It’s been a kooky, unusual summer here in Seattle, with temps climbing into the 90’s,long dry periods, and then thunderstorms.  Quite a change from the last couple of years, where it seemed to never get above the mid-70’s other than for a week or two.

Anyway, up for review today is the Rabito de Cochino by La Gloria Cubana.  This Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapped stick comes in a single size, a 6-1/2×46 lonsdale/corona gorda sort of hybrid, and comes in coffins of three, or a slanted display pack of eight coffins (24 cigars).   These cigars, which are named after their pigtail caps, are produced at the El Credito Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic.  You can find more information about it here.  And for a review for another line of La Gloria Cubana’s, you can mosey over to find Jeremy’s positive take on the Serie R Esteli.

Wrapper:  Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder:  Nicaraguan
Filler:  Nicaraguan and Dominican
Size:  6-1/2×46
MSRP:  $15 for a coffin of three
Smoking time:  1 hour, twenty-five minutes
Pairing:  Big ol’ gin and tonic

Pre-light

The La Gloria Cubana Rabito de Cochino comes in a cool presentation – three cigars tied together with a yellow/gold ribbon and placed in a cedar coffin with a clear acrylic sliding cover and cushioned with a piece of foam for good measure.  The display pack is equally impressive, albeit a bit unwieldy for shipping and storage (you can see it on the LGC page at the link above).  The cigar itself boasts a medium brown wrapper with darker mottling and sports a very fine tooth which can barely be seen or felt.  It has a nicely coiled pigtailed cap and an unfinished foot, with the wrapper extending well beyond the cut of the foot and folded over.  The wrapper smells of tobacco and light spice and pepper, along with a bit of mossy earth.  Not surprisingly, the foot, being all wrapper, smells the same, perhaps a bit stronger, since there is more wrapper there.  The cap cuts very easily, producing a decent draw despite the closed foot.

First third

A quick and easy light produces a good draw and mouthful of smoke.  The first puffs are of wood, earth, pepper, and spice.  The retrohale is a smooth and earthy pepper.  A little further down, the spice turns somewhat floral with a lightly syrupy sweetness.  The burn, which had started out wavy, has become sharper and has evened itself out.  Having smoked more than a few of these before, I tap the ash off at about an inch.  This is not a stick you want to enter into a long ash contest with and you will want to keep an eye on it for signs of weakness.  Subsequent ashings were at a length between ¾” to 1”.  After a while, a slight bit of char adds itself to the mix of earth, spice, and a bit of leather, while the pepper remains in varying degrees.  At this point, the Rabito is at a solid medium body.

Second third

As the Rabito de Cochino enters its second third, some lightly toasted bread notes have entered the fray.  The pepper bite has backed off, but is still present in flavor, and a creamy texture has now come into play.  The earthiness has dialed back, while cedar has stepped up.  The slight bit of char remains along with the sweet floral notes in the background.  The burn line wanders, but always returns like a dog that wants to explore, but doesn’t want to get too far from its beloved owner.

Finale

Were into the final third, and the LGC Rabito de Cochino continues on its merry way, rarely bringing in any new flavors, but varying the way in which the ones it does have are presented, while ramping the body up a bit into the medium-plus range.  I feel little, if any, nicotine (although I am starting to feel the two G&T’s and lack of sleep) and no harshness although the creaminess has left the building, and I finally put it down with an inch left after 1 hour and twenty-five minutes.   It’s a slow burner that allows you to smoke it at a leisurely pace, which is essential for most narrow ring gauge cigars.

Overview

Obviously, I like this stick a lot.  It has enough of a variety of different flavors to make for a pretty complex and balanced presentation, even if it doesn’t show a lot in the way of transitions.   The ash may fall a little quickly, but other than that, construction is spot on, and I never have to think about reaching for my lighter for corrections or relights.  In fact, I have probably smoked a couple dozen of these in the past ten months.  Factor in the $5 price tag, and it’s a no-brainer for me, and you can easily find them for even less than that – some places have the coffins for as low as $10.  In fact, my last purchase was from cigar.com:  the display pack of eight coffins of three for $72.62, plus a free bonus of a sampler of five LGC cigars, a travel Herf-a-Dor, and a cutter.

I do have three people to thank for introducing me to the LGC Rabito de Cochino.  I first read about them at Craig Vanderslice’s great blog, http://www.cigarcraig.com.  If you’re not familiar with Cigar Craig, check it out.  Written in a relaxed, conversational style, it’s always a great quick read, and Craig is really a great guy.  After reading about the Rabito there, I was compelled to ask Tony if he had tried it, and what he thought of it, and he responded by sending me a couple.  After smoking them, I knew I had to get more.  It wasn’t until later that I found out that Casas Fumando’s very own Jeremy Hensley is the culprit who turned Tony onto them.  So gracias, guys!

Pairing

With the temperature getting into the mid-90’s today, I decided to go with a somewhat unconventional pairing, a good old gin and tonic.  It’s way more refreshing than beer, in my mind, when the temperatures soar.  The drink doesn’t interfere with the flavors of the cigar, and I think the lime and tonic water even added a bit of tang to the smoke, giving even one more dimension.  Another perfect pairing would be an IPA that doesn’t boast the strong piney, grapefruit bitterness that some do.  Yesterday, I had the Workhorse IPA from Portland, OR brewer Laurelwood Brewing Co. that was as great a match as you could want.

The post La Gloria Cubana Rabito de Cochino – Guest Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: Camacho releases it’s “Liberty” blend year after year since 2002 to celebrate their new found freedom in the United States. I myself, have only had the pleasure of enjoying years 2005-2012 with the exception of the 2006. Every release is an entirely different blend. Here is a description of the 2012 from the Camacho Website:

“Our annual Liberty Series is the crown jewel of the Camacho portfolio and developed using the best concept blend of the year. This year’s offering is quite a unique one. In the past, the Liberty has been comprised of tobaccos from a variety of different origins, as well as vintages. The 2012 blend uses four priming’s solely from our authentic Corojo crop of 2008, all grown on the same lot, specifically for this project.”

All of the Liberty blends that have been released in my time sport the same 11/18 format that these cigars are famous for. The 11/18 name comes from the day November 18h which symbolizes Christian Eiroa’s mother’s birthday. The format is basically a perfecto that starts with a 48 ring gauged foot, blows into a 54, then back to a 48 with a nice, round cap. I got these cigars over at TrueTobacco.com. Great Mail-Order site with a ton of different sticks. Check them out by clicking their ad to the right. You can find them from True Tobacco by the box, 5-pack, or single. They come in boxes of 20 and run $16 a stick. Only 2,000 boxes were released for a total of 40,000 cigars.

Size: 6 x 48/54/48
Wrapper: Corojo
Binder: Corojo
Filler: Corojo
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $16
Pairing: New Belgium Lips of Faith Biere De Garde (9% ABV)

Prelight: The first thing you notice about any cigar in the Camacho Liberty series is the packaging. Year after year Camacho pumps out these beautiful, elegant coffin boxes. Every year the design and color is different. The 2012 Camacho Liberty sports a glamorously shiny, deep red paint. Both the band, and foot band on the cigar match the red deign on the boxes as well as the standard black, white, and gold Camacho crest. Gotta love all the detail they put into the packaging of these releases. The cigar starts off with this amazingly consistent. Milky brown wrapper. The wrapper feels really delicate to the touch and carries only a few extremely seamless and minor veins. The 2012 Liberty also carries the infamous 11/18 perfecto format.

I’m assuming that it’s not just each of the blends, but the cedar coffin boxes that make these cigars smell so potently of straight up cedar. Seriously, I can’t think of a better smeller, stronger cedar scented cigar than each of these releases. I picked up a few subtle spices as well, but that cedar just overpowers everything in the scent department. The cap cut very clean and easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. As expected the cold draw released lots of cedar flavors as well as some really nice grain and oats (almost like wheat bread) and some subtle spice.

First Smoke: The Camacho Liberty 2012 starts off with a nice bit of black pepper masked by strong cedar, citrus, oaty, woodsy flavors. It might be the beer but I have this crazy pickle taste on my lips. Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s the beer. Anyhow, the draw on this cigar is magnificent and one of the many reasons why I love this format. Each little puff kicks out massive, thick clouds of smoke. The more I draw the strong the black pepper grows on the tip of my tongue. Another reason why I really enjoy this format is how comfortable it sits in my hands. It’s not too out of balance that it falls out, but the weight and the location in which the cedar begins to taper are perfect. The burnline on this cigar is razor sharp with a few waves, but nothing concerning yet. The ash left behind is a medium to dark grey. While it’s tightly compacted there is an area around the very tip of the ash which fell off right away while the remainder of that ash held on for about an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: The cedar and spice have really came out into the second third of this Camacho Liberty 2012. The cedar was already up front, but now it’s mixed with the spice to create this absolutely wonderful taste. Along with that, there was a really nice, sweet raisin flavor introduced while some of the oaty flavors began to drop off.  The burnline has completely corrected itself and is now burning perfectly even and razor sharp without any help from my lighter. The retrohale on these Liberties are always amazing as they coat your nasal passage with some of the smoothest, and strongest cedar from any cigar I have ever smoked. I am not feeling anything at all in the nicotine department as I close out the second third.

Finish: The final third of this Camacho Liberty 2012 is finishing much creamier and smoother than I imagined it would. The cedar is still the main contender in the flavor department, but it’s really taken a step back along with the spice while the sweetness remained making for a very smooth finish. I am still retrohaling the hell out of this cigar. Love it. All in all it took me about an hour and a half to take this whole cigar down. It burns much slower once you get to the “hump”.  The burn line suffered a few waves after that hump, but I didn’t have to relight or touch-up at all. I am only feeling a tiny bit of nicotine and I encountered no harshness nor any heat into the final inch of this cigar.

Overview: I look forward to the release of the Liberty 2012 every year and I have to say, this was one of the best releases yet. I still think the 2009 and 2005 are tops in my book with the 2012 just behind them. This cigar had more body and even a tad more strength then the other annual releases that I have had in the series. The cedar is always the main flavor but it was much more tame and the backing flavors were strong enough to keep my palate entertained without getting burned out form the cedar. I am still a strong believer that the price tag on these cigars are justified. These are the perfect cigar to have around to celebrate items like New Years, Forth of July, or your freedom in general. Pick a few up, enjoy them. I always do.

Pairing: This wonderful cigar was paired up with an equally wonderful beer. New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Biere de Garde. Instead of typing it all out here is a run down from the New Belgium website of the 9% brew:

“New Belgium, and Michigan’s own, Brewery Vivant, each stuck a hand in the mitten for this wonderful collaboration. A bright Biere de Garde with a pale copper sheen, this beer is brewed with pale malt, and some oats for creaminess. Hopped with Sorachi Ace to reinforce the citrus bite from the bergamot addition, the Brewery Vivant Collaboration is refreshing, and strong. A hint of clove from Vivant’s house yeast brings a spice bite to the extra dry finish. Enjoy with friends.”

There you have it. This beer starts off with some nice bitterness right off the bit witch quickly fades into a sharp citrus, finishing with a very smooth malty hoppyness. I’m not big on all the hoppy flavors that have been surfacing in a lot more of New Belgium’s beer but I am happy to report that the Hoppyness in this particular brew was welcomed and subtle enough not to take over the citrus or malt in the flavor profile. Sometimes I pair with a experience that will help compliment the cigar with a similar flavor profile, but other times as in this case, I will pair the two with flavors that don’t necessarily match up in hopes to fill voids in the experience. This isn’t an easy task and I screw up more times than I’d like to admit, but it worked very well in this case. The one thing that was missing from the Liberty was the citrus and this beer filled that gap perfectly while complimenting the malty/oaty and spice flavors.

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I smoked a few of these cigars, but this one in particular was actually sent to me by our good friend Mike at Mikestogies.com. Mike was the man who actually sent over the sticks I did on my first blind review set which you can view here. He’s a great guy, with great reviews.

The Good Stuff: Each year Camacho releases a limited release cigar called the Liberty Series.The tradition started back in 2002 and is one of my favorite annual releases. They retail anywhere between $18 and $22 a stick and come in boxes of 10 individually coffin-boxed cigars. If you’d like to read our review of the 2009, you can see Daniel’s take on it here. Again, the scenery may look a bit different. I am doing yet another review at my favorite local shop, Tobacco Rd.

Size: 6 x 54 (11/18)  – Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatran  – Binder: Honduran Corojo  – Filler: Honduran Corojo and Dominican Ligero

Prelight: The Camacho Liberty 2010 holds true to all the past Liberty series in terms of presentation. The Liberty starts out encased in a dark blue, shiny, painted coffin box. Each box has a sticker with each cigar’s unique number. This one happens to be 775 /40,000. Once the seal on the box is broken I was showcased with a nice cedar scent and a tissue wrapped cigar placed carefully inside the box. Once then tissue is removed you are presented with the standard, flashy, black and silver Camacho band that you would expect. One interesting thing about this band is out of all the 2010 Liberties that I smoked, this was the only one with  a black band. All the rest of them had a dark blue similar to the color of the paint on the box. The band is very similar in design from the previous years. The Liberty 2010 also comes fitted with a nice little foot band that simply states “Liberty Series” in silver on dark blue ink. The wrapper on the Liberty is a very light, very consistent, milky brown. The smaller foot leads up to a much wider body before tapering off to a smaller, rounded cap that matches the size of the Liberty’s foot. For the most part the cigar is very firm to the touch with the exception of the foot. There is a crack at the top of the cigar from the head to about the middle of the band. Mainly just a wrapper crack. It looks as thought it didn’t harm the binder. Normally I wouldn’t review a cigar that already has a crack in it, but this is my third Liberty 2010 from three totally different boxes that have similar cracks. Not to mention I had a few similar issues with the 2009’s I smoked last year. This just must be a delicate wrapper. The wrapper has this immense scent of straight up cedar. It seriously smells like the inside of a brand new humidor. which happens to be of my favorite scents in the world. Some how the foot has an ever stronger cedar scent with just a little whiff of spice. The Liberty cut very clean with my double bladed cutter. Lucky enough, the crack didn’t increase much in size.  The cold draw kicks out this wonderful milky, cedar flavor and leaves behind just a tiny bit of spice.

First Smoke: The Liberty 2010 starts off slightly different than I expected. Instead of being smacked in the face with soft cedar, the cigar starts off bold, with some earthy, leather notes. Not long after the cigar turns into this just massive cedar bomb, holy crap. This is the reason why I love these Liberties. Outside of the cedar there is a slight spice sneaking into the mix. All around this cigar is starting off very smooth and flavorful. The draw is easy, and plentiful, but the main story is the stationary smoke. The Liberty 2010 gives off a ton of cedar scented stationary smoke that even overpowers the other three cigars that are going in the room at the time. The burnline is slightly wavy, but I always have that problem with this size. They almost always fix themselves. The ash is a very light grey with some slight flakes, but overall tightly compacted. The ash held on for a little over an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: One major difference with this year’s 2010 Liberty is a big one for me. The cigar burns so much slower than the previous year. The 2009 was soooo good, but at the price point I was always hesitant to spend the money to buy a cigar that would burn so quickly. The cedar is still rocking very hard into this second third. The spice is still there as well with notes of leather and some really creamy chocolate. The retrohale in this cigar is absolutely amazing. After a few retrohales I swear my nasal passage made me feel as if I have been locked in a humidor for the last 3 days. The body is slowly starting to creep in as well. It’s not full, but it is noticeable. The burnline has completely fixed itself and is holding solid as I expected. The ash is ugly, but the experience is wonderful.

Finish: The cedar has begun to fade a bit into the final third of this Camacho Liberty 2010. The cedar is still the main flavor with the backing flavors of spice, and this really strong leather flavor. The body has really ramped up too, which is totally unexpected.  I’m even getting a slight nicotine kick from this one. There was a slight harsh build up into the last inch but nothing too concerning, it was almost expected.  All in all the cigar finished very smooth, a bit heavier than I expected, and burned much slower taking about an hour and forty five minutes to finish.

Overview: The Camacho Liberty has always been a cigar that I look out for every year. The similar blends are just wonderful. The cost is a little high, but it’s a great cigar, for those special times. The slower burn was great, but it had its own drawback. Towards the end of the experience the cedar starting to get overwhelming and it made me want the tobacco flavors to come in and really take over. The crack really didn’t make much of a difference, and seldom does in this cigar. All in all, it’s a good cigar, at a decent price. But the Liberty is not something that I would put in my regular rotation due to the price, and availability. I do however love to keep a few of these on hand to satisfy those cedar cravings.

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