Now, unless you’ve been under a rock lately, you have probably heard of the Avo line of Limited Edition cigars that are released each year to commemorate Avo Uvezian’s birthday. We’ve covered a bunch of these starting with the 80th from 2006, the LE09 Companero (83rd), the LE10 (84th) and LE12 La Trompeta (86th). Click on any of those to see their reviews.

Now thanks to our good friend Martin I get to bring you our review of the AVO LE11, 85th Annirversary! Martin was kind enough to send this all the way up north through Tony and I finally had some time to sit down, enjoy and take notes for everyone.I’ve had a couple of these before but never jotted down a full review so I figured it was time to do that.

As you might guess, the AVO 85th is to celebrate Avo’s 85th birthday and like most of the limited editions, it was restricted to only 10,000 total cigars world-wide. If you managed to be lucky enough to get a box of these, you would have a beautiful lacquered box with a giant gold “85th” printed on the front, very classy!

The Avo Limiteds have always been excellent so that leaves a lot of expectations for this cigar to live up to. I’m sitting outside today to enjoy this cigar and am really looking forward to it, so lets jump on in and see what it has to offer.

Cigar: AVO 85th Anniversary
Drink: Sleeman Honey Brown Lager
Vitola: Diademas (6.625 x 50)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Dominican
Binder: Peruvian
Filler: San Vicente and Piloto
Price: Gifted by Martin (About $18)
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The two ends of the AVO 85th are tapered to almost the exact same ring gauge and the center of the cigar is perfectly even from end to end
• The cap is completed cleanly with one leaf and it blends seamlessly into the rest of the cigar
• You can’t see much of the foot due to it’s tapered nature but it looks to be very tightly packed from what I can see
• There is a soft springiness through the whole cigar
• I’m finding a few medium sized veins but nothing that looks to be a problem on this velvety smooth wrapper
• The draw is very nice even with the packed tapered foot which surprised me

Burn:
• The tiny foot on this AVO 85th lit up with ease and was evenly toasted in only a few seconds
• I usually run into a bunch of burn problems with a tapered foot like this but it seems to have burned through that section with no problems and stayed even
• I’ve had two minor touch ups as I hit the halfway point but otherwise the cigar has been burning at a nice pace and fairly straight
• A couple more minor touchups as the cigar continues to burn but nothing major to report otherwise

Smoke & Ash:
• Even with the two tapered ends I’m still getting a nice volume of smoke from each draw without needing to draw multiple times
• The ash was looking nice and clean but the tapered piece must have been a bit weaker, it fell off at about a half inch
• The next ash made it up to an inch before I tapped it off, it did look pretty fragile and flaky though
• Color of the ash is mostly light grey although there is a brownish/yellowish type of color in there too
• The ash continued to look a bit weak throughout so I kept tapping it off pretty early to avoid any messes

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a soft subtle sweetness in it’s aroma
• The foot is the same subtle sweetness with an added touch of cedar
• Pre-light draw on this Avo 85th brought a bunch more cedar and a bit more sweetness, add to that some light baking spices now
• Initial draws are fairly mild and starting off with some light spice and cedar flavors
• The spices are developing nicely, like nutmeg and cinnamon, nothing too strong
• Retrohale has a tiny tiny bite to it a smooth cedar finish
• The flavor is still smooth and I’m getting some creaminess sneaking in there around the halfway mark
• Starting to get a bit of a leathery taste now and the cedar is fading out a bit, spices are also shifting over to some peppery notes
• Body has picked up a bit but we’re still in the medium range here
• The The spice really picked up near the last third now, lots more pepper sneaking in
• The Avo 85th finished smooth and tastefully with a slight spice kick and cedar

Final Thoughts:
Well I have to say once again that the Avo Limited Edition did not disappoint. The 85th turned out to be another tasty experience that I would go back to try again anytime and recommend it to all. The Avo’s have a way of bringing in lots of complex flavors into a well balanced experience and it never turns out to be muddled. Just smooth creamy flavors. I would have been slightly happier with no touch-ups but they were pretty minor so I can’t knock back too many points for that. The price here will tend to scare away a few customers but that’s the case for pretty much all LE’s. If you feel like spoiling yourself and see an Avo 85th on the shelf at your local shop, just pick it up and enjoy!

Pairings:
Today I went with a simple pairing, mainly because I ran out of other stuff and it was too early in the day to jump into some Port. It is a Sleeman Honey Brown Lager. I won’t dive too far into this beer, but it does have a darn interesting history dating back to 1834 including some bootlegging and smuggling across the border. It was shut down for a long time but eventually restarted using original recipes in 1988. Sapporo Brewery of Japan bought them in 2006. The Honey Brown lagers are simple and classic with clean and crisp flavors including touches of citrus. It’s not a craft brew by any means but it’s good to have a couple in the fridge, I think I like the history of the company more though ;). As for the pairing, the beer was a little overpowered by the flavors in the Avo 85th and I think a tasty Port would have made for the perfect pairing. Coffee would have worked nicely too but it was too damn hot out here!

The post Avo LE11 85th Anniversary appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

This particular stick was given to me by a friend that I used to work with. We still keep in touch and share a beer or a cigar now and then. He was introduced to this brand by one of the local cigar shops since it is one of the few fair priced Cubans you can buy that is also hand made. If you remember a little while back I reviewed the popular Guantanamera Cristales which is another budget Cuban brand, but it’s completely machine made. Feel free to take a read over that review before reading this one. You’ll notice a few key differences between the machine and hand made cigars.

Now a bit about the brand. Jose L. Piedra cigars grows their tobacco in the Vuelta Arriba region. The Piedra family originally comes from Spain and settled in Cuba back in the 1880’s. It wasn’t until the second generation that they began working in the tobacco business led by Jose Lamadrid Piedra. All of their cigars are made completely by hand and use short filler to help keep the prices reasonable.

Now there is some other interesting information on the brand as well. In 1990 the factory was temporarily shut down and did not start producing cigars again until 1996. After that time, most of the cigars were being machine made until about 2002 when the handmade process started again. So beware of someone trying to sell you really old versions of these cigars for expensive prices, they might be machine made stuff. Also, the white band you see here is on all post-2007 made cigars, before that it was a brown band. Now that’s enough chatter, let’s dive in!

Cigar: Jose L. Piedra
Drink: Cookies & Cream Coffee
Vitola: Brevas (5.2 x 42)
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Price: About $2.20
Burn Time: ~1 Hour

Construction:
• The Jose L. Piedra has a crazy rustic appearance to it with lots of veins and bumps as well as some discolorations here and there
• From cap to foot the whole cigar has a nice springy feel to it
• There does appear to be some small cracks in the wrapper, not sure if this is from when it was made or happened sometime in transit but the few that I’ve had did look similar here
• The triple cap has a pretty clean finish and is pretty much flat on top
• Even the foot looks to be well packed and cleanly cut
• The cut was extremely easy, the cap almost just fell off

Burn:
• The foot lit up pretty easily and with no effort, leaving be with a pretty even amber
• The wrapper on this cigar is barely burning for some reason, it keeps burning under the wrapper and requiring me to touch it up, already twice in less than an inch
• The wrapper continues to cause me some burn issues here but luckily my re-lights have not been affecting the flavor
• Re-lights plagued this cigar right through to the very end

Smoke & Ash:
• Not a ton of smoke on this cigar, requiring me to take in an extra couple of draws each time
• Tapped off the first ash at less than half an inch, it looked pretty weak and flaky and didn’t want it to end up on my laptop
• The color of the ash is mostly dark grey and some black, nothing to pretty here
• Smoke volume picked up a bit somewhere past the halfway mark, I think one of the cracks on the wrapper was letting the air escape on the draws
• The ash stayed dark and flaky, I had to keep tapping it off around a half inch

Tasting Notes:
• The smell on the wrapper is awesome, a very sweet coffee/cocoa mix
• From the foot, I’m getting the same awesome coffee and cocoa mix and now there’s a touch of cedar thrown in there
• The pre-light draw was full of sweet cedar
• Initial flavors here are mostly coffee and some cedar, I’m not getting any of the sweetness or cocoa I picked up on the wrapper
• The whole profile has been pretty mild so far with no spices at all
• Even on the retrohale I’m getting no bite, just a smooth coffee flavored finish
• The coffee flavors picked up a bit more around the halfway mark, making for a more interesting profile
• In the last half the coffee, cedar and sweetness remained as the main flavors and the body picked up a touch to near the medium mark
• The intensity of the coffee really started to shine through a bit more at this point
• There was no harshness or bitterness right down to the end

Final Thoughts:
I hadn’t had a Jose L. Piedra in a while but I always remembered them being pretty mild and that has not changed. Even with a bunch of relights from the wrapper burn issues, the flavor didn’t really get very charred. Although that’s a bit of a plus, I also am not a big fan of a cigar that requires so much extra attention. The flavors were pretty low key, being mostly just coffee and cedar with a bit of sweetness thrown in here and there. I have to mentioned that the Jose L. Piedra is probably one of the cheapest handmade Cubans you can find so they do make a good introduction into that world. This is probably a good option to share with someone who’s not an experienced smoker as they will definitely be able to pick up on the mild flavors, it’s even good as a morning cigar with your coffee.

Pairings:
Cookies and Cream Coffee, how could I pass that up when I saw it in the store? Cookies and Cream anything is usually awesome! Unfortunately I don’t have the name with me, we put the grinds into a resealable container and threw out the package, but I do know it was a white bag with a picture of an Oreo cookie on the front. The coffee itself is pretty mild so I always double up the scoops and it pours out a very nice smelling coffee. Darn tasty and it paired very well with this mild Jose L. Piedra. I think it’s probably the best pairing for this cigar.

The post Jose L. Piedra Brevas appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Regardless of that, I spent some time working from home this week and took advantage of the great weather to sit outside and scribble down a review for your reading pleasure. Today’s cigar is going to be the Quorum Classic in the Churchill Vitola. The Quorum’s are made by none other than JC Newman and there are a few varieties in the same namespace, this one is simply known as the “Classic”

Now the Quorum Classic is budget friendly bundle cigar that is also handmade. It’s marketed towards people seeking handmade quality and a very affordable price point, and they don’t disappoint on that with Churchill sized sticks selling for less than $1.50 each! Most of the construction of this cigar is from Nicaraguan leaves with only the wrapper coming from Ecuador.

Now there are always a lot of negative thoughts that come to mind with many of the bundle cigars out there. I came into these with an open mind and actually did no research on them before I lit up my first few (more on that later). So let’s jump right in, the weather is awesome and I’m ready to spark this baby up!

Cigar: Quorum Classic
Drink: Victoria Teas and Coffees Snickerdoodle Coffee
Vitola: Churchill (7 x 48)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Ecuadoria
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: ~$1.50 each
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Quorum has a very rough exterior with some medium sized veins running through it, also has a bit of toothiness
• The double cap has a clean finish to it
• The foot appears to be fairly well packed
• From cap to foot the whole cigar has a nice little squish to it
• Cut was pretty easy but I’m left with a pretty tight draw even after 2 cuts, hopefully that clears up
• The draw never really opened up but it wasn’t overly snug either

Burn:
• Toasting was pretty easy and even, got the foot glowing nicely with no effort
• Right off the bat though I’m getting a wavy burn, hoping that will correct itself
• Although it has stayed wavy through the first half it has been somewhat under control and has not required any touch ups at all
• Burned down right to the end with no touch ups needed at all, pretty impressive for a stick at this price point
• It never did get quite razor sharp or pretty but that didn’t bother me as long as I didn’t need to touch it up

Smoke & Ash:
• Due to the tight draw it’s requiring a little extra effort to get some smoke out and it’s still not that full
• Ash so far is keeping clean, getting a tad flaky but nothing too worrying
• It still doesn’t look too sturdy to me so I tapped it off just before an inch
• The colors of the ash are mostly light grey with some dark grey accents
• Resting smoke is almost non-existent here, very light
• All of the ashes ended up being about the same, slight short of an inch and looking kind of weak but still clean

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a definite barnyard type of aroma
• From the foot I’m picking up more barnyard aromas, a bunch of cedar and just small touches of spice
• Pre-light draw gives more cedar and barnyard flavors
• Initial flavors are mostly of dry wood and some subtle spices so far
• An inch in and the flavors are mostly unchanged
• Getting some nutty flavors in the mix now, adding a nice new dimension
• Not too eventful until I passed the midway mark and now I’m getting some light coffee notes
• So far the whole cigar has been pretty mild with almost no bite on the retrohale and a bit of a dry finish
• The coffee ramped up a bit into the last third adding a nice layer to the flavors

Final Thoughts:
Coming into a cigar and knowing it’s price does create some expectations. If it’s expensive, you expect a lot, if it’s cheap, you’re a little more forgiving. When I lit up my first Quorum Classic I didn’t look into what the price was, I knew it was budget friendly but I didn’t know they were below $1.50! Needless to say, my notes from my first few sticks were about the same on flavors but I was a little harsh on overall satisfaction. Reason being is that the cigar didn’t change up a whole lot. The flavors were enjoyable and other than a little bit of dryness there was nothing off-putting here either. Maybe it’s just the vitola is too long for the flavor profile for me? But on the otherhand, this would make a perfect cigar to take into the yard when you’re cutting the grass or something. So all-in-all I was pretty happy with these cigars but I may opt for a Toro or Robusto size if I got to purchase some more, you definitely can’t go wrong for the price point though!

Pairings:
My wife and I found Victoria Teas and Coffees a long time ago during one of our trips down to Niagara-on-the-lake, a cute little town surrounded by wineries not far from the tourist trap of Niagara Falls. They have an incredible selection of Loose Leaf and Bagged Teas and whole variety of coffees ranging in country, strength, type and then of course the flavored stuff (Here’s the website link, they do ship if you wanted to try some of their stuff). Their flavored coffees are amazing and there’s always a new one around for the season. The Snickerdoodle flavor is a staple and next to Cinnamon Bun is probably my favorite. In case you don’t know what Snickerdoodle is, it’s a common cookie recipe and very tasty(It’s NOT a type of dog! ). This coffee was a great pairing since it added some cinnamon and baking type spices to the mix and complimented the cigar flavors quite well.

The post Quorum Classic appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Well I still happened to have one of the blends he put together for that trip while at the Joya de Nicaragua factory and I’m putting on the chopping block for today’s review! Tony has another Drew Estate trip coming up tomorrow so I figured that would be an excellent segway. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for a full report once he gets back.

There’s not much else to report here, Tony’s posts above give a great explanation of the factory and the process they followed to put these blends together. The wrapper on this guy is the same as the Joya De Nicaragua Dark Corojo (Of course Tony would go for the most powerful wrapper in the house! lol). As for the rest of the leaves, I don’t have the details but we know the cigar is a 100% Nicaraguan Puro, Tony may add some more details about this later on.

So without further adieu, let’s dive in to see what this special and SUPER rare limited edition cigar has in store for me…

Cigar: Joya de Nicaragua Anthony Casas LE 2012
Drink: Coffee
Vitola: Corona Gordo (5.75 x 46)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nigaraguan
Price: Priceless!
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The top of the cigar is finish with a nice and clean double cap
• At the bottom, we have a well packed foot with just a small hole near the middle
• The wrapper is seriously toothy and has some decent medium sized veins
• Cut was easy and I made it very small but still ended up with a perfectly drawing cigar
• From cap to foot, the whole cigar was quite firm with just a bit of give when I squeezed it

Burn:
• Toasting was even, easy and pretty fast leaving me with a nicely glowing foot
• It seemed that right off the bat the wrapper stopped burning and the cigar started tunneling a bit, I decided to give it a quick touch-up to help it along for now
• After my little correction we look to be off to a good start as the cigar starts to burn razor sharp
• A few more touchups were needed near the halfway mark as the burn started to go a little slanted
• Touchups continue through the rest of the cigar, and they are really affecting the flavors
• For a corona vitola, this cigar is burning super slow

Smoke & Ash:
• A good amount of smoke is coming from each easy draw, it’s not super dense but I’d say just about right
• So far the ash is looking to be a nice light grey color with some darker accents
• The resting smoke is pretty prominent and steady, pumping out a nice campfire aroma
• First ash tapped off around 3/4 of an inch, it was starting to look wobbly but still seemed clean and even
• The next couple of ashes were about the same length but they seem to be getting a little more flaky, possibly because of the touch-ups I’ve needed to do
• The cigar continues to pump out a ton of smoke right down to the end

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper aroma is giving off a sort of sweet cedar aroma to it
• From the foot , I’m getting more of that nice sweet cedar with a touch of cocoa
• Pre-light draw gave me an interesting burst of cinnamon flavors that was very tasty and unexpected
• Initial draws bring more of that sweet cedar and a touch of the cinnamon notes, very nice
• Before evening burning through the first inch I’m getting a bunch of spice starting to kick in, lots of pepper here now
• A bit of dryness on the back of my throat as I pass the first 3rd here
• The burn started to get a little wild around the half-way mark so the cigar has needed a few touchups here and there which has affected the flavor quite a bit
• Retrohale definitely has some bite to it and a dry finish
• Body has been mostly in the medium range but it’s definitely picking up a bit in the last half
• In the last half, i’m left with mostly a dry spice type of flavor and some burnt notes due to the touchups i’ve been doing
• Not much change up in flavors to the end but the burnt notes have continued due to the touch ups

Final Thoughts:
The pre-light aromas and the first half of this cigar were really quite tasty and exciting. Unfortunately they didn’t last the whole way through but overall it was quite a nice experience, especially with that cinnamon burst at the beginning. Tony is definitely well on his way to becoming a world class torecdor! Will be exciting to see what he comes up with on his next venture.

Pairings:
Just plain coffee today, I lit this one up a bit earlier in the day so the Scotch and Port bottles just were not appealing quite yet. I know it’s 5 o’clock somewhere but I’ll wait till my own timezone hits 5 today! The coffee did make for an excellent pairing though, especially with the cinnamon notes at the beginning. With the build up in spices and body, I would have really liked to have a sweeter pairing at that point. But coffee really is an awesome all-around pairing to have with a nice cigar.

The post Joya De Nicaragua Anthony Casas 2012 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The full name of this cigar is the Montecristo Epic Premium Selection ’07 and it was released about announced about a year ago in June 2012. Tony also did a full review on it not too long ago, read his thoughts over here. I’ve had the chance to light up a few of these so I thought I’d take the time to jot down some of my own notes on it as well and share it with our fine readers.

Now I’ve been a long-time critic of Altadis’ cigars in general but the last few newer releases have started to sway my opinion to the better side. The dark Ecuadorian Habano wrapper on this cigar does help it’s case, it is super oily and toothy and looks awesome. The aroma of the Montecristo Epic gives a nice cedar note on the nose and just a touch of spice in there. It’s topped off with a super clean cap and a well packed foot.

Lighting the cigar was a breeze and I had a nice glowing foot in no time at all. Smoke production on this bad-boy was also pretty hefty, pumping out some pretty big plumes through a nice and even draw. The flavors started out pretty exciting and interesting with lots of cedar backed by some peppery spices and a sort of dark fruity note. As the smoking continued, the fruity and spicy notes seemed to fade away and I was left with the cedar and some new instances of leathery notes.

I had a few burn issues I needed to tackle but none were major and didn’t ruin the experience much. Body stayed at around medium and the retrohale started off with a nice bite to it but ended up being mostly bland near the end with a bit of a cedar finish. As I stroll into the last 3rd I’m getting some espresso notes sneaking in here and the body is definitely jumping into the full range. I was able to get the Montecristo Epic down to a good sized nub before I put it down.

I’d have to say that the Montecristo Epic started out with a lot of promise and excitement but it slowly faded away into a decent, but not overly-impressive finish. I didn’t get the extreme tartness that Tony mentioned in his review and I wonder if the extra age had something to do with that. I ended up pairing it with a Mill Street Brewery Tankhouse Ale which is a tasty and malty American Pale Ale. I think I should have gone with something a little more bold to pair with this cigar though, perhaps some port or nice scotch. While the Montecristo Epic is one of the better cigars in Altadis Montecristo line-up, it wasn’t quite up my alley. But I do think there is a large group of people this will appeal to so give it a try and let us know what you think!

The post Quick Draw Episode 16 – Montecristo Epic Premium Selection ’07 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Today I have a review from a brand we haven’t really seen too much of lately since they release the OSA SOL a while ago (which I reviewed here). The brand is CAO and if you remember they were also purchased by General Cigar. Today’s new addition to the lineup is known as the Concert.

The Concert is intended to be a throwback to the roots of the CAO brand in Nashville, Tennessee. The musical parts of this cigar are pretty darn easy to spot. Not only does the name give musical reference but the band actually looks like a guitar and pick. Also on the side of the guitar is written “Perfect Harmony” in some fancy script.

Rick Rodriguez of CAO is the mastermind behind this blend and the leaves used here seem pretty interesting. I’m a big fan of Rosado cigars when they are done right but to have a Broadleaf binder is very different, I guess we’ll have to see how that plays out in the flavors. The cigars in this line are also all 5.5 inches long and only vary in their ring gauge starting at 46 and going up to 60. In line with the rest of the cigar, all the vitolas have music related names such as Roadie, Amp and Stage. Today up for review is going to be the 50 ring gauge version called the Solo!

Cigar: CAO Concert
Drink: Crown Royal Maple Finish
Vitola: ”Solo” Robusto (5.5 x 50)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Rosado
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan
Price: About $6
Burn Time: 1.5 Hours

Construction:
• A nice looking cinnamon brown wrapper surrounds the cigar
• I found one crack in the wrapper just below the halfway mark of the cigar
• It has a pretty firm consistency from cap to foot
• The single cap is applied very cleanly and looks well done
• The foot is well packed for the most part with just a couple spots that had a bit of a gap

Burn:
• Toasting was even, quick and easy with no problem spots to worry about
• The crack in the wrapper is causing it to unroll a bit as I burn closer to it
• Other than that crack the cigar has been burning razor sharp and even through the first 3rd
• The cigar started to expand a bit causing the crack to get even worse and grow, starting to cause some burn problems now and I needed to give it a quick touchup
• The crack continued to cause problems until I finally passed it in the last third
• I still needed a couple touchups nears the end though

Smoke & Ash:
• Even with a slightly tight draw, I’m getting a ton of smoke each time
• There’s also a good amount of resting smoke coming off the cigar as well
• The ash is coming along really nicely in the early stages, looking strong, tight and clean
• The color on the ash is also quite nice with alternating light grey and white tones
• To prevent the ash from falling onto my laptop I tapped it off around 1 inch but I think it could have easily made it to at least 1.5 inches
• Even with the messy wrapper and re-lights the ash still continued to be strong holding on for 1 inch each time
• Smoke also continued to be full right through to the end

Tasting Notes:
• There wasn’t much aroma coming off the foot here, maybe just a bit of spice and woodsiness
• From the foot, I’m getting a fresh woodsy aroma with the same touch of spice
• Lots more of the fresh wood flavor and even some earth now on the pre-light draw
• The initial few draws had a defined burnt undertone to them but it seem went away
• After the burn notes went away I was left with a bit of a pepper spice flavor profile with some notes of wood mixed in there
• The flavors have stuck in the woodsy and slightly spicy range through the first half with just a bit of leather getting mixed in now and again
• On the retrohale, I’m picking up more of the spice in the bite and a dry spice on the finish as well
• Body has been mostly in the medium range up until now, we’ll see if it changes coming through to the end
• The last half has stuck with the wood and spice main notes, the leather is peeking in more often now and I’m getting a bit of coffee notes here and there
• More leather flavors as I burn down the the end here with just a touch of soft spices hanging around

Final Thoughts:
This turned out to be a pretty nice smoke overall and I enjoyed it for the most part. The cracked wrapper definitely caused some burn issues but they luckily didn’t affect the flavors much and it was probably just a one-time thing since no other Concert sticks I’ve smoked had the same problem. Now there wasn’t anything over the top here but it was a good solid medium smoke with some nice flavors. Not too much change in the profile though so I don’t think I would opt for anything bigger than a robusto. Definitely worth lighting one up though so give it a try, good to see CAO is still turning out some good sticks even after their recent ownership change.

Pairings:
Just in case you missed the name of my pairing before it is Crown Royal Maple Finished. Yes, that’s right, MAPLE! And damn does this bottle pack some serious mapley-goodness! My wife actually said it smelled like pancakes when I opened the bottle. IF you’ve had Crown Royal before you’ll know it’s got a pretty smooth texture to it but a lot of people tend to mix it with coke. The Maple flavor added here makes it perfectly enjoyable just on ice. And it made an excellent pairing for the cigar too, the sweetness can be a little overpowering at first but it settles down after a couple sips. Just don’t try pairing this with any soft or mild sticks cause they might get lost. +1 for Maple!

The post CAO Concert appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now up until recently, I had not smoked too many Origens and the ones that I did have were usually the smaller unbanded sizes that come in the soft pack bags. If you’ve had some of those you already know they are some of the best priced quick cigars you can find that still actually taste like a real cigar. So I was pretty excited to see how this Toro compared to the small versions of the same stick and even other sticks in the line-up.

This wrapper and blend is a new addition to the Origen line up that was just recently released last year. It’s surrounded by a toothy and tasty looking Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper followed by a Costa Rican Corojo binder and finished off with some Nicaraguan, Honduran and Mexican fillers. Right away you can pick up some sweet cocoa and spices off the wrapper and foot. After toasting the foot, I’m met with more of the spices and some smooth coffee flavors added to the bunch.

As I keep burning along, I’m also picking up some slight woodsy notes and the retrohale is finishing with some very nice creaminess that I’m really enjoying. There are a couple touch-ups here and there throughout the cigar but none are major. The coffee flavors slowly build up and turn to a nice espresso note which is pairing perfectly with the creamy and soft spice notes.

The whole experience wraps up nicely with no harshness and tons of flavor. I did not want to put this cigar down and nubbed it till my fingers were burning! I gotta find myself some more of these for sure, and you should too! Especially the soft packs which are great to have as a quick cigar when you are tight on time.

The post Quick Draw Episode 14 – J. Fuego Origen Maduro appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now I’ll be honest that I hadn’t heard too much about Ezra Zion cigars or any of their particular lines before I came across this particular stick. But after doing some research I realized there was quite a bit of buzz around them. Now the company is fairly young looking to have really started pushing itself only last year but the big buzz came when our good friends over at Emilio Cigars partnered up with Ezra Zion to handle their distribution.

We all know Emilio Cigars has a knack for turning around quality sticks and they wouldn’t just accept any cigars, they must be good, right? Well the Reagan edition is one of 2 lines offered by Ezra Zion, the other line is called “Jamais Vu” which was renamed from the original “Inception”. The Reagan series only has two vitolas available at this time, the “President” (6.75 x 54) and today’s vitola dubbed the “40th”.

All the tobaccos in the Reagan are Cuban seeds grown in Nicaragua, as well as being aged a 5 to 6 years before rolling. It also should be obvious that these cigars are a tribute to President Reagan, the names should have given that away too ;). I also want to point out that I love the box press style toro, it’s just awesome and more people should do it. So let’s dive on in and see how this cigar stacks up!

Cigar: Ezra Zion Reagan Honor Series
Drink: Mill Street Breweries Cobblestone Stout
Vitola: “40th Boxpress” Toro (6 x 52)
Wrapper: 2006 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan – Sun Grown Habano
Binder: 2006 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan
Filler: 2007 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan Seco, Viso, and Ligero
Price: $12.50
Burn Time: Almost 2 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this Ezra Zion Reagan has a very smooth texture and a color of soft cinnamon brown
• There are hardly any veins to be seen, super smooth and velvety to the touch
• I really like the box-pressed shape on this cigar, definitely need more companies to start doing this
• All my samples were pretty soft to the touch, all the way from head to foot
• Packing looks to be pretty full at the foot even though they are soft, interesting…
• The cap has some imperfections but overall it’s finished well
• A very thin cut leaves me with a perfect draw

Burn:
• The Ezra Zio Reagan toasted up with ease and quickly, leaving a nice glowing foot to see
• Through the first inch, the burn has been somewhat wavy but no cause for concern yet, we’ll have to keep a close eye on this
• A little past an inch in and i got a pretty big peninsula growing that I needed to correct with a small touch up
• Just before the halfway mark I had another peninsula rear it’s head so I needed another touch up here
• Some more small touch ups needed towards the end but nothing too major

Smoke & Ash:
• This cigar has got a ton of smoke from each easy draw
• It actually doesn’t produce much resting smoke though
• So far just under an inch in and the ash is looking pretty messy, some pieces are already falling off and it appears pretty weak
• Despite the flimsy look, the ash lasted past an inch and started to look more clean and stable as the burn continues
• The ash lasted just about an inch before I tapped it off
• Second ash was a mix of looking strong and weak again due to the touchup, still lasted about an inch though
• The third ash is coming along much nicer with no touch ups, it’s clean and string with a light and dark grey striping

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a very hay-like aroma to it, with just a bit of woodiness
• I’m getting more hay and woodsy aromas on the foot with a touch of spice thrown in
• The pre-light draw had some nice sweet cocoa flavors and a touch of spice
• On the initial draws, I’m getting mostly light coffee flavors so far, a touch of dry spice on the back of my throat as well
• Through the first third of the cigar, coffee and light spices are still playing the biggest parts
• The whole experience has been in the mild-medium range so far
• From the retrohale, I’m getting a nice little bite and a smooth sweet and creamy finish that I’m enjoying
• As I get into the final third, the spice is ramping up a tad and the sweet coffee has switched over to more of an espresso note
• The deep rich flavors continue through to the end with a bit of leather being mixed in there as well
• No real harshness towards the nub so I got to finish this nicely

Final Thoughts:
There were some really nice flavors in the Ezra Zion Reagan Honor Series and I enjoyed the experience for the most part. There were two key parts that brought down my experience today. The main one was the touch ups and wavy burn throughout most of the cigar. The price is also a bit steep, so when I go into a cigar knowing I spent well over $10 for it, I am expecting a good cigar. On the upside, I really enjoyed the flavors here. They were deep, rich and right up my alley so that kept me interested the whole way though. Also, I’m happy that the touch ups did not ruin that flavors here either. All in all, I will be looking for more of these. I’m hoping the burn issues were restricted to the bunch I had because if you take that away, this would be a very tasty cigar!

Pairings:
Today we have another pick from Mill Street Brewery that I’ve also paired with before. I love supporting the local people and when it’s a darn good stout, I will keep supporting them! lol. The Cobblestone Stout is still fairly new to the stores but it seems to be selling quite well. It is a classic stout with lots of deep malty and smoky flavors and even a touch of coffee, but not too much. It’s got a ton of head when you pour it and a bit of a dry finish. I really liked how the rich flavors of the Ezra Zion Reagan. This would pair really well with anything deep and rich, such as a porter or even just a nice strong coffee.

The post Ezra Zion Reagan Honor Series appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

On the chopping block is the Habano wrapped version of the Espinosa Cigars La Zona. If the Espinosa name sounds familiar it’s probably because you heard about it from the EO Brands cigar label where Erik Espinosa and Eddie Ortega worked together to create some very popular lines. Espinosa Cigars is Erik fairly new project and the La Zona line is one of his first few blends.

The La Zona line currently comes in two flavors, a Connecticut and the Habano, they are also only available in two sizes, Super Toro and Robusto. The only noticeable difference between the two blends is a slightly different color on the bands. The Connecticut had a sort of lime green touch to it while the Habano is a bit more of a subtle brownish green.

The price on these cigars comes in well below $5 a stick. If you opt for the massive 80 count boxes, the price per stick can drop to nearly $3 each making this a very affordable stick to have in the humidor. Fans of Nicaraguan tobacco will also be happy to hear that the La Zona’s are Nicaraguan Puros and are also manufactured right in Esteli.

Despite a ton of snow we’ve been having, the weather is actually warming up a bit. I think Mother Nature in a bit confused… But I’ll take advantage of that as I enjoy some good cigars. So let’s just right in and see if the La Zona Habano is worth stocking up on in the Humidor.

Cigar: Espinosa Cigars La Zona Habano
Drink: Coffee
Vitola: Super Toro (6.5 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $4
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The medium brown color of the wrapper is accented with some golden touches
• Almost no veins on this slightly dry looking wrapper
• It also has a somewhat rough texture and lots of toothiness to it, just missing the oily spots
• I did notice a sort of green water spot right around the middle of the cigar
• After a small and easy cut, the draw is super open, pretty surprising since it’s such a long cigar
• There is a definite softness from cap to foot here, lots of give when I squeeze it a bit
• The foot looks to be decently packed and the cap is finished very cleanly

Burn:
• Toasting took a bit of time but it lit up nice and evenly
• Burn line has been a tad wavy but pretty good for the most part through the first third
• Through the first half, I had one minor touch up for a peninsula that was forming
• The La Zona Habano is burning at a good pace, not too fast and not too slow either
• A couple more touch ups as I get near the end, none were major issues, probably jsut me wanted to be a perfectionist! lol

Smoke & Ash:
• There is a fair bit of smoke off the start but a slightly open draw is making it tough
• The resting smoke is pretty minimal
• Ash is looking to be pretty clean and somewhat strong
• First ash got tapped off at about the one inch mark since it looked to be getting a bit wobbly
• A fair bit of smoke from each draw but it does take a few tries to get it all out
• The remaining ashes all stuck around the 1 inch mark pretty consistently
• Other than the dark spots from touch ups, the ash had a light and dark grey color to it

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a deep cedar aroma to it with a touch of spice
• On the foot, I’m getting the same cedar and more spice to it, tickled my nose quite a bit
• Pre-light draw had a ton more cedar but much less spice here, a touch of sweetness here as well
• Initial flavors brought out more of the cedar but not as much spice right off the bat
• I found a touch of spice in the aftertaste and main flavors mostly dominated by some leather and woodsy notes
• I’m picking up some hints of creaminess but they don’t seem to be sticking around too long
• Body started off in the medium range and has been sticking there through the first half of the cigar
• The retrohale has a nice little spice bite to it and a bit more on the finish, with just a touch of creaminess in there
• I got a few coffee notes and a bit more creaminess towards the last half which kept it interesting
• No real harshness or bitterness right to the nub, allowing me to enjoy the whole cigar

Final Thoughts:
I have to say that both the Habano and Connecticut version of the La Zona cigar were a satisfying smoke. They are also quite different in their own regards. The Connecticut brought a surprising amount of spice to the table while the Habano had a more creamy and woodsy approach. For a $3 price tag, you are definitely getting your money’s worth on these cigars. Other than a couple minor touch ups, the whole burn was pretty darn good and the flavors were just enough to keep things interesting. I’d definitely consider buying a few more of each and for the price, you don’t feel bad to hand over a tasty and flavorful stick to a novice smoker either.

Pairings:
I went with plain old coffee for today’s review and it actually worked out really well. I don’t tend to pair with coffee quite enough and I’m not sure why, it definitely makes for a great pairing. Especially in the morning or early afternoon. I think a nice amber ale, maybe something oaked would make an awesome pairing here. Or possibly a light scotch as well.

The post Espinosa Cigars La Zona Habano appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now today we have a new blend from La Aurora called the Fernando Leon Family Reserva. Fernando León Asensio was the “Father” of La Aurora and passed away in 2009. This particular blend was actually made for personal consumption and reserved for friends and family only. To commemorate his father, Guillermo Leon decided to push out this special blend for the masses to enjoy.

The cigar comes wrapped in a very similar band to what the Guillermo Leon Signature had, only with a different color scheme. The lion logo still adorns the top middle of the band and instead of Guillermo’s signature, we have Fernando’s signature in gold print across the middle of the band.

The Fernando Leon Family Reserve comes in the same classic sizes as the Guillermo Leon. A Corona, Corona Gorda, Robusto, Belicoso and Gran Toro. For today’s review I’m picking up the Corona Gorda vitola, which is also becoming one of my favorites of all the vitolas lately. It turned out to be a warm(warm to me at least, it’s still only like 35F) afternoon with only a little bit of wind. So let’s get to it and see how this new cigar stands up!

Cigar: Fernando Leon Family Reserve
Drink: Wellington Breweries Imperial Russian Stout
Vitola: Corona Gorda (6 x 47)
Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Dominican Corojo
Filler: Peruvian, Brazilian, Dominican
Price: About $8
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Fernando Leon Family Reserve has a rough, but soft, wrapper with a touch of toothiness to it
• There is a definite softness when squeezed from head to foot, pretty consistent the whole way through
• Looks to be a triple cap that is finished extremely smooth and well, blends right into the wrapper
• The foot has some small gaps, so it’s not too tightly packed
• Golden brown is the color of the wrapper, with some shiny hints of oil
• The cut was very easy and smooth leaving me with a perfectly sliced cap
• Draw was just perfect with enough resistance but not with too much

Yes, that is a big pile of snow! lol

Burn:
• Toasting was nice, even and slow with only the foot catching and leaving me with a nice amber to start off with
• No burn issues through the first third, razor sharp and thin burnline, just the way I like it!
• It’s also burning at a nice slow pace, allowing me to enjoy it slowly without burning out
• At about the half-way mark I hit a tunnel that ended up requiring a touch-up, now we’re off to the races again
• After that touch-up, we had smooth sailing right to the end, a very well constructed cigar!

Smoke & Ash:
• Right from the start I’m getting a nice mouthful of billowy smoke with very little effort
• The ash is nothing spectacular here, it’s a light grey and dark grey mix, it is nice and clean and string though
• The first ash made it to about an inch before I tapped it off
• The next couple of ashes both fell off at about a half-inch even though there were looking strong
• Smoke continues to be very full with very little effort on the draw
• The ashes continued looking strong but always seemed to fall unexpectedly or really shatter in the ashtray

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a sweet woodsy sort of aroma
• A little more boldness on the foot where the aroma is adding a bunch of spices like nutmeg
• Pre-light draw was a big kick of cedar with some touches of spice
• First few draws started with a small spice kick but that quickly disappeared
• I’m now left with a smooth and creamy cedar flavor backed by some light coffee notes
• Through the first third, the body seems to be in the medium range and I’m also getting some accents of nutty notes
• The retro-hale is giving me a nice little bite with a smooth creamy finish, nice touch
• Through the first half, the cedar and coffee notes are prime with a smooth creaminess to round it all out
• As I get into the last third, the coffee is ramping up a bit but sadly the nice creaminess has toned down a notch
• I’m also getting a little more of the early spices as we sneak into the last bit here
• The last inch or so turned into a bit of charred wood type of flavors, not off putting, but not as exciting as it was before
• The Fernando Leon finished with lots of wood and spice flavors and I was able to nub it happily

Final Thoughts:
I was a huge fan of the Guillermo Leon Signature so I was pretty excited when there was another cigar added to Guillermo’s lines. Now I can’t help but compare the Fernando Leon Family Reserve to the Signature and I feel it fell a little short. That’s not to say this was a bad cigar, it was actually quite tasty(minus the last part which got boring). I just felt that the Signature brought all the flavors together a little better and made it enjoyable from start to finish. I would probably pick up more of these up again in the future but if the Fernando Leon Family Reserve was right beside the Guillermo Leon Signature, I’d go with the signature every time. Maybe I’ll pick out some different vitolas as well to see if that changes the profile much. Either way I’m happy to see more additions the La Aurora line-up and I hope to see more coming up as well

Pairings:
Today’s beer is actually a pretty rare find for me up here. Most of the local breweries tend to stick to typical stouts and dark ales and rarely venture outside of that territory. Welling Breweries took a step outside the comfort zone and came out with an Imperial Russian Stout. This brew clocks in at 8% alc./vol. and has a dark and thick consistency with a very thick head as well. The flavors bring lots of coffee and cocoa notes, but one interesting thing was that I was actually picking up some citrus notes. That made for a very interesting brew and paired quite well with the spice that the Fernando Leon had to offer. I’d like to try this cigar with a nice strong coffee as well, maybe with a little cinnamon sprinkled in there!

The post Fernando Leon Family Reserve appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Rodrigo cigars is probably a brand you haven’t heard too much about but it is a brand that has been making some appearances over the last year or so. George Rodriguez started his venture into the cigar world very recently in 2010. The story on the Rodrigo Cigars website is actually a pretty interesting one, take a read through it here.

At the moment, Rodrigo cigars has 3 different blends in it’s inventory. The Habano Classico, the Boutique Blend and today’s featured cigar, the La Fortaleza. All of the blends have filler from the Dominican Republic, where George first began his cigar making adventure, and each blend comes with a different wrapper.

The La Fortaleza line is claimed to be the full bodied and full flavored. It comes in 4 different vitolas and all have interesting names such as the Absoluto, Forte, Elegante and the Cinco 5. All of the cigars are also made at the Tabacalera Ventura factory down in Dominican Republic. 3 of the vitolas come in boxes of 24 but the Cinco 5 comes in an odd numbered box containing 55 sticks. There is an obvious link to the name here

Let’s dive in to the Rodrigo La Fortaleza Cinco 5 and see how it turns out!

Cigar: Rodrigo La Fortaleza Cinco 5
Drink: Pocas Special Reserve Tawny Porto
Vitola: Cinco 5 (6 x 56)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: About $6.75
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• A very nice, velvety smooth wrapper surrounds this cigar
• It does have a very appealing reddish-brown wrapper on it
• The squeeze shows an even firmness from cap to foot with just a bit of springiness
• There are only very small veins to be seen on this wrapper, they don’t look to have any potential problems with the veins
• The cap is cleanly finished and looks to blend into the rest of the wrapper nicely
• The foot looks nicely and cleanly packed with lots of filler leaves and all are a nice consistent color

Burn:
• Toasting was nice and easy and even, had a nice amber foot with very little effort
• Shortly after, the La Fortaleza started canoeing on me thanks for a giant tunnel/gap in the filler
• I touched it up but it started to happen again right after, hoping with one more touch up and we’ll be at the end of the tunnel
• Weird burn continues with more touch ups and canoeing
• This cigar needed touch-up after touch up to keep it burning properly
• Finally in the last bit, I got some decent burn without touch ups but it was a constant battle throughout the whole cigar

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke is medium in body, not quite full and billowing
• It’s also taking me a couple draws to get a decent amount of smoke out
• The ash is coming along as very light grey, almost white
• Problem is the ash isn’t lasting very long with the tunneling and touch ups
• I keep tapping the ash off just short of an inch, it looks pretty weak and flaky, especially with all the touch ups
• Smoke continues to be pretty light throughout the cigar, would have been nicer to have a little more density to it

Tasting Notes:
• The notes on the wrapper seem to be mostly of mild cedar, not much else here
• I still get the mild cedar on the foot but now I’m picking up some tiny hints of spices, more baking spices rather than pepper
• The pre-light draw was very woodsy with just a touch of mild spices
• Initial few draws are telling a similar story of woodsy flavors backed by some cinnamon and also some leathery notes in there
• The cedar flavors are really shining through with a nice medium body to back it all up, also picking up some light coffee flavors
• The retrohale has a tiny little bite and is full of flavorful spices with a nice woodsy finish
• The body has been pretty mild, almost medium so far
• The constant touch ups from burn issues are continually making the flavors charred and harsh, it’s hiding the potential of the cigar
• I’m still picking up hints of good flavors such as coffee and cedar, maybe even some nuts or almonds but the charred flavors introduced from constant touch ups is ruining this cigar
• Throughout the whole cigar, the body never really passed medium making for a good early day smoke
• The last inch or so probably had the most flavors since I didn’t need any touch ups so the potential of this cigar really showed, no harshness here either
• I have to note that even though the cigar claimed to be really full bodied, I barely felt much past medium so I was pretty surprised.

Final Thoughts:
This is a tough one to judge and I have to say I will need a few more to make up my mind. The burn really ruined the experience since the constant touch ups negatively affected the flavors I was getting. I got very nice hints of flavorful cedar, coffee, cinnamon and almonds but they were always being overpowered by the charred notes. The Rodrigo La Fortaleza Cinco 5 is something that will leave me wondering “what could have been?”. I really wanted to like this cigar and I’m definitely going to seek out a few more, perhaps a different vitola and for sure a different box to see if the burn issues are persistent or if I just had a bad batch. Has anyone else had similar issues? I’d love to get some feedback on that!

*Sorry no ash pic here, the wind actually kept blowing the ash out of my ashtray so there was nothing left to take a picture of. The wind stole my band too… Some dog is probably chewing on it right now…

Pairings:
I had just a little bit of this port left so I decided to pair with it one more time, it’s gone now so you won’t see it again! lol. The Pocas Special Reserve Tawny Porto pours very very light and has some very fruity notes on your nose. The flavors follow those same lines with a very light flavor, fairly fruity, lots of oak flavors and not bold at all. It did offer a bit of saving grace to the charred flavors of the cigar today. The sweetness really helped to cleanse my palate after those touch ups. It would have been an excellent pairing without that set back though so I’d definitely pair this cigar with port the next time I decide to light one up.

The post Rodrigo Cigars La Fortaleza Cinco 5 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Rocky Patel The Edge Habano is also unique in a new way. It is the first cigar in this lineup to be a Nicaraguan Puro and is even produced in a different factory than the rest of the Edge blends. I’ve had some mixed opinions on most of Rocky Patel’s cigars, some I’ve loved and some not so much. But The Edge lineup has been one of the blends that has been consistently good for me so far.

When Rocky unveiled these at IPCPR earlier last year, he also gave some details that I found interesting. First was the price which you can find below, but he also mentioned they would be sold in boxes of 100 which is pretty interesting and does make for a pretty nice show piece. Lucky enough for us who have no room for 100 cigars of a single type, they are also being sold in boxes of 20, a little more digestible for sure.

So let’s go ahead and dive right in to see if the newest edition to the Edge lineup can hold it’s own. I reviewed The Edge Corojo not too long ago so those notes are still fresh in my mind to compare with.

Cigar: Rocky Patel The Edge Habano
Drink: Pocas Special Reserve Tawny Porto
Vitola: Toro (6 x 52)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan(Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa)
Price: $6.15 MSRP
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Rocky Patel The Edge Habano has a pretty bumpy yet oily wrapper on it
• The color of the wrapper is a deep brown with what looks to be some slightly golden accents
• Near the foot, this cigar was definitely a bit squishy but the rest of the cigar had a slightly firm and springy feel
• No major veins to be worried about here, looks like a well chosen leaf to me
• The Triple cap was fairly clean but there was a piece that wasn’t quite stuck on very well

Burn:
• The toasting took a bit long here, seems the edges lit up easy and fast but the core of the cigar took a bit of time to catch on
• Through the first bit, it seems to be burning really fast, a lot of wrapper disappearing on each draw
• The burn line has started out pretty nicely, keeping it fairly even with just a bit of a wave
• Can’t complain here, the burnline wasn’t perfectly straight but it stayed nice and even throughout the whole cigar and I didn’t need to touch it up at all

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw is pumping out a decent amount of smoke here, not really requiring me to go back for seconds
• The ash is coming out with a nice light and dark grey alternating pattern
• We’ve got some clean and strong ash here, doesn’t look like it will fall off very easily
• Lasting past an inch before I tap it off so it doesn’t land on my laptop
• Next few ashes stayed strong and clean as I tapped them off around the 1 inch mark
• The draw did open up a bit in the last half giving me a nice full pull of smoke on each draw

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper had an aroma of cedar and a touch of spice on the nose
• From the foot, the aromas I grabbed were more spice and a touch of nuts or almond
• Pre-light draw gave me a nice creamy cedar sort of flavor
• From the first few draws, you can easily pick out the creaminess from the Habano wrapper and a nice amount of cedar
• There is definitely not as much spice here as on the original The Edge but there’s still a bit just to keep it interesting
• Picking up a soft coffee note as I burn through this first third adding a nice layer here
• The retrohale actually has a nice kick to it considering I’m not getting too much spice, but it has a nice smooth and creamy finish to it
• The spice definitely started to pick up after the halfway mark, more signature Edge flavors now
• The creamy and coffee notes continue to stick around with some cedar to back it all up
• The Edge Habano entered the last third with more creamy, coffee and cedar notes, maybe a touch of roasted almonds here too
• As I approach the nub, the flavors sort of all melted together and turned a bit bland, even a touch harsh so I put it down

Final Thoughts:
I had some pretty high expectations going into this cigar simply because the past few I’ve smoked from Rocky Patel’s The Edge line have all been good. So would this new Habano edition stand up? Seems like it did a pretty darn good job. Minus the last bit when it got a bit harsh, the rest of the cigar was spot on with some smooth flavors and a great burn. That harshness might have just been from the cold weather or the fact that these were pretty young sticks but I definitely would have a few more even with that caveat at the end.

Pairings:
So the pairing I chose today was actually the same bottle of Port I used to pair with my review of The Edge Corojo not too long ago. I won’t re-invent the wheel here, the port is about the same. The Pocas Special Reserve Tawny Porto pours very very light and has some very fruity notes on your nose. The flavors follow those same lines with a very light flavor, fairly fruity, lots of oak flavors and not bold at all. Definitely an easy drinking port that’s not overly bold. It paired quite nicely with the softer creamy notes on The Edge Habano and countered the spicier parts nicely as well.

The post Rocky Patel The Edge Habano appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The La Zona cigar comes from Espinosa Cigars. Erik Espinosa was the “E” behind the EO brands label that gave us the popular 601 line. He’s gone ahead and started his own line just as his counterpart Eddie Ortega did. The La Zona comes from the factory in Esteli Nicaragua and is intended to be a value cigar with premium flavors. There are two wrappers, the Connecticut in a brighter lime green band and the Habano which has a darker green/brownish band. They also only come in 2 vitolas, Robusto and Super Toro.

Today’s cigar was the Connecticut variety in Robusto vitola and I have to admit that I would NEVER have guessed it was a Connecticut just from smoking it. This cigar started with a huge punch of pepper and spices that really surprised me. The pepper and spices also continued through most of the cigar. Where the Connecticut shone through was with the smooth creaminess, especially on the retrohale.

This cigar was pretty unique in that most connies don’t try this, they tend to stay in the mild range so the contrast was interesting to what I was expecting. The spice tapered off a bit towards the middle but they were still there. To compliment them I got a nice mix of cedar. The construction was awesome the whole way through even though I was walking in some slightly windy weather and it was a chilly 25F or so. I also have some Habano’s to try and see how they smoke. For a cost of just under $4 this was a pretty tasty and interesting cigar that kept me on my toes so keep an eye out and give them a try if you find them.

The post Quick Draw Episode 11 – Espinosa Cigars La Zona Connecticut appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

I’m sure most of our readers have heard of this name before, if not in the Cuban variety than you may know of the Dominican variety. It’s made by General Cigar but they only seem to have 1 blend under that name, definitely not as popular as many others. The Cuban brand has been around for a long date dating it’s founding back to 1901!

One interesting thing about the early days of Bolivar was that they actually produced the smallest cigar in the world, measuring in at only 1.875 x 20. Now that’s a real quick smoke, even smaller than today’s cigarettes! Another interesting thing I discovered in my research is that this cigar, the Royal Corona, was actually called a “Charles” until it’s name was changed in 1973.

The Royal Corona vitola by Bolivar is hardly a corona at all. It’s pretty much a robusto but I assume the different name it because it’s actually 4.875 inches long instead of the standard 5 inches. The ring gauge holds up at 50. So let’s jump right in and see what the Bolivar Royal Corona has in store for us today!

Cigar: Bolivar Royal Corona
Drink: Hockley Valley Amber
Vitola: Robusto (4.875 x 50)
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Price: Just under $8
Burn Time: Just under 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Bolivar Royal Corona has a slightly box-pressed look to it
• The wrapper is very smooth but not oily, and has a deep reddish and golden brown color to it
• The whole cigar has a very firm feel to it, from top to bottom
• From the top, you can see this is an expertly applied double cap that blends in very well
• The foot is very well packed and very cleanly cut, easy to tell why the cigar is so firm
• There are 2 medium sized veins I noticed but I don’t think their big enough to cause any problems, we’ll soon see
• A quick clip of the cap gave me a nice consistent draw on this cigar that stayed throughout the entire time

Burn:
• Toasting took a lot longer than I expected, even with my big culinary torch
• The foot had problems getting aglow and the wrapper around the edge got charred a bit but I did manage to get it going nicely
• Through the first third I’m having no trouble at all, the Bolivar Royal Corona is burning like a dream with razor sharp edges
• Got a bit of a peninsula around the halfway point but it slowly corrected itself without my intervention
• After i tapped off the second ash, the wrapper stopped burning and I started to get a tunnel, might have taken too long taking some pictures. A quick touch-up and I’m off to the races again
• This happened again shortly after and needed to touch up the edges once more, hopefully it stops now
• No more issues to the end, finishing off nice and clean with no over heating

Smoke & Ash:
• Right off the bat there is a ton of smoke coming off this cigar, one quick draw gives a very full billowy smoke
• Even the resting smoke is abundant here, and it smells awesome too, a nice campfire aroma
• The ash is pretty clean with only a couple small flakes falling off now and then
• light grey with some black striping is the color I’m getting on the ash
• After about an inch, I tapped off the ash so it wouldn’t fall on my laptop and it was starting to look a bit weaker too
• Second ash topped the one inch mark again before being tapped off
• Third ash landed on my shoe… was too slow to snap pictures, lol

Tasting Notes:
• From the wrapper, I’m mostly picking up cedar and just a light hint of spice aromas
• The foot brings out a bit more light baking spices but also an interesting sort of sweet licorice, very nice
• The pre-light draw brings a fresh cut cedar taste with a bit of grass and earth
• First few draws are filled with cedery goodness, there is still a touch of spice and maybe even some pepper now, but the fresh cedar is still the most prominent
• The body has started off at just about medium, maybe on the edge of mild
• Retrohale has a nice soft spicy bite to it and a very smooth cedar finish
• In the first third, I also started picking up some coffee notes as the cedar nestled in nicely with the original baking spices, wonderful combination and balance so far
• Around the halfway mark that initial licorice flavor is making an appearance and the coffee is developing nicely, sorta like licorice flavored coffee!
• The body only slightly ramped up towards the end, still in the medium range though and the retrohale continued to have a small bite and a smooth and creamy cedar finish
• The licorice and coffee flavors stuck through to the end and left me with a tasty and smooth finish, no harshness here

Final Thoughts:
Not too much negative I can say after burning through this stick. I know it had a couple years of age on it but I don’t remember what the box date was. All I can say is I wish this wasn’t my last one. The price is a little high for a robusto size even by Cuban standards but it’s still not as high as a Cohiba or Trinidad. The flavors definitely stand out as being different from some typical Cubans with the balanced mix of cedar, coffee, spices and earth. The creaminess and balance on the Bolivar Royal Corona is what really sold it for me. If you are looking for a smooth and creamy Cuban this is definitely a winner and worth seeking out.

Pairings:
Today’s brew is an Amber from a brewery located about an hour or so away. The area is actually known for it’s ski resort which has a bunch of tiny, kid friendly runs. They also make a decent brunch there… but how do they do with beer? Pretty good as a matter of fact! I go through a lot of their Dark Ale but this was the first Amber I have found. It was smooth, clean and fairly light with some nice malty notes and a touch of bitterness. It went quite nicely with the medium notes of the Bolivar, a coffee would have actually gone very well here too!

The post Bolivar Royal Corona (Cuban) appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now let me clarify something, I don’t mean “Average Joe” as in you are not special(I’m sure you’re all special…). I’m more referring to availability to the average person. As you run through Tony’s Top Cigars of 2012, many of them are still very new and haven’t hit some of the far reaching markets, especially not up here in Canada. They will roll out slowly to more shops but some may never make it to local B&M’s. Most of the cigars in my list below are pretty easily available nationwide, with a couple small exceptions, and they have nothing to do with release dates. It’s obviously biased to what’s easily available to me but I think my situation will mimic a lot of our friends out there.

As Tony mentioned in his post, this list is completely home-spun, written for the enjoyment of it, and I by no means consider myself any sort of expert smoker or expert shopper. Everyone’s opinion will vary and these might not be what you expect to see. But I’d love to hear your thoughts, let’s have some fun with this one!

#10 – My Father Le Bijou 1922

I had a bit of a tough time squeezing this cigar into this list, and I have a couple reasons for that. Firstly is the price, most of the vitolas are at or over the $10 range which makes them a little too pricey for most. The savior here is that you can grab the tasty little Petit Robusto for a much fairer price. My second concern was availability, they seem to be available in a lot of stores but also sell out quickly and are slower to re-stock to due the lower yield they have. But this is a cigar I’m constantly looking for, I don’t always buy it because of the price but when I see a sale or a package deal, I’m quick to throw one of these in there. The intense espresso flavors are almost enough for me to want this cigar, but it also gives great cedar, spice and cocoa all backed by a smooth and creamy finish. It’s an all around great cigar and will always be on my shopping list.

My Father Le Bijou 1922 Toro Review
My Father Le Bijou 1922 Box Pressed Torpedo Quick Draw

#9 – Padilla La Terraza Capa Habano

Now this is a cigar I honestly stumbled into by accident. I found it on sale, read a couple decent reviews and opted to grab a whole box for a steal of a deal. And I’m really glad I did! For the price of only about $2 that you can find these, the cigar is spot on and burns very nicely. You will find some woodsy, almond and coffee flavors here, perhaps a bit of a menthol kick at the start as well. All in a nice smooth medium bodied cigar. Just make sure to get the Habano version as the general consensus is that the Maduro just doesn’t match up.

Padilla La Terraza Capa Habano Quick Draw

#8 – Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”

This is a name you’ve probably seen pop up on our site before. Paul, leader of the Maldonado Dynasty, has been a great supporter and friend of Casas Fumando but that doesn’t mean we take his cigars lightly. I’ve been lucky enough to smoke through a whole bunch of these cigars, including some pre-release, first release and even a bunch from a fresh batch I received a few weeks ago. Paul is constantly working to make things better and it shows in his cigars. The quality of the sticks continues to rise while the flavors continue to impress. You can expect a silky medium-full bodied cigar with lots of coffee, cocoa, dried fruit and nutmeg flavors that will keep you on your toes. The availability of these is still a bit limited so it was a tough choice for me to add to this list, but if you don’t mind getting them shipped you can definitely find a place to buy these.

Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul” Review

#7 – Perdomo Champagne Noir

I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Perdomo, they constantly impress me with top-notch construction on all of their sticks. It’s been rare for me to run into burn issues on their cigars and all of their sticks come in at fair prices. This is a definite commitment to quality that I can appreciate. Typically, Perdomo’s don’t make many top 10 lists because they don’t tend to be in the trendy boutique sphere and also don’t do anything too crazy. They seem to stick to their roots and just keep producing good cigars. I was a fan of the 10th Anniversary Champagne and when I heard about the Champagne Noir, I jumped to try it. I was happily greeted by a delicate mixture of baking spices, cedar, espresso and roasted almonds. Not to mention this was probably one of the slowest burning cigars I have ever lit up. The standard Toro size flew past 2 hours easily, normally I burn through a toro in under 1.5 hours.

Perdomo Champagne Noir Review

#6 – La Aurora 107

It’s been quite a while since this cigar was released but I still find myself seeking them out. The flavors never cease to impress and they usually come in at a very fair price, especially if you find them on sale. There is a wide range of vitolas in this line for everyone. Every time I light one of these up I know I’m going to get an amazing mix of cedar, light spices and some fruity sweetness. These are available just about everywhere so if you’ve been skipping them over recently cause they aren’t all new and trendy, I think it’s time to re-visit this stick!

La Aurora 107 Corona Review
La Aurora 107 Robusto Review

#5 – Padron 2000 & Londres

I think most everyone knows about this cigar and has probably had one at one time or another. I know I discovered these long ago when I first started smoking cigars. The prices on these are right in the sweet spot of most consumers and they are very widely available. The whole line is very good but I always tend towards the 2000 and Londres. Both the Maduro’s and Naturals seem to be pretty similar in the flavor department and you can expect to find lots of coffee and cocoa making this one tasty cigar!

Padron 2000 Review

#4 – Illusione 888 & 88

I couldn’t decide on which one of these I enjoy more so I decided to group them together since they are pretty similar in my eyes. The ~88~ and ~888~ are staples in my humidor. I know the prices are a bit high but the flavors and construction on these definitely make them worth my while. When you spark up one of these you can expect to find lots of earthy and cedar notes, but the two real winners here for me are the tarty sweet notes near the end and the amazing smooth creamy retrohale that they offer. If you haven’t tried one of these yet, make sure to pick some up! I added the link to our “~888~ Slam” here, the flavors were very similar to the regular ~888~ but I liked the vitola a little more just because it was more comfortable to hold, but both are winners.

Illusione ~88~ Review
Illusione ~888~ Slam Review

#3 – Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial

The first time I had one of these it was sent to me by Tony and I was just blown away by the awesome flavors and construction. I mean who can complain, almost all the cigars out of the My Father factory are top notch. What really caught my attention and keeps me smoking these is the price they come in. For a premium cigar with some awesome flavors and constuctio, the price is amazing. They are also very widely available which can’t be said for all the My Father products. If you like a solid medium bodied stick with awesome flavors such as spice, cedar, espresso and cocoa, you will love this stick.

Jamie Garcia Reserva Especial Review

#2 – Montecristo No. 2 (Cuban)

I know, I know, this is not an easy one for most of our American friends to track down. But it constantly tops my list and many others as one of the best value for a premium cigar you can find. With the right connections, you can get these for under $8 per stick. They have tons of good flavors ranging from coffee to cedar to earthy to creamy, it’s just so good. They do benefit from a bit of time resting but are easily smokable fresh too, you just won’t get some of the more delicate flavors.

Montecristo No. 2 2010 Review
Montecristo No. 2 2008 Joint Review

#1 – Drew Estate Undercrown

If you’ve been keeping an eye on my twitter feed or the Facebook page, you would have seen quite a few of these pop up over the course of the last year. The meaty and balanced flavors of espresso and spices in the Undercrown just seem to hit the spot everytime. Add on some excellent construction and spot on consistency, and this is a winner. I’m also a fan of the T52 and No.9 but I’ve had a lot more luck tracking down the Undercrowns and their price is also much more digestible as a more frequent cigar. I also love the wrapper on this cigar, it’s so dark and has a ton of toothiness and roughness to it, definitely some eye candy in the cigar world. As I write this I realize I’m running low on them and need to order another box… lol

Drew Estate Undercrown Review

There are tons more great sticks I could go into that are easily available, these are just a few that I’ve been smoking or wanting to smoke this past year. And this list could change completely in the next 6 months so take it for what it is and enjoy. If you have a couple that are on your constant shopping list and have been heavy hitters this year, let me know in the comments!

The post Casas Fumando “Average Joe” Top 10 of 2012 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.