#10. Miami Cigar – Anoranzas

Year after year Miami Cigar Company is responsible for kicking out some of the best blends on the market. This year, they had their hands full with new releases. Among those releases was one that really caught my attention, the Anoranzas.  The robust flavor, smooth finish, and great construction are just a few reasons why I like this cigar. The box press format is just awesome, the price point is dead on, and I even like the incorporation of the new branding trend Miami pulled off here. Either way, this was a cigar I found myself drawn to this year and can’t wait to see what Miami Cigar has in store for 2013.

View the Anoranza review here

#9. Crowned Heads – Headley Grange

John Huber has been making waves throughout the cigar industry over the last two years with his initial release, the “Four Kicks”, and now with his second release the “Headley Grange”. Musically inspired and blended by the infamous Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, this unique blend takes flavor and smooth to a whole new level. This is a trend I saw in a lot of releases this year. You don’t need to make a powerhouse cigar to get the most bang for your buck in the flavor department. The Headley Grange is a perfect example of that. These cigars have been hitting shop’s shelves on the regular so be on the lookout.

On a side note: I was a huge fan of the Four Kicks, even more so than the Headley Grange. I have not had the LE Mule Kick as of yet, but it seems like something I would be totally into. Hopefully I can get a review up of that soon.

View the Headley Grange review here

#8. Drew Estate – Liga Privada Feral Flying Pig

On the opposite end of the spectrum from mild cigars, we have Drew Estate’s Liga Privada Feral Flying Pig. This cigar is a beast, and named properly. To me, this was Drew Estate’s sole creation that ventured the furthest from their No.9 and T52 blends. This cigar has its very own character, and a bold one at that. First of all, that size. It looks strange, but feels great. Next, the power. I am a full-bodied smoker and this cigar hit all the marks in the strength category. Next, flavor. This is where the Feral shines. It doesn’t have the bold sweetness, nor the bold cedar the T52 or 9 have. Instead, the Feral flying pig stirs the pot but adding all it’s flavors equally in a well balanced mix. These cigars are pretty limited, but I know for a fact that there are still some out there. Get your hands on them before it’s too late.

View the Feral Flying Pig review here

#7. RoMa Craft Tobac – Intemperance BA

We all know Skip. We all Know Skip loves tobacco. And now, with the success of his company RoMa Craft Tobac, we all know that Skip also knows tobacco. If last year’s debut release of the Cro-Magnon wasn’t enough, Skip came out swinging in 2012 with the release of the dual wrapper Intemperance. Out of the two (Ecuadorian Connecticut and Brazilian Arapiraca), I thought the BA was more my style. There’s nothing wrong with the EC, in fact, I smoked the heck out of them, but the BA is where it’s at. I’ve always been a huge fan of Brazilian Arapiraca, in fact, I often wonder why more blends don’t utilize this flavorful tobacco in their creations. Anyways, the BA packs a ton of flavor into an affordable, easy to find, easy to smoke cigar. While these cigars aren’t sticks you will see in every shop you visit (yet), Skip is always readily available online and can get you what you need very quickly. One other thing I love about the Intemperance is the marketing. They don’t need drawn up bands, flashy artwork, or crazy appearances to sell their cigars. Bandless, simple and clean logos, and a great product go a long way.

P.S. Expect a review of this guy in the new week or so.

#6. La Palina – Goldie Laguito No. 2

The Goldie Laguito No. 2 is probably my favorite limited release run of the year. It’s also no secret that I am a big fan of La Palina in general. This cigar stands alone on the top of their portfolio. The construction of this cigar is flawless in everyway possible. If you want to see the epitome of a perfectly constructed cigar then pick one of these babies up. Along with the superior construction the Goldie packs a punch in the flavor department leading off with tons of sweet and strong flavors while finishing smooth. This is yet another cigar that came out this year with a full-bodied experience, while still finishing mild in the strength department. The only factors keeping this stick out of the top 5 were the availability (only 1000 boxes made), and the price tag ($15 a stick). These may not be easy to find, but if you do happen to stumble across them, don’t hesitate to pick them up.

View the Goldie review here

#5. Room 101 – Daruma

MMMmmmm the Daruma. The flavors were so inspiring I go off into my happy, cigar smoking place whenever I think about the blend. Matt Booth had done it again. Last year I was all about the Namakubi release. At the time, I had no idea that Matt was about to out-do himself again by creating a blend that I could swear, was made for my own personal palate. This is a very bold cigar with just tons of spice and cedar, bundled with perfect construction, and some awesome marketing. I spoke with Matt recently and commended him on being one of the few manufacturers in the business who can back up marketing such as Room 101’s. I can’t think of another person who could pull that off. That being said, I have always applauded Matt’s creativity, and ability to not only make his brand stand out, but his blends as well.

View the Daruma review here

#4. Joya de Nicaragua – CyB

Recently, Jose Blanco joined the Joya de Nicaragua team. Ever since then the cigar community has yearned to see what this master blender could come up with using some of the highest quality tobacco on the market. Well, needless to say, Jose and his debut release the CyB didn’t disappoint. As I stated before, manufacturers have been making better, richer, more balanced mild blends and the CyB is the epitome of what a mild in strength cigar should be. Don’t let the term “Mild” fool you, the CyB is a flavor bomb producing one of the most flavorful experiences on the market today. Readily available, perfectly priced, the CyB is a home run in ever aspect.

View the CyB review here

#3. Ortega Cigar Company – Serie D Maduro

Eddie Ortega was another one of those blending masters who decided to do work elsewhere this year. Eddie formed “Ortega Cigar Company” and started out with a boom releasing a cigar that I just can’t put down, the Serie “D” Maduro. Blended at the infamous My Father factory, this Nicaraguan based cigar carries one of the most beautiful, flavorful, sweet Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrap out right now. This is a beautiful cigar at a remarkable price. Eddie spoke to me about how he is still using just as expensive, just as premium tobacco as he always had but decided to eat more of the cost to provide a richer experience for less cost to the consumer. How can you not love the guy?

View the Serie D review here

#2.  My Father Cigars/Tatuaje – La Duena

Well here we are. A cigar that I knew from the first time I smoked it would be highly ranked on my top 10 list. Janny Garcia released her first blend under the My Father name blended by none other than Pete Johnson of Tatuaje himself. The first time I smoked one was actually at the My Father factory while Pete was giving us a tour. I remember each and every inch of that cigar which is pretty impressive considering the amount of cigar we smoked that trip. After the release I have kept a full stock of these cigar at all times. Again, this cigar is priced to sell and easy to find. I am a sucker for Broadleaf and this cigar is full of it. It was hard to think that Pete and My Father could outdo the Casita Criolla they kicked out last year, but it has happened.

View the La Duena review here

#1. Oliva – Serie V Melanio

Right out of the gate this cigar blew the pants off the competition. I can’t think of a single experience that I was as impressed with in a long time other than the Serie V Melanio. This cigar has it all. Strength, Flavor, flawless construction, availability, and although it’s a bit steeper than most Oliva lines I think the blend itself justifies the price 10 times over. Ok, that may be stretching it, but this cigar really is worth the coin. Every size I smoked (each from the line) was just as good as the next. I’ve smoked through a ton of these and I have yet to get tired of them, nor find a bad one in the bunch. I’ve always been a fan of the Serie V, but I am going to find it hard to go back to them after smoking the Melanio. Expect this cigar to pop up in many other “Top” lists out there.

View the Melanio review here

And… there it is folks. Let me know what you think! Was there something I missed? Something that shouldn’t be here? I’d love to hear your top cigars this year!

The post Casas Fumando Top 10 Cigars of 2012 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: La Palina is the epitome of boutique cigars. Led by Bill Paley, the reformation of the blend surfaced in 2010 and has been a force ever since. Teaming up with some of the cream of the crop in terms of manufacturers,  one of this year’s releases the “Goldie” is being produced by none other than El Titan de Bronze. You may be familiar with El Titan de Bronze as they have been responsible for bringing you lines such as the 13^th floor, Bonita Smoke Shop 18th anniversary and Time Warp, Nestor Miranda – Casa Miranda, and many, many more. There was one very talented woman in charge of hand rolling each and every cigar in this line. Her name is Maria Sierra. Maria is a master roller and one of the first women ever trained to rolled cigars in Cuba. She actually started her career rolling cigars for “El Laguito” where Cohibas were rolled some time ago. Maria was trained under the watchful eyes of Avalino Lara who actually created the Cuban Cohiba blend, as well as Eduardo Rivera Irazarri who was Fidel Castro’s personal cigar roller.

The Goldie is the second cigar in the “La Palina Collection”, after the 1896 Robusto. I only smoked one of the 1896 a year or so ago and loved it, but haven’t seen them since. The cigar only comes in one size, the “Laguito no. 2” or petit lancero as we know it in the States. The Goldie is also unique as it contains Medio Tiempo leaf, found only on 10% of tobacco plant. Not many cigars contain this leaf, but one that most people would recognize is the infamous Cohiba Behike.  The Goldie comes in Cuban-style packaged boxes of 10. Only 1,000 boxes were released at $150 each ($15 per cigar), each with an imprinted number on the box as well as an inked signed certificate containing the cigar’s details, box number, and Maria’s signature. Mine was box 739/1000.  I got this box over at Bonita Smoke Shop. If you are looking for the Goldie, she may still have a few, if not she always has a good amount of La Palina on hand, not to mention she has some of the best customer services out there.

Size: 6 x38
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Ecuadorian
Filler: Dominican & Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $15
Pairing: St. Bernardus Tripel (Belgium) 8.0% ABV

Prelight: The La Palina Goldie Laguito is a damn pretty cigar. In fact, everything that comes out of the El Titan de Bronze factory is spot-on in terms of construction. Needless to say, the Goldie has that extra special touch. The wrapper starts out with a very webby composure of small veins lying in it’s incredibly consistent light, yellowish brown wrapper. The wrapper seems a bit fragile but the Goldie gives very little as I compress it in my hands. There are no soft spot throughout the entire body of the cigar all the way up to it’s pretty little triple cap with an added little tail to finish it off. The construction on these cigars are just perfect. The Goldie is polished off with the beautiful, standard gold, white, and black embossed La Palina logo.

The wrapper of the cigar gives off a nice sweetness mixed with caramel and cinnamon. The foot of the cigar only gives off a small amount of cedar and vanilla scented tobacco aroma. The cap on the La Palina Goldie cut off very clean and easy using my Palio double bladed cutter. I was greeted with a very strong, milky, vanilla, sweet tobacco, and cinnamon cold draw. It reminds me of some sort of ice cream, or horchata. Either way, it’s tasty.

First Smoke: La Palina’s Goldie Laguito welcomed me with some nice, strong, unexpected black pepper. After the first few puffs the pepper began to fade and what I was left with was a crazy mixture of creamy milk, sweet tobacco, cinnamon, honey, and caramel. Yes, it tasted like a cigar made from a candy bar. The draw on this cigar was just fantastic. Really, this was one of the best constructed cigars I have ever smoked. Each tiny little draw pumped out a massive, massive cloud of thick white smoke. It was pretty windy outside when I was doing this review and even then the cloud hung around for quite some time before dissipating. Although the La Palina Goldie Laguito pumped out smoke in each draw, the cigar gave off almost no stationary smoke what so ever. The burnline is just perfectly even leaving behind a very thick, tightly compacted white ash that held on for almost an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: Halfway through the La Palina Goldie Laguito and the flavors are still rocking. The cedar I picked up during the prelight has finally found it’s way through the honey, caramel, sweet, creamy flavors. I am also getting a really neat vanilla taste now too. These aren’t flavors I pick up too often but them blend in so well with this experience. The retrohale is just awesome as well leaving behind a soft cedar, honey, and almost banana flavor in my nasal passage. I am not feeling any nicotine at all as this cigar is still burning perfectly.

Finish: Again, the flavors in the La Palina Goldie Laguito just don’t give up. The overall flavor profile is very creamy, but abundant. The vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, and sweetness is still there but the cedar and sweet tobacco flavors have really started to ramp up. It took me just a little over an hour to take down this petit lancer and I encountered absolutely no harshness, or heat build up the entire time. I smoked this cigar down until my chubby little fingers could hold on no longer.

Overview: Needless to say, I loved this cigar. Let me just start off by applauding the work of El Titan de Bronze as they created probably one of the best constructed cigars I have ever had. That being said, take away the flavors and this one was of the best cigar experiences I have ever had. Now, when you add the flavors back in the mix it takes the Goldie to a whole new level. This thing is a flavor bomb with some very unique sweet, and strong flavors without ever getting too bold. The flavors just mixed with each other so well resulted in a perfect balance and complexity. This cigar is box worthy for sure, even with the higher price tag. I only have 2 gripes about this cigar. Number one, the availability. But that’s more selfishness on my part than anything. I just hope I don’t burn through these too quickly. And two, the smoking time. I tore through this cigar in about an hour, that’s taking my time too. Now I know what you’re thinking, “A $15 cigar that only lasts an hour?” even with that thought I can gladly say that it’s still worth the coin. I’ve liked so many of La Palina’s products and can honestly say, hands down, this is in my opinion the best cigar they have produced to date.

Pairing: As warmer weather is making it’s way to the southeast, I couldn’t let the summer pass me by without pairing another cigar with St. Bernardus’ Tripel. Again, this is the ultimate summer beer. Brewed at Brouwerij St. Bernardus in Belgium, this ale comes in at a whopping 8% ABV. Despite the higher ABV, you really don’t taste much of that alcohol in the beer itself. Instead, you are greeted to a nice banana, malt, sweet wheat, and sugar profile that fits right in with the hot weather. This beer may actually be the reason I picked up that banana flavor on my retrohale. The banana, sugar, and wheat meshed so well with the caramel, honey, and sweetness from the La Palina Goldie Laguito. It’s a match made in heaven.

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