With last year’s acquisition by General Cigar of the Toraño brand, I thought that it would be timely to get in a review of a cigar that I had been meaning to take a look at for a while now.  The Vault D-042 line is a follow-up to the Vault A-008 that Tony reviewed a couple of years ago.  The Vault D-042 is a completely different blend that was launched at the 2013 IPCPR trade show, and features a “rare Pennsylvania leaf” in the filler.  While both parties involved in the sale of Toraño to General Cigar assert that nothing will change with the blends and that manufacturing facilities will remain the same, I guess that remains to be seen.  My advice to lovers of the Toraño brand would be to stock up now, just in case.

This little snippet of information  on the Vault D-042 comes from the Toraño website:

This latest “Blend from the Vault” combines select Central American tobaccos, but with an unusual addition. According to President Charlie Toraño, “My father and I discovered a rare Pennsylvania leaf, while on a 1998 tobacco trip. Extensive experimentation revealed it to be an excellent enhancement to the filler tobaccos in Blend D-042 which we recorded in the blend book in 2004. The Pennsylvania tobacco’s flavor perfectly balanced the Nicaraguan filler combination. The original blend had a Sumatra Ecuadorian wrapper which was a popular choice at the time and widely available. In making some small adjustments to the original blend, we added a Habano Ecuadorian wrapper and the result was impressive. Blend D-042 is a powerful smoke, but with long and lingering sweet spice notes, it is very rounded and flavorful. It’s a fitting addition to our Vault line, complementing our runaway top-seller and widely distributed Vault Blend A-008.”

The Vault D-042 come in four sizes:  Robusto – 5×52; Toro – 6×50; Torpedo – 6-1/8×52; and BFC – 6×60.

Wrapper:  Ecuador Habano
Binder:  Nicaragua Habano
Filler:  Nicaragua Jalapa and Esteli; Pennsylvania
Size:  Robusto 5×52
Price:  $7.20
Smoking time:  One hour, twelve minutes
Pairing:  Oakshire Brewing Ill-tempered Gnome Winter Ale

Pre-light

The Toraño Vault D-042 comes draped in a uniformly dark chocolate brown Habano wrapper with noticeable veins and a somewhat bumpy roll.  I’m not sure if this is supposed to have a slight press to it, but it’s not exactly round.  I suspect that’s because I bought this as part of a sampler that came tightly cellophane.  The primary band is a classy looking combination of metallic magenta tinged red, gold, and black, while the foot band is of the same red with black lettering indentifying the cigar as “Blend D-042”.  The bands look quite nice against the color of the wrapper.  The wrapper itself doesn’t seem to have much of an aroma to it, just a tinge of earthy tobacco, while the foot shows a slightly stronger scent with the addition of a bit of hay.  Clipping the cap reveals a loose cold draw with very little flavor.

First third

Lighting up produces a copious amount of peppery and woody smoke, but the pepper dials down quickly and is joined by a bready note along with a bit of earthiness and a faint sweet spice.  The retrohale shows more of the wood and pepper flavor and is relatively smooth.  Early on, the burn line is thick and going off at a slant, prompting an early touch-up.  A light and somewhat bright sweetness is now showing up on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t quite pin down what it reminds me of.  The pepper has almost completely faded out, leaving the cedary wood, light earth, and sweet spice to take charge.  The burn has been behaving well since the touch-up, and the ash has held to a good 1-1/2”+ before being easily tapped off.  By the end of the first third, the body is no more than medium.

Middle third

There was an almost overwhelming muskiness to start out the middle third of the Vault D-042, but it died off quickly and the cigar has now turned smooth and creamy, with the same flavors previously shown dominating.  Just past the halfway point more earthiness has asserted itself and a bit of coffee and toastiness on the wood has emerged, while bread, nuts, and that sweet spice balance things out.  The burn has wavered, but has self-corrected each time, and the ash has again lasted for 1-1/2”.

Final third

The body of the Toraño Vault D-042 has now climbed up near the medium-full range and I have yet to feel much of anything in the way of nicotine strength.  The flavors have deepened, and the pepper has returned on the retrohale.  With about two inches left, I’m obliged to give it a quick touch-up, but it’s not a big deal at all.  The flavors remain consistent down to where just over an inch remains, when it becomes a little bitter and harsh, probably due to me getting cold and rushing things a bit so I can get back into my warm house.

Overview

The Toraño brand seems to draw some rather indifferent views from a lot of people, but I’ve always liked the cigars that I have smoked from them, especially the Exodus 50 Years and the Vault A-008.  Despite the somewhat inauspicious pre-light character, the Vault D-042 proved to be a solid, if not “wow”-type cigar, with flavors that I found enjoyable and the construction, draw, and burn were all very good.  Only a couple of quick touch-ups were required, and no re-lights.  In fact, the one that I had a previously was even more enjoyable, perhaps because I wasn’t stuck outside in the cold while smoking it, and it lacked that short bout of heavy musk that threw things off for a few minutes.  Being that it’s pretty easy to find them at a discount, I think that it’s certainly worth picking up a couple to try.

Pairing

I wanted to match up the Vault D-042 with a beer with some, but not too much, body and a light sweetness, so I went with the Ill-tempered Gnome from Oakshire Brewing.  Oakshire is based in Eugene, Oregon, the home of those dastardly University of Oregon Ducks.  The Ill-tempered Gnome is a hopped up brown ale, with a good amount of roasted and dark malts that give it a bit of fresh roasted coffee nose and a bit of sweetness in a medium bodied quaff, while the hops provide a bittering balance.  The brew actually served as a good palate cleanser and helped to bring out some of the more underlying sweetness in the cigar, while matching well with the other flavors the Vault had to give.

The post Toraño Vault D-042 Guest Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

I picked up the bundle at newhavanacigars.com and it just happens that Dan Welsh, owner of New Havana Cigars LLC, is a co-owner of L’Atelier Imports. His site has this to say about the El Suelo:

Branded as “From the Makers and Creator of Tatuaje”, the offerings by L’Atelier Imports are all made by the Garcia Family and blended by Pete Johnson.  L’Atelier Imports was created in 2012 by Pete Johnson and industry friends Dan Welsh, K.C. Johnson and Sean “Casper” Johnson with goals to make premium cigars that are “Consumer Price Conscious” and to raise the expectations of cigar smokers at every level of experience.

El Suelo from L’Atelier Imports is being made at the Garcia’s other factory, Tacuba.  This “Budget Premium” brand is very exciting as it is Blended and Branded and are being made available at an insane price point of $3.75 – $4.75!  Created to raise the expectations of those who reach for sticks in this price range, you may find yourself thinking that you would love it just as much if it had a much higher price point.

The Facts

Price Paid: $76.99 for a Bundle of 20
Vitola: Prado – Belicoso
Size: 5 ¾ by 58
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaragua and Connecticut Broadleaf
Pairding: Water
Smoke Time:  1 Hour and 25 Minutes

Pre-light

The band on the El Suelo Prado is very basic and Cubanesque, which I love. The company name, L’Atalier Imports, is stated nowhere on the band, but the back of the band contains the company’s tobacco leaf logo. There are some medium to large veins, and the wrapper seam is easily noticed.  Other than the larger veins being much lighter in color, the rest of the wrapper is a consistent brown with a reddish hue.  This is one rustic looking cigar.

As I feel up and down the cigar, I encounter no soft spots on this firmly rolled El Suelo.  The wrapper aroma is of cardboard, earth, and a slight hay.  The earth aroma off the fully packed foot is much more pronounced. Clipping the neatly applied cap reveals a decent draw with some resistance which I expected in this vitola.

First Third

Lighting this 58 ring gauge El Suelo took some time but my Zippo Z-plus! got the job done. The draw is snug requiring a firm pull before my mouths fills with smoke. Right away, I pick up on a familiar Nicaraguan pepper along with earth, dry cedar, and a bitter coffee.  The earth, almost in the dirt range, and bitter coffee begin to dominate the other flavors. The retrohale brings out flavors of pencil shavings and pepper with a spicy finish. The smoke is very light in the mouth.  The thick burn line is leaving behind a firmly packed, light grey ash.  The flavors are on the low side of medium and I am feeling absolutely no nicotine.

Middle Third

As I enter the second third, the ash is still holding strong without any evidence of falling off. Better safe than sorry, I knock off the ash well past an inch and a half.  The cigar has begun to cone, which means I am probably smoking this cigar a little too fast.   Spacing out my puffs, I notice a more balanced profile.  The profile contains notes of cedar, pepper, coffee (without the bitterness), earth and additional notes of cocoa.  The cocoa is not sweet but somewhat dusty in the mouth. The flavors have increased to a steady medium along with the strength.  The burn has become wavy, as well as the ash becoming quite flaky but still holding strong.

Final Third

The burn has been deviating off course, but, after a few minutes, arrives back in-line. So far, I have only had to ash the cigar twice.  Sweetness comes into play, along with cocoa becoming more full and lingering on the palate during the finish.  Along with an enjoyable coffee flavor, a black tea flavor has entered the flavor profile. As I approach the final inch, an astringent  tartness jumps in and out along with some bitterness. The retrohale delivers sharp pepper making it hard to push a large amount of smoke through my nasal passage.The smoke production has increased throughout the cigar.  Now a copious amount of smoke enters my mouth with each draw. Putting an end to the smoke, the flavors are at the high side of medium and strength in the medium range.

Wrap-up

The El Suelo delivered dark, earthy flavors throughout the cigar.  While the flavors were muddied in the first third, they really found their pace in the middle and final third.  It was nice to see some flavor change ups, especially in such a value priced cigar.  The construction was superior to a lot, and I mean a lot, of other value cigars I have smoked.  The El Suelo may be a great candidate for a long ash contest.  I have smoked close to half a bundle of these cigars and each one has been consistent and performed excellent.  If you enjoy dark flavors of earth, coffee, cedar, and pepper this may be a great everyday cigar for you to consider.

The post L’Atelier Imports – El Suelo Prado appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

As I stated, our friend Eddie Ortega sent me one of each of his first three releases in the Wild Bunch Series. These are pre-release samples and Eddie actually told me they were pretty close to final, if not final. That being said, I am just going to give them brief write ups on my general thoughts on each blend with any specifics I know. I also paired each one of these cigars with water. Usually I’d have some awesome beer or port but since I am only giving my thoughts on a single cigar I wanted to keep my pallet as clean as possible. Also keep in mind that the bands on these cigars are just prototypes printed via laser printer. I would expect the design on the final product to be very similar if not identical to what they are on these samples.

 The Good Stuff: Here is a description of the series straight from the mouth of Eddie Ortega:

“During my time in the cigar industry, I’ve come to know lots of great interesting characters in the industry. I’ve found certain characters so interesting, that I decided to create a series called “Wild Bunch”. This series will consist of 12 characters, each of them with a unique flavor and size profile, no two will be alike.

The series will consist of a limited number of boxes 500-1000, the number of boxes produced will be based on the blend selected for the character, I want to use out of the ordinary material, specially wrappers, and I know that some of the selected wrappers I have chosen are in very limited supply.

The Series will start January 2013 and will continue through December 2013 with one character being released every month of the year, on December 2013 a final release of the completed set made up of either 12 cigars; 1 of each character or 24 cigars; 2 of each character.”

Big Bad John

Release Date: January 2013
Size: 6 7/8 x 60
Country: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Rosado
Binder: ?
Filler: ?
Price: ?
Strength: Full
Body: Full
Pairing: Water

Prelight: This baby is OILY! The wrapper on the Big Bad John is very silky smooth and just screams oil. This cigar gives off so much shine it almost looks like fake plastic. The wrapper is a nice medium brown and very consistent. There are quite a few very flat veins running through this very thick body up to the huge, round, triple cap. This cigar is heavy as hell and firm as a rock giving absolutely no way as I squeezed it. There are no soft spots and the construction is flawless. The wrapper lets loose a very strong, sweet cedar aroma while the foot gives off a strange gingerbreadesque aroma.

Flavors: The Big Bad John gave off very strong, bold tobacco and cedar flavors from the cold draw. The Cigar started out with some nice spice, bold tobacco, black pepper, leather, and a strange meaty type flavor. I am also getting a neat saltiness from the wrapper onto my lips. As I smoked on some nice bittersweet chocolate began to make it’s way into the mix as well as some more natural, earth flavors. The Black pepper, while it wasn’t strong, stuck around almost all the way though the cigar and gave nice support for the sweeter flavors in the experience. The cigar finished smooth with lots of body as the bold tobacco and cedar really ramped up towards the end.

Burn/Draw: Razor sharp, flawless burn the entire way though with a semi-flaky, light and dark grey ash. The draw is perfect. I am always worried about loose draws when it comes to larger ring gauges, but this one was spot on pumping out tons of thick smoke with every puff.

Thoughts: I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like large ring gauges on my cigar. That being said, there really are some blends out there that benefit from the larger formats (remember Quesada’s Oktoberfest Uber?). I really think this blend does very well in this size as I really enjoyed it. The filler flavors really got to showcase their strong, bold, yet sweet characteristics with a nice cedar blanket from the wrapper. This cigar is full bodied and full strength through and through. It’s strong, and flavorful. Be ready for it. The construction was flawless and the burn and draw were perfect the entire 2 hours it took to take this cigar down. While I enjoyed this cigar, I’d still love to see what the experience would be in a smaller format.

Iron Mike

Release Date: February 2013
Size: 4 7/8 x 54
Country: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro
Binder: ?
Filler: ?
Price: ?
Strength: Medium/Full
Body: Full
Pairing: Water

Prelight: While the main story on the Big Bad John was the oil, the Iron Mike boasts one of the toothiest wrapper I have every come across. Running your fingers down this cigar feels like sandpaper. The wrapper itself is very hard and thick and consistently dark brown. This cigar too, is very firm and gave very little when I squeezed it between my fingers. There was almost not veins running up the slender body up to the round triple cap. It was hard to even tell this cigar was triple capped due to how toothy the wrapper was. It’s seamless. The wrapper really doesn’t give off much more than a slight tobacco aroma while the foot of the cigar lets loose a ton of spice and brown sugar.

Flavors: WOW. Pepper bomb right off the bat. And it didn’t just show for a bit and then fade off. The pepper stuck around as a main component in the experience almost the entire time. Outside of the pepper the Iron Mike boasts some very sweet  tobacco, espresso, cherry, and a dark wood. Halfway through the pepper started to fade a bit and the cherry and espresso ramped up before finishing off smooth.

Burn/Draw: The burn was a bit wide and rigid, but it burned cleaner as the experience went on. The ash was semi-flaky but held solid for well over an inch before giving way. I didn’t have to touch up or relight at all.

Thoughts: This cigar really starts off with a bang. It’s full-flavor, full-strength at it’s finest. Eddie actually called me a wimpy for saying that too. But this cigar woke me up! This is a great cigar if you like flavor bombs with lots of pepper as well as a complex experience.

Island Jim

Release Date: January 2013
Size: 6 1/2 x 52
Country: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: ?
Filler: ?
Price: ?
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Pairing: Water

Prelight: It’s interesting to see that texture on the wrapper on the Island Jim is a mash up of both the Big Bad John and the Iron mike sporting a toothy, and oily texture. The Island Jim is the lightest in color out of the bunch showcasing a medium to light brown color. This cigar has a few larger veins and the color seems to be a darker brown with bits of orange surrounding these areas. While the other two cigars were extremely firm to the touch the Island Jim seems to be a bit more soft. The construction is still spot-on but the cigar itself has a little more give in it, especially around the foot. Again, this cigar is polished off with another round, triple cap. The wrapper gives off nothing more than a subtle cedar aroma while the foot of the cigar remains modest only allowing hints of spice and tobacco to show through.

Flavors: The flavor wasn’t as bold, sweet, or strong as the other two. Usually those are the characteristics I look for in a cigar but this is another example of medium bodied done right. Lots of up front cedar and black pepper, light leather, smooth tobacco, ginger, and some neat clove hints here and there.

Burn/Draw: Right off the bat this cigar burned razor sharp and perfectly clean leaving behind a very tightly compacted, thick ash. The ash actually held on for almost two inches before giving way.

Thoughts: Let me spoil the surprise by starting off saying that this was probably my favorite cigar out of the bunch. This cigar was incredibly smooth and creamy all the way down to the nub without ever being too mild.  The smaller ring gauge really let the flavor from the wrapper come out. In all honesty, this is one of my favorite formats as well. Brownie points go out to modeling this blend after Jim. In case you didn’t know, that dude’s an awesome badass.

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