Prelight: Cigar #6 starts off with this absolutely beautiful, extremely toothy wrapper. This bad boy is oily! Bits of oil were rubbing off on my fingers every time I hold the cigar. The wrapper is a really dark, and consistent dark-chocolate brown. The construction on this cigar is immaculate. The only visible veins are very slight, and smooth. They blend so well in with the cigar they were hard to even find. Despite how lightweight this cigar is, it seems incredibly durable with very little give heading up towards the round double cap.

The wrapper of this cigar gives off a really nice cedar aroma while the foot lets loots a really, really deep spice. The cap clipped with extreme ease using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw is really interesting. It starts with just a ton of pepper, spice, cedar, and some sweet raisin. Strange I know, but if the cigar bears as much flavor as the cold draw I know I’ll be impressed.

First Smoke: Cigar #6 lit and toasted really quick, and really easy. This cigar starts off with a ton of pepper. After the pepper simmered down a bit the cigar’s real flavors kicked in. Starting out with a ton of cedar, some really sharp spice, sweet tobacco, and this really interesting grape/plum flavor I pulled from the aftertaste. The burline started out completely solid, and razor sharp producing a very beautiful, tightly compacted white ash. Despite the beautiful ash, it only held on for about an inch before taking a dive right into my lap.

Halfway There: Going into the second third of cigar #6 and the pepper has completely faded leaving room for this cigar to really take off. The deep cedar flavor is still the main flavor backed by subtle spice, sweet cinnamon, and that strange plum flavor I pulled early into this cigar. At first, I thought the wrapper on this cigar was Connecticut Broadleaf, but the more I smoke it, the more I find myself leaning away from that. Stalk Cut Habano maybe? It just doesn’t have to same sweet characteristics that Connecticut Broadleaf normally does. Anyhow, getting back into it, the retrohale on this cigar is really sharp and spicy, I don’t find myself doing it too often at all. Not to mention the fact that I can already feel a bit of the nicotine from this cigar.

Finish: The complexity of this cigar never stops amazing me. Into the final third of this cigar the pepper flavor from the start of the smoke made a brief reappearance. The main flavor is still this plethora of cedar. My mouth taste’s like I have been chewing on a black of cedar. At this point the Plum flavor is really taking off too. What a neat mixture of flavor. The body has really started to jump up as well.  I am scared to get up and walk around. There was a little harshness in the end, but nothing that I didn’t mind smoking through. All in all this cigar took about an hour to take down. Probably too fast for me to call it the cigar I am about to, but that’s just part of the game.

Overview: This was a damn good cigar. Extremely complex, bold, strong, and interesting. It really kept me on my toes. Not for the faint of heart. Just make sure you have a nice meal, and something to drink handy before taking on whatever cigar this happens to be. (on a side note, all these blind reviews are paired with water. Since I don’t know what they are I don’t want to risk pairing them with something that could ruin the experience. )

So now, for the part that makes me look like a complete dumbass. What did I think this was?

First off all, I really want to say this is a Nicaraguan cigar. It had all the characteristics, but the flavors were so interesting that I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a crazy mix of tobacco in there. What Nicaraguan cigar did I think it is? Well, I really couldn’t get over the wrapper. It looks like something I am so used to be the experience didn’t match. That being said, my first guess is this is some crazy Liga Privada blend. The wrapper REALLY identified with the wrapper seen on the T52. The rest of the experience didn’t, but with all the experimenting that Drew Estate has been doing lately, and Brooks’ ability to get ahold of just about anything, it wouldn’t surprise me. Second guess? Viaje. I haven’t had the pleasure of smoking too many Viaje, but this is something that would definitely fit within their line. Flavorful, strong, and different. Now lets see just how far off I was.

And the cigar is, Tatuaje’s Fausto. Is this cigar even out yet? Brooks doesn’t mess around.

Tatuaje’s Fausto is a new blend being released this year. New blend? Kinda. If any of you remember the extremely limited T110 blend that Pete made for R. Fields in Hawaii then this cigar shouldn’t been unfamiliar to you. The Fausto is the same blend form the T110, only in different sizes. After all the success of the T110 Pete wanted to eventually turn it into a fully produced line. The Fausto is a damn strong cigar. This is a full ligero cigar composed of Jalapa and Estelí grown Nicaraguan tobacco. At least I got that part right. And the wrapper? Ecuador Habano Maduro. Again, I was close!

If you want to find out more about this cigar, and see a great review of it, head over to this link to check out what brooks over at Smokingstogie.com had to say about it.

The post Blind Review #6 from Smoking Stogie appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

This is Cigar #1 of 5 that our friend Brooks has sent my way. For those of you who don’t know, Brooks run the blog smokingstogie.com. He specializes in retardedly expensive, extremely rare, and the absolute hardest to find sticks. With a statement like that who wouldn’t jump at the chance to review a few random sticks he decided to send? To be honest, I’m still hesitant. I know almost for sure, the caliber of the cigars I smoke (and my palate for that matter) are incredibly short of what Brooks is. It’s intimidating. Knowing that, it should be fun to see how completely far off I am on each one of these cigars!

Prelight: Blind cigar #1 is a very small, short, pettit corona sized stick. The wrapper is a very light, and consistent light brown. The foot shows a little sign of wear and tear, which leads me to believe is a more delicate style tobacco. The body is very well constructed, with no soft spots and very little veins leading up to a nice little triple cap with a cute little pig tail. The cigar doesn’t give a whole lot of resistance when compressed. This is an awesome little sized cigar. The wrapper doesn’t give off much more than a faint grass smell whereas the foot bares the same grassy smell with just a bit of spice on the tail end of it. The cap clipped clean using my Palio double bladed cutter. There was a few shards of the wrapper that broke off leaving the binder exposed, but I’m not too worried about it. Again, it goes to show that this cigar is using a much more delicate tobacco for the wrapper (possibly Cuban or Ecuadorian?!).  The cold draw produces a very clean, natural tobacco and earth flavor with a few citrus and spice notes lingering in the background.

First Smoke: I am immediately greeted with an explosion of unexpected pepper when first lighting up this cigar. After only a few draws the pepper fades into as little as an undertone for the strong tobacco, woodsy, grassy flavors. There is a little bit of citrus and sweet spice on the aftertaste as well. The draw on this cigar is insane. It’s not very loose, but you get a whole crap load of very thick smoke with each little puff. This cigar gives off a standard amount of stationary smoke, but the odd thing is the smoke is straight up cedar scented. Cedar isn’t a dominant flavor in the cigar’s profile but you can pick up a ton of it, as well as lots of pepper in the retrohale.  The burnline is a bit thick, but is consistently even leaving behind some very light grey, nicely compacted ash which held on for about an inch before falling off.

Halfway There: The pepper in this cigar is still teasing me. Each draw I take begins with just a nudge of pepper before transcending into a very earthy, woodsy flavor leaving behind just enough pepper to tease the back of my throat.  The citrus and spice are still there but at this time the pepper has reduced them to just an afterthought. I am loving the hell out of how easy and massive this draw is. The burnline has started to develop some smaller waves into the second third which quickly correct themselves before relocating to another part of the cigar. It’s like watching some sort of juggling act. I don’t know if it’s all the pepper or the actual nicotine but I am actually starting to develop a little buzz off of this tiny little cigar.

Finish: This cigar does pack a punch. I love it when smaller sized cigars carry a medium to full body vs. the run of the mill mild. The pepper has lasted the entire length of the stick and still remains a major player. The cedar taste is now, finally showing through with a sweet citrus aftertaste. Despite the open draw this cigar showed little signs of harshness into the final puffs. It didn’t even heat up all that much. After all was said and done this cigar only took me about an hour to take down. Normally, it would have been a lot shorter than that too but I really wanted to sit back and pull apart the notes. Even then I’m left almost clueless as to what this cigar could be.

Overview: At first I wanted to call this cigar Cuban and be done with it. But the pepper and the body really made me think otherwise. I immediately think Nicaragua, Pepin made maybe? But I really can’t think of any cigars coming out of his factory in this size or even with the pigtailed cap. Whatever it is, the manufacturer was able to produce a perfect mash-up of flavor, and strength in such a small, compact vitola. I’d smoke this cigar again in a heartbeat (unless of course, it turns out the be a gurkha, then I’ll just quit doing reviews for good). First cigar from Brooks and I am already stumped. If this has anything to say for the next four cigar then this will be a wild ride indeed.

Final Guess? I have No clue. If I had to guess though I would have to say its some kind of crazy Cuban hybrid or a Cohiba I haven’t had before. I haven’t had many of the Cohiba’s, but the construction and appearance alone are on par with this cigar. The pepper and body were just too much to be the run of the mill Cubans that I am used to.

On a side note: The cigar looks damaged to hell in nub form. This didn’t happen until the final few draws. Even the unwrapping that started once I clipped it didn’t pose a problem until I was just about done with the stick.

So what was it? It was Tatuaje’s Cabaiguan WDC 120. You can view Brooks’ review here. I know, I know, way off. But on the plus side, Tatuaje’s whole existence spurred from Pete Johnson wanting to develop blends that mimic those of the best Cubans out there. And had I kept with my instincts and called it a Pepin Blended Nicaraguan I would have been dead on. You gotta give me at least a little credit. The wrapper was in fact Ecuadorian too if I’m not mistaken. I can almost always confuse that leaf with natural Cuban.

Pairing: I paired this, as well as all of the cigars in the blind review with Brooks with water. If any of you read Brook’s Blog (smokingstogie.com), you know what this guy is capable of. Knowing the caliber, and rarity of the cigars he smokes I am almost certain I hadn’t had any of the sticks he sent my way so I am trying to keep my palate as precise as possible.

The post Blind Cigar Review #1 (from Brooks at Smoking Stogie) appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.