The Good Stuff:

Last week I took a look at the Robaina Eagle, the first of two Fox Cigar bar exclusive blends made in collaboration with Robaina. This week I dive into the Alejo. I’ll let the Fox Cigar website do the talking:

Allow us to introduce you to one of the FOX x ROBAINA cigars: The Alejo. It’s created with an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 wrapper and utilizes a binder and fillers that we can’t disclose. This limited cigar was rolled in a 5 1/2 x 58 Double Robusto format and is medium – full body. The Alejo cigar project was born when Hirochi Robaina wanted to commemorate his families 170th anniversary of growing tobacco in Cuba. This specific blend / cigar was then aged for 5 years in his Nicaraguan resting room. Robaina himself has now declared that they are ready for the public and has released them exclusively with Fox!

The cigar is offered in a single 5 1/2 x 58 format and comes in awesome designed boxes of 10 running $13.99 a stick. This is a limited run and Fox Cigar bar has them in stock now with free shipping, no minimum.

• Size: 5 1/2 x 58
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano 2000
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $13.99
• Pairing: Bruery Icky Thump (Imperial Stout 11% ABV)

Prelight:

The Robaina Alejo starts out with a gorgeous, consistent, choclately brown wrapper. The wrapper itself is very firm and dense while the texture offers some slight tooth, loads of oil, medium veins, and lots of natural webbing in the leaf. The cigar as a whole is incredible heavy and hard, it almost feels like a mini baseball bat. The wrapper is folded over itself seamlessly leading from the unfinished foot where the wrapper is folded over the foot of the cigar to the cigar’s triple-wrapped, stubby pigtail cap. The cigar is polished off with the standard maroon and gold Robaina family crest along with the addition of a gold, maroon, and yellow secondary band featuring our beloved Fox Cigar bar mascot.

The wrapper on the Robaina Alejo gives off only soft sweet floral aromas while the foot of the cigar carries much more natural tobacco and cedar scents. The cap cut like butter using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces great cedar, gingerbread, and musk flavors.

First Third:

The Robaina Alejo starts out with a nice little burst of cayenne pepper which left my tongue and lips tingling for quite some time. Once the pepper began to fade the Alejo greeted me with loads of sweetness, cinnamon, coffee, cedar, and floral flavors over musk undertones. The draw is awesome. Each tiny puff kicks out massive clouds of thick, which smoke which really hang around for a while before dissipating. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a very tightly compacted trail of medium gray ash which held on for a little under an inch before falling into my ashtray (not my lap).

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Robaina Alejo and the flavor profile in this cigar is to die for. The cigar leads with musk, coffee, dark chocolate and cedar over soft floral, Carmel, sweetness and cinnamon. I am really getting into it. The retrohale brings out some sharp spice and a lot more of the cedar so I find myself doing it quite often. The cigar is still burning dead even without any help from my torch as I close out the second third with only a very minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

Rounding out the last third of the Robaina Alejo and this cigar is just, awesome. No two ways about it. The flavor profile is still pumping out heaping gobs of cedar, musk, and coffee over notes of dark chocolate, cinnamon, and a great floral flavor that has surprisingly been around for the long haul. The cigar took me 2 hours to take down to the nub and I loved every second of it. The burn line has been flawless, I never once had to reach for my torch to touchup or relight the cigar while I experienced no harshness, nor extended heat. I closed out the cigar with a decent little nicotine kick, but nothing overwhelming.

Overview:

Man, this cigar is just, phenomenal. I really enjoyed the Eagle, but to be honest, the Alejo blows it out of the water. A lot of that has to do with the flavor profile which is extremely subjective but is exactly what I look for in terms of flavors in a cigar. The profile is complex enough to keep me entertained while not overly-complex causing me to have to really think about the cigar. The experience in all was perfect. The price point is up there, but I would pay that in a heartbeat for the experience this cigar delivered.

Pairing:

Icky Thump is an imperial coffee stout brewed by the Bruery in California. Coming in at 11% ABV this beer is as close to iced coffee as you can get in a beer. Leading with heavy coffee notes, soft sweetness, and dark chocolate with a very light mouthfeel the beer finished clean with more coffee, chocolate, and sweetness. Its a simple, yet incredible beer and the alcohol is dangerously hidden. The coffee, chocolate, and sweetness paired perfectly with the same flavors in the Alejo resulting in a perfect pairing.

Giveaway:

It’s been a while since we have done a giveaway and as we near the end of the year expect quite a few more popping up. Thanks to Fox Cigar Bar we are pleased to giveaway a five pack of these Robaina Alejo! And we’ll even make it simple. Simple sign-up for our newsletter on the right column or below and you’re automatically entered! Just make sure you are over 21. One random subscriber will be selected and contacted Monday, December 9th. That means if you are already subscribed, you are already entered!

The post Robaina and Fox Cigar – Alejo + Giveaway appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

For as long as I have been smoking cigars My Father cigars by the Pepin family have always been the basis of comparison to every Nicaraguan cigar I have smoked. They have continuously produces some of the best, highest quality cigars out. I am particularly a big fan of the standard My Father releases so when word spread of the La Promesa hitting shelves this year, I jumped right on it.

The blend features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and both Nicaraguan binder and fillers grown soles on the Garcia’s own farms in Nicaragua. The My Father Cigars La Promesa is offered in five sizes: Corona Gorda (5 1/2 x 48), Lancero (7 1/2 x 38), Petite (4 1/2 x 50), Robusto Grande (5 1/2 x 54), and the Toro (6 x 52). Each format comes packaged in boxes of 20 and run between $7.80 and $10 a stick. I got mine over from our awesome friends at Fox Cigar Bar who have them in stock now and always offer free shipping on all orders, no minimum.

• Size: 6 x 52
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $9.20
• Pairing: The Bruery Icky Thump (Imperial Stout 11% ABV)

Prelight:

The My Fathers Cigar La Promesa starts off with a beautiful medium brown wrapper with a hint of orange. The color is semi-consistent with lots of darker areas splotched along the cigar’s body. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy and coated with a thick layer of oil. The wrapper feels very thick, and dense while the cigar is packed tightly as a whole resulting in a very hard, heavy cigar. The wrapper features some very small veins as the wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the cigar’s round double cap. The cigar is polished off with the crazy intricate My Father band design we have all come to love with the addition of a similarly designed secondary band with the “La Promesa” crest in teal, as well as an orange foot ribbon.

The wrapper on the La Promesa gives off great spice, cedar, and natural tobacco aromas while the foot of the cigar is a bit more tame with only a bit of dirt and musk. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces an incredible mixture of musk and cedar with a bit of spice at the end of the taste.

First Third:

The My Father Cigars La Promesa leads with a decent amount of cayenne pepper which left my mouth tinging for sometime before fading back allowing the cigar to release heavy cedar and musk flavors backed by pecan, spice, espresso, and malt. As I continue on an awesome floral flavor has been added to a mixture resulting in an incredible flavor profile. The draw is flawless and each little puff kicks out a good amount of thick white smoke while the cigar releases a good amount of stationary smoke while the cigar rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a very tightly compacted trail of white smoke which held on for a little less than an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the My Father La Promesa and the flavors are just pouring on. The musk and cedar still lead the charge backed by cocoa, espresso, and that great floral flavor is still hanging in there. The retrohale brings out a lot of the spice and pepper I experienced at the start of the experience so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The cigar is still burning brilliantly and I close out the second third with only a very minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

The floral and musk have really taken over the flavor profile into the final third of the My Father Cigars La Promesa. I really enjoy this flavor profile as the floral and musk are backed by pecan, cedar, coffee and cocoa. The cigar started off full-bodied and finished full bodied all while barely creeping into the medium-full strength category leaving me with only a mild nicotine kick and that’s hard to do. It took me almost two hours to take this cigar down the nub and I loved every second of it. I experienced no harshness, no extended heat, and I never had to reach for my torch to touch-up or relight the cigar.

Overview:

This is just another reason why My Father cigars and the Pepin family are held to such a high standard. La Promesa delivered. We’ll start with the flavor profile which, while very subjective, was one of the best profiles I have had in a cigar experience in some time. The burn and construction was flawless, the cigar wasn’t overpowered by strength, and it all came in a nice, affordable package. I don’t think you can want more in a cigar and I look forward to keeping many La Promesa on hand for my regular rotation.

Pairing:

For this weeks pairing I turn to the Bruery who did a collaboration with Mikerphone brewing to bring us Icky Thump. Icky Thump is an 11% Imperial stout brewed with copious amounts of Tugboat coffee. The beer leads with loads of cold-brew coffee, soft chocolate, soft cream, and light vanilla with a very heavy, sticky mouthfeel before finishing with even more coffee and cocoa. This beer is as close as you can get to cold-brew coffee. As I am a huge fan of black iced coffee this really hit the spot and it paired perfectly with the cocoa and heavy coffee flavors found in the La Promesa.

The post My Father Cigars My Promesa appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.