Now let me clarify something, I don’t mean “Average Joe” as in you are not special(I’m sure you’re all special…). I’m more referring to availability to the average person. As you run through Tony’s Top Cigars of 2012, many of them are still very new and haven’t hit some of the far reaching markets, especially not up here in Canada. They will roll out slowly to more shops but some may never make it to local B&M’s. Most of the cigars in my list below are pretty easily available nationwide, with a couple small exceptions, and they have nothing to do with release dates. It’s obviously biased to what’s easily available to me but I think my situation will mimic a lot of our friends out there.

As Tony mentioned in his post, this list is completely home-spun, written for the enjoyment of it, and I by no means consider myself any sort of expert smoker or expert shopper. Everyone’s opinion will vary and these might not be what you expect to see. But I’d love to hear your thoughts, let’s have some fun with this one!

#10 – My Father Le Bijou 1922

I had a bit of a tough time squeezing this cigar into this list, and I have a couple reasons for that. Firstly is the price, most of the vitolas are at or over the $10 range which makes them a little too pricey for most. The savior here is that you can grab the tasty little Petit Robusto for a much fairer price. My second concern was availability, they seem to be available in a lot of stores but also sell out quickly and are slower to re-stock to due the lower yield they have. But this is a cigar I’m constantly looking for, I don’t always buy it because of the price but when I see a sale or a package deal, I’m quick to throw one of these in there. The intense espresso flavors are almost enough for me to want this cigar, but it also gives great cedar, spice and cocoa all backed by a smooth and creamy finish. It’s an all around great cigar and will always be on my shopping list.

My Father Le Bijou 1922 Toro Review
My Father Le Bijou 1922 Box Pressed Torpedo Quick Draw

#9 – Padilla La Terraza Capa Habano

Now this is a cigar I honestly stumbled into by accident. I found it on sale, read a couple decent reviews and opted to grab a whole box for a steal of a deal. And I’m really glad I did! For the price of only about $2 that you can find these, the cigar is spot on and burns very nicely. You will find some woodsy, almond and coffee flavors here, perhaps a bit of a menthol kick at the start as well. All in a nice smooth medium bodied cigar. Just make sure to get the Habano version as the general consensus is that the Maduro just doesn’t match up.

Padilla La Terraza Capa Habano Quick Draw

#8 – Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul”

This is a name you’ve probably seen pop up on our site before. Paul, leader of the Maldonado Dynasty, has been a great supporter and friend of Casas Fumando but that doesn’t mean we take his cigars lightly. I’ve been lucky enough to smoke through a whole bunch of these cigars, including some pre-release, first release and even a bunch from a fresh batch I received a few weeks ago. Paul is constantly working to make things better and it shows in his cigars. The quality of the sticks continues to rise while the flavors continue to impress. You can expect a silky medium-full bodied cigar with lots of coffee, cocoa, dried fruit and nutmeg flavors that will keep you on your toes. The availability of these is still a bit limited so it was a tough choice for me to add to this list, but if you don’t mind getting them shipped you can definitely find a place to buy these.

Maldonado Dynasty “The Mogul” Review

#7 – Perdomo Champagne Noir

I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Perdomo, they constantly impress me with top-notch construction on all of their sticks. It’s been rare for me to run into burn issues on their cigars and all of their sticks come in at fair prices. This is a definite commitment to quality that I can appreciate. Typically, Perdomo’s don’t make many top 10 lists because they don’t tend to be in the trendy boutique sphere and also don’t do anything too crazy. They seem to stick to their roots and just keep producing good cigars. I was a fan of the 10th Anniversary Champagne and when I heard about the Champagne Noir, I jumped to try it. I was happily greeted by a delicate mixture of baking spices, cedar, espresso and roasted almonds. Not to mention this was probably one of the slowest burning cigars I have ever lit up. The standard Toro size flew past 2 hours easily, normally I burn through a toro in under 1.5 hours.

Perdomo Champagne Noir Review

#6 – La Aurora 107

It’s been quite a while since this cigar was released but I still find myself seeking them out. The flavors never cease to impress and they usually come in at a very fair price, especially if you find them on sale. There is a wide range of vitolas in this line for everyone. Every time I light one of these up I know I’m going to get an amazing mix of cedar, light spices and some fruity sweetness. These are available just about everywhere so if you’ve been skipping them over recently cause they aren’t all new and trendy, I think it’s time to re-visit this stick!

La Aurora 107 Corona Review
La Aurora 107 Robusto Review

#5 – Padron 2000 & Londres

I think most everyone knows about this cigar and has probably had one at one time or another. I know I discovered these long ago when I first started smoking cigars. The prices on these are right in the sweet spot of most consumers and they are very widely available. The whole line is very good but I always tend towards the 2000 and Londres. Both the Maduro’s and Naturals seem to be pretty similar in the flavor department and you can expect to find lots of coffee and cocoa making this one tasty cigar!

Padron 2000 Review

#4 – Illusione 888 & 88

I couldn’t decide on which one of these I enjoy more so I decided to group them together since they are pretty similar in my eyes. The ~88~ and ~888~ are staples in my humidor. I know the prices are a bit high but the flavors and construction on these definitely make them worth my while. When you spark up one of these you can expect to find lots of earthy and cedar notes, but the two real winners here for me are the tarty sweet notes near the end and the amazing smooth creamy retrohale that they offer. If you haven’t tried one of these yet, make sure to pick some up! I added the link to our “~888~ Slam” here, the flavors were very similar to the regular ~888~ but I liked the vitola a little more just because it was more comfortable to hold, but both are winners.

Illusione ~88~ Review
Illusione ~888~ Slam Review

#3 – Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial

The first time I had one of these it was sent to me by Tony and I was just blown away by the awesome flavors and construction. I mean who can complain, almost all the cigars out of the My Father factory are top notch. What really caught my attention and keeps me smoking these is the price they come in. For a premium cigar with some awesome flavors and constuctio, the price is amazing. They are also very widely available which can’t be said for all the My Father products. If you like a solid medium bodied stick with awesome flavors such as spice, cedar, espresso and cocoa, you will love this stick.

Jamie Garcia Reserva Especial Review

#2 – Montecristo No. 2 (Cuban)

I know, I know, this is not an easy one for most of our American friends to track down. But it constantly tops my list and many others as one of the best value for a premium cigar you can find. With the right connections, you can get these for under $8 per stick. They have tons of good flavors ranging from coffee to cedar to earthy to creamy, it’s just so good. They do benefit from a bit of time resting but are easily smokable fresh too, you just won’t get some of the more delicate flavors.

Montecristo No. 2 2010 Review
Montecristo No. 2 2008 Joint Review

#1 – Drew Estate Undercrown

If you’ve been keeping an eye on my twitter feed or the Facebook page, you would have seen quite a few of these pop up over the course of the last year. The meaty and balanced flavors of espresso and spices in the Undercrown just seem to hit the spot everytime. Add on some excellent construction and spot on consistency, and this is a winner. I’m also a fan of the T52 and No.9 but I’ve had a lot more luck tracking down the Undercrowns and their price is also much more digestible as a more frequent cigar. I also love the wrapper on this cigar, it’s so dark and has a ton of toothiness and roughness to it, definitely some eye candy in the cigar world. As I write this I realize I’m running low on them and need to order another box… lol

Drew Estate Undercrown Review

There are tons more great sticks I could go into that are easily available, these are just a few that I’ve been smoking or wanting to smoke this past year. And this list could change completely in the next 6 months so take it for what it is and enjoy. If you have a couple that are on your constant shopping list and have been heavy hitters this year, let me know in the comments!

The post Casas Fumando “Average Joe” Top 10 of 2012 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.

But despite my silly oversight, I managed to get one to review for everyone’s enjoyment! The cigar I’m referring to happens to be an Illusione ‘888’ Slam. This particular cigar is not entirely full production at the time I write this. Dion Giolitto, of Illusione Cigars, released this as a prototype blend and it seems it was well received all around!

Although the name is mostly the same, the Illusione ‘888’ Slam is not the exact same blend as the Illusione ‘888’. The main difference is a single type of filler leaf that was removed to help make the “bench” press process possible. The bench press style of this cigar is where the “Slam” in the title comes from. The Illusione ‘888’ Slam is a Nicaraguan Puro, meaning all the leaf in the blend is sourced from Nicaraguan tobacco. The one thing that doesn’t come from Nicaragua in this cigar is the production, it’s actually rolled in the Honduras factory.

As with each of the Illusione blends, they have a little catchphrase associated with each blend. In this case, the catch phrase is “Neccesary and Sufficient”. The name and numbers have roots in Dion’s faith and I would recommend reading about the meaning on his website. The addition of the meaning behind each name is a very interesting addition in the cigar world.

Cigar: Illusione ‘888’ Slam
Drink: Wychwood Brewery Hobgoblin
Vitola: (6.75 x 48)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: About $11.00
Burn Time: A little over 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This is a long bench-pressed cigar with an appealing cinnamon brown wrapper
• The wrapper appears to have a couple of small water spots but there are no substantial veins to be seen anywhere, it’s very smooth
• The cigar has a soft feel to it when squeezed but it’s nicely consistent from end to end
• The top is finished with a clean triple cap while the foot appears very well packed
• The cut was pretty easy although it made a bit of a mess in the ashtray

Burn:
• The toasting on this cigar was super easy, the smaller ring gauge and bench pressed shape helped it to glow evenly with little effort
• Through the first bit the cigar is burning razor sharp as well as nice and slow
• May have spoke too soon once again, started getting some very slanted burn now
• I let it go for a bit hoping for a self correction but it needed a little intimidation from my lighter
• Had another lopsided burn situation that needed correction just past the halfway mark
• In the last third the wrapper actually stopped burning and I needed to touch it up a couple times, this might have been due to the 94% humidity outside?

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of smoke coming off each draw, very full and enjoyable
• The ash is a very light grey and has some dark black zebra striping
• It only lasted about an inch, started to go all lopsided so I decided to tap it off
• Despite it’s weakness, the ash stays nice and clean with no flaking
• Ashes continue to be about an inch but the few touchups made it weaker and I had a few miss the ashtray and go for a dive to the floor
• I had pure butter fingers with this cigar tonight and kept losing my ash! Oops!

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a light and sweet aroma to it, maybe a touch of cocoa in there
• Pre-light draw brings a heavy flavor of cedar and earthiness
• Right from the initial draw I’m getting a big burst of spice on each draw with an earthy undertone
• The retrohale right off the bat here is fantastic! It’s got a nice helping of cedar, a mall bite of spice and the finish is super unique. The closest I can compare it to is the type of grapes used to make wine with. A very unique tarty sweetness that I’ve never found in a cigar before
• Body is starting off in the low end of medium so far
• The spice settles down after a couple inches and left me with mostly earthiness and some cedar, the retrohale remains super tasty!
• As I get to the halfway mark I’m getting a nice roasted coffee flavor that’s balancing very nicely with the cedar and spice
• The finish throughout this cigar has been extremely smooth and not drying at all, you could probably smoke this whole cigar without a drink, it’s that smooth
• Getting into the last third that tarty sweetness I’m getting on the retrohale is making an appearance in the normal draw, very nice touch
• As I get into the last couple of inches the spice is making a big comeback, each draw gives a very interesting texture on my tongue, it’s thick and chewy and almost feels like I just sprinkled black pepper right on my tongue. Very cool!
• The cigar did not get harsh at all near the end, just some huge bursts of spice and still a smooth finish

Final Thoughts:
The Illusione ‘888’ Slam was awesome! That just about sums it up! Do I need to continue? ok fine… The most enjoyable part of this cigar that I can’t emphasize enough is the retrohale. If you don’t run the smoke through your nasal passages I think you would be missing out on a huge part of this cigar. You would probably think that I’m crazy and the cigar was just ok. Without the retrohale, it’s an ok cigar. But with it, it’s fantastic. The burn was nice and even for the most part and draw was spot on. The price is a tad high but this is a long vitola and makes for a fully enjoyable experience. the price may make it hard for a lot of people to opt for a full box, but definitely reach for a 5-pack if you can, they are worth it in my opinion.

Pairings:
Tonight’s pairing choice is from Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire England and is called Hobgoblin. Seems I’m picking up a lot of English brews lately, not on purpose though, it just seems to be what I find at the store. I actually posted up a full review of this beer awhile ago during the colder months, you can read it here. The beer has some seriously tasty hoppy bitterness and lots of malt. On top of that you can pick up some light berry flavors. It’s definitely enjoyable on it’s own and I’ve found it to be an excellent pairing with quite a few cigars as well. It paired nicely with the Illusione ‘888’ Slam and I think the main reason for this is because of it’s straightforward profile. It doesn’t have too much in the way of other sweet flavors and prides itself as a traditional Ruby Beer. This makes it a good palate cleanser and doesn’t mess with the cigars flavors very much, allowing you to enjoy the cigar for what it is. Other great pairings here would be a full stout, my favorite tawny port or a nice cup of coffee.

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