intrigued as rumors began to fly about a possible Liga Privada in “A” format. Not that I am an “A” kinda guy, but that’s a huge departure from anything currently in the Liga Privada line. Not to mention that I am an open Liga Privada Fan Boy. That won’t make this review biased though, trust me. After about a years worth of rumors Jonathan Drew confirmed that they would in fact be making an “A” sized Liga Privada, and began to hype it up with some Jonathan Drew style tweets and Facebook posts.

I just had to put the "A" next to a Dirty Rat for size comparison. And for laughs.

As time went on, we discovered this wasn’t a real release, but instead a special type of product. What I mean by that is, Drew Estate actually created the Liga Privada “A” as a special promotional product.  The “A” is actually a tweaked T-52 blend. More than likely they needed to refine the blend and mellow it out a bit to fit the format. I’m glad too, I don’t think I could handle a straight up 9 inch T-52. These cigars will not be available to purchase, instead, they will be given out at certain Liga Privada events due in part to the limited amount of T52 leaf as well as Drew Estate wanting something special as a thanks to it’s customers. Plus, in my opinion, I don’t think the format is easy to sell. I was actually on Smoke Inn’s radio show “Kiss my Ash Radio” this passed weekend with Erik Espinosa from EO Brands and he made mention that he was actually present some time ago when he and Jonathan Drew opened the first box of Liga Privada Unicos “A”. That being said, I think it’s safe to say these will be readily available at Liga Privada Events.

I don’t smoke “A” sized cigars often at all. But there is a reason for it. “A” sized cigars were created to honor celebrations. This is a special treat sort of size, to be smoked to celebrate special occasions. With good reason too, they are normally 9” long and usually take around 3 hours to smoke.  That being said, lets get started!

Size: 9 ¼” x 47  -  Wrapper:  Connecticut Stalk Cut Habano  -  Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina  -  Filler: Nicaraguan/Honduran/Dominican – keep in mind this is just an assumption, knowing that it’s a tweaked T-52 blend.

Prelight: This is a GIGANTIC cigar. It almost feels too heavy to hold and wants to fall from my hand when I hold it near the head of the cigar. That goes with all “A” sized cigars I guess. They aren’t the most practical cigar, but they aren’t trying to be. Once you get passed the size of this cigar you are greeted with the beautiful T52 style wrapper that we have all grown to love. The wrapper is incredibly oily with medium to dark browns and oranges mixed in. The construction is perfect with only a very few larger veins. Usually veins of that size would run the entire body of a robusto sized cigar. I just though it was funny that the Liga Privada Unicos “A” had 2 longer veins stacked one after another, and they still only ran about half the body of the cigar.  Anyways, the wrapper and the entire cigar in general is very solid and durable. There aren’t any soft spots on the entire cigar. The cap is very similar to the pig tailed, rounded cap that the Dirty Rat carries, only twice the size. And the band is identical to the  Unicos Series bands that all the Liga Privada carries, blue and gold with a gigantic “A” on them.

The body of the cigar gives off a nice, strong cedar and sweet tobacco aroma while the foot of the cigar gives off nothing more than a very subtle spice. The cap clipped extremely easy and clean using my Liga Privada Double Bladed cutter. The cold draw was interesting, instead of greeting me with a nice pepper I was expecting, The “A” let loose this crazy strong cedar and sweetness which got me interested in just how “tweaked” this blend really is.

First Smoke: Right away the Liga Privada Unicos “A” kicked out the flavors I expect from the T-52. Cedar, spice, sweet tobacco, and cocoa. One thing was still missing, the pepper. In all honesty I’m glad too, a 9 inch pepper-bomb just doesn’t seem like it would sit too well with me. Despite the distance in which the smoke must travel, the draw was perfect and plentiful. It only took me my normal 2 puffs to get a mouthful of thick, white smoke. The burnline is a bit wavy and thick, but nothing too concerning, white the stationary smoke, as with most Liga Privada blends, is crazy. This cigar is spewing out tons and tons of thick, cedar scented smoke as it sits in my ashtray. The ash left behind is somewhat flaky, and really dark grey with spots of lighter grey. It only held on for about two thirds of an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: The sweetness has really started to pick up into the second third of this Liga Privada Unicos “A”. By this point, I’d be finishing a robusto format cigar, but this cigar is still keeping my attention by adding a ton of spice and the sweetness I mentioned to the already sweet mashup of cocoa, and cedar. The burnline has completely corrected itself and is burning dead even now. The retrohale is BADASS coating with an absolute blast of cedar each time I do it. I am feeling a very slight nicotine kick after the second third, but no where near what I was expecting form a Liga Privada blend.

Finish: Switching it up again, I started to get this nice, subtle floral flavor during the last third of Drew Estate’s Liga Privada Unicos “A”.  The sweetness has mellowed out quite a bit, and I am left with a really smooth cedar, cocoa, coffee and floral mixture. Surprisingly for the size I’m really not picking up much more than a really slight nicotine kick. The burnline has been perfect since the second third, and I haven’t had to relight, or even touch up this cigar once. All in all it took a few minutes shy of 3 hours to take down this beast of a cigar. It’s crazy how the final picture looks similar to the length of a “First Smoke” robusto picture. This thing is huge.

Overview: I have a short attention span. Very. I blame the internet and technology for that. That being said, I never really got bored while smoking this Liga Privada Unicos “A”. It had just enough change ups to keep my attention, but at the same time was smooth and seamless enough not to overpower me with each jump. I think finding balance in a cigar as big as this, and keeping the cigar’s complexity has the be an incredibly difficult task for the blender, and Drew Estate did a hell of a job with it. The cigar wasn’t as powerful as the other blends in the Liga Privada Line, with good reason. I don’t think I could handle a 3 hour T-52 It would leave my crying on the floor. Although this isn’t a cigar I’d smoke often, I really enjoyed it a lot. And in terms of the format, it’s not made to be consumed often. As stated, it’s a celebratory cigar. And I really think it’s a great addition to my humidor when I want something special and have a few hours to burn, pun intended.

Pairing: I said it many times, and will say it again, Winter is the season for beer. With all the awesome porters, stouts, and Christmas ales it’s a wonder why I’m not trashed from morning to dawn. St. Bernardus isn’t a stranger to this blog. In fact, it’s one of my favorite breweries out there. This Christmas season Abbey Ale hits the mark on all accounts. It’s strong (10% ABV), sweet, flavorful, and well balanced with fruity, malty flavors and just a hit of spice. Needless to say it went perfectly with the Liga Privada Unicos “A”. At about $13 a bottle, it’s not something you can drink everyday, but when you find it, pick it up. It pairs great with any full bodied, full flavored cigar.

Photo courtesy of Jay Luto from www.cigarphoto.net - Be sure to check out his awesome photography!

Now, I think it’s no secret that I’m a La Aurora fan. They have turned out a number of great smokes in the past year or two that have all been quite good. Now while their newer releases are enjoyable we can’t ignore some of their previous releases. So that’s what I decided to pick up tonight for review, it’s the La Aurora Preferidos 1903 Ruby Edition.

Now this particular cigar is part of the La Aurora Preferidos 1903 Special Edition series which covers 5 different colors and each one represents a specific wrapper and . The particular version I’ll be reviewing tonight is the Ruby Edition which is their Brazilian Sun-Grown wrapper version. Each of the Preferidos 1903 Special Editions come in wonderfully crafted aluminum tubes, each matching the color of their appropriate names.

It’s not just the wrapper or tube that makes these cigars special, the process for all the tobacco involved is quite unique as well. Firstly, the only Torcedors permitted to make this line of cigars are the resident experts that have at least 15 years of experience. This experts are also restricted to making a maximum of 125 cigars per day so they can pace themselves accordingly and not rush to over-produce. This ensures high quality cigars and extra time allotted for each one.

As for the tobacco leaves themselves, each one used in the Preferidos cigars have been aged a minimum of 4 years. This time includes a full year of aging in rum barrels and another 6-8 months in the aging room after being rolled. All this extra time and attention to this cigar makes for an exceptional presentation. So without further delay, let’s jump into the review.

Cigar: La Aurora Perferidos 1903 Ruby Edition
Drink: Hockley Valley Brewery Black & Tan
Vitola: Perfecto (5 x 54)
Wrapper: Brazilian Sun Grown
Binder: Piloto Cubano
Filler: Piloto Cubano, Brazilian Bahia, Cameroon
Price: $10 – $15
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• A very nice dark chocolate brown wrapper surrounds this perfecto shaped cigar
• The wrapper is amazingly toothy and rough like sandpaper, but the presentation definitely shows attention to detail
• There are quite a few visible veins but none of them are too large or worrisome
• The cap blends into the cigar and the start of the cap is barely noticeable
• There is a fair bit of firmness on the cigar and it offers almost no give when squeezed
• The foot is fairly small due to the tapered edge but it actually appears poorly packed, which is odd since the rest of the cigar is really firm
• I gave the cigar a short cut which sliced through easily and cleanly
• Draw was excellent even with a small cut

Burn:
• Given it’s super small foot, the cigar toasted quickly and evenly
• I usually have a lot of problems with sharply tapered ends on cigars but so far the burn is super razor sharp
• It’s also quickly noticeable that this cigar is burning very slowly, hopefully that keeps up
• Passing an inch and we’re still razor sharp
• It’s still burning amazingly slow too, really allowing me time to enjoy it
• I was expecting the thinner portions of the cigar to burn faster but the total burn time ended up being longer than what I would have expected on a 5 inch cigar, love it when that happens

Smoke & Ash:
• Right off the bat it’s easy to notice the ton of smoke from every draw on the Ruby
• Initial sightings of the ash are showing a nice white/light grey color
• It also appears to be nicely clean and tight
• There’s also a ton of resting smoke from this cigar and it’s giving off a nice cedar aroma
• Ash is holding strong at about two inches and looking good
• The ash lasted well over 2 inches but in my greediness to try and get a massive ash, it fell onto the floor
• The middle of the ash turned out to be amazingly white, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a bright white on an ash before
• The thick billowing smoke was consistent right to the end

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on the La Aurora Preferidos Ruby offers just a touch of sweet coffee aroma
• The foot is fairly small and I basically get the same aroma as I did on the wrapper
• The pre-light draw brought a lot more flavors, including cedar, cocoa and just a touch of spices
• The initial draws are bursting with notes of cedar and spice, it actually made me sneeze, lol
• The retrohale has no bite and a very smooth and enjoyable cedar finish
• So far the body seems to be in the low-medium department and I’m enjoying this profile
• The spice kicked down a notch but I’m still getting a smooth cedar and maybe some hints of coca are appearing now and then
• The cedar and cocoa flavors are really intensifying and getting super tasty, also picking up lots of coffee notes now too
• It seems like the flavors just keep intensifying and getting more enjoyable, the spice and coffee are also making a bigger appearance just past the halfway mark
• The flavors are staying balanced and taking turns being dominant right to the end, took out the toothpick to get max enjoyment out of this cigar tonight
• No harshness right down to the super small nub, enjoyed every last bit of this tasty cigar.

Final Thoughts:
This was not my first dive into Preferidos territory and it definitely won’t be my last. I think La Aurora has another winner with this line of cigars and the Ruby Edition is definitely one of my favorites. The intense but smooth array of flavors makes for a very enjoyable cigar from start to finish. I did find quite a variance in the prices of these cigars so you might be careful and do some research before purchasing. At $15+ these can be a tough buy, and may not live up to expectations. But if you can find them at the $10 range then these are winners in my book and deserve a home in your humidor. The burn was also sensational on the La Aurora Preferidos Ruby which helped tie up the whole experience with a winning combination.

Photo courtesy of Jay Luto from www.cigarphoto.net - Be sure to check out his awesome photography!

Pairings:
Today’s brew pairing comes from a local brewery about 30min away form my home called Hockley Valley Brewing Co.. It’s actually a gorgeous place I’ve visited a few times before that is very picturesque and surrounded by forests. In the winter time they have some fairly basic ski hills to enjoy as well. This offering is called the Black & Tan. The best way I can describe it is some sort of hybrid between ad dark ale and a stout. It’s got some thick creamy notes but is also smooth like a dark ale, very interesting. It offers up notes of creamy coffee and lots of roasted malt with almost no bitterness at all. It’s very enjoyable! It also paired very well with the cedar and cocoa notes of the La Aurora Preferidos Ruby, they complimented each other quite well. Other good pairings for this tasty cigar would include coffee or a fine tawny port!

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.

Tonight I’m revisiting a cigar I got as part of a Mobster Movie blind review series not too long ago. If you take a look at that review you’ll see that I wasn’t overly impressed with the cigar. After talking to a few people it seems there are some mixed feelings about the Illusione ~mj12~ and I wanted to give it a full out review to see if my experience would be any different. So here it is finally, I made sure to let the ones I have rest and acclimate properly before this review since the blind stick might have been a little fresh from transit.

So after smoking a few more I’m lighting up one of the Illusione ~mj12~ cigars for review tonight. Now I’m a pretty big Illusione fan and I’ve also enjoyed a few of his other lines including the Cuchillos Cubanos and the Cruzado’s (Tony actual posted a review of the Cruzado Dantes awhile back). In case you didn’t know, the person behind the Illusione brand is Dion Giolitto. We also have a few reviews up for the Illusione line such as the ~88~, ~888~ “Slam”, Epernay Le Elegance, ~mk~, and Singulaire Phantom. Now you’ll see from those posts that both Tony and I really enjoyed the cigars. Knowing that, I have to admit I’m coming into this review with mixed expectations. I have high hopes due to other Illusione’s I’ve enjoyed but I also have concerns because of my experience with the blind version of the ~mj12~.

If you haven’t visited his website before I’d highly suggest checking it out over at www.illusionecigars.com. He has a great section called “The Illusione Story” where he talks about his personal history and a little bit about the meaning of the names behind each of the cigars. It makes for an interesting read. Now I was slightly disappointed to see that Dion did not include a little blurb about the meaning behind the ~mj12~ name. All I can find was it’s nickname which is “The Majestic”. On the section of the website for the ~mj12~ specifically the only information it offers up is the following paragraph:

“A classic connoisseurs’ cigar revealing hints of leather, cinnamon and a long finish.”

So of course I started scouring the web to see what else I could find cause I love learning more about the sticks I review.

What I did find was somewhat limited but still interesting. The cigar is a Nicaraguan Puro and the specific seeds used are Corojo ’99 and Criollo ’98 finished with a Cafe Colorado wrapper. Each of the cigars is also handmade in the Raices Cubanas factory which is located in Nicaragua of course. The cigars come in boxes of 20 and are surrounded by an interesting silver foil wrapper. Warning: You are supposed to remove the foil before smoking! Wanted to get that out there just in case, you never know sometimes!

Now being the little investigator that I am, I curiously typed “MJ12″ into Google and came upon an interesting Wikipedia article. Apparently, “MJ12″, or “The Majestic 12″ is “the alleged code name of a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, supposedly formed in 1947 by an executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman”. Now I’m not one for conspiracy theories or anythign so I’ll leave it at that, but interesting nonetheless!

Ok so enough of my detective work and blabbering away, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of the review before Tony comes back and cracks the whip!

Cigar: Illusione ~mj12~ “The Majestic”
Drink: Southbrook Wineries 2006 Triomphe Cabernet Merlot
Vitola: Toro Gordo (6 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $10
Burn Time: A little under 2 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this cigar has a wonderful dark chocolate brown tone with just a slight oily shimmer to it
• I did notice a few cosmetic imperfections such as a small knot and water spots but no major veins that look concerning
• Near the cap and foot, the cigar is fairly firm while being almost mushy in the middle. The softness there worries me and could produce some tunneling or a hot burning cigar
• The triple cap on the head of this cigar is applied with extreme precision, it is super smooth and blends right in
• From the foot’s perspective, all you see is well packed tobacco leaves
• The cap was pretty firm when clipped with my double bladed guillotine but it still left a clean cut

Burn:
• Toasting was a surprisingly long process but left me with an evenly glowing foot
• Unfortunately, the perfect toasting did not lead to a perfect burn, I’ve already had 2 canoeing issues within the first 1.5 inches
• Sadly, I’ve had 2 more relights before reaching the halfway mark
• More and more burn issues that needed correction throughout the cigar, looks like it did not differ much from the blind stick I received
• A little past half way the cigar actually went out completely, I took that opportunity to give it a nice complete re-light and lets hope we get a better burn now
• My hopes for a better burn were shattered quickly as it almost immediately started to tunnel…
• More constant relights as I get to the nub of this cigar

Smoke & Ash:
• Tons of smoke from each draw right from the start of this cigar
• The ash is looking to be moderately strong and holding together
• Fro a visual standpoint, the dark grey color of the ash is not very pleasing and it’s probably related to all the relights
• I was surprised to see very little resting smoke on the cigar, it all but disappears within seconds of laying it down
• The first ash lasted nearly 2 inches before I tapped it off
• Second ash got near 2 inches as well before tapping off to relight

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on this cigar has a super attractive bitter cocoa aroma to it
• The foot on the other hand carries more of a barnyard scent with a kick of spice on the nostrils
• The pre-light draw brings a little of the barnyard flavor but it mixing in some coffee adn woodsy notes
• The first few draws were not impressive to me at all, I got a heavy tobacco taste from them but luckily that went away quickly
• Afterwards, the profile is mostly in the burnt woodsy area with a touch of leather
• After about 2 inches the cigar is still mostly woodsy and leathery, I’m starting to pick up a touch of peppery spice now and then
• Retrohale is bringing a wonderful cedar finish and a small little bite, very nice
• Just like most Illusiones I’ve had the retrohale is always significantly more enjoyable than the smoke, I stand by my previous comments that if you don’t retrohale an Illusione you are probably missing out on a lot
• After each re-light I’m getting the expected harshness for a couple draws, it’s ruining the experience for me
• As I pass the halfway mark the profile is mostly the same although I am picking up a bit of sweetness when I’m not fighting the relight harshness
• For the most part this cigar stayed in the medium bodied range although it seems to be picking up a bit in the last third
• The sweetness I was picking up is turning into a sweet coffee type flavor which is a nice addition to the wood and leather, hoping it develops a bit more
• The only thing that really developed towards the end was a little more bite on the retrohale, which is still super good
• The rest of the cigar tapered off in sweetness and built up some harshness to the end, mostly due to the relights I’m sure
• Had to set the cigar to rest early, the harshness and relighting just got to be too much

Final Thoughts:
Let me start by saying I REALLY wanted to enjoy this cigar. It has a wonderful visual appeal to it and I’ve enjoyed mostly every Illusione I’ve had. Sadly though the ~mj12~ yet again failed to meet my expectations. I know it has potential though, the profile when I wasn’t relighting was pretty tasty. And the retrohale was very enjoyable. It’s the terrible burn that lost all the points on this cigar. It made it difficult to enjoy and ruined the flavors for the first couple draws after a relight. If I had this cigar without burn issues I probably would give it a glowing review but I’ve smoked through about 5 of these from different batches and I had the same issues every time. Maybe it’s just my luck cause I know a lot of people really enjoy them, but for me, I’ll stick to other vitolas in the Illusione line before looking at these again.

Pairings:
On the flip side, I happened to discover a wonderful wine last time I took a road trip to Niagara. The Southbrook name was actually a farm not far from my house many years ago. They used to do the typical fruits and vegetables with awesome fresh baked pies and a hay maze for the kids in the fall. Pumpkin picking too of course! When they closed the farm they opened a winery out in the Niagara region so I had to visit them. The wine I’m pairing with tonight is from 2006 and is a blend of a Cabernet and Merlot, which are 2 of my favorite wines from this region. It has a fantastic smooth flavor to it and a nice medium body. It’s got a surprising amount of fruity notes, in particular I’m getting black cherries and blackberries mostly. It also has a smooth oak finish to it from the barrel aging process that comes through very nicely. This is a great cigar pairing wine and would hold it’s ground against a variety of medium and full bodied smokes. It did very well with the Illusione ~mj12~. Other pairings with this cigar could be a coffee with milk, an brown ale and of course, Port!

The Man O’ War Armada is available exclusively at Cigars.com and Cigarsinternational.com as with the other Man O’ War lines. The other blends in the series include the Ruination, and untitled Man O’ War, the Virtue, and the Puro Authentico. The Armada is the special edition of the Man O’ War line and priced rightly so for that purpose at a hefty $20 per cigar.

Now I have to say how much I love these bands. I think I mentioned this in my Man O’ War Virtue review as well. This particular band has the gold Spartan mask with hints of metallic green in it all splashed on a black background. It really stands out and gives the cigar a “mean” look! lol Maybe there’s a hint of inspiration from the “300” movie here? hehe

The boxes of these cigars are packaged in impressively made chests of 32 cigars that also include a humidifier and a hygrometer. Currently, the Man O’ War Armada is only available in a single vitola, the Toro Grande. There are also two limited edition boxes that come with a few other cigars and include an Armada. These two boxes contain the Armada in a Perfecto and Box-Pressed Robusto Vitola.

The Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper is extremely rare and all the tobaccos used undergo an extensive fermentation and aging process before being put into any cigar. The fillers in this cigar are ligero from AJ’s farm in Nicaragua, specifically the Esteli and Ometope regions. The Armada is also produced in limited quantities of only 10,000 of this cigar each year. All these key features come together to justify the higher price tag. Now all that is fine and good, but if it doesn’t have a delicious profile and excellent construction to back it up, most people probably won’t buy it right? So let’s see if it has that important last piece to the puzzle.

Cigar: Man O’ War Armada
Drink: Brights Canadian 74 Port
Vitola: Toro Grande (6.5 x 56)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $20 MSRP
Burn Time: A little over 2 hours

Construction:
• Now this is a beefy looking cigar with mean face! The dark brown wrapper glows in the light with a nice oils it has
• The whole cigar is super smooth and evenly constructed, although it does have a few sizeable veins
• It’s also a fairly heavy stick, feels substantial and has no soft spots to be found. Just a tiny bit of spring when squeezed
• The foot of the Man O’ War Armada is finished super clean and looks fully packed
• The cap on this cigar is also damn near seamless and even the exact same color, wonderful construction all around
• The first cut was clean and easy but the filler was so packed near the cap that I barely got any draw
• I went in for a second deeper cut and the result was a little better, but still tight. The amount of filler in this cigar is beyond comparison

Burn:
• The toasting took a bit of time but rounded out nice and even with a perfect glow
• I can tell right away that this cigar is gonna burn SUPER slow, especially with all this filler
• The burn for the first bit was razor sharp and not wavy at all, it continue to burn at a turtles pace
• I’m getting a bit of a wave near the middle of the cigar, hopefully it evens itself out
• Did I mention how slow this thing is burning?!?!
• The wave in the middle corrected itself but I got another one soon after, turned into a pretty long peninsula that needed a correction
• Got another peninsula shortly after correction, just seems one part of the wrapper just stops burning
• It’s still burning super slow by the way

Smoke & Ash:
• Despite what seemed like a tight draw I’m getting super full smoke from every draw, it’s thick and creamy as it coats my palate
• There is a good amount of resting smoke coming off the cigar, not over powering, and it smells almost like the burning wood of a campfire
• The ash on this cigar is strong, clean and an awesome white color with occasional dark grey bands. With all the filler in this I would expect no less
• Although the ash looked amazingly strong, it gently fell into my ashtray after just over an inch
• The other ashes fell off on their own at a similar 1 inch length
• The smoke stayed super thick and creamy right to the end

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a mild coffee and cocoa aroma to it, very pleasant and light
• The foot is a different beast, bringing a full sensory aroma of cedar, floral, earthy and a touch of spice
• The pre-light draw is bursting with spices, I’m getting some pepper, cloves and maybe nutmeg, along with some cedar and earthiness
• Initial impressions are impressive, lol. I’m getting a really full and balanced cigar right off the bat. It’s not in your face but it seems so full flavored
• The flavors on the first few draws are filled with cedar, spices, earthy notes and a super smooth creamy coffee finish
• I have to stress how amazingly balanced this cigar is so early on, and the finish is so smooth and tasty, I really hope it continues
• The body is starting off in the medium range but I have a sense that this is going to be a powerhouse of a cigar (which is why I busted out my trusty port wine!)

• I’m surprised to say the retrohale is very subtle and laid back, almost no kick to it and a smooth/light cedar finish
• Just an inch or so in and the flavors gave me a nice change up. The coffee notes are much more pronounced, most of the spice is settled in although still lingers, and the smooth cedar rounds out the profile nicely
• Did I mention how wonderfully balanced this cigar is?!?!
• I’m getting another tasty change-up just past the halfway mark. Although I feel the body increasing the flavors are getting a touch sweeter and I’m also picking up some vanilla and cocoa notes
• The spice is making rare appearances in more prominent bursts, then settles nicely into the background
• The intensity of the flavors and body is really starting to burst out in the last third, but it’s still balanced amazingly well
• It seems like all the flavors are making a comeback and playing nicely together now, coffee, cedar, earthy, spicy, vanilla-y (lol?), sweetness and a touch of cocoa
• I’m finally getting a bit of a nice bite in the retrohale now but still nothing over powering, still keeping the smooth cedar finish as well
• The body is really shining through into the full range now
• The flavors started to fade a bit in the last inch and I was left with mostly woodsy and leathery notes. Very surprised to get very little harshness on such a full cigar

Final Thoughts:
I’ll admit I had my reservations going into this cigar. I haven’t had too many AJ cigars that wowed me but I also haven’t had any of his newer ones. Also, with a $20 price tag, this cigar set the bar high from the start. I have to say I’m not at all disappointed and it was $20 well spent! The flavors in this cigar were excellent and the balance of them all with incredibly spot on. It kept me on my toes and going back for more to see what flavor would be the dominant one on the next draw. My only real complaint here might be the draw, which was a bit tight even after a few pokes with a toothpick. But the construction on this cigar was something to admire and AJ Fernandez’s skills in the blending department definitely shined through! The price may be out of range for most people to purchase a box but I think it’s definitely worth getting a few to sit in the humidor for a special occasion. Take note that this cigar does have some kick and power behind it, so pick your pairings well and don’t give it to a new cigar smoker as they may not be able to fully enjoy the complexity and balance that this cigar offers. Perhaps this will be a contender on our 2011 list??

Pairings:
I was pretty excited when I found this bottle at my local liquor store. More Port wines are produced in Portugal and it’s fairly uncommon to find them produced by many other wineries. I’ve only come across a small handful that are made in Canada and this one happens to be from one of my favorite wine regions, Niagara, Ontario. The winery is called Brights and this particular bottle is called Canadian 74 Port. I fully plan to visit the winery on my next road trip to the Niagara region and see what else they have. Why you ask? Well, because this port is fantastic! It has a light start with cherry, current and blackberry fruit notes along with a woodsy touch. But the real treat is the finish, when it builds in body and gives you a full heavy red wine flavor, similar to the Merlot wines I’ve come to love from the Niagara region. It’s incredibly tasty and I will definitely be buying more, especially at a super cheap price tag of only $12 even after all the ridiculous liquor taxes here.

But the question is, did it pair well with the Man O’ War Armada? You’re damn right it did! the light fruity start complimented the flavors of the cigar extremely well and the full smooth finish contended the full body of the cigar perfectly. This was a powerful cigar but I find a good port wine really helps counteract any nicotine effects you might feel. I’m not sure there is a better pairing for this cigar but if I had to choose I might pick out a smooth aged scotch or possibly a strong cuban coffee with a couple sugars to combat the nicotine. A full stout might also work well here.

The Good Stuff: La Casita Criolla or “The Creole Cottage” is the first, or one of the very few cigars that are actually constructed from 100% Connecticut Broadleaf. Pete Johnson goes into a bit more detail on the tobacco used for this cigar:

“Okay guys. To clear this up. Not all broadleaf is dark. The wrapper will be but the binders and fillers are made up of broadleaf tobacco also. When Jaime (Garcia) buys broadleaf, he buys in hopes to get good dark juicy wrapper, some medium color wrapper like La Riqueza and good binder but the other leaf that doesn’t make those grades is sorted by size and texture for filler. Again not every leaf will look like the wrapper. It’s all 100% USA Conn. Broadleaf. Jaime also buys all primings of broadleaf. Seco, Viso and Ligero. This is also how we are able to sort the filler to do the blend on the cigar.”

So yes, that’s right. 100% Broadleaf. I know that Broadleaf is expensive, and isn’t the easiest to come by so if anyone was able to create a cigar comprised of nothing but this leaf, it had to come from the My Father factory. The Garcias use more broadleaf than any other cigar manufacturer. And anyone that reads this blog knows that I am sucker for Broadleaf. Let’s hope this cigar doesn’t disappoint. The La Casita Criolla line will come in three different sizes, HCB – 5 1/8 x 42, HCBC – 5 5/8 x 46, and the HCBF – 6 1/2 x 48 and will be sold in the $7 range. That’s right, I was expecting a much higher price tag.

Size: HCBC 5 5/8” x 46  -  Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf  -  Binder/Filler: Broadleaf  -  Body: Medium

Prelight: What a vintage looking cigar, from the band down to the wrapper’s appearance. Although quite consistent in color the Casita Criolla sports a very rustic, almost beaten looking appearance. The construction is spot-on and the wrapper is a nice dark brown with lots of smaller darker spots around the ripples in the leaf. There are lots of very small veins throughout the slender body leading up to a nice round triple cap. The cigar is actually very first and puts up a ton of resistance when compressed with no soft spots at all.  The band is interesting and a departure form what we normally expect Pete to come up with. It’s very vintage looking with an almost old days, sewn on looking placement of the “La Casita Criolla” logo. As you rotate the cigar around you can see Pete’s embroidered logo as well as “Tatuaje Cigars Estelí” just before coming to a small sketch of a nice little cottage. Right away I get this crazy pungent smell from the Broadleaf wrapper.  It’s very barnyardesque with some nice chocolate and spice notes. The foot is almost just as stinky as the wrapper of the cigar bearing almost identical aromas.  The cap was easily clipped using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw was a lot smoother than I had originally expected pumping out some inviting spice and coffee notes with just a hint of pepper.

First Smoke: Wow, the Tatuaje La Casita Criolla starts off as what I would call the epitome of smooth. Right away I am greeting with some very nice woodsy, cocoa, espresso notes that tend to transition into a bit of spice after a while. No pepper at all, but a whole ton of sweetness. The draw on this Casita Criolla is super effortless pumping out huge clouds of thick smoke with every little draw. The cigar doesn’t give off much stationary smoke, but the smell is pungent! Be prepared, this probably isn’t something you’d want to smoke around people who aren’t really into cigar smoke (or could work in your favor by keeping them away). The burnline is pretty thick but produces a very nicely compacted, light grey ash. The ash held on for about an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: The dark chocolate and sharp espresso flavors are really taking over this cigar, along with a nice creamy fruit hint here and there mixed in with some subtle spice. The Casita Criolla started out really smooth and has managed to become even more-so into the second third. Even the retrohale on this cigar is creamy and smooth coating with a nice creamed coffee style flavor. I’m really not feeling any nicotine, but this cigar is burning a little quicker than I expected. The burnline is still dead even.

Finish: Into the final third of the Casita Criolla and the spice that has been nothing but an aftertaste has really start to shine through. The cocoa and espresso are still the there in force, with a more creamier, milky flavor starting to creep in with still a dash of sweetness. This cigar took only a little over an hour to finish, requiring no touch-ups or relights. I started to feel a little nicotine at the tail end of the experience, but not really enough to call this cigar anything stronger than medium.

Overview: It may be a little early to call it, but I think Tatuaje’s La Casita Criolla has a VERY good chance in making it’s way towards the top of our “Top 10 Cigars of 2011” list. The flavors are smooth and powerful with only slight changeups where needed to keep me on my toes, the construction on these cigars are perfect, and the price point is actually cheaper then I expected knowing that these are composed 100% of Connecticut Broadleaf.

Pairing: Despite what most people think, Fat Tire was actually New Belgium’s second beer. The first being their award winning Abbey. Since then New Belgium has actually created a stronger, more premium Abbey with limited releases through their “Lips of Faith” collection. They call this their “Grand Cru Abbey Ale” and it’s exactly what I decided to pair this Tatuaje La Casita Criolla with. Abbey is a traditional strong, dark ale perfected by Belgium Trappist Monks, and in my opinion, one of the best brew styles available. With a malty flavor with nice Banana, Caramel, and Lemon hints its hard to believe that he beer boasts a 9.5% ABV. The sweet, creamy style of the beer blended perfectly with the smoothness of this cigar. It really made for a perfect pairing, even if it does leave you a bit loopy afterwards. I think this cigar would go well with any stout, porter, or brown ale as well as Dr. Pepper or sweet tea.

But despite my silly oversight, I managed to get one to review for everyone’s enjoyment! The cigar I’m referring to happens to be an Illusione ‘888’ Slam. This particular cigar is not entirely full production at the time I write this. Dion Giolitto, of Illusione Cigars, released this as a prototype blend and it seems it was well received all around!

Although the name is mostly the same, the Illusione ‘888’ Slam is not the exact same blend as the Illusione ‘888’. The main difference is a single type of filler leaf that was removed to help make the “bench” press process possible. The bench press style of this cigar is where the “Slam” in the title comes from. The Illusione ‘888’ Slam is a Nicaraguan Puro, meaning all the leaf in the blend is sourced from Nicaraguan tobacco. The one thing that doesn’t come from Nicaragua in this cigar is the production, it’s actually rolled in the Honduras factory.

As with each of the Illusione blends, they have a little catchphrase associated with each blend. In this case, the catch phrase is “Neccesary and Sufficient”. The name and numbers have roots in Dion’s faith and I would recommend reading about the meaning on his website. The addition of the meaning behind each name is a very interesting addition in the cigar world.

Cigar: Illusione ‘888’ Slam
Drink: Wychwood Brewery Hobgoblin
Vitola: (6.75 x 48)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: About $11.00
Burn Time: A little over 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This is a long bench-pressed cigar with an appealing cinnamon brown wrapper
• The wrapper appears to have a couple of small water spots but there are no substantial veins to be seen anywhere, it’s very smooth
• The cigar has a soft feel to it when squeezed but it’s nicely consistent from end to end
• The top is finished with a clean triple cap while the foot appears very well packed
• The cut was pretty easy although it made a bit of a mess in the ashtray

Burn:
• The toasting on this cigar was super easy, the smaller ring gauge and bench pressed shape helped it to glow evenly with little effort
• Through the first bit the cigar is burning razor sharp as well as nice and slow
• May have spoke too soon once again, started getting some very slanted burn now
• I let it go for a bit hoping for a self correction but it needed a little intimidation from my lighter
• Had another lopsided burn situation that needed correction just past the halfway mark
• In the last third the wrapper actually stopped burning and I needed to touch it up a couple times, this might have been due to the 94% humidity outside?

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of smoke coming off each draw, very full and enjoyable
• The ash is a very light grey and has some dark black zebra striping
• It only lasted about an inch, started to go all lopsided so I decided to tap it off
• Despite it’s weakness, the ash stays nice and clean with no flaking
• Ashes continue to be about an inch but the few touchups made it weaker and I had a few miss the ashtray and go for a dive to the floor
• I had pure butter fingers with this cigar tonight and kept losing my ash! Oops!

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a light and sweet aroma to it, maybe a touch of cocoa in there
• Pre-light draw brings a heavy flavor of cedar and earthiness
• Right from the initial draw I’m getting a big burst of spice on each draw with an earthy undertone
• The retrohale right off the bat here is fantastic! It’s got a nice helping of cedar, a mall bite of spice and the finish is super unique. The closest I can compare it to is the type of grapes used to make wine with. A very unique tarty sweetness that I’ve never found in a cigar before
• Body is starting off in the low end of medium so far
• The spice settles down after a couple inches and left me with mostly earthiness and some cedar, the retrohale remains super tasty!
• As I get to the halfway mark I’m getting a nice roasted coffee flavor that’s balancing very nicely with the cedar and spice
• The finish throughout this cigar has been extremely smooth and not drying at all, you could probably smoke this whole cigar without a drink, it’s that smooth
• Getting into the last third that tarty sweetness I’m getting on the retrohale is making an appearance in the normal draw, very nice touch
• As I get into the last couple of inches the spice is making a big comeback, each draw gives a very interesting texture on my tongue, it’s thick and chewy and almost feels like I just sprinkled black pepper right on my tongue. Very cool!
• The cigar did not get harsh at all near the end, just some huge bursts of spice and still a smooth finish

Final Thoughts:
The Illusione ‘888’ Slam was awesome! That just about sums it up! Do I need to continue? ok fine… The most enjoyable part of this cigar that I can’t emphasize enough is the retrohale. If you don’t run the smoke through your nasal passages I think you would be missing out on a huge part of this cigar. You would probably think that I’m crazy and the cigar was just ok. Without the retrohale, it’s an ok cigar. But with it, it’s fantastic. The burn was nice and even for the most part and draw was spot on. The price is a tad high but this is a long vitola and makes for a fully enjoyable experience. the price may make it hard for a lot of people to opt for a full box, but definitely reach for a 5-pack if you can, they are worth it in my opinion.

Pairings:
Tonight’s pairing choice is from Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire England and is called Hobgoblin. Seems I’m picking up a lot of English brews lately, not on purpose though, it just seems to be what I find at the store. I actually posted up a full review of this beer awhile ago during the colder months, you can read it here. The beer has some seriously tasty hoppy bitterness and lots of malt. On top of that you can pick up some light berry flavors. It’s definitely enjoyable on it’s own and I’ve found it to be an excellent pairing with quite a few cigars as well. It paired nicely with the Illusione ‘888’ Slam and I think the main reason for this is because of it’s straightforward profile. It doesn’t have too much in the way of other sweet flavors and prides itself as a traditional Ruby Beer. This makes it a good palate cleanser and doesn’t mess with the cigars flavors very much, allowing you to enjoy the cigar for what it is. Other great pairings here would be a full stout, my favorite tawny port or a nice cup of coffee.

Let’s clear something up first.  Everyone seems to have their own name for this cigar.  Its equivalent to the music industries “Self-Titled” albums.  Remember back when Metallica released their self titled album?  Everyone had a name for it and it eventually became known as “The Black Album”. (Random example I know, but work with me here!)  I seem to see a similar occurrence with this line. The two most common names seem to the “The Padron Classic Line” or “The Padron Thousand Series” (obviously coming from the fact that most of their vitolas are numbers in the thousands). The actual name for this line is simply the “Padron Series”.

Padron is well known for their two more popular lines, the “1926 Serie” and the “1964 Anniversary Series”.  You can also check out my review of the 1926 40 Years or the 1926 No. 35 and the 1964 Anniversay Series Principe.  Those two popular lines often carry a fair hefty price tag whereas this line can be had at very valuable pricing.  It’s a diverse line coming in 15 different sizes and offered in both Maduro and Natural.  One thing to note is that the two different wrappers are usually very hard to tell apart.  The Natural wrappers tend to have a very dark color to them in my experience.

Although this is a much less expensive line, the cigars are still all hand rolled and are made using quality tobacco.  All of the tobacco included in the Padron Series is Sun Grown Nicaraguan and they are aged a minimum of 1.5 years.  The cigar I’m smoking today has also been in my humidor for close to 2 years.  So let’s see how Padron’s more budget friendly line stands up:

Cigar: Padron Series 2000 Natural
Drink: Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 50)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: About $4
Burn Time: A little under 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper is rough and has quite a few veins along with a dark cinnamon brown color
• The top is finished with a single cap, not terribly applied but a little messy
• The cigar has some slight give when squeezed but it’s mostly firm throughout
• Foot appears moderately packed, a bit of a gap in the middle which I’m hoping doesn’t cause a tunnel
• The band is fairly minimal and simple, comparably almost to some Cuban Montecristo bands
• The cut was nice and easy, leaving a clean end
• I made sure not to cut too much off the cap since experience tells me these can have open draw.  If you take care to make a shallow cut you’re greeted with a perfect draw

Burn:
• Toasting was nice and easy, the whole foot glowed evenly with minimal effort
• The burn is amazingly razor sharp through the first inch, almost no wave at all
• This Padron 2000 is staying lit easily without the need for me to keep drawing on it
• Through to the halfway point I’ve had absolutely no problems with the burn, razor sharp the whole way
• No burn issues right down to the nub, I never had to take my lighter out after the initial light. That’s the way I like it!

Smoke & Ash:
• Right from the first draw I’m getting a ton of smoke from this cigar with very little effort
• The resting smoke is also fairly prominent and gives off a nice cedar aroma
• The ash here is very good, has some very bright white spots accented with some darker grey areas
• Ash appears tight and neat but also seems a bit weak
• After a little more than an inch, I tapped the ash off into my ashtray
• The second ash fell off on it’s own into the ashtray after about an inch

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper aroma is a mixture of hay and some coffee beans
• Pre-light draw brings more hay and a ton of earthiness, almost felt like I had dirt in my mouth for a second
• Initial draws have a very strong appearance of delicious coffee and some cedar notes
• The cigar starts off fairly mild and the retrohale has a nice light bite and a very smooth coffee finish
• As we get through the first third, I’m also picking up some mild cocoa notes here and there
• The finish on this cigar is very smooth and the whole profile is well balanced
• The coffee flavors are developing very well as I smoke this Padron 2000
• The cocoa notes are making a strong appearance near the last third and I’m also getting a nice nuttiness
• The body hasn’t changed much at this point, just a slight increase
• Retrohale has stayed nice and consistent with a tiny bite and smooth coffee finish
• The coffee flavors continue to get more intense, now more comparable to a stronger espresso
• The more intense coffee flavors along with woodsy, cocoa and nutty continued to the nub with very little bitterness, allowing you to enjoy it until your fingers burn

Final Thoughts:
Well I think the fact that I’ve ordered a few boxes of the Padron Series cigars may have already given up the fact that I really enjoy them, and this Padron Series 2000 Natural is no exception.  I think that’s easy to see from my notes above. I’ve always been met with great burn and flavors in all of the vitolas I’ve had from the Padron Series. They are also more on the mild side which make a great first cigar at a herf or an early day cigar. It’s also something you can pass out to new cigar smokers without hurting the wallet and you can be sure they will enjoy it. If you haven’t had the chance to smoke one of these or you are part of the group who thinks all Padrons are expensive, then you definitely need to track some of these down and give them a try. Considering the cost of these, especially if you find them on sale, you can’t go wrong.

Pairings:
For the pairing today we have one of my favorite summery blonde brews from one of my favorite breweries. It is the Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer. It’s a wonderful Scottish brew which is aged in Oak casks for a minimum of 77 days. I also paired this brew with Man O’ War Virtue a while back. Don’t let the lighter color of this beer fool you, it is full of flavor and surprising more bold than you would expect. You get the obvious oak flavors in every sip which make a wonderful layer on this brew. Along with that, you get some smooth caramel and slight malty flavor with a fresh and crisp finish. The pairing with the Padron Series 2000 was a pretty good one. The oak flavors in the beer accented the woodsy flavors in the cigar although I think the brew would pair better with a Connecticut. Coffee seems to be my favorite pairing with any of the Padron Series or a coffee flavored porter/stout.

Now let me tell you why I’m doing this. My reasons are two fold… The first is completely Tony’s fault. Big surprise right? lol. He’s bragged about this cigar a few times and how much he enjoys it. A few days ago we started chatting about how I’ve never really been impressed by an Alec Bradley cigar, so he tightened the chains on my desk and told me I had to review it, or else! Ok, not really, but he did ask me to give it a chance. Secondly, I was at a little BBQ herf (Hosted by a good BOTL, Lou at Rumours Furniture) today and had another discussion on Alec Bradley. This time it was with one of Lou’s friends named Jarvis. A really nice guy who also started bragging about Alec Bradley…

So, I basically caved in and decided to give this cigar a try. I had a few Prensado cigars but only in this vitola so that’s why I’m reviewing it instead of a new vitola. I won’t go through and re-write all the good stuff about Alec Bradley or the store of this blend. Check out Tony’s review of the Prensado or you can also get more info from my review of the Family Blend and the Vice Press. So without further adieu, I sit here in my backyard on a warm and damp evening while I prepare to clip the cap of this cigar and see where my Alec Bradley bias takes me…

Cigar: Alec Bradley Prensado
Drink: Six Grapes Reserve Tawny Porto
Vitola: Box-Pressed Robusto (5 x 50)
Wrapper: Honduran Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan/Honduran
Price: $9
Burn Time: A little over 1 hour

Construction:
• Very smooth box pressed appearance with a darker milk chocolatey colored wrapper
• There are almost no veins and the ones that are visible are very thin
• The top of the cigar is finished with a smooth triple cap that blends in very well
• The foot of the cigar is very well packed as is the rest of the cigar which is very firm to the touch
• Cutting was firm but clean
• Draw is just about perfect despite the firm feel of the cigar, no problems in this department
• The band was perfectly applied, it didn’t just fall off but still slid off easily

Burn:
• Toasting was easy and lit up fairly quickly to a nice even glow
• A slight touchup was needed at the start but other then that it is burning very well
• As I hit the halfway point, I’m happy to see no burn issues and it’s coming along razor sharp
• A slight burn issue near the last third, but it corrected itself without my intervention
• Cigar burned a bit hot in the last inch but I kept smoking it anyway

Smoke & Ash:
• I was met with lots of smoke right off the bat here, fills your mouth nicely
• The ash first appears to be nice and strong, well constructed and definitely pressed
• The color on the ash is a little dark, venturing from a medium grey to an almost black
• Ash continued nice and strong until about the 1 inch mark when it fell off into the ashtray, I thought it would last longer since it looked so well packed
• All other ashes were about the same 1 inch and kept the clean and strong look to them

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off an interesting sweet aroma, mixing some nice cocoa and coffee notes
• The foot offers more sweet coffee notes and a bit of mild tobacco, as well as a mild spice
• The pre-light draw seems to have lost the sweetness and is replaced mostly by a tobacco flavor, some woodsiness and a bit of peppery spice on my lips
• Initial flavors really pop on this cigar but are not overpowering, I was met with a good helping of leather and cedar alongside a touch of coffee and nutmeg-like spices
• The retrohale on this cigar is giving a nice light bite with a smooth woodsy finish
• This cigar is very well balanced, I’m figuring it’s in the medium to full range but it’s so smooth that it doesn’t feel that way
• As I reach the halfway mark, the spice is picking up a bit with a little more pepper and raw nutmeg
• The coffee and leather notes are also developing nicely and adding some roasted flavor to it
• Getting into the last third, the coffee flavors have sort of tapered off but the woodsy and cedar notes are making a nice appearance
• There’s been a nice creaminess from the start that has persisted and is just getting better as he cigar progresses
• The smoothness continued right to the nub with a great balance the whole way through

Final Thoughts:
Ok, I gotta honestly say that I enjoyed this cigar. I went in with some bias as you can tell from my intro but it seems that once again you can’t judge a book by it’s cover (or it’s brand). It started off with a nice burst of flavor and burned well through most of the cigar. The box-pressed shape was also very comfortable and a perfect size to smoke. The body was into the fuller range but the smoothness and balance made it blend in so nicely. So I must avow that I found an Alec Bradley cigar I enjoyed from start to finish. Now the biggest downside to this cigar was the price. I didn’t look up the price until after I smoked it and I was a little shocked, especially since it’s one of the smaller vitolas in the line. This did not taste like a $9 cigar to me and that disappointed me because it was pretty good on all other accounts… I wouldn’t say this cigar makes me an Alec Bradley convert but it will open my eyes to at least try a few more blends from this brand.

Pairings:
Today we have another new port that I stumbled across at the liquor store recently. It’s called Six Grapes and is considered to be a Reserve Tawny Port which was bottled in 2004. I was pleasantly met with a great mixture of in-you-face fruit mostly dominated by a strong blackberry tartness. The port also had a nice full bodied feel to it and coated the palate very smoothly leaving a nice sweetness on the tongue. The coating of your palate is one of my favorite aspects of pairing port and cigars because it’s like a fresh cleanse after each sip. It paired excellently with the woodsy and spicy notes of the cigar. I would definitely recommend trying it out. This cigar could also pair well with a nice strong coffee, scotch or maybe a dark soda.

Monte Pascoal is made by the Tabacos Mata Fina Ltda company and is part of the Orsi Family Group. The tobacco portion of the Orsi’s company was established very recently in 2007 but they also have business in Wine, Steel, and Real Estate. The Monte Pascoal name comes from a part of Brazil where the first Portugeuse explorer landed in Brazil. As with the Dona Flor, the Monte Pascoal is a Brazilian Puro Cigar.

The Monte Pascoal line is available in 6 Vitolas and are all made with the same blend of Mata Fina and Mata Norte leaves. The blend of tobacco sounds very interesting and I’m hoping to get a lot of the expected cocoa and coffee notes that I typically get from Brazilian wrappers. Let’s light this cigar up and see how it stands. As always, I’m going into this review completely unbiased and will be giving my wholly honest opinion as I burn away.

Cigar: Monte Pascoal
Drink: Quinta do Tedo Fine Tawny
Vitola: Corona (5.623 x 42)
Wrapper: Brazilian Mata Fina
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Brazilian Mata Fina and Mata Norte
Price: About $6
Burn Time: Just over 1 hour

Construction:
• A slender rough looking cigar with a medium brown wrapper and some dark brown accents
• There is a fair bit of bumpiness on the wrapper and a few prominent veins but none look problematic to the burn
• The entire cigar is consistenly soft and springy
• The triple cap is finished tightly and clean
• The foot looks moderately packed, a couple open spots can be seen
• Cutting the cigar was effortless and fairly clean and didn’t cause any wrapper damage
• Draw it spot on, lots of air but just enough resistence

Burn:
• The small corona sized cigar toasted easily to a nicely glowing foot
• The burn line glows brightly with each draw, staying nice and straight but it seems to be moving quickly
• The burnline is still razor sharp through half the cigar and has started to burn a bit slower
• This burn is perfect, absolutely no waves or retouches from start to finish!

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw is offering up a hefty mouthful of smoke
• Very little resting smoke but it gives off a mild and pleasent woddsy aroma
• Ash is fairly strong and clean, colouring is light gray with lots of black accents
• Ash held on just past an inch before I gently tapped it off
• Subsequent ashes all held on around an inch and stayed clean and tight

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a sweet cocoa and tobacco aroma to it, very inviting
• The foor brings different aromas of woodsiness and a bit of mild spice, possibly nutmeg
• Pre-light draw brings a bit more cocoa and woodsiness, this time I get a bit of nuttiness too
• Initial draws are mostly woodsiness and some tobacco flavors
• Retrohale is faily mild with just the smallest bite a woodsy finish
• As I approach the halfway mark I haven’t gotten many new flavors, maybe just a bit of nuttiness, sorta like raw almonds
• The existing flavors are well balanced but I’d like to have a bit more variety/dimensions soon…
• I’m getting slightly more body and bite as the cigar progresses near the last third
• Some slight bitter coffee notes started near the end of the cigar. At first it was enjoyable but then the bitterness took over

Final Thoughts:
Similar to the Dona Flor (also from CigarsFromBrazil.com) this cigar ranked in the mild-medium range. It would be a good early day cigar with your morning coffee or something light after lunch. Unfortunately the flavors never “wowed” me on this stick. The were tasteful and well balanced but didn’t offer enough variation or complexity to keep it interesting. With a shorter vitola like a corona I wouldn’t expect tons of dimensionality but I usually like to see at least one noticable change in flavor direction as it smokes. The cigar itself burned very well and is worth trying if the woodsy and tobacco flavors are in your favorite profile. The initial aromas on the wrapper and foot promised some more interesting flavors that never came to fruition.

Pairings:
I haven’t paired a port for a review in quite some time. Not sure why, I’ve been enjoying some Port with cigars but it never fell in line with one of my reviews. Today I’m pairing with a bottle that’s new to me. I saw it at the store and decided to give it a try. It’s a 2004 Late Bottled Vintage from Quinta Do Tedo in Portugal. It ranks in at 19% alc./vol. but it tastes no where near that. This particular Tawny Port is a bit sweeter then I’d usually like. It has lots of bright and fruity flavors such as blackberries and a tartness akin to cranberries. It also has a presence of a Merlot like wine to it. It’s very tasty and great for anyone looking to just start into tasting Tawny Port. In this particular pairing I think the port was too sweet for this mild cigar and would have been more enjoyable with a stronger cigar pairing. This cigar would have paired much better with a cup of coffee, dark cola or an amber beer.

The actual company producing the Dona Flor cigars is Menendez Amerino which has been in business since 1978. The blend for the Dona Flor was created by Felix Menendez and offers a wide range of sizes from cigarillos up to up Double Coronas. They also have a few special blends in the line which were developed with the help of Arthuro Torano. I actually reviewed one of the special blends, called the Dona Flor Selecao, not long ago.

Today’s review is of the Double Corona with the Mata Fina wrapper. Some of the line is also available in Connecticut or Mata Norte wrappers. This will be my first review in temperatures that are NOT below freezing (Yeay Me!). It’s actually exactly 32F tonight as I light this up. So let’s dive into the review on this Dona Flor and see how it stacks up.

Cigar: Dona Flor
Drink: Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Winter Beer
Vitola: Double Corona (7.5 x 50)
Wrapper: Brazilian Mata Fina
Binder: Brazilian
Filler: Brazilian
Price: Around $5
Burn Time:

2 Hours

Construction:
• A long and slender shaped cigar with an appealing dark chocolate brown wrapper
• The wrapper displays some oiliness and roughness with a few larger veins, one in particular looks like it could cause some burn issues
• The cigar felt a little lumpy in areas but mostly gave a nice soft spring
• Although they say this is a 50 ring gauge cigar it seems a little smaller then that to me and it’s not box-pressed
• The overall construction reminds me of some old or mid-range handmade Cubans with it’s rough appearance
• The head is finished with a rough triple cap and the foot appears to be quite well packed
• The cigar cut Easily under my Colibri double bladed Guillotine cutter
• Initial draw seems to be a bit open but not too open that it ruins the experience
• Cut was nice and easy with only a slight mess
• Just past the halfway mark the draw tightened up a bit

Burn:
• Toasting was even and easy, any dark spots were easily cleared with a light exhale on the foot
• Despite the rough appearance the burn is going very sharp so far
• There’s no need for extra draws here, the Dona Flor is staying lit easily without extra attention
• No problems at all through the length of the cigar, my only complaint here is that it burned a little fast and got a bit hot near the end

Smoke & Ash:
• Ash is coming along even and tightly wound
• First ash held on about an inch before gently falling into the ashtray
• The smoke here isn’t overpowering, I’d say a little shy of what I’d like
• The second ash held nice and strong until tapping it off at almost 2 inches
• As the draw tightened up the smoke from each draw become a comfortable mouthful

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper aroma is mostly cedar with some mild tobacco
• The foot offers similar aromas plus a slight cocoa sweetness
• Pre-light draws have more cedar but along with it came a bit of a tart sweetness and some raw cinnamon
• My first impressions in the flavor department bring me a bit more tart sweetness and cinnamon along with the same cedar that been around
• Body is starting off in the mild range
• As the cigar progresses, cedar becomes the main flavor with the raw cinnamon sticking around. That tartness is coming and going
• At the end of the first third I’m starting to pick up hints of the cocoa I initially got on the wrapper
• So far the retrohale has been fairly straightforward, very mild with no bite and just a slight cedar finish
• As I approach half-way the flavors are balancing out a bit more and the cocoa is being matched with a nice coffee flavor I was expecting from this Brazilian wrapper
• The body increase a bit in the final stretch but nothing overwhelming, just holding steady in the medium range
• No bitterness on the finish and the flavors stayed consistent and balanced from the half way mark other then the coffee notes developing nicely to the end

Final Thoughts:
This was a perfect cigar to kick back and relax with. It’s nothing earth shattering or revolutionary but it hits a perfect balance of interesting and mild flavors that can be enjoyed any time of day. The milder body makes it a great alternative to Connecticut wrapper cigars in the early day with a coffee or any other time. It also burned exceptionally well making it an easy cigar to enjoy without requiring much attention. you won’t find a powerhouse or a pepper bomb here but you will find an enjoyable cigar at a fair price that can be included in your daily rotation easily. After some research I did notice they were slightly difficult to find online but not impossible. You can also ask your local B&M to sign up to be a wholesaler on their website to try and get the cigars in.

Pairings:
I can’t get enough of the beers that this brewery produces. I’ve been hooked on their Original and now the Scottish brewery of Innis & Gunn has hit another homerun with their Winter Beer. I’ve enjoyed the Original brew in my brevious reviews of the Camacho Liberty 2009 and the Man O’ War Virtue. You can see from those reviews how much I enjoyed that brew. Now the Winter Beer picks up where the original leaves off and brings a fuller and richer beer that has a warming effect for the winter season. The brew itself is aged in Oak barrels slightly longer then the original and produces a warm sweetness with some added vanilla and caramel notes on top of a delicious malty flavor. This brew paired fairly well with this cigar although I think it would have gone better with a Connecticut wrapped cigar. A better choice with the Dona Flor would have been a dark stout or porter, coffee or a dark cola.

We’ve had a few Padron cigars reviewed on the site already. You can read my reviews of the Padron 1926 No. 35 Maduro or Padron 1964 Principe, or check out Tony’s review of the special edition Padron 46 Years. Padron prides itself on releasing only Nicaraguan puros, which means all the leaves contained within the cigars are grown in Nicaragua. Check out one of the above linked reviews for more information about the Padron Cigar company and it’s Cuban heritage and inspiration.

Today’s review comes from the Serie 1926 line and is called the “40 Years”. Although it seems named similar to the yearly special editions (45 Years, 46 Years, etc…) it is actually part of the regular production Serie 1926 line. The cigars name is significant of the year it was added to the line. It has a unique box-pressed

I was lucky enough to find myself a slightly warm day to enjoy this cigar, of course warm to me this winter is still well below freezing, but I’ll take what I can get until spring comes around! As you might be able to tell, I’m already a big fan of Padron cigars, but as with all my reviews, I go into them as unbiased as possible and give it a fair review. This also means that I will have high expectations for this cigar and might work against it in the outcome. Take a read through it and let me know how your thoughts here might compare to mine.

Cigar: Padron Serie 1926 40 Years Natural
Drink: Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
Vitola: Box-Pressed Torpedo (6.5 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $25
Burn Time: About 2 hours

Construction:
• A slightly rough yet well made cinnamon brown wrapper with a box-pressed torpedo shape
• No major veins but lots of smaller ones can be seen
• The tapered cap finishes cleanly but it very firm, making me worry about draw issues
• The body of the cigar has a soft spring to it
• As with most Padrons, the wrapper has a very appealing toothiness to it
• The foot appears fairly well packed but does have a couple holes
• The cut was very clean and firm, I did have to cut a fair bit of the taper off to get a decent draw
• This cigar had a crack in the wrapper near the foot, likely due to shipping damage as none of the others I’ve had were like this

Burn:
• Had some trouble getting the foot to light up evenly, starting off with a wavy burn now
• After a few draws the burn line straightened right out nicely
• The crack extended about two inches down the wrapper and definitely affected the burn but it still burned quite well despite that
• A slight peninsula formed just as I passed the end of the crack, a small correction and we’re back in good form
• A few more peninsulas here and there but they mostly corrected themselves
• The cigar burned nice and slowly the whole way through

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of smoke from each draw right from the start of this cigar
• There’s quite a bit of smoke from a resting position as well, giving off a nice cedar aroma
• The ash is not splitting but it does look a bit flaky and weak, we’ll see how it holds up…
• Started to get more flaky as it progressed so I tapped the ash off at about an inch before it fell all over me
• Second ash also fell off after about an inch, seems to be on par with the others I’ve had of this vitola
• Lots of flaking as the cigar burns further along

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper aroma is strong of cedar and tobacco
• The foot has more hints of cedar but also a strong presence of earthy aromas and a touch of spice
• The pre-light draw is more cedar and a lot more spice, leaving a tingling sensation on the lips and tongue
• Initial draws are mostly of a burnt woodsy type flavor with some earthy notes mixed in
• After a few draws the flavor smoothed out to a nice cedar with some hints of white pepper
• The retrohale is very smooth with a little bite and a tasty cedar finish
• As i finish the first third, I’m getting some hints of coffee creeping in as the pepper slowly fades away
• So far the cigar is just about on the edge of mild and medium and very smooth, no dryness either
• The coffee kept developing nicely and the cedar is still around, also getting some cinnamon or nutmeg on the finish now
• Just past the halfway mark, an interesting bready (think fresh dough) and creamy flavor has popped up, it’s very enjoyable and the cigar is balancing out so well
• The bite on the retrohale is just right, not overpowering and still offers a smooth finish of cedar and coffee
• More coffee flavors developing and turning into an espresso like taste, I find this in a lot of Padron’s and it always impresses me
• Straight down to the nub the flavors are still going strong with no harshness at all

Final Thoughts:
As with most Padron’s I’ve enjoyed, this one did not disappoint. Each time I’ve lit up this vitola I’ve been greeted with a variety of flavors and dimensions that kept it interesting the whole way through. Even with a large crack running a good length of the wrapper, the cigar still burned fairly well. Unfortunately, this cigar loses points in the price department. It carries a hefty tag at about $25 and a lot of shops will over price these due to the name, not to mention taxes in some states/countries. It’s definitely something worth trying as this offers a great cigar smoking experience but it’s not something that can be had on a regular basis for most people. Try to grab a few to save for special occasions and you will not be disappointed!

Pairings:
Today’s pairing is one that seems to be a well known brew, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. It comes in a good sized bottle and definitely has lots of character from this UK based brewery. It’s a nice dark stout with lots of head and a smooth finish. You won’t find any bitterness with this brew. The chocolate notes are not as pronounced as the name might suggest but are definitely there and offer a very smooth malty flavor. This brew is an excellent choice for any cigar with hints of coffee or cocoa, I find it really helps those flavors shine. It was no disappointment here as it paired very well and made the coffee notes of the Padron Serie 1926 40 Years really shine. This cigar would also pair quite well with Port, Coffee or a smooth scotch. I also paired this brew with a blind review I did awhile ago of the Perdomo Patriarch Maduro, read that one here.

The Ideology was intended to diversify the line of 262 Cigars by bringing a smooth, mile and creamy profile.  The cigar is wrapped with a Rosado leaf which I find to be a great alternative to the Connecticut when seeking a mild cigar for anytime of the day.  As I mentioned in my last review, the 262 Cigar company is made up of a small group of passionate cigar smokers who have embraced the online and B&M cigar communities to promote their product.  By leveraging these communities they’ve been able to establish themselves as a good name in the cigar world.

The blend of leaves in this tobacco all come from some of my favorite tobacco leave regions including Nicaragua, Mexico and Dominican Republic.  Each of these leaves offers a unique and tasty profile and I’m excited to see how they blend together.  It’s nice to see a cigar aimed at the mild market when it seems a lot of new cigars are being aimed at strong, full bodied smokers.

Cigar: 262 Cigars Ideology
Drink: Erdinger Weissber Dunkel
Vitola: Box-Pressed Toro (6 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Mexican, Dominican
Price: $8.75 from 262 Cigars Website (www.smoketherevolution.com)
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• A very clean and even square pressed toro cigar
• The wrapper is a nice matte chocolate brown color with almost no visible veins
• The head is finish with a clean triple cap and seems to have a little more shine then the rest of the cigar
• The foot is very well packed and the cigar is fairly firm to the touch with whole way through
• The cut was nice and clean, falling off in a neat bunch into the ashtray
• Draw is just right, not too much effort and not too airy

Burn:
• Toasting took a little while to get even but eventually glowed nicely
• Burn started off a bit wavy but quickly corrected itself and is burning razor sharp now
• Still no problems on the burn as I pass the halfway mark, this is a great sign since I usually have problems with box-pressed cigars, but not this one

Smoke & Ash:
• Getting a nice mouthful of smoke from each draw
• Resting smoke is fairly minimal
• The ash is producing a nice white color to it and looks tightly wound
• Despite it looking nice and strong, the ash fell into the ashtray after about an inch
• The one inch mark seems to be the sweet spot for this ash, but it cleanly falls into the ashtray without me having to worry about it at all

Tasting Notes:
• The aroma on the wrapper is very light but I get some hints of coffee and hay
• The foot gives off a bit more hay on the aroma and some hints of coffee and cocoa, maybe even a small touch of spice
• Pre-light draw brings mostly hay and a sweet tobacco type flavor
• Initial draws have a nice cedar flavor and some hints of coffee, starting off nice and mild
• Retrohale is very mild with no bite and at this early point is not giving any distinct flavors
• The coffee flavors have developed a bit more on the finish and also on the retrohale, cigar is still fairly mild
• Getting a bit of creaminess on the finish, a nice touch
• The creaminess has also translated to the retrohale and it also developed a tiny little bite
• The body started to pick up a bit near the end, it’s just teetering on the edge of medium right now
• The cedar/woodsiness made a more prominent appearance in the last third
• The mild smoothness of this cigar is very enjoyable and relaxing, not too in your face
• Some bitterness started to develop in the last inch or so of the cigar, but it wasn’t terribly off-putting
• Smooth cedar flavors lasted to the end

Final Thoughts:
This was a nice mild and enjoyable smoking experience.  The flavors were never overpowering and it smoked smooth and easy the whole way through.  It also had a great burn and nice amount of smoke from start to finish.  This cigar would be a good addition to a selection of early day smokes or when you just want something smooth and mild to relax with. It’s nothing overly complex but still a relaxing and enjoyable cigar.  It would also make a great option for beginner cigar enthusiasts looking for something that won’t knock their socks off.  It also sets itself apart from a lot of other mild cigars which tend to be Connecticut wrappers.  The Rosado wrapper gives it a different flavor while still keeping it creamy and mild.  Anyone looking for a change in their early morning smoke should give these a try.  Their price comes in a bit high to be an easy every-day smoke but still fair enough to be part of a weekly rotation.

Pairings:
After getting the initial notes of coffee and cocoa on the wrapper I decided to pair this cigar with a nice dark beer.  My choice was Erdinger’s Dunkel, a dark wheat beer that goes through a strict fermentation process.  It has distinct notes of coffee and dark malts and goes down smooth with minimal hoppiness or bitterness.  This ended up being a very nice pairing for this cigar with the flavors from each complimenting each other.  Similarly smooth and flavorful dark beers would also pair well here.  A nice cup of coffee or dark soda would also make an excellent pairing.

These were sent to us courtesy of our Friends over at Gran Habano. Kicking off as one of this year’s first new releases, Gran Habano is leading the way with one interesting looking, elegant stick. The following is the press release which pretty much sums up the cigar.

Miami, Fl., October 18, 2010 – Time has finally come for the limited production Gran Reserva #3 cigar by Gran Habano to be released into the public. Medium to full bodied in strength the Gran Reserva #3 was blended by George A. Rico using aged Nicaraguan and Columbian tobaccos from the Gran Habano farms.

Composition of the Gran Reserva #3 consists of an 8 year old wrapper and a 7 year old binder from our Nicaraguan farm “La Santa Cruz”. The filler is a mixture of 7 year old Nicaraguan from “La Santa Cruz” and 8 year old Columbian from our “La Joya del Valle” farm. The cigars were rolled in early 2008 and have been aging for the previous two years making the overall components about a decade old.

George A. Rico explains that “Being able to age the leaf and rolled cigars for such a long period of time has created a very rich, smooth, yet complex smoke.”

Gran Habano will release the new Gran Reserva #3 with a Churchill(7×50), Pyramid (6 1/8×52) and a Gran Robusto (6×54). Due to the long aging process and special tobaccos used only 1,200 boxes of each size will be released across the country. New packaging will also accompany the Gran Reserva #3 to help distinguish it from our original #3 release.

Pricing will remain affordable at $6.80 (Churchill), $6.90 (Gran Robusto), and $7.10 (Pyramid) – not including local taxes. Shipments are scheduled to reach retailers during the first week in November.

It’s been a while since I reviewed a “Pyramid” or belicoso stick, so that’s the size I chose for this one.

Prelight: Gran  Habano did an excellent job making this cigar look extremely elegant without being too over-the-top. The band is an off yellow with a nice diamond texture accompanied by gold and brass metallic accents and the Title “Gran Reserva #3 – Gran Habano - 2008″ on the front as well as a much smaller stamp “by George A. Rico” on the back. The band leads into a full body cedar encasing with the black “Gran Reserva” print on it, polished off with a very small gold fabric foot band. After you take the cedar off the cigar you are presented with a very beautiful looking, oily as hell wrapper. The wrapper is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a very milky, lighter brown with a few darker spots closer to the foot. This is one oily cigar. The oils actually come off on the tips of your fingers as you handle the cigar. The cigar is very well constructed and consistant leading up to the tapered belicoso style cap. There are only very few, almost flat veins throughout the body of the cigar. The cigar is a bit soft to the touch, but carries no flaws or soft spots that I could find.

The wrapper lets loose a very potent cedar aroma with a natural tobacco scent barely shining through. The foot gives off much less cedar but more of a pungent tobacco and leather aroma. The Gran Reserva #3 clipped clean using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw puts out this massively musky/fruity taste with bits of pepper on the aftertaste. Tons of flavor that one can only hope will transpire into the actual experience.

First Smoke: The first few puffs give way to just a crazy amount of earthy flavors. The backing flavors are that of fruit, like a plum or something, and a dash of cedar with a very slight pepper on the after taste. The draw is easy, plentiful, and kicks out a ton of thick smoke. The stationary smoke is pretty much non-existant which surprises me as usually the more oils the cigar has the more stationary smoke I get. Not true in the case of the Gran Reserva #3. The burnline is solid, and dead even leaving behind a near perfect, light grey, thick and well compacted ash. The ash held tight for almost 2 inches before falling.

Halfway There: The retrohale on the Reserva #3 is ridiculous. I don’t find myself retrohaling a cigar very often, but the fruity cedar that coats my nasal passage on the retrohale keeps me doing it over and over. The second third introduced me to just a plethora of flavors. Everything from a very strong and smooth cedar, light cocoa, leather, earth tones, fruit, and even a bit of clove and ginger. I know, that may be really reaching, but there are a ton of flavors in this stick that really keeps the smoker on their toes. I’m not feeling any nicotine at all at this point. So far this has been reather smooth and enjoyable experience all the way around.

Finish: After a flavor bomb of a second third, the final third gave way to a much milder, smoother experience. The main flavor is now just tons, and tons of sweet cedar backed by hints of fruit, and hints of clove. Very smooth, with no harshness built up at all. I smoked this guy all the way down to the nub without feeling even the slightest bit of nicotine. Surprising for a cigar of it’s size. The cigar burned rather slow, coming in at about an hour and fourty five minutes smoke time.  No touch-ups, no relight. The burnline and ash were perfect all the way through.

Overview: The first time I smoked this cigar I remember being disimpressed by the first half, then totally wowed by the third. This time, I see the first part of the experience as more of a smooth introduction to the powerful, and complex flavors of the second half before finishing off crisp and smooth. Robert from Gran Habano was in town not too long ago and I had a chance to enjoy a cigar with him. We didn’t talk shop a whole lot, but one thing he did mention was that this year the Ricos would by pushing out new, more daring, unsafe blends. Sometimes it takes risks to earn rewards and if the Gran Reserva #3 has anything to say about this next year and the new Gran Habano, they are in for great year. This is definitely a luxury cigar at less than a luxury price, and I can totally see this being in my regular rotation. Very box worthy and something you should give a go if you find them sitting on shelves.

Pairing: I paired this Gran Reserva #3 with a long time favorite, Pawvel Kwak. Kwak is a 8.10% Belgium beer brewed at the Brouwerij Bosteels brewery. Kwak is a very spicy, zesty, fruity amber colored beer. The upbeat flavors made a wonderful pairing and even helped pull some of the more complex flavors out of this cigar. This beer isn’t too easy to find, but if you see it be sure to do yourself the favor of picking it up. It pairs perfect with just about any cigar or meal. The cigar would also go great with tea, or sweet apple juice. Something sweet with just a bit of natural fruit.

So now the question is. How many of you readers would actually hunt for a cigar like this? I know Gran Habano isn’t like some other manufacturers that kick out limited releases left and right. Given a stable past, and the recent push to release more risky cigars, would Gran Habano be a manufacturer that you’d keep your eyes on this year?

The name of this cigar also held sort of a special meaning at this time. The name “The Mogul” seemed to fit perfectly with a recent promotion I was lucky enough to receive at work. So what better cigar to celebrate that accomplishment then with this one. Along with the interesting name, the cigar also has a very intriguing and creative slogan:

“The World’s in Your Hand”

Not only does the cigar have in interesting slogan, the Maldonado Dynasty also portrays it’s own slogan of:

“Always Demand the Finest”

The press release of “The Mogul” sums up this cigar wonderfully so give it a read here:

From the very start, Arapiraca was the choice of Wrapper we had in mind. Never wanting to settle, we stayed true to the rich, strong, slightly sweet leaf. The perfect blend of aged, sun-grown Maduro sweetness, with the boldness of Dominican Binder and leaf, all blended to perfection with Peruvian leaf. The Mogul is the perfect medium-full body premium cigar that will become parallel with the best of the best. Strong and luxurious. After all, we here at The Maldonado Dynasty have a saying: “Always demand the finest.”

We invite you to pick a box up and experience this handcrafted premium cigar for yourself. Also wanting you to to be comfortable in reaching out to us and sharing your comments and questions. After all, we work diligently to make our premium cigars for you, to bring you only the finest. We like to think we create extraordinary moments in time, moments you share with the special people in your life, worthy of The Maldonado Dynasty.
“The Mogul,” is slated for release in late 2010.

Paul Maldonado
President/C.E.O.
www.MaldonadoDynasty.com

Paul and his team have also been busy launching various “Black and White Jazz Affair” events across the country and they plan to continue that in the new year. Double check their website for dates near you! If the pictures and stories I’ve heard are any indication it has been a great success and lots of fun for everyone. As the press release states, the cigars should be hitting stores near you very soon so keep your eyes peeled. Now I have to admit that I had high expectations for this cigar, please take a read through the review and let’s see if it lives up to name, slogan and expectations!

Cigar: Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”
Drink: Islay Mist 8yr Blended Scotch
Vitola: Toro (6 x 50)
Wrapper: Arapiraca Maduro
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price:
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• A beautiful dark shiny wrapper surrounds this very evenly constructed cigar
• The oily wrapper also has a fair bit of toothiness to it, very appealing to the eye
• There are a few minor veins but none that pose a threat to the burn of this cigar
• The top of the cigar is cleanly finished with a triple cap that seamlessly blends into the cigar
• The foot appears well packed
• There is a slight soft spring throughout the cigar that is even and consistent throughout
• The band has an interesting coat of arms style and a great attention to detail
• The cut was very clean and easy

Burn:
• Toasting was amazingly even, leaving a nice orange glow on the whole foot
• Considering all the smoke this is producing it seems to be burning surprisingly slow
• The first couple inches so far are razor sharp, no wavering at all
• A few minor burn imperfections happened here and there but they were always quickly corrected without my help
• Considering the freshness of this cigar and the cold temperatures here the burn was absolutely perfect!

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of smoke right from the first draw
• Tons of resting smoke as well making for some interesting designs in the air
• The smoke off this cigar is just incredible, an absolute smoke machine!
• The ash here is a work of ark, almost a solid white with some minor darker accents and so tightly wound, not even moving
• Ash held on for about 1.5 inches before gently dropping off into the ashtray in one clean and neat piece
• The next couple of ashes weren’t as long but still nice and clean and they always fell off in the ashtray
• The amazing amount of smoke on this cigar actually made taking pictures difficult, but the designs it made were interesting enough just to watch

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a nice cedar aroma with hints of sweet tobacco
• The foot has more cedar aroma complimented by a sweet cocoa and a touch of spice
• Pre-light was mostly cedar and spice, the spice left my lips and tongue tingling just a bit
• Initial draws are packed with a tasty cedar flavor and subtle hints of spice
• Retro-hale here is mostly cedar with no bite and a smooth finish, overall body is fairly mild so far
• As the cedar slowly started to back off a nice balance came into play with some nutmeg spice and a slight dried fruit flavor

• The dried fruit flavors, sorta like a sweet raisin, are developing very nicely with the nutmeg spice
• The cedar tapered off in the first third but as I approach the halfway mark it is making a comeback with a bit more spice as well
• The flavors here continue to develop with some nice coffee notes as the cedar and dried fruit go back and forth as the prominent notes
• Retrohale has also been passing between cedar and dried fruit, still smooth and no bite.
• Body is making a slow and steady progression approaching a smooth medium at the halfway mark
• The coffee has developed nicely into a sweet espresso flavor and is taking charge of the flavors, really enjoying all these subtle changes
• The cigar finished in the full range with a nice balance of espresso and cedar with no harshness at all

Final Thoughts:
There’s nothing negative that I can say about this cigar, this is what every experience should be like when you sit down with a cigar. It had lots of flavors and dimensions keeping it interesting the whole way through. The burn line was razor sharp right off the bat and never needed a correction or re-light even on this very cold day. Paul had warned me that there might have been burn issues since they were so fresh from the factory but I didn’t experience any at all. The smoke was astonishing and the ash was just perfect. A great experience all around and a definite must-try cigar with unique flavors and superb construction. The slogan for this brand is to “Always Demand the Finest” and rest assured, they live up to that!

Pairings:
At the recommendation of Paul Maldonado I paired this cigar with a Cognac. My choice of cognac today was the Remy Martin XO Special. I’m not a big cognac drinker but I do enjoy a glass occasionally and often with a cigar. Just as Paul had suggested, this made for an excellent pairing. The cognac itself was smooth and balanced and offered delicate floral notes and some raw cinnamon sweetness with a delicious finish. The floral notes seemed to go perfectly with the dried fruit flavors of the cigar. The subtle cinnamon sweetness was a perfect compliment to the cocoa and coffee notes. With both the cigar and pairing offering a fantastic finish this was an excellent match.
I believe this cigar would also pair excellently with a finely aged scotch or some aged Port, both of which are favorites of mine. As for non-alcoholic choices, I’d stick with a smooth and bold coffee. Water could even be a good choice to allow you to fully enjoy the flavors of the cigar.