In case you forgot what a Quick Draw is, take a read over the description from our first episode a little while back, link here.

Now the Shark is a pretty popular cigar and I’m pretty sure a lot of you have heard about it before, or likely enjoyed one yourself. If not, here’s a bit of background. The Anejo line by Arturo Fuente is special limited release that occurs every year around only Christmas and Fathers Day. If you are seeking these, make sure to keep a keen eye out around that time because they seem to fly off the shelves. This particular vitola is called the No. 77 but has been dubbed the “The Shark” due to the box pressed torpedo top, which looks sorta like a shark fin. Pretty cool name if you ask me.

I managed to score one of these in a trade around Christmas time and it’s actually from the 2010 crop so it had about a year of age when I took these notes down on it. Tony also reviewed one awhile back that you can find linked here.

Right off the bat when you light this cigar up you know you are in for an interesting experience. You pick out some chocolate, coffee and nutty notes served with a slight side-dish of spices that all balance together amazingly. The body starts off in the low end of medium and the retrohale gives you a nice little bite with a smooth coffee or espresso flavored finish that just rounds up the whole experience nicely. As you burn through this cigar you get all kinds of interesting flavors that include cedar, baking spices, chocolate and espresso. They all seem to take turns being the dominant force and always balance out perfectly.

In addition to the awesome flavors you can also expect an equally awesome burn on these sticks. This is a total cigar experience that you definitely need to have. The price on these is a bit high but I personally think they are definitely worth it and only get better with a bit of time in the humidor. I did have a chance to smoke a couple other vitolas but none of them seem to hold a candle to The Shark and I’m not the only one who seems to think so.

I’m not a huge Arturo Fuente fan, I’ll smoke them every now and then but it’s not a brand I actively seek out. More so because a lot of their cigars seem to taste very similar apart from the Opus X line and the Anejo line. But here we have something that I will continue to seek out over the years and if they keep up the awesome flavors and great construction then you will not be disappointed if you do the same!

The brew here was the Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale. It is a winter seasonal produced by Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery based out of England. You can expect to be ‘welcomed’ by an interesting orangey-amber ale that is super bubbly and flowing with sweet and floral flavors and a touch of spices common in winter seasonals. A tasty pairing indeed if you manage to find it around Christmas time.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

The post Quick Draw Episode 6 – Arturo Fuent Anejo No. 77 “The Shark” appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now let me just toss this out there.. One thing I’m not happy about when it comes to AJ’s cigars is the restricted distribution and sale of most of them, namely through cigar.com and all it’s affiliates such as cigarsinternational.com. I don’t have a problem with those retailers, but they seem ot have a problem with the awesome people North of the border since they don’t ship to Canada. So needless to say, they are more difficult for me to get my hands on. This also affects a lot of people who prefer to purchase cigars from local B&M’s. Ok, so now that we got that out of the way, what else do we know about this cigar.

Well, the Morro Castle brand actually has roots in the Cuban cigar industry but A.J. Fernandez took ownership of the brand and began blending and manufacturing them in Nicaragua. He also gave what seems to be a throw back to the original heritage by using some Cuban seed leaves in the filler. I stated the MSRP below as being $5 but if you get them by the box and catch them on sale, they can actually be had for prices well below $4 per stick in the Belicoso vitola. Other available vitolas include the Robusto, Toro, Torpedo and Churchill.

We have quite a few other reviews from AJ’s massive resume on the site as well, some of my personal favorites include the Man O’ War Armada, Man O’ War Virtue and a more recent popular cigar that Tony reviewed, the San Lotano Oval. So I think this cigar has a lot to live up to and hopefully it’s lower price will give it a slight edge in the final thoughts section. I received most of my samples through trades and/or gifts, the cigar I’m lighting up today comes from a trade made this past Christmas, let’s see how it stacks up!

Cigar: Morro Castle
Drink: Lindeman’s Cuvee Rene Lambic Beer
Vitola: Belicoso (5 x 52)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Cuban Seed Nicaraguan and Honduran
Price: MSRP $5.00
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The outside of this cigar looks very shiny and smooth, it’s glistening with oil and has a nice golden-brown glow to it
• Even though there are no large veins, the cigar is fairly bumpy. Most likely due to a rough binder
• The cap of this cigar is finished very cleanly and with expertise as the leaf blends seamlessly into the rest of the cigar
• The length of the Morro Castle has a nice little spring to it as I squeeze it lightly
• The foot appears very well packed and cleanly finished, it’s easy to see a lot of care went into the construction
• Cutting the cap was clean and easy, I didn’t have to cut much and I’m left with a good draw

Burn:
• The foot did not want to co-operate wit ha slow toasting and just refused to start glowing, but after a few draws it seems to have evened out
• Despite a somewhat challenging toasting, the Morro Castle is burning razor sharp through the first couple of inches
• I ran into a few wrapper issues that caused some burn problems, but I’m attributing these to the cold day today, I can’t knock the cigar since the first half burned perfectly

Smoke & Ash:
• There is a ton of smoke coming from this Morro Castle cigar, just one draw seems enough to provide a thick cloud of smoke
• Even when resting, there seems to be a fair bit of smoke coming from this cigar
• The ash seems to be coming along with a nice white color but it seems a little flaky so far, we’ll see how it progresses
• Even though it looked a little flaky and weak, the ash managed to hang on for about 1.5 inches and it stayed a nice shade of light grey/white for the whole way through
• Another solid ash lasting past the 1 inch mark, showing some good construction quality on this cigar even with the very cold temps today

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off very little aroma, maybe just a touch of woodsiness
• The aroma on the foot is also fairly faint but it brings out a little bit of cedar and some mild baking spice notes
• The pre-light draw brings more cedar and a little more of those baking spices, now with a bit of sweet paprika mixed in
• The first few draws after lighting had an extremely bitter and dry after-taste that I’ve never really had so early on in a cigar
• As I slowly progress, the bitterness is tapering off a bit, I hope it completely disappears soon
• Flavor wise, the Morro Castle is kicking out a spicy cedar mix with a touch of earthiness thrown in
• The body seems to be hovering in the low end of medium right now and retrohale has just a slight bite and smooth yet dry cedar finish
• It took about an inch of the cigar before I can say the bitter dryness is completely gone, I’m now left with an enjoyable profile of cedar, mild baking spices and earthiness
• The whole balance of this cigar is really hitting it’s stride as I get to the halfway mark, the spices and cedar have developed nicely
• There is a bit of sweetness sneaking into the mix too, maybe like a roasted nutty caramel type of profile, very interesting.
• The earthiness is still lingering and the finish has changed from the dry start to a creamy sweetness, much, much better!
• The body and retrohale haven’t changed much as I get into the final stretch, maybe just a touch higher in the medium range on the body
• The flavors seem to have all melded together in the last third, they aren’t bad but they aren’t as interesting as they were in the middle
• The flavors stayed tasty to the nub with no harshness at all, a good finish

Final Thoughts:
I think it’s pretty easy to tell that I wasn’t a fan of the first inch of this cigar. That bitter dryness is not a great way to make a first impression. But I’m glad to say I stuck it out and kept going because this turned into a pretty good quality cigar. It had a nice array of flavors and the burn was damn near perfect. When you factor in the price you can get these at by box purchase, it makes them a worthwhile purchase. I had a few in this vitola and they all seemed to suffer from bad starts so if I were to purchase them again I’d probably opt for a larger vitola to get more of the sweet spot in the experience.

Pairings:
I took a bit of a risk with this pairing today. I’m no Lambic aficionado like Tony, but from the few I’ve had I know that they are very sweet and usually flavored with some sort of fruit such as raspberry or cherry. They are tasty, but probably not a great pairing for a cigar. So I found this lambic that doesn’t seem to be flavored, I knew it was going to be sweet but I hoped it would still work out. It’s from Lindemans brewery in Belgium and is called the Cuvee Rene. So it is sweet, but not nearly as sweet as their flavored offerings and it’s got a fair bit of carbonation. Surprisingly though, it seemed to work well with a cigar, especially one with a bit more body and a touch of spice to counteract the beers sweetness. It’s sort of hard to describe a lambic beer but I guess you could compare it to an alcoholic version of pop. This particular one has some citrus notes to it so maybe like a delicious and alcoholic version of 7UP or Sprite? I’m probably way off but that’s what I think, lol. Either way, it was tasty and went well with the cigar. Other options for the Morro Castle would be a porter or dark ale, maybe a strong coffee and even some black tea.

The post Morro Castle by A.J. Fernandez appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Avo Uvezian is the mastermind behind the AVO brand is also a very talented Jazz pianist. He was born into a family of musicians but he paved a different road for his family’s future when he began making cigars. It’s no secret that he has blended some very tasty sticks and for the last few years he has been blending a limited edition cigar to be released on his birthday.

Not long ago I reviewed the AVO 80th Anniversary which was released in 2006 to commemorate Avo’s 80th birthday. Tony also reviewed the AVO Limited Edition 2010 not long ago. Today’s cigar is called the Compañero and was released in 2009 to mark Avo’s 83rd birthday. On the cigar, you will find the classic and classy AVO logo with the name “Avo Uvezian” on one side and “LE09” written on the the other. Below this band is another dark burgundy band with the “Compañero” name written on it.

The blend in the AVO Limited Editions change a bit each year and the Compañero is no different. This year the cigar comes wrapped with an Ecuadorian leaf and bound with Dominican leaf. The interesting part of the blend is the filler which is made up of a couple types of Ligero and some Peruvian Seco tobacco.

I’m interested to see how this blend will play out. On paper it seems a bit strong but with at least 2 years of age on it I’m hoping it smoothed out. Let’s get onto the review and find out.

Cigar: AVO Compañero Limited Edition 2009
Drink: The Singleton of Glendullan 12 Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Vitola: Toro (6 x 54)
Wrapper: Cuban Seed Ecuadorian
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Criollo Ligero, Piloto Ligero, San Vicente Ligero, Peruvian Seco
Price: About $15
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The AVO Companero is an oil and dark looking cigar that sports a slightly toothy wrapper with a goldish-brown glow
• There are some veins running down the side of the cigar but most are fairly small and don’t really pose any issues
• The top of the cigar is cleanly finished with an expertly applied single cap while the foot shows signs of a well packed long-filler cigar
• For the most part, the cigar is very firm to the touch with only a very minor give when squeezed
• I made the cut super shallow and just basically trimmed off the cap without cutting into the filler, left me with an easy and perfect draw
• I “may” have accidentally “dropped” the cigar right before lighting it up… I’ll take that into account for any burn issues

Burn:
• Toasting was easy and even, it left me with a nicely glowing foot
• Despite some cracks on the wrapper near the foot due to my dropping it, the cigar is burning beautifully through the first couple of inches
• The cigar burned through the cracked wrapper like it wasn’t even there and I’m still going strong with a razor sharp burn!
• Ran into a few more wrapper issues caused by my drop, they still didn’t affect the burn much but I really regret dropping it!
• My super fail of a drop had more consequences than I had hoped for, the wrapper pretty much came off at the end but it’s totally my fault, do NOT take this as the regular burn for this cigar. Other Companero’s I’ve had burned without any issues.

Smoke & Ash:
• The AVO Companero is producing a heft amount of smoke from each draw, it’s thick and billowy to boot
• At a resting position, the cigar is producing a comfortable amount of smoke, nothing overpowering and it has a nice burning cedar aroma
• The ash is starting off a bit flaky but that’s probably my fault…
• The color of the ash is a very nice and consistent light grey
• Even with a bit of flaking, the ash lasted just past an inch before I gently tapped it off
• Now that I’m passed the cracked wrapper the ash is staying clean and tight
• The next ash fell off after about an inch jsut before I was going to take a picture… bad luck for me tonight! lol

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper of the cigars is hardly aromatic at all, it’s only a little bit woodsy and that’s it
• The foot on the other hand shows clear indications of spices, earthiness and a fresh cedar aroma
• The pre-light draw is very earthy and woodsy, with more of the fresh cedar from the foot
• Initial draws are filled with more earthy notes and little bit of the fresh peat flavor I’ve come to appreciate from most AVO cigars
• Some of the spice I picked up earlier is making a subtle appearance within the first inch, it’s just on the tip of my tongue making for an interesting touch to the profile
• The body of the AVO Companero is a smooth medium so far, well balanced and with a nice little bite on the retrohale
• The finish is also very tasting, coating my nasal passages with a fresh cedar touch
• I have to emphasize the “fresh” part of the cedar flavor, it’s not like a seasoned humidor smells but more like the aroma of a fresh, brand new humidor or freshly cut cedar plank, very pleasant!
• The woodsy and earthy notes are mixing so nicely and taking turns being prominent
• Along with those, the peat and freshness of the cedar add a very interesting and enjoyable flavor that I can’t get enough of
• Just past the halfway mark, the spices are coming in a little stronger and mixing perfectly with the fresh cedar and peat flavors, this cigar keeps getting better!
• The body has stayed more or less in the medium range and it’s still maintaining a very smooth retrohale
• Despite the wrapper pretty much falling off the cigar, I still managed to enjoy the last bit of spice, cedar and peat right to the end

Final Thoughts:
Right from the start, the AVO Companero was bringing me a bright and flavorful profile that instantly caught my attention. Each of the tastes were very full flavored and easily discernible making for a very enjoyable smoke. Even with my fat-fingered fall to the floor and some wrapper cracks, this cigar burned perfectly. I’m also very surprised to say the wrapper falling off didn’t change the cigars flavor too much and I was still able to enjoy it. That’s a sign of a well balanced cigar in my eyes, the flavor was not “all in the wrapper” as some people might think. This showed me that the cigar had a very good balance of wrapper, binder and filler. I’d actually even say this experience made me appreciate the blending that went into this cigar even more than I normally would have!

Pairings:
I’ve only ever come across the peat flavors in the AVO cigars so I knew heading into this review that I had to pair it with a nice Scotch. So I looked into what I had and decided to finish off this bottle of The Singleton 12 year Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Well, I was right! The smokey and peat flavors of the Scotch paired perfectly with the fresh cedar and matching peat flavors on the cigar. I would definitely recommend having a nice scotch with this cigar, so give it a try next time you pick up this cigar or pretty much anything in the AVO lineup.

The post AVO Companero LE09 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Today we have a fairly limited cigar up for review that I actually don’t think got all that much Press. It comes from the B&M Exclusive line by Pete Johnson of Tatuaje. If you haven’t stumbled across any of these before, you can find one of the previous ones reviewed here on Casas Fumando, it was the Tatuaje Barclay Rex 100th Anniversary. Pete Johnson continues this line with the Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011.

The TAA in the name actually stands for the “Tobacconists Association of America” and unlike his previous B&M Exclusive releases, you will actually be able to find these in more than just 1 store. The total distribution went out to 40+ TAA retailers across the United States of America. There was also a larger production turned around for this cigar with numbers totaling up at 30,000 cigars. This worked out to 1,500 boxes of 20 cigars per box, and if you had a retailer in your area, they would have sold between $10 and $11 per cigar.

As with most exclusives from Tatuaje and Pete Johnson, they don’t last too long on shelves and are already fairly scarce in most areas. One thing that made them a bit of a draw to Tatuaje fans is that Pete hinted the blend was similar to that of the Pork Tenderloin and the Brex. Both of those were limited releases from Tatuaje that were difficult to track down. Pete also decided to change up the shape of this cigar a little bit. You can find that it is a slightly rectangular box-pressed shape and the 5.675 x 54 vitola is also non-standard. I actually found the vitola here to be a good balance between a Toro and Robusto.

The cigar itself comes wrapped in an interesting Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Now the wrapper alone doesn’t make the cigar, but both Tony and I both seem to have a great appreciation for a lot of Broadleaf cigars so I’m hoping this continues the trend. It’s terribly cold out here today but I’ve got my propane heater to keep me warm from the outside and a nice tall bottle of beer to keep me warm on the inside. So let’s see what the Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011 has in store for me!

Cigar: Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011
Drink: Wychwood Brewery Bah Humbug Christmas Cheer
Vitola: Box-Pressed Toro/Robusto hybrid (5.625 x 54)
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $10
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Tatuaje TAA is actually a tad rough looking on first glance with a few medium to large sized veins and some uneven areas in the diameter
• The wrapper looks like a tasty chocolate bar with a bit of toothiness and I’m actually getting some sort of glitter type effect on it, could just be my lighting (I later realized the glitter was likely caused by the temperature being so cold that the humidity droplets were icing over…)
• The cigar sports a closed foot and a box pressed shape, the triple cap ties up the presentation nicely
• There is a bit of inconsistency with regards to firmness on the cigar too with some areas being soft and springy while others are very firm
• The cap clipped away fairly cleanly with my double-bladed guillotine cutter, I’m met with a bit of an open draw here that concerns me
• The draw remains very open which is disappointing

Burn:
• I actually peeled away the closed foot pieces to reveal a nice clean foot for my toasting since I’ve had terrible luck in the past with closed feet
• This resulted in a nice and evenly toasted foot and kicked me off to a great start
• A bit of a wave started after the toasting, we’ll see how it progresses
• The wave is progressing to be worse and will definitely require some touch-up soon
• The cigar almost went out and needed a fairly hefty touch-up, but we’re chugging along again now
• The draw seemed to get a bit tighter after my relight/touch-up and the burn has been a little more consistent, although still a tad wavy

Smoke & Ash:
• There is an absolute insane amount of smoke coming from each draw of this cigar, I could make smoke signals rivalling campfires with this cigar!
• Surprisingly, there isn’t much resting smoke coming off the cigar, just a moderate amount giving off a burning wood aroma
• The ash appears nice and clean so far with a light grey color tone
• First ash lasted just about an inch before falling off into the ashtray
• Second ash seemed to keep with the 1 inch mark as it’s standard

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has very little aroma, maybe just a bit of sweet tobacco
• Since the foot is closed, there isn’t much variance on the aroma but I do get a little bit of spice there
• The pre-light draw brings more sweet tobacco and spices, both in greater intensities now
• The initial draws offer an interesting mix of spices dominated by a white pepper type of flavor, mixed in there is also some cedar woodsiness that balances it all out
• The array of spices keeps changing as I smoke the Tatuaje TAA, there’s a variety of cloves, nutmeg and raw cinnamon along with the white pepper
• The initial sweetness I detected is pretty much gone but the cedar flavors seem to be balancing out the profile for now
• There is a very small bite on the retrohale and the finish is a nice smooth cedar flavor
• The body seems a little hard ot place right now, but I’ll say we’re near medium so far, I suspect that will increase soon though
• As I approach the half way mark I can’t say I’m getting much else in the flavor department, still spices and cedar
• It’s not a bad profile but I’m hoping it changes up a bit soon to keep me interested
• The balance of the cedar seems to be fading away and I’m getting more into a bland tobacco flavor paired with some mixed spices
• The Tatuaje TAA never really passed the medium threshold, stayed in the range until the end with only a slight buildup
• I really wish that initial sweetness made a presentation here, it would really bring a nice dimension to this cigar…
• Flavors going into the last 1.5 inches are really fading away, mostly getting a burnt woodsiness and some leathery flavors
• Had to put the cigar down a bit early as the flavors started getting harsh

Final Thoughts:
The Tatuaje showed some promise initially and I was enjoying the flavor profile from the start. Unfortunately, that profile didn’t change much as the cigar progressed and actually got a little bland shortly after the halfway mark. I also had a few issues with the burn and an extremely open draw. I think the cigar had some potential and maybe needed a little more rest time in the humidor, I’m not too sure. I’ve come to expect a higher calibre of cigars from Pete Johnson’s B&M exclusive lines and I don’t think this one lived up to the expectations I had. I’d definitely want to try another couple after they’ve had time to rest though and see how age treats them.

Pairings:
As we all know, Christmas is just around the corner and that means by favorite time of year in the brewery world! Christmas and Winter ales are probably my favorite seasonal brews and there’s always cool gift packs available too. You may recognize the Wychwood Brewery name from their famous Hobgoblin ruby ale which I’ve enjoyed in my review of Illusione 888 Slam and it’s own review here. This offering is called “Bah Humbug Christmas Cheer” and is one of theie seasonal ales. I actually found the flavors to be very similar to the Hobgoblin and not as “heavy” as you might expect. It’s basically got that smooth ruby ale character with an added touch of spices common in winter seasonal ales, such as cinnamon. I found it to be a very tasty pairing to the Tatuaje TAA since it offered a change of pace from the cigars profile and kept the whole experience a little more interesting.

The post Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.