Tesa Cigar Series Shaman #60

Info: As with a few of these Tesa Cigar blends, there is little information about the blends on their site. What I can tell you is that the Series Shaman sports a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper. I’m really glad that more cigar companies are using that leaf, I am always pleased with the amount of flavor it yields. The Series Shaman comes in 5 sizes and ranges from $6.30 – $8.20 a stick. I am smoking the 6 x 60 for review.

Prelight: The Series Shaman starts with a thick, meaty, incredibly consistent medium brown wrapper. This wrapper looks like it can take a beating. While it looks like it carries a lot of oil, it’s actually pretty dry to the touch. There are a few veins running though the thick body up to the nice, rounded cap.  The Shaman carries a very nice unfinished foot.  This cigar is as hard as a rock and almost as heavy as one. That being said, I was very surprised when the cap cut as clean as easily as it did using my double bladed palio cutter.

Burn/Draw: This is one reason why I am not a big fan of larger ring gauges. On both of the cigars I smoked I found it extremely hard to get a good draw from the Shaman. You know, I won’t really blame the cigar I think it’s a format issue as most 60’s I smoke have the same issue. I really enjoy putting little effort in a draw to get a larger return. Anyways, the burn was excellent. It took a bit of convincing with my single flame butane torch but once this baby was lit there was no stopping it. The Shaman burned razor-sharp and dead event the entire experience.

Taste: The Series Shaman started out pretty mild with some nice chocolate, sweet tobacco, smooth cedar, and a bit of a chalkiness. As the cigar progressed into the second third the body began to ramp up with lots of sweetness, chocolate, and a strong musky flavor. The cigar’s flavors began to meld together for a creamy finish as I closed into the final third.

Thoughts: I really need to try this cigar is a smaller format. The flavors and overall experience prove that there is a lot of promise there, but the larger format dampened the experience. I think the cigar is reasonably priced, but if the experience is better in the smaller formats that I am sure this blend carries a whole lot of bang for the buck.

Tesa Cigar Cabinet 312 Series H

Info: The Cabinet 312 is listed under Tesa Cigar Co’s “Luxury Cigar Blends”.  Tesa coins this blend “the most intricately complex blends in the line”. The cigar starts with an oily parejo maduro wrapper around a blend of Esteli and Jalapa Nicaraguan fillers. I am unsure of the exact tobacco used. The blend ranges from $9.85 – $13.25 a stick and comes in six different sizes. I am smoking the “Series H” which is a 7.25 x 52. LOVE the size.

Prelight: The Tesa Cigar Co. website states that the wrapper is oily, and it’s not lying. This is one of the oiliest wrappers I have seen. Outside of the obvious oils the wrapper feels a bit delicate as the thin, consistently dark brown wrapper runs the length of the cigar’s body. While the wrapper is darker in color, it’s actually quite a bit lighter than most maduros I am used to. The cigar is polished off with a beautiful, spiral pig tail.

Burn/Draw: The Cabinet 312 lit up with ease under my single flame butane torch. The burnline started out with some very slight waves which quickly corrected themselves. After that, the razor-sharp burn continued perfectly consistent and needed no touch ups or relights the entire 2 hour experience. The draw was incredible. Each little puff kicked out a ton of very thick, lingering smoke. I love it.

Taste: The Cabinet 312 started out with a nice blast of black pepper which quickly faded into a sweet and spicy experience. I picked up some soft cedar on and off throughout the smoke as well as a really enjoyable floral flavor while some deep coffee notes remained the entire smoke. The cigar really shines in the final third when the body and the strength ramp up and the black pepper makes a brief reappearance.

Thoughts: I thought he Cabinet 312 rocked. I liked it much more than the Series Shaman. You never know what you are going to get with house blend cigars and I was very pleased with this one. It’s got a bit of a punch to it, but I think that it’s perfect for the seasoned cigar smoker. Novice? Not too much. The cigar is a bit pricey and might be a bit too complex for someone new to the game.

The post Quick Draw Episode 16 – Tesa Cigar Co – Series Shaman / 312 Cabinet appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now onto the cigar… If you attended IPCPR back in 2010 or read articles about the event, you probably heard about the new blend from El Primer Mundo, called the Liga Miami. I recently stumbled across a few of these sticks at the bottom of my humidor and realized they’ve been sitting there since sometime last year (oops?). With the upcoming IPCPR 2011 in July, I figured it would be a good cigar to pick up and review.

The Liga Miami blend from Sean Williams(Twitter: @PrimerMundo) made some waves at IPCPR 2010, especially in the blogosphere where a lot of reviewers were impressed by the unique array of flavors this cigar offered. The El Primer Mundo website is currently under construction, but before it went down you could also read up on their previous blends, the Connecticut Shade and Habano Criollo Maduro. The Liga Miami has the same company band on it but also adds an additional goldish-brown and silver band with the words Liga Miami on it.

The cigar itself is produced in Miami at the El Titan de Bronze factory. Willy Herrera of El Titan de Bronze also has a hand in making them This is a big change from the other two blends which are made in Esteli Nicaragua. You’ll also nice there is no box press on this cigar like the other offerings from El Primer Mundo.

Along with today’s Robusto vitola, you can also find the Liga Miami in a Toro and Churchill size. The cigar has an interesting mix of tobacco including a double binder and some ligero used in the filler. So without any more babbling from me, let’s see how this cigar stacks up!

Cigar: El Primer Mundo Liga Miami
Drink: Waterloo Brewery Radlermass Lemonade Lager
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 52)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sungrown
Binder: Double binded Nigaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican Republic (some Ligero)
Price: about $9
Burn Time: About 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Liga Miami has a very nice reddish colored wrapper surrounding it
• Slightly oily and rough, the wrapper has some medium sized veins running along it
• There was a nice spring to the cigar when squeezed, not enough to seem under-filled though
• The head of the cigar is finished with a very clean triple cap, definitely some attention to detail there
• The bands themselves take up quite a bit of real estate on this cigar, at least a good 1/3rd
• The foot looks the be moderately packed
• The cut was fairly easy and left a clean opening but made a bit of a mess in the ashtray

Burn:
• Toasting didn’t go so well, had some unevenness to it and I just couldn’t get it all lit properly without some assistance from a couple draws
• Despite the my failed toasting, the burn started off surprisingly well through the first inch
• Burn was razor sharp through the first half
• The cigar has burned nice and slowly the whole way through and allowed me to enjoy it slowly without ever feeling like it was going out

Smoke & Ash:
• Tons of smoke coming from the cigar straight from the start
• The ash has a very nice white color to it
• Despite the nice color, the ash is getting a little flaky very fast
• The resting smoke on this Liga Miami is consistent and has a very unique aroma, you get a bit of sweetness on the nose. Very pleasant.
• Ash managed to hang tight for close to two inches

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on the Liga Miami has a nice sweetness to it, along with a bit of cedar
• The foot definitely brings more sweetness and a tasty mild spice, almost like Cinnamon Sugar
• The pre-light draw brought with it a heavy helping of woodsiness and a bit of earthiness
• The initial draws offered up more of he woodsy flavors with a subtle note of sweetness in there, still along the same lines of cinnamon sugar
• The sweetness is definitely building up in this cigar, almost adding a syrupy flavor to the mix
• Body has been mostly mild to start and the retrohale has the tiniest bite with a smooth and creamy finish
• Adding to the syrupy/cinnamon sweetness, the cigar has a very pleasant creamy finish
• The woodsiness is still hanging around, is that burning caramelized wood could smell like? lol
• Body built up to a nice medium around the half-way mark
• The sweetness has tapered off a bit now, it’s still there and I’m getting some nice nutty almond flavors
• Definitely seems like the ligero was saved for the last half of the cigar, I’m getting some leathery flavors in the mix now and a touch of spice
• With about 1.5inches left, the sweetness has mostly left the mix but the remaining flavors are balancing well and the body is still a comfortable medium
• The creamy finish has remained consistent, I think this can probably be attributed to the double binder along with a smooth wrapper
• The creamy finish and leather/woodsy flavors continued to the nub with no bitterness, this was a finger burning cigar!

Final Thoughts:
Now this was a surprisingly unique and enjoyable cigar. When I hear ligero I usually brace myself for a powerful cigar with a straightforward flavor profile. This was definitely not the case with the El Primer Mundo Liga Miami. The first half of the cigar was totally unexpected. Sweet, smooth, creamy notes with a superb burn. Very uncharacteristic of a ligero filled cigar and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The last half came closer to what I expected from this cigar but it still had a smooth and balanced creaminess I don’t usually find in ligero cigars. I’m curious if the extra age in the humi made a difference since I didn’t smoke one when I first got them. It’s easy to see there was a lot of care and planning that went into this cigar and the final result speaks for itself. These are something everyone should try and can go well as a mid-day or evening cigar.

Pairings:
Today’s pairing was from Waterloo Brewery, just a short 1 hour drive from my house. It is part of the Seasonal Collection and is called the Radlermess. It is a Lemonade Lager and has an interesting story behind it. The term Radlermess comes from Germany and was coined by a Innkeeper not far from Munich. The story says that he was overloaded with cyclists one day and was running low on beer so he took a risk and mixed his remaining beer with some lemon soda. It was a big hit! In German, Radler means cyclist and Mass means a liter of beer.
I took a bit of a risk with this pairing but based on the past few Liga Miami’s I’ve smoked I figured the sweetness from a lemonade beer would go nicely. I was worried the beer may have been too sweet but they did a good job balancing the lemonade and beer together. It actually worked out very well! The sweetness of the beer complimented the sweetness of the cigar at the start. As the cigar turned a little more into the woodsy/nutty/leathery flavors, the beer counteracted them, leaving a nice sweet aftertaste between draws. I think this beer would also go excellently with some connecticut wrappers. As for the cigar, an Amber lager would have gone well here too, as would my favorite tawny port. Maybe even a nice coffee with a bit of sugar to add some sweetness.

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