The Good Stuff:

This cigar doesn’t really need a lot of introduction. The Cohiba Robustos tops the list of most purchased Cuban cigars of all time, and rightfully so. It’s always a pleasure to come back to and most Cuban cigar smokers stock these for heavy rotation. The all Cuban blend comes in multiple packages and runs somewhere around $12 a stick. It’s always interesting to see just how much more common Cuban cigars vary in price depending on where you get them.

• Size: 5 x 50
• Wrapper: Cuban
• Binder: Cuban
• Filler: Cuban
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Price: ~$12
• Pairing: Great Notion Box of Chocolates (Imperial Stout 11% ABV)

Prelight:

The Cohiba Robustos starts out with an extremely consistent light-brown/yellowish wrapper. The wrapper’s texture is silky smooth with no tooth and a decent amount of oils. The wrapper feels very thin and delicate while the cigar as a whole is pretty heavy and tightly compacted with no soft-spots. There are a few larger veins and lots of natural tobacco webbing scattered throughout the cigar’s body leading up to it’s round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off with the updated hologram-infused black, gold, yellow, and white Cohiba band we’ve seen on most of their more recent releases.

The wrapper on the Cohiba Robustos gives off a ton of earthy, cedar aromas while the foot of the cigar is much more dormant with light notes of spice and pine. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some nice cedar, cashew, and saltiness.

First Third:

The Cohiba Robustos lit up with ease under my single torch butane torch. The first few puffs greeted me with some light white pepper, cedar and cashew. As the pepper faded a nice mixture of butter and pine began to creep into the flavor profile. The draw was pretty snug for about a quarter of an inch before finally opening up and releasing a good amount of gray smoke which dissipated pretty quickly while the cigar releases only trace amounts of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burning is very thin and dead even leaving behind a tightly compacted trail of bright gray ash which held on for almost an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Cohiba Robustos and the flavor profile remains the same for the most part. The cedar and cashew still lead the charge with notes of butter, pine, and even a soft honey that I wish was a bit more present. The retrohale really brings the cedar to the forefront of the experience and I find myself doing it quite often. The cigar is burning flawlessly without any help from my torch while I close out the second third with noting in terms of a nicotine kick.

Finish:

The flavor profile has began to ramp up into the final third of the Cohiba Robustos but it never fully pushed the cigar out of the medium-body arena. The cedar and cashew are still going strong while the pine and butter dropped out leaving only some earthiness and leather. I feel the final third of the Cohiba Robusto came so quickly after I lit up the cigar, but it actually took me an hour and a half to take the cigar down to the nub and I experienced no harshness nor extended heat while the cigar left me with only a very minor nicotine kick.

Overview:

Its easy to see why the Cohiba Robustos is such a popular cigar. The construction was flawless, the burn was perfect, the flavor profile was great, the price point isn’t ridiculous and the cigar preformed very well. Its not the most complex cigar, but its the perfect smoke for those times when you are caving something that tastes great and you don’t want to put too much thought into the experience. Its the perfect relaxing on the patio on a spring day after a long week cigar which deserves a spot in my regular every-day rotation.

Pairing:

I decided to go off the beaten path a bit with this pairing. Normally I’d pair this cigar with something dry and mild, but I wanted to see how far we could push the profile with something heavy and sweet so I turned to Great Notion’s Box of Chocolates. The 11% ABV Imperial Stout is brewed at the Great Notion brewery in Portland, Oregon is created using a mixtures of Chocolate, Hazelnuts, and cherry. The beer starts with a ton of sticky chocolate and malt with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with vanilla, cocoa, light hazelnut and just an aftertaste of cherry. While these aren’t notes I picked up in the Cohiba Robustos they complemented the profile really well and the sweetness helped push the needle from the dry side to a more overall sweeter experience.

The post Cohiba Robustos (Cuban) appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

It’s everyone’s favorite Halloween cigar time! Every year Pete Johnson of Tatuaje releases a new Monster cigar which celebrates… well… monsters. Monsters from the past, and from iconic movies:

• 2008 – The Frank
• 2009 – The Drac
• 2010 – The Face
• 2011 – The Wolfman
• 2012 – The Mummy
• 2013 – The JV13
• 2014 – The Jekyll
• 2015 – The Hyde
• 2016 – Krueger
• 2017 – The Michael
• 2018 – The Bride
• 2019 – Chuck and Tiff

This year the focus is on the Tiff from the movie Child’s Play. Breaking some of his traditions, Pete also launched the Chuck this year to pair with the Tiff, but we’ll talk about that one another day. Rolled at the My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Nicaragua the Tiff features an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler. The Tiff, as do most of the Monster Series cigars, comes in either dress boxes of 13 or standard boxes of 10 running the standard $13 a cigar. I got mine over from our friends at Fox Cigar Bar who still have them in stock with free shipping, no minimum.

• Size: 5 7/8 x 52
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $13
• Pairing: Great Notion Sticky Bund (Imperial Stout 11.25% ABV)

Prelight:

The Tatuaje Tiff Starts out with a beautiful, consistent, buttery brown wrapper. There are a few darker spots scattered throughout the cigar’s wrapper. The wrapper’s texture is very smooth, oily and dense as I am careful not to handle the cigar too harshly. The cigar is nicely packed, but very light while I wasn’t able to location any soft spots. There are a few very mild veins running through the cigar’s long, chubby body up to its round double-wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off by the beautifully simple and elegant white and black Tatuaje band with “Monster” and “Halloween” printed in red on the sides.

The wrapper on the Tatuaje Tiff gives on subtle cedar and tobacco aromas while the foot of the cigar carries more spice and earthy scents. The cap cut like butter using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some really nice caramel, honey, and earthy flavors.

First Third:

The Tatuaje Tiff starts off with a very mild black pepper punch which really only lasted the first puff or two leaving behind a good amount of bold cedar and honey backed by caramel, earthiness, soft spice and hints of pine. The draw is absolutely perfect as each tiny puff kicks out massive clouds of thick, white smoke which hangs around my porch for a considerable amount of time before fading away. The burn line is slightly wavy, and very sharp leaving behind a trail of lightly compacted medium gray ash which held on for 3/4 of an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Tatuaje Tiff and not a whole lot has changed in the flavor department. The cigar still leads with cedar and caramel backed by honey, soft spice, earthiness and cinnamon. That pine flavor has made it’s exit in the first third. The retrohale really brings out the cedar and I find myself doing it much more often than normal as I am really enjoying the extra complexity it gives to the experience. The burn line is sill slightly wavy but manageable while I close out the second third with nothing in the nicotine department.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Tatuaje Tiff and a really bold pecan flavor has entered the mix and has completely taken over the flavor profile backed by bold cedar and caramel, along with the soft spice, cinnamon, and earth notes. It took me an hour and a half to take this cigar down to the nub and I never once had to reach for my lighter to touchup or relight the cigar. I close out with no harshness, no extended heat, and only a very mild bit of nicotine.

Overview:

I really enjoyed this cigar. The Connecticut shade is a departure from what we have grown to expect from the Monster series, but a welcomed one. While the cigar remained in the medium strength, medium body arena I was really able to pick apart and appreciate all the flavors the cigar had to offer. This cigar delivered, without having to hit you over the head with flavor or strength and makes for a perfect mid-afternoon smoke and one of the better Connecticut shade cigars I have smoked in my recent memory.

Pairing:

Sticky bun in a 11.25% Imperial stout brewed with melted brown sugar, toasted pecans and cinnamon by Great Notion Brewing in Portland Oregon. The beer leads with a whole mess of sweetness. The cinnamon and brown sugar are very present with notes of malt, chocolate, vanilla, and coconut with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with more sweetness, vanilla, cinnamon and a whole ton of pecan on the aftertaste which I wouldn’t think you’d be able to pick up as prominent as you do. This is a pastry stout by far, a very sweet and enjoyable one. The cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla really complimented the flavors in the Tatuaje Tiff while the sweetness helped bring the cigar up to a whole new level.

The post Tatuaje Monster Series #12 The Tiff appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.