(Sorry Lou, I just couldn’t get rid of the goatee! lol)

Before announcing all our winners, I’d like to send a big thanks to Paul Maldonado of The Maldonado Dynasty for all of his awesome support during the fund raiser and his generous donation of a box of “The Mogul”. As you know by know, we’ll be giving away 5-packs of “The Mogul” cigars to 4 lucky winners along with a 5-pack form my personal humidor. My sincerest thanks goes out to you Paul!

Paul Maldonado would also like to share a short message with all our readers, here’s what he has to say:

The Maldonado Dynasty of Beverly Hills would like to thank Tony Casas and Daniel Temos at Casas Fumando for offering us this great opportunity to contribute in the fight against cancer. We thank all of you who supported Daniel in this noble campaign and congratulate the Winners! Enjoy our Ultra-Luxurious, Super-Premium cigar “The Mogul,” and keep up with The Maldonado Dynasty at MaldonadoDynasty.com, “Always demand the finest.”

We also wish to announce that we are in the middle of planning our tour schedule for 2012 and look forward to meeting you in person soon. We are also very proud to announce that The Maldonado Black & White Jazz Affair benefiting charities will be hosted in a limited engagement across major U.S. cities.

Respectfully,
Paul Maldonado
President/C.E.O.

Thank you for the kind words Paul!
Now without further adieu, let’s get to the prizes!

Prize #1: 5-pack from Daniel’s Personal Humidor

I mentioned in my Week 1 post(read it here) that I would be giving away 5 cigars of my own to a random person.
The winner of this prize is: Lou Bozzelli

Prize #2: 5-pack of the Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”

The first prize of “The Mogul” goes to the person who kindly donated the most amount of money to my Movember campaign. Clocking in at a SUPER generous $50…
The winner of this prize is:Brent Cossairt

Prize #3: 5-pack of the Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”

This prize goes to the person who came up with the best name for my stash, you can see them posted in the comments section of my Week 2 and Week 4 updates. Paul was given the honor of choosing from the hilarious list of names. The name chosen as the best was “The Mo’Gul” and Paul said that it ties everything in well with the Movember Campaign and the cigar name. Well done! We had some funny ones that I’ll post at the bottom for a good laugh. So who came up with that name…
The winner of this prize is:Jeff Oda

Prize #4: 5-pack of the Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”

This prize pack winner was chosen at random from the list of people who generously donated to my Movember Campaign.
The winner of this prize is:Craig Vanderslice

Prize #5: 5-pack of the Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”

Similar to the above, this prize pack winner was also chosen at random from the list of people who generously donated to my Movember Campaign.
The winner of this prize is:Charlie Greenbacker

For all the winners, please email CasasFumando[at]gmail.com with your address. I want to send out a giant THANK YOU to everyone who supported me! As one final laugh for the Movember campaign, I leave you with the awesome Stash names that you all came up with and my favorite picture from Movember.

• The Conquistador
• Lil Danny boy
• IL Dulce
• The Larry-Curly
• Dalamoustachio
• The Toronto Tickler
• The ‘Mo’-gul
• The ‘Stache With Te’mos
• The Little Mo-maid
• The Magnum
• The Mooooostache
• The Yosemite Sam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As you should know by now, our friend Paul from The Maldonado Dynasty has graciously donated a whole box of “The Mogul” cigars to help raise money for my Movember campaign. Review of “The Mogul” can be found here. Just yesterday, he also posted a VERY interesting article/interview about his history and how The Maldonado Dynasty came to be. I highly suggest giving it a read over here: http://www.maldonadodynasty.com/dawn-of-a-dynasty.html

Don’t forget that you can also pick up a sampler pack or a box of “The Mogul” directly from the Maldonado Dynasty website: http://www.maldonadodynasty.com/The-Mogul.html

Now here’s a nice summary of how you can win one of the 5 prizes we have up for grabs:
1. Donate to my Movember campaign and help raise funds for Cancer Research
2. “Like” Casas Fumando on Facebook
3. Make up an awesome name for my Stash! See some names from the Week 2 post here

And of course, a quick reminder of the prizes up for grabs:
1. 4 prizes containing a 5-pack of Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul” Cigars
2. An awesome prize of 5 specially selected cigars from my humidor

So let’s get some more donations in before Movember officially ends next week. Every little bit helps and every little bit is truly appreciated. Hit up my Mo’ Space page and make a donation now! Lots of cigars are up for grabs so make sure you get your entry in!

As of this morning, I’m only $27 short of hitting the $500 milestone! Who’s gonna help push me over the hump?!?! Here’s the link again, make sure to get to Donating! http://www.movember.com/m/1819178 As mentioned, the local support for Movember is awesome. I was at a wedding this weekend and there were tons of people sporting a sweet stash. It was like a 70′s high school reunion or something! And in proper form, I decided to “Suit Up!” for the wedding. Here’s my best Barney Stinson impression for everyone!

Isn’t that picture Legen- wait for it…… dary?! (btw, if you’ve never watched the TV show “How I Met your Mother”, the above joke will be completely lost on you, sorry! lol)
And as a friendly reminder, let’s recap the awesome prizes up for grabs!

Thanks again to Paul from the Maldonado Dynasty for donating this awesome box of cigars to give away for this great fundraiser. Make sure to read this post for the rules on winning one of these prize packs.
And a reminder that “The Mogul” cigars are available for sale as a box or sampler pack directly on the Maldonado Dynasty website

The next prize is…

I’m donating these out of the goodness of my heart to help raise some Mo’ money! Here’s the post with the rules on how you can win this great prize!

So best of luck to everyone, and let’s get some more money raised for this awesome cause! Thanks for everyone’s support so far! And just in case you missed my 1000000000000 links above, here’s the link one more time! haha http://www.movember.com/m/1819178

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!

I’ve raised over $400 already and I hope to keep pushing on! If you haven’t donated on my Movember page yet, please be sure to do so! You will get entry to win a fantastic cigar prize pack for every dollar you donate. Make sure to read the contest post I made last week to see what you could win.

Now for this weeks EXCITING NEWS! Paul Maldonado of the Maldonado Dynasty contacted me last week after seeing my initiative on the Movember Campaign. He was very impressed and proud that I was giving away a Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul” as part of my awesome prize pack for the Movember Contest that he went ahead and one-upped me! Paul is sending us an ENTIRE BOX OF “THE MOGUL” TO GIVEAWAY as part of my Movember Campaign!!! How awesome is that?! Thanks so much to Paul and the Maldonado Dynasty for offering up this awesome bonus for such a great cause.

Paul also gave me a little news to give out to our faithful readers. If you haven’t read about “The Mogul” yet, be sure to check out my review I posted awhile back. It’s clear to see I really enjoyed that cigar and I’ve smoked my way through almost 2 boxes ever since. A lot of people who follow us on Twitter and Facebook have asked how they can get their hands on “The Mogul” to try it themselves. As of this moment, boxes of the Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul” are available directly on their website located here: http://www.maldonadodynasty.com/The-Mogul.html

Now for those people who like to sample their cigars before committing to a box, you’re in luck! Paul told me that “The Mogul” will be available for sale as a Sampler pack of 5 starting this week! A picture of the cigars included in the pack will be available next week. So make sure to order yourself a sampler and if you trust my judgement, go ahead and purchase a whole box, you won’t be disappointed! Here is the link one more time: http://www.maldonadodynasty.com/The-Mogul.html

So I bet you’re asking, “How do I win some of the Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul” for myself?” Well, we decided we aren’t going to give the entire box away but rather we are going to split it up into 4 separate prize packs of 5-cigars so more people get a chance to try this tasty cigar! Since these were donated as part of the Movember Fund Raiser/Contest, the only way you can win these is by donating (the rules for the original 5-pack I posted about last week will still stand for that prize)

“The Mogul” 5-Pack #1 – Most Donated $$$ for Movember
“The Mogul” 5-Pack #2 – Funniest name for my stash or campaign (Posted in the comments below)
“The Mogul” 5-Pack #3 – Random selection from Donation List on my Movember Page
“The Mogul” 5-Pack #4 – Random selection from Donation List on my Movember Page
Daniel’s 5 Pack! – Don’t forget I’m still giving away my Awesome 5-pack I posted about in my Movember Contest last week.

Now remember, you MUST DONATE TO RECEIVE ONE OF THE ABOVE PRIZE PACKS. At least $1 to be entered for these prize packs and every additional dollar gets you entry into the prize I posted last week in the Movember Contest. So get out your wallets and start donating folks, it all goes towards a great cause!

Now let’s see some funny Stash Names for my Mo’ in the comments below!

Now if you havn’t heard of Movember before let me give you a brief summary pulled from their website:

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces around the world. With their “Mo’s”, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer.

On Movember 1st, guys register at Movember.com with a clean-shaven face. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words, they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

The whole event started a few years ago in Australia and has quickly become a global phenomenon. I work frequently with people across the globe at the office and I’m hard-pressed to find someone that hasn’t heard of Movember before. In 2010 alone this movement raised well over $70 million dollars for Prostate Cancer and Men’s Health research!

So now you’re all wondering, what do I do and what can I win? To help promote this awesome event I’m giving away this awesome 5 pack of cigars. Make a donation here and you could win the following:

Here’s a list of the cigars and links to the reviews if we have it on our site:
-Arturo Fuente Opus X Perfecxion No. 5
-E.P. Carrillo New Wave Connecticut Robusto
-Cohiba Siglo VI (box date is from 2006!)
-Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”
-San Cristobal Robusto

What I will be doing is posting an update every week for the “Status update” of my ‘Mo’. Cheap shots are permitted, but only if you donate first! lol

So how do you win the cigars? Here are the 3 ways to gain entries for this contest:
1. Visit my Movember page and make a donation. You will earn 1 ENTRY FOR EVERY DOLLAR YOU DONATE!
2. “Like” us on our facebook page to get 1 entry (You already have the entry if you’ve “liked” us before)
3. Post this on Facebook or Tweet this twitter, make sure to mention me or Casas Fumando in it: “Casas Fumando is giving away FREE cigars and raising Movember money for Charity, go here and donate! http://wp.me/pNC63-1op”

So please use the donate option and let’s raise some money! If we get a good amount of response from this we will be adding additional prizes and I’ll let you know if that’s happening in one of my weekly updates. Keep a lookout for those! the contest will run until the end of November but please get your donations in early!

So please visit my “Mo Space” page here and donate, it’s all for a great cause! And without further delay, here is my launch day picture for week 1, freshly shaven and ready to grow my Mo’!

For those of you who didn’t know, this past weekend was our Thanksgiving up here in the Great White North and the weather was downright awesome! We had gorgeous clear skies and temperatures above 75F all weekend. This was a big change because just a week before that we were hovering in the mid 30’s and ready to busty out the parkas and the igloo building equipment! So I picked out a nice summery brew and a lighter cigar to enjoy the weather before it disappeared

The cigar I settled with was the Angelenos Toro from 2009. Now the Angelenos is an interesting prospect. It’s not really the company name, and it’s not really cigar line name, but it’s sort of a mixture of both. The founder of Angelenos is Keith K. Park whose name you might recognize from Prometheus as well as a couple other brands such as God of Fire and Sencillo. If you visit the Angelenos website, Keith K. Park has a nice letter detailing the “why” of Angelenos and about what the name means. As a quick summary, the Angelenos cigar was created to honor Los Angeles (a.k.a the “City of Angels”). He feels the Los Angeles is home to a great number of passionate cigar lovers and wanted to create something for all of them.

The Angelenos cigars are wrapped in an Ecuadorian leaf and rounded out with Dominican binders and fillers. The cigar itself is rolled in the Tabaccalera A. Fuente y Cia factory which is located in the Dominican Republic. you may recognize the Fuente name in that factory, and it is indeed the factory where Arturo Fuente cigars are produced. One neat thing to note about these cigars is that the band has a year inscribed on them in red. This particular Angelenos has “2009″ on it. Would be great to see more manufacturers adopt this style!

In a lot of my cigars I’ve come to associate the Ecuadorian wrappers as something that packs a punch. This is most likely just by chance and the choice of cigars that I’ve smoked, but that’s just what pops into my head when I think Ecuadorian wrapper. Now from some basic reading I know this is not the case with the Angelenos and the website promises me a smooth and relaxing cigar. A quick note that this cigar was sent to us from our good friends over at Smoke Inn. Check their site when you have a moment, they have a great selection of cigars! So, Will the Angelenos live up to this claim? Time to read on and find out!

Cigar: Angelenos 2009
Drink: Bell’s Oberon Ale
Vitola: Toro (6 x 50)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: $9.95 MSRP @ Smoke Inn
Burn Time: 1.5 Hours

Construction:
• The Angelenos has a nice light brown wrapper surrounding it with some smaller visible veins
• I noticed that the wrapper itself is fairly fragile and even found a few green spots on some of the samples
• The entire cigar is surprisingly firm from head to foot, offering almost no spring at all
• In line with the firm feel, the foot of the cigar appears to be very well packed
• The cigar clipped easily leaving a cleanly cut cap
• At first it seemed the draw was a bit tight but it’s actually doing very well

Burn:
• The toasting went very nicely, took a little bit of time and ended up with an evenly glowing foot
• The burn has been razor sharp through the first inch or so, let’s hope it stays that way
• As I get to the halfway point I’m happy to report we’re still moving along with a razor sharp burn and I have no problems letting it sit to enjoy it slowly
• Loving the burn on this cigar, still nearly perfect as I head into the last third
• Not having much to say is a good thing here, not problems to report!

Smoke & Ash:
• The initial draws are giving a nice comfortable amount of smoke that quickly fills your mouth
• The resting smoke on this cigar is constant and pretty thick too, gives off a campfire type of aroma as well
• The ash is looking very clean and tight and is holding on past 1 inch so far
• The color is also quite nice, showing off a light grey tone with the occasional black line
• The ash fell jsut short of two inches before falling off gently into the ashtray
• The next ash help on beautifully past the 2 inch mark with very little effort!

Tasting Notes:
• The aroma off this wrapper is mostly woodsy with a bit of barnyard
• The foot has a much more interesting aroma though, I pick up a touch of floral, more woodsy and a slight hint of spice, maybe like a paprika
• The pre-light draw brings more woodsiness again, along with it I’m getting the paprika and maybe a touch of sweetness
• The initial draws bring out a lot of woodsy flavors, mostly cedar but I’m even picking up a touch of pine. Along with the woodsy notes there is a slight touch of coffee and the paprika is hiding in there as well, a good start
• The start of this cigar has been a nice mild body with a small bite on the retrohale and a smooth cedar finish
• As I progress, the coffee flavors are making more of an appearance and the woodsy notes are still the primary
• The spice has mostly disappeared and I’m enjoying the woodsy and coffee flavors here
• I’m also getting some nutty flavors here and there, perhaps it’s almond like, very nice
• The flavors are intensifying a bit as I go into the last third, it’s still mostly woodsy and coffee but I’m also getting light hints of leather and the almond is around too
• The flavors finished strong but the body didn’t really pass medium, a good smoke right to the nub with no bitterness to worry about

Final Thoughts:
The Angelenos makes for a very nice smoke and can be enjoyed pretty much anytime of the day. If you like to enjoy an early day or morning cigar, this would go well with a cup of coffee or it can hold it’s own in the evening as well. The flavors were not multi-dimensional but they were enjoyable and I didn’t really get bored of them. Maybe a longer vitola might lose it’s appeal but in a Toro size or similar it’s a good smoke. The burn was also top-notch with no issues from start to finish, that always earns extra points in my book. I like to work, read or watch a movie while I enjoy my cigar and if I’m fighting to keep it lit or touch it up, it ruins the experience for me. The classic flavors of cedar and coffee are also very easy to enjoy and pick up on for any level of smoker to enjoy. My main gripe here is probably the price, it seems a little high for this type of cigar with a straightforward profile. With that said, the price isn’t out of this world and still accessible. They are worth buying at least a 5-pack to have around when you need a nice relaxing smoke.

Pairings:
Today’s brew is another one of my imports from my trip to Florida. It from Bell’s Brewery Inc. located in Missouri and it’s called Oberon Ale. The Oberon Ale is actually a summer seasonal and I probably should have drank it earlier but this weekend turned out to have some awesome summer-like weather so I popped it open. The beer has nice light color to it and is obviously not filtered since it is cloudy and has some particles floating around in it. I also found it to be a little more carbonated than normal although that didn’t really bother me. The flavor is very bright as soon as it hits your tongue, definitely a lot of fruity notes but they aren’t overpoweringly sweet. The beer still has a nice medium body to it and a tasty malty finish. This makes for an excellent summer beer that isn’t all clear and watery like some other summer beers are. I definitely enjoyed it and will look for more next time I head south. As for a pairing, I found it made a good partner with the Angelenos. Although you have to be selective with this brew, a nice connecticut or mild maduro would go well. If the cigar is too far into the medium or full range the beer probably won’t stack up as well. As for the Angelenos, this is a good option along with a smooth dark ale or possibly a nice coffee as a morning smoke.

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!

There’s the line. Good lookin’ bunch eh? “EH?” Really? Daniel is starting to rub off on me. Anyways. This is what the winner of this contest will get:

1x Tatuaje – Verocu #5

1x La Gloria Cubana – Obelisco

1x Davidoff – Millenium Blend Short Robusto

1x CAO – OSA Sol Toro

1x Miami Cigar/Nestor Miranda – Casa Miranda

1x Jaime Garcia – Reserva Especial Limited Edition 2011

1x La Sirena – “A”

I have smoked a few of each one of these cigars and I can say any of them would go perfect with some great Winter beer, and lots of it.

So now, how do you win? Entering is very simple. A while ago Daniel and I started a Facebook page. We got quite a few “likes” right away. We basically use this as a secondary media outlet. We’ll post links to all of our reviews, news, and anything we happen to be smoking at the time. Get the inside scoop! Now, we really want more “likes”. We “like” you all, and want you to “like” us! So that’s it.

1. Go to Http://www.facebook.com/casasfumando

2. Click that “Like” button

3. Rejoice!

We know quite a few of you guys are already fans of our facebook page, don’t worry, you’re already entered! If you want to post a link to this post from your Facebook and tag our Facebook page in it, I’ll throw in an extra 2 entires. And those of you who don’t have a facebook, we didn’t forget about you. Simply go to twitter and post:

“Casas Fumando is giving away some free cigars! http://tinyurl.com/3wda9u6 @tonycasas”

and you’ll be entered as well (Don’t worry we’ll have some more Twitter-based contests coming up real soon). We’ll give all Facebook “likes” 3 entries, Facebook shares 2 entries, and 1 entry for each person who posts the Tweet. That’s a total of 6 possible entries for all you overachievers.

We’ll conclude this contest Friday, October 21st. One winner will be chosen at random. 18 and older ONLY. And, just cause I’m in a good mood, I’ll ship these to both the US and Canada. Remember, you’ll get 3 entry points of Facebook and 1 for Twitter!

As an added bonus, I will give over another random pack (don’t worry, I’ll hook it up) if we clear 400 “Likes”!

Now typically we don’t post news or press releases on Casas Fumando but The Maldonado Dynasty is offering up a unique chance for anybody to win a whole box of cigars! Not only that, but they are doing it in a very classy way! Take a read through the press release I was sent below and I encourage you to enter and brag about your achievements and successes!

Determination…
Will…
Faith…
Courage.

The very essence of “The Mogul”

Times may be difficult in this economic climate but one thing is for sure, there are always people out there who dare take the risk, they have the vision and fierce will to go after what they know belongs to them.

It is with these people in mind, we are honored to launch “The Mogul campaign 2011.” Our goal is to reward those going against the odds and making their dreams real. These people are strong and possess a determination that is true to the spirit of “The Mogul.” It is our belief that they should not have to sacrifice their Super-Premium cigars to achieve their endeavors but rather be rewarded with some. With no further ado, we unveil your opportunity to win a box of our Ultra-Luxury, Super-Premium cigars “The Mogul.”

**Here are The Mogul Campaign 2011 guidelines for a chance to win. We will be choosing a cigar enthusiast every month for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012** (Please do NOT apply if you are not in fact a business owner/self-employed. We will be verifying every entree submission and you must be established either in your state or online. Must be 21 years old to submit. Thank you for your integrity).

• Must be self-employed and/or own his/her own company (i.e. writers, small business owners, bloggers, Presidents, C.E.O.s, chefs, etc.) Applies worldwide (not only U.S.)
• “Like,” The Maldonado Dynasty on Facebook.
• Print the logo above of “The Maldonado Dynasty,” (Found in our Facebook page under the The Mogul Campaign 2011 album)
• Hold the print out in front of yourself: centered and visible in your office: traditional office, coffee shop, where you conduct business.)
  (Get your employees involved if applicable in the photo.)
• And lastly CAPTION your business information, service(s) rendered, and major goals under the photo you submitted.
  (It is ok to submit more than one month throughout the contest).

We will be choosing the person who personifies the spirit of “The Mogul,” and has a true passion and vision for their company every month and rewarding them with a complimentary box of The Mogul. We will be selecting our Winner every month by number of “Likes,” under their photograph and our belief in them.

This is our token of our faith in your endeavors and our way of wishing you tremendous success in your business. We remind you to push HARD and “Always demand the finest.”

Sincerely,
Paul Maldonado
President/C.E.O.
The Maldonado Dynasty

www.MaldonadoDynasty.com
“Always demand the finest.”

Today I reached into my Cuban humidor to pick out a stick from a box I recently ordered. I hadn’t tried a Hoyo de Monterrey Spicure Especial prior to this little box purchase so I started off with a 10 count box to see how I would like them before I bought a larger box. The cigars have the standard Hoyo De Monterrey bands with an additional white band below that with the “Epicure Especial” name on it,

Hoyo De Monterrey is one of the many cigar manufacturers from Cuba and they offer a fair variety of cigars. I’ve dabbled in some of their other vitolas and heard good things about this one, especially considering their fair price tag. So I bit the bullet and grabbed a box. The cigars come in a cedar box of 10 with a sliding lid. This damn lid practically required a vice grip to get off! Needless to say, the lid never went back on the box after that… So after prying the lid off I got to see my cigars.

The Hoyo De Monterrey Epicure Especial come bound together with a nice golden yellow ribbon adorned with the cigar name. The name of the cigar is very misleading considering it’s actual vitola. A typical epicure is much smaller but this cigar is almost a full toro size! As I smoke this I’m sitting outside enjoying some awesome sunny weather. Let’s see how this cigar stacks up!

Cigar: Hoyo De Monterrey Epicure Especial
Drink: Unibroue Brewery Maudite
Vitola: Epicure Especial (5.8 x 50)
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Price: About $8
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this cigar is fairly rough looking with quite a few bumps and some medium sized veins running along it
• The color of the wrapper is a nice deep brown, almost chocolate and shines with it’s oiliness
• The top of the Epicure Especial is finished with a triple cap, not messy but not perfectly clean either
• The foot of the cigar looks fairly well packed with no gaps to be seen
• A slight squeeze reveals a fairly firm cigar with just a little springiness to it
• The cut on this cigar was super easy and fell off in one clean piece

Burn:
• Toasting was very simple, the tobacco started glowing quickly
• Turns out the toasting wasn’t too even so I needed a little touch up shortly after lighting
• After that minor correction we’ve be running in auto-pilot! No problem for the first couple of inches at all
• Discovered a little tunnel after the first ash and it’s making the burn a little lopsided now, will need a touch up
• Cigar actually went out a bit early

Smoke & Ash:
• Right off the bat I’m getting a ton of smoke from each draw
• The resting smoke is fairly minimal and gives off an almost campfire type of aroma, like burning wood
• Ash is a little rough looking but it’s staying compact and clean
• The color on the ash is a fairly light grey with some spots being nearly white
• I started to get a bit of flaking on the ash as it grew to almost 2 inches in length
• First ash fell calmly into the ashtray just short of 2 inches

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper of the Epicure Especial gives off a nice cedar aroma with a slight nuttiness to it
• Pre-light draw is very woodsy and has some nice spice added into the mix, a bit of white pepper and some raw nutmeg
• Initial draws bring more of the woodsy notes and a very creamy undertone, I’m very surprised to see the pre-light spice is almost completely gone
• So far the body is fairly mild but smooth and creamy, retrohale has almost no bite to it with a cedar finish
• I’m getting a little bit of the saltiness that Tony always mentions in his Cuban reviews
• There are some slight hints of leather here and there along with some bits of roasted coffee
• There’s a lot going on the the flavor department, very complex but it’s very smooth, balanced and tasty so I’m enjoying it quite a bit
• As the cigar hits the half-way mark, some of the initial spice is making a comeback with a bit of nutmeg and clove
• All the flavors seemed to slowly intensify as I passed the halfway mark with the coffee and woody notes still being the most prominent
• As I approach the nub I’m getting some interesting earthy and vegetal flavors I wasn’t expecting
• The body had a nice buildup to the finish and started to turn a tad bitter with under an inch to go

Final Thoughts:
Well there’s not much I can say about this stick other than I really liked it! What a great and relaxing experience! The cigar had a nice variety of flavors that were always well balanced and enjoyable. The smooth and creamy aspects made it a pleasure to smoke along with a great burnline. The price of these is also very fair coming in at around $8. It’s not an “in-your-face” cigar and if you prefer a lot of strength you won’t find it here. The little bit of build-up near the end was a nice turn as I was expecting it to be mild the whole way through. Considering the age of this cigar being only from 2009 I think another year would make the last bit just as smooth but it’s still a tasty cigar.

Pairings:
Another Canadian craft brew for me today. The Maudite from Unibroue Brewery! I’ve had this one with quite a few other reviews including the Alec Bradley Family Blend, La Aurora 1495 and My Father Le Bijou 1922. It’s a very tasty and smooth strong beer with an 8% alc/vol. I’ve sai it before and I’ll say it again, this does not taste like a strong beer AT ALL! It’s so smooth and light tasting. you get some fruity/tart undertones with a slight malty bitterness and a clean finish. Very enjoyable and seems to pair well with a lot of cigars. It did pair fairly well here although I think a nice porter or stout would have gone better from the brew category. Port of course would have been perfect and a strong coffee would have been excellent as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And now… For the contest.

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

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

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

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

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

How to win:

 Entering is simple. Simply leave a comment on this post. Simple as that. If you want another entry just leave a comment on any of the reviews coming later this week. We will then choose 10 winners at random to receive a 2pk of La Aurora Para Japon so that they can join in the virtual event.

 Winners will be chosen, and contacted this Friday Evening (4/22). PLEASE do me the favor and fill out the email you would like to be contacted at, I will need to get a list of names and addresses over to Miami Cigars by Saturday evening. 

One quick note. You are free to enter ANY or ALL of the contests that are being ran by any of the Para Japon supporting sites, however you can only win once. If a name is picked more than once by alternate blogs then another winner will be chosen by Miami Cigars. 

Thanks for the support! Please read the following press release with more information on the Para Japon project as well as a list of all the supporters!

A short history of the “Para Japón” concept: 

In March 2011 La Aurora hosted a media event at their factory in the Dominican Republic. Invited to this event were many members of the online cigar blog community who have become a vital part of the cigar industry today. During an evening discussion at the hotel where the attendees were staying the topic of the recent devastation in Japan came up. Cigar Explorer founder Mario Takayama (a native of Japan) described the area of Japan most impacted by the earthquake/tsunami, and just how much this destruction of that region will set back the country as a whole. As most conversations of this manner play out, the idea of “what can we do to help?” arose. Guillermo quickly came to the decision that he really had to do something, so the idea for a cigar (Now know as “Para Japón”) will be produced, and all the proceeds from the sale of the cigar will be donated to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief fund thought JAPAN TOBACCO IMEX CO. LTD, La Aurora Distributor in Japan.

 Details of the Virtual Release Party 

The Virtual Release Party will be a live online event hosted by Team of Project Para Japón that is open to anyone who wishes to join in on this significant occasion. The event will be streamed live via UStream (Link will be on ParaJapon.com) and Guillermo will be on hand to answer any questions about the Para Japón cigar, or any of the La Aurora products. Also attending the event via UStream Chat, Twitter, and Facebook are all of the cigar bloggers who attended the La Aurora media event in the Dominican Republic. These bloggers will share stories from the trip, and give their opinions on the “Para Japón” cigar. 

For more details on the La Aurora Para Japón cigar please visit ParaJapon.com

Project Para Japón Original Supporters 

Guillermo Leon – La Aurora – @GuillermoLeon_

Jose Blanco – La Aurora – @joseblanco809

Amaury Abreu – La Aurora – @LaAuroraCigars

Jason Wood – Miami Cigar Company – @MiamiCigar

Barry Stein – A Cigar Smoker’s Journal – @nyisles

Tony Casas – Casas Fumando – @tonycasas

David “The Doc” Diaz – Doc StogieFresh – @Doc_StogieFresh

Ben Lee – Nice Tight Ash – @NTA_ben

Steve Valle – Smoking Stogie – @SteveVLiLo

Brian Hewitt– Stogie Review – @brianhewitt

Jerry Cruz – Stogie Review – @jcruz

Tom Ufer – Tampa Cigar Examiner – @cigarsmokingman

Charlie Minato – The Cigar Feed – @thecigarfeed

David Jones – The Tiki Bar Online – @dmjones1009

About La Aurora 

La Aurora is the first Dominican Cigar factory. It was established in 1903 and is own by the León family whose roots in the tobacco industry trace back to the early 19th century. The factory is part of Grupo León Jimenes Corporation, the largest industrial group in the Caribbean. La Aurora brands are among the most well known cigars, with sales in more than 50 countries around the world. 

www.laaurora.com.do

http://rediscoverlaaurora.com/

http://www.glj.com.do 

About Miami Cigar and Company 

Miami Cigar & Company, founded in 1989, is the sole U-S distributor of La Aurora brands, Ducados and worldwide distributor of Tatiana, Don Lino and the Nestor Miranda Special Selection. 

www.miamicigarandcompany.com 

About Cigar Explorer 

Cigar Explorer is a production company injecting excitement to the cigar community, with revolutionary tools, to discover and explore the world of cigars. It creates content that helps cigar community strengthen its passion for cigar culture at CigarExplorer.com in Columbus, Ohio, USA. 

CigarExplorer.com | Experience the Discovery. 

Contact: 

Jason Wood, Director of Marketing

Miami Cigar and Comapny

305-599-3395

jwood@mccusa.net 

http://www.parajapon.com

Anywho, without further adieu the winner, chosen at random, of my random 6pack of smokes is….

pr0nphisher!

Send me you addy (casasfumando(at)gmail[dot]com) and I will get these right out to ya!

With a response like this one, expect more contests soon. I know we hadn’t had a ton lately, but we’ll see what we can do about changing that ;p