Prelight: The Diesel Unlimited is the follow up release to master-blender A.J. Fernandez’s Diesel unholy cocktail and Diesel shorty. Both of those cigars were great sticks that were well received amongst the cigar community but A.J. decided to step it up a notch stuffing the Unlimited with San Andreas, Condega, and Esteli long fillers and wrapping it off with a Honduran Ligero Wrapper resulting a bold, strong experience.  These cigars were sent to us by out friends at Stogieboys.com, check them out for some great cigar deals. The cigar comes in 4 sizes, the D.5 (5.5″ x 54), the D.6 (6” x 60), the D.7 (7” x 58), and the D.X (5.7″ x 56) which I am reviewing today. They come in boxes of 20 and range at stogieboys.com from $3.65 to $4.50 a cigar.

Size: 5.7” x 56  – Wrapper: Honduran Ligero  –  Filler: San Andreas/Nicaraguan  –  Body: Full  –  Strength: Full

The wrapper on this Diesel Unlimited is a beauty. The leaf is a dark, toffee brown that just screams of oil. Seriously, my fingers are getting greasy just holding this cigar. While the construction is spot on, there is one huge, huge, huge vein running the entire length of the body of the cigar all the way up to its pointy belicoso style cap.  I really hope it doesn’t toy around with the cigar experience. The Diesel is a very thick, heavy, stout cigar. The wrapper feels extremely tough and durable. The Diesel unlimited carries a foot band with the exact same design as the unholy cocktail, only red in color.

The wrapper emits massive amounts of sweet cedar, chocolate, and a strange buttery aroma while the foot pumps out enough peppery tobacco that it burned my nose a bit as I went in to take a big whiff. The cap on the Diesel Unlimited cut off very clean and easy. I sometimes have a hard time with belicoso cigars that have a stronger wrapper, but this one didn’t put up much of a fight. The cold draw is nice and easy and I am greeted with a ton of spicy, peppery, chocolate tobacco right away.

First Smoke: Just as I expected I am greeted with a ton of black pepper right off the bat. After a few puffs the pepper begins to fade and I am left with this very sweet, dark chocolate, tobacco, very spicy flavor with yes, that butter that I picked up during the prelight. It’s strange. It almost tastes like some sort of baked good. Whatever, I’m stretching it. The draw on this Diesel Unlimited is badass. It takes only one little puff to get a mouth fool of thick, tasty, goodness. The burnline is razor sharp and dead even right from the start. The ash is a thick, tightly compacted, light and dark grey which held on just over an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: I’m well into the second third of this Diesel Unlimited and I have to say, so far it has literally been a carbon copy of the first. I am still getting a ton of black pepper and spice along with the sweet chocolate and tobacco. The only difference is the ramp up of cedar and an increase in strength. I’m not feeling wobbly yet or anything, but I can really tell this cigar has a punch to it. The retrohale is very sharp coating my nasal passage with strong cedar and lots of spice. It’s a tad too sharp for me and I don’t find myself doing it too often. The burnline is still dead even.

Finish: I’m not into the final third of this Diesel Unlimited and I have to say, I’m disappointed in the fact that this cigar still hasn’t changed up much, if at all. I know there are a lot of cigar smokers our there that love the balanced, no surprise smokes like this. But they just don’t do much for me. The final third is almost identical to the second third the only difference is the pepper has started to really fade off and the strength ramped up even more. This cigar won’t knock you on your ass, but it will get close to it. Even though it’s a stronger cigar it wasn’t annoyingly strong. I just hate those all strength no flavor cigars, luckily this Diesel Unlimited wasn’t one of them. This cigar smoked SLOW it took me just about two hours to take this whole thing down.

Overview: The Diesel Unlimited is a great, solid cigar. It’s got some great flavors overlaying a heck of a punch. The cigar just didn’t do it for me. I guess it was the lack of changeups. The flavors were great, but the first third was almost identical to the final third and I found myself getting bored with the cigar. In comparison to the other diesel blends I would have to say, I’d still reach for the Unholy Cocktail first, Unlimited second, and the Shorty third. You can still get these cigars for great prices and when you compare the value, you get a hell of a lot of cigar without breaking the bank. On a side note: please forgive some of the photos in the review. I decided I would try to do a review as the sun was setting. Bad idea. I’ll stick to either sunny or dark, no in between.

Pairing: From Belgium to Germany, Ayinger will always hold a special place in my heard. Just about everything this brewery kicks out is stellar, the weizenbock wheat bock ale I paired this Diesel Unlimited with is no exception. It’s basically a heffewiezen with a bolder, more balanced flavor. There isn’t as much heavy wheat and fruity flavors. It’s more caramel, malty, and smooth. This 7.1% ABV brew is yet another perfect example of Germany’s talent when it comes to following the purity law. This beer is perfect for the hot, dry summer weather as it paired perfectly with the day, and the cigar. The strength and bold flavors of the cigar would also pair well with a nice bitter, IPA, or even a simple pilsner.

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In case you missed any of our other Quick Draws, here are the links and the cigars contained:

• Quick Draw Episode 1 – Gran Habano Connecticut #1 and Cohiba Siglo VI
• Quick Draw Episode 2 – P. Benitez Connecticut and Padron’s Serie 1926 #6

If you haven’t read one of our Quick Draws before, it’s basically a quick review of a cigar we’ve recently had. Perhaps revisiting an old one, trying a new one, something we didn’t intend to review but surprised us, or whatever other reason we can think of. Without any more blabbering, let’s just jump right in!
 
 

Quesada Oktoberfest Bavaria – Daniel

So Quesada seems to have had a pretty stellar year in 2011. Problem for me is that their sticks are super hard to find up here in Canada. There are only a select few retailers willing to ship to me and they obviously don’t get every possible cigar in. Every once in awhile when I vacation in Florida I pick some up or some people south of the border are kind enough to trade with me. This Quesada Oktoberfest came my way by non other than our very own Tony Casas.

Now Tony reviewed this cigar while back in October, see his review of the Quesada Oktoberfest. As you might be able to tell, he thoroughly enjoyed it so I had high expectations going in. Now I gotta say that this is one incredibly oily and super toothy cigar. It definitely has an appeal to it and has some heft to go along with it. No doubt this cigar looks delicious just with your eyes so I was excited to light it up. After lighting it up I was immediately met with a blast of flavors including spice, cedar and a touch of sweetness. A well balanced and tasty start. As the cigar progressed I was met with all kinds of other interesting flavors including cocoa, coffee, nuts and a sort of butter cookie sweetness all wrapped up in a smooth creamy finish. Not to mentioned this thing burned like a champ without the need for any babysitting at all.

Not only did I get the Quesada Oktoberfest cigar, I was also able to track down some Paulaner Oktoberfest beer locally. And the huge beer mug is an awesome conversation piece too! That can you see there filled it up exactly to the brim and I drank every last drop, such a great pairing. So did I like it? Hell yeah! Who wouldn’t like an awesome array of flavors like that! The beer just made everything balance even more bringing in some more interesting flavors to the party. Really glad I managed to put this pairing together, it did not disappoint!
 
 

Cohiba Maduro 5 Secretos – Daniel

A while ago I sprung for a half-box of Cohiba Maduro 5 in the Magicos vitola(Robusto) and even posted a review of it here. As you can tell from that review, I really enjoyed that cigar. Problem is, they are a pretty expensive stick to get a hold of, even straight from Cuba. So when I was placing my latest order of Cubans I decided to give the smaller “Secretos” vitola a try, which is a small corona type of size.

I lit up this cigar hoping for more of the smooth creamy chocolate and espresso notes I enjoyed on the Magicos. Unfortunately, the Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos did not live up to my expectations. It started off with a fairly bland tobacco flavors and went downhill from there. I mostly got charred and harsh flavors through the whole experience and it burned really hot. This was a big disappointment, especially at about $7.00 a piece from the cheapest source I could find. $7 for a tiny little short corona is definitely pricey and I would expect a top quality smoke for that kind of pricing.

So does that mean it’s completely written off? Not sure yet. The only saving grace these might have is if they need some age. I think the box date was early 2011, so not even a year old yet. But I’m hesitant to think it can improve that much with some time… but I’ll hold on to them and see what happens in another year or so. If you seeking to buy some of the Cohiba Maduro 5’s though, I would seriously suggest just forking out the little bit extra and getting one of the larger vitolas. I can’t stress how much I REALLY enjoyed the Magicos vitola, so don’t write off the entire line!

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