The Good Stuff:

A few years back Steve Saka, founder of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust took the cigar community by storm when he released the Mi Querida. You can read my review of that cigar here. This year Steve decided to follow up that release with an amped up version called the Mi Querida Triqui Traca. Aptly named after oversized Nicaraguan fireworks, this blend remains true to what we all have grown to love about the Mi Querida while adding more body resulting in the fullest cigar in the Dunbarton portfolio to date. The Triqui Traca uses the same style Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper only it utilizes a Dark Corona No 1 leaf over the standard Connecticut Broadleaf mediums in the standard release, Nicaraguan binder and filler along with an added ligero filler grown in the Dominican Republic. The cigars are offered in two sizes: No. 552 (5 x 52) and the No. 648 (6 x 48). Each come packaged in boxes of 20 ranging from $10.75 to $11.75 a stick. I purchased mine over from our friends at Two Guys Smoke Shop.

• Size: 6 x 48
• Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan / Dominican Ligero
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $11.75
• Pairing: Bottle Logic Ground State (Imperial Stout 12.89% ABV)

Prelight:

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca starts out with a beautiful, dark brown wrapper that’s semi-consistent in color with a few areas of darker brown around the cap of the cigar and a few orangish-brown areas scattered around the foot of the cigar. The wrapper’s texture is incredibly toothy and gritty with a ton of oils coating the outside of the cigar. The wrapper feels very hard and dense while the cigar as a whole is very heavy with absolutely no soft spots. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading through the cigar’s slender body up to it’s round double-wrapped cap. The cigar is the polished off with that lovely, elegant “Mi Quireda” band we all love, only this time in a maroon and gold print.

The wrapper on the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca produces some bold cedar and cocoa aromas while the foot of the cigar is much more spice driven with some great natural tobacco aromas. The cap cut like butter while the cold draw kicks out a good amount of pepper and spice mixed in with cocoa, musk, and natural tobacco.

First Third:

The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca starts out with a hefty cayenne pepper punch that left my lips and tongue tingling for a bit. After the first few draws the pepper completely faded away leaving me with loads of cocoa and coffee backed by oak, musk, black cherry, and a slight pecan finish. The draw is perfect as each tiny puff kicks out huge amounts of thick, white smoke that really hangs around for quite some time before dissipating while the cigar pumps out stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white ash which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca and the cigar is still firing on all cylinders. The flavor profile still leads with bold cocoa and coffee with nice oak, spice, musk, earthiness, and vanilla. The retrohale really brings out the spice and oak and is quite sharp so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The burn line is still dead even and razor thin as I close out the second third with a light little nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca and this is where the already fantastic cigar begins to shine. The body and strength meet right in the middle for a perfectly dynamic mixture while the flavor profile in the cigar balances out with a great mixture of cocoa, vanilla, brown sugar, pecan, oak, musk, and natural tobacco flavors that I thoroughly enjoy. The cigar took me an hour and a forty five minutes to take down to the nub and I loved every second of it. The burn was flawless, I never once had to reach for my torch to touch up, or relight the cigar while I experience no harshness nor extended heat. The cigar did however leave me with a hefty little nicotine kick but nothing too bad.

Overview:

This is yet another fantastic addition to an already glowing Dunbarton portfolio. The Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca carries a bold, complex, yet balanced profile without being too overpowered by strength. While subjective, the flavor profile is one that really hits all the marks for me. The construction and burn experience was flawless, and the price is right around where I’d expect this cigar to land. I can’t say for sure which one I liked more, but I think both blends easily find their way into my regular portfolio while the Triqui Traca is something I’ll be reaching for after dinner when I am craving a more full-bodied experience.

Pairing:

Ground State is an Imperial breakfast stout brewed by Bottle Logic with Vermont Maple Syrup that is still aged in Bourbon Barrels with cocoa nibs and coffee added. Coming in at 12.89% ABV, Ground state leads with loads of sweet, dark chocolate, vanilla, malt, and brown sugar with a nice little bourbon bite at the end. The maple is pretty well hidden and really only pops in during the finishing taste. Such a smooth, easy drinking ~13% beer. The chocolate, brown sugar, and sweetness really married up nicely with the existing flavors in the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca making for a great pairing.

The post Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Mi Querida Triqui Traca appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo / Ligero
Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo / Ligero, Seco, Viso
Size: 5 x 52
Body: Medium
Strength: Medium
Price: $7.50

Prelight:

The Hammer + Sickle Hermitage No. 1 starts with a beautiful looking wrapper. Rustic, yet gorgeous. The wrapper carries a splotchy medium brown color with areas of dark yellow and darker brown scattered throughout. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy with a good amount of grit and small amount of oils. The soft-box-pressed body is flawless leading up to the cigar’s round double cap. The cigar is then finished off with a yellow, manilla, and brown band stating “Hermitage No. 1” across the front as well as “St. Petersburg 1975”. The cigar’s wrapper gives off some great cashew and cedar aromas while the foot of the cigar is much more grainy with natural tobacco aromas.

Draw/Burn:

The draw is wonderful in The Hammer + Sickle Hermitage No. 1. Each tiny puff releases a whole mess of thick, white smoke which tends to dissipate rather quickly. As I expressed numerous times, I absolutely love how comfortable soft-box-pressed cigar feel both in hand and mouth. The burnline was a bit wavy at times with this cigar, but it required very little help from my butane torch so I can’t really complain.

Flavors:

The Hammer + Sickle Hermitage No. 1 starts off with a very subtle burst of black pepper which quickly fades leaving behind notes of oak, cedar, coffee, cashew, and cocoa. The body is rather light and the flavors are a bit hard to pick up, but the cigar as a whole is nice and smooth. As I get into the second third the cocoa and coffee become a bit more pronounced while the cashew has completely dropped off. The final third is lead by the coffee with backing flavors of cocoa, oak, leather, and cedar.

Overview:

The Hammer + Sickle Hermitage No. 1 is a solid cigar, but nothing really impressed me about it. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe it isn’t. If you’re looking for a smooth, creamy flavor profile and a cigar you really don’t have to worry too much about then this is a great choice for you. However if you expect more from a cigar, want something more flavorful, or want to pick apart flavors then you may want to look elsewhere.

The post Hammer + Sickle Hermitage No. 1 – Quick Draw appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Note: I want to lead off this review with a quick note. Barry Stein, the creator of the KILO is a friend of mine. Most of us know him well from his time writing for acigarsmoker, marketing at Miami Cigar, and working with Two Guys Smoke Shop/United Cigar Group/Cigar Authority. That being said, I know Barry well enough that he’d appreciate my full honesty in this review, good or bad. Hell, I think he’d get a kick out of it instead of being discouraged/defensive if it was bad. Either way, I thought I’d put it out there even though it shouldn’t need to be said. I promise this is a completely honest, unbiased review. That being said, let’s get on with it.

The Good Stuff:

This isn’t the first time the world has seen the KILO. Barry Stein created the blend a few years back working with La Aurora where it was to be distributed by Miami Cigar & Company. In 2013 Barry and La Aurora Master Blender Manual Inoa created the debut blend of the KILO which was distributed small scale to only a few retailers. In 2014 Barry left Miami Cigar Company but continued to work, and pressure his dream of releasing his own blend. Since then, Barry has taken the cigar and reblended it alongside Noel Rojas (owner of Guayacan Cigars) at the Tabacalera Aromas de Jalapa in Nicaragua. Barry has stated that Noel was one of the first friends he had made in Miami and had taught him much about tobacco and the blended processes. The new tweaked KILO features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan Corojo 2006 binder, and three different Ligero fillers from Rojas’ farms and those of Aganorsa. KILO comes in 2 sizes: Robusto (5 x 50), and Toro (6 x 52) which come packed in boxes of 18 and run run $9 and $10 per stick. You can get these now, directly from Two Guys Smoke Shop. Big thanks to Barry for providing us with a few samples for review.

Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo 2006
Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero
Body: Full
Strength: Full
Price: $10
Pairing: Bosque Brewing Scotia Scotch Ale (8.4% ABV Wee Heavy)

Prelight:

The KILO is an absolutely gorgeous cigar. It starts with this beautiful, natural looking wrapper which is medium brown with lots of darker areas around the natural webbing of the leaf as well as a few orange areas scattered throughout the cigar’s body. The wrapper carries a very toothy texture, some slight oil, and only a few larger veins. The wrapper feels very thick, tough, and rugged as it leads up to a beautiful round triple cap (props to Barry for the triple cap). The KILO is a heavy cigar and is packed very tightly with tobacco. There are absolutely no soft spots anywhere in the cigar, in fact, this whole thing feels like a could knock a softball over my fence with it. The KILO is polished off with a beautiful, elegant, black white and gold band with the word “KILO” embossed in gold metallic on the front, while carrying the United Cigar Group crest in the back.

The wrapper is pungent as all hell as it boasts of sweet spice, deep cedar, and musk while the foot of the cigar carries a whole mess of strong pepper, spice, and natural tobacco. I took a big whiff of the foot and it actually tingled my nostril for a bit. The cap on the KILO clipped clean and easily using my double bladed Palio cutter. Right away I picked up lots of cayenne pepper from the cold draw. So much that it actually left my lips and tongue tingling a bit. This isn’t a turn off either and it wasn’t putting a damper on the strong musk, cedar, and sweetness that was being released in the KILO’s cold draw.

First Third:

The KILO leads off with a decent amount of cayenne pepper which I picked up during the cold draw, but it wasn’t nearly as potent as I thought it was going to be and quickly faded after the first few puffs to make room for a ton of deep cedar, sweetness, cinnamon and some oaky muskyness. The KILO starts off pretty bold and gets your attention right away. Despite being jam packed with tobacco the draw is absolutely flawless kicking out a ton of thick white smoke with each little puff while releasing only a slight amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burning is sharp, and a bit rigid, but that’s ok considering ligero is known for burning terribly. The ash is semi-compact, bright white and light gray which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third and the flavors in the KILO are still rocking hard leading with the sweetness and deep cedar, backed by cinnamon, musk, and a great pecan flavor. Here in the Texas/New Mexico the area is rich in pecans. Because of this, they find their way into brick fire ovens often for added flavors when preparing food and the KILO represents this flavor perfectly. The retrohale is very bold and sharp coating my nasal passage with tons of pepper and spice. The burn line is still pretty wacky but again, I’m impressed that I haven’t had to touch it up or relight yet. Ligero burns very badly and if you can make a cigar with this much Ligero that burns as good is this, you’re doing something right.

Finish:

The final third of the KILO showcased a bit tamer version of the cigar. The flavors were still bold, but became a bit more mellow, creamier leading with the sweetness and cedar with subtle musk and pecan. The burn line was pretty choppy the entire experience but I never once had to touch up the KILO or relight it so that’s a win. It took me an hour and forty five minutes to take the cigar down to the nub and I experienced no harshness, no heat buildup, and a good amount of nicotine.

Overview:

Again, completely unbiased view here, but I honestly enjoy the KILO more and more each time I smoke it. The flavors are bold, and abundant, and compliment my idea flavor profile perfectly. It’s not a cigar for the weak. Along with the bold body, the cigar is strong. But the strength doesn’t overpower the flavor experience. I wouldn’t full recommend it to a novice unless you’ve already danced with a few full-strength cigars and can handle them. But this cigar is very appealing to those seasoned cigar smokers out there who enjoy full-bodied, full-strength cigars which don’t break the bank.

Pairing:

For my birthday last weekend we created a brewery hop through Las Curces, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. One of the stops on that crawl was Bosque Brewing in Las Cruces. Bosque is an Albuquerque based brewery with a ton of great craft beer variety on their hands. One of the beers I really enjoyed was their Scotia Scotch Ale. Scotia is a 8.4% ABV Wee Heavy which leads with sweetness, caramel, cashew, and malt with a light mouthfeel before finishing clean with some apple, malt, and nutty goodness. It’s pretty obvious why I paired this beer with the KILO. In fact, it was one of the first beers I tried and Bosque and the KILO immediately came to mind. The KILO would also pair wonderfully with a smoked porter, spiced Belgian Dubbel, or some sweet bourbon.

The post United Cigar Group KILO appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

MoyaRuiz Cigars is no stranger to our blog. We have reviewed most of their releases and they have crept their way into each of our top 10 lists every year since the company had started. Their newest release, The Rake, is the third full production release we’ve seen from the company, and their first Connecticut Broadleaf blend. The Rake is inspired by backroom poker and the box is even fully-functional featuring  slots for poker chips and cash in the lid. As stated, The Rake carries a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, and undisclosed binder, and four ligero filler leafs, two from the Jalapa, and two from the Esteli regions of Nicaragua. The Rake comes in four sizes: The Cut (5 x 52 box-pressed). The Fix (5 5/8 x 46 box-pressed), The Take (6 x 52), and the Vig (6 x 60). All sizes come packaged in boxes of 20 and run between $9.50 and $11.75 a stick. Shout out to MoyaRuiz for sending these samples our way.

Size: 5 x 52
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero from Jalapa and Esteli
Body: Full
Strength: Full
Price:  $10.25
Pairing: Trappistes Rochefort 10 (Belgian Quad 11.3% ABV)

Prelight:

The Rake starts off with a deep, dark brown wrapper coated in darker splotches as well as a few lighter orange-tinted areas. The wrapper is pretty rugged as it carries a very toothy texture with a good amount of oil, and a few medium sized veins. The wrapper feels very dense, and very hard while the cigar itself is very tightly packed with some softer areas around the cap and foot. As I stated before, this format as well as the Fix showcase a very smooth and round soft box press. The Rake is polished off with a round double cap, and a simple grey concrete looking band with the words “The Rake” printed in front in silver metallic ink.

The wrapper on MoyaRuiz’s The Rake gives off a very musky, spice laced aroma while the foot of the cigar isn’t as bold as it carries some sweetness, and lots of pepper. The cap cut like butter using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a whole mess of spice and pepper coating lots of coffee and cocoa.

First Third:

The first few puffs of MoyaRuiz’s The Rake lead with some great black pepper (not nearly as bold as I was expecting), bold spice, dark bittersweet chocolate, and espresso with a dash of sweetness. The draw is flawless pumping out a ton of thick, white smoke with each little puff while the cigar releases almost no stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. I should mention that the soft box-press is incredibly comfortable both in my hand and mouth. The burn line is a bit wavy, but not concerning while it leaves behind a compacted trail of white and light gray ash which held on for a inch before giving way.

Second Third:

A really bold, really flavorful, really badass musky/leathery flavor has started rocking the flavor profile into the second third of The Rake. Behind the leather and musk is some strong dark chocolate, espresso, spice, and sweetness with a great prune mixed in there at times. The retrohale coats my nasal passage with way more pepper than I was expecting so I don’t find myself utilizing that very often. The burn line is still a bit wavy, but I haven’t had to touch it up at all so I’m not complaining. I close out the second third with only a very slight nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of The Rake pretty much everything ramped up. The flavors are bold, leading with the musk and leather with some great dark chocolate, coffee, spice, and sweetness  along with some great fruit flavors. The strength has definitely jumped up a notch as well. There was a bit of harshness in the first sample I smoked, but that was more than likely due to how fast I was smoking the cigar. With a Ligero packed cigar such as this one, you have to pace yourself. Ligero burns much hotter and faster than most other tobaccos so it tends to create some harshness if you speed for it. In the case of this review sample, I took my time and ended up with absolutely no harshness or extra heat. While The Rake burned a bit wacky all the way through (again, probably due to the amount of Ligero packed in it), I never once had to reach for my torch to relight or touch up the burn line. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to smoke this bad boy down to the nub and it left me with a nice little nicotine kick.

Overview:

MoyaRuiz has created some of my favorite cigars the past few years and continues on a hot streak with The Rake. The Rake is decently complex, bold, strong, and widely available. I do think it was a bit too bold for my liking, but that doesn’t take much away from the great flavor profile. This is a perfect cigar for novices to test out to see if full strength, premium cigars are their forte while it’s a great cigar for full-strength seasoned cigar smokers. This is something I’d keep around for the late-night, after dinner times when I am craving something big and bold, but I don’t see it earning a spot in my regular rotation.

Pairing:

The Trappistes Rochefort 10 is a 11.3% ABV Quad ale brewed at the Brasserie de Rochefort in Belgium. The Trappistes Rochefort 10 leads with fruit, caramel, malt, and vinegar with a medium mouthfeel before finishing with some strong spice, fruit, and booze with a spicy aftertaste. The spice, malt and fruit paired absolutely wonderful with the present flavors in The Rake while the full-bodied beer kept up with the very bold cigar. This cigar would also paired wonderfully with a tawny port, or just about any bold Belgian quad or dubbel.

The post MoyaRuiz Cigars The Rake appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Well, I’m back with a review of another Nomad cigar, this time the C-276. I had previously reviewed the Nomad Dominican core line in the Vagabond size. The C-276, the latest of Fred Rewey’s creations, was released at this year’s IPCPR trade show, and has been getting a good amount of positive press. It is the fifth line that Fred has produced, and the third Nicaraguan made blend, after the limited Estili Lot 1386 and the S-307. According to the Nomad website, the blend consists of a five leaf filler, including Ometepe leaf, a Nicaraguan binder, and is cloaked in an Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro wrapper. In explaining the naming of the cigar, Fred says:

“I really wanted to push myself on this blend. I kept trying to add layer upon layer of complexity all the while making sure the flavors married well with each other.

The name C-276 also has a back story. The “C” is for Concepción, one of two volcanoes on Ometepe Island. “276″ is the square kilometers of the island.

Matter of fact, Ometepe was such a key ingredient at one point in the blending – I named the cigar after the mysterious island.”

The C-276, like last year’s S-307, is manufactured at AJ Fernandez’ Tobacalera AJ Fernandez factory, but Fred tells me that although AJ recommended that he look into the Ometepe leaf for his project, he was otherwise not involved in the blending. It is available in five sizes, all box pressed: Toro (6×50); Robusto (5×50); Torpedo (6 1/2 x 52); Toro Grande (6 x 58); and Corona (5.5 x 46).

This is the only Nomad C-276 I have smoked, and was gifted to me by my great Louisville buddy, Chris Tivnan aka @TheChris213, who happens to be one of the world’s biggest Nomad tramps. Just kidding… sort of. Big thanks to Chris!

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, including Ometepe and two ligeros
Size: Torpedo 6 ½ x 50 box pressed
Price: $8.75
Smoking time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Pairing: Silver City Fat Woody Scotch Ale

Pre-light:

The Nomad C-276 sports a classy looking black, red, and silver band that is nearly identical to that of the S-307, save for the small designations for each line on the side. The cigar itself is handsomely rolled in a rectangular box press culminating in a sharply pointed cap, and is firm throughout when gently squeezed. The wrapper is an oily and rich dark chocolate brown, uniform in color with a couple of minor veins. Smelling the wrapper, it exudes a sourish barnyard and tobacco aroma, while the foot shows more of a tobacco, cedar, and light white pepper character. The cold draw brings sweet spice and grassiness.

First third:

The cap cuts rather easily and leads to a slightly snug draw, but it doesn’t seem like it will be a problem. After lighting, the first draws present an oaky wood, earth, and unsweetened cocoa with a touch of leather and a very light sweetness that lingers on the tongue. The smoke texture has a nice oily slickness to it. The retrohale adds a nice peppery sting, but soon calms down to a smoother experience. The body of the C-276 is at a pretty solid medium starting out. The burn is somewhat wavy, but is not a problem at this point, while the ash is a brownish hue rather than the more usual gray or white. As I smoke further into the first third, the wood has turned towards cedar and the cocoa has morphed into more of a coffee flavor, while displaying a little more sweetness in the aftertaste. An inch in, the ash begins to show some weakness, so I easily tap it off. Some light floral notes weave in and out, adding even more complexity.

Middle third:

Moving into the second third of the C-276, the smoke texture has become very smooth while continuing to present the same enjoyable flavors, and the intensity of the pepper has quieted down a little more, although it is still quite noticeable. The burn continues to be wavy, but every time I start to think that I need to pull out my lighter and do a correction, the cigar seems to pick up on my thoughts and begins to self-correct. By about the mid-point of the stick, the earth has dropped off, to be replaced by some slightly charred notes and fleeting glimpses of nutmeg and musk, while the cedar has come to the forefront and the coffee remains in the picture. The experience keeps getting smoother, sweeter, and richer while maintaining its medium profile. The C-276 seems to have lost its gift of telepathy at this point and I’m forced to give it its first correction – not a big deal.

Final third:

The last third of the cigar brings a ramp-up in body, getting into the full range and the pepper has stepped up, especially on the tip of the tongue, while the strength has tipped over to the plus side of medium and continues to rise. The flavors have become a little muddled by the power of the stick, or maybe my mind is being affected a bit by the escalating strength and the 9.2% ABV of the beer, and it’s finally time to put it down with just over an inch remaining.

Overview:

The Nomad C-276 is a great cigar, especially for those who are into the fuller bodied and stronger smokes. The flavors are distinct and complex, and the construction is solid. Although I did eventually have to correct the burn a few times, it was not an aggravation, and did not affect the flavors. Fred did an outstanding job in blending this stick, and the inclusion of the Ometepe leaf takes it a step beyond the S-307 that I had previously enjoyed, in terms of additional flavors and balanced complexity. The price is more than reasonable for a cigar of this quality and flavor, making this a terrific addition to the Nomad lineup. Now my problem is that my local Nomad retailer is in the process of moving to a new location, and has let his stock of cigars dwindle down to virtually nothing, with no Nomads to be had, so I will be forced to turn to other sources to procure more of these.

Pairing:

The Fat Woody Scotch Ale from Silver City Brewery in Bremerton, WA is a variant of the Fat Scotch Ale I had previously paired with the 601 Green Label. This is the same 9.2% ABV strong Scotch ale, but has been aged in American white oak, giving it a smoother character with chocolate, plum, vanilla, and a strong malty sweetness. It’s a perfect pairing for the Nomad C-276, matching up with the cigar’s flavors, and filling in the gaps with complementary flavors of its own. I think a barley wine would also be a great way to go with the C-276.

The post Nomad C-276 Torpedo Guest Cigar Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: As most of you know by now Camacho Cigars decided to completely revamp their portfolio last years consolidating their portfolio, reblending their core lines, and completely revamping their marketing and design. The Ecuador is the seventh release in their core line and probably the most talked about out of the bunch. The Camacho Ecuador gets its name from the obvious, the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper the cigar is embraced in and fits perfectly within their new campaign which simply entails “The Bold Standard”. The Camacho Ecuador comes packaged in 20 count boxes and in 5 different sizes: the Robusto (5 x 50), the Toro (6 x 50), Gordo (6 x 60), Churchill (7 x 48), and Figurado (6 1/8 x 54 x 42). I picked up a handful of these from Cigarhuslter.com. Thanks goes out to them for the top-notch service.

Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Corojo, Criollo Ligero, Pelo de Oro from Honduran and Dominican Republic
Body: Full
Strength: Full
Price: $6.80
Pairing: 21^st Amendment Lower DeBoom (11.5% Barleywine)

Prelight: The Camacho Ecuador sports a crazy shiny, oily wrapper. Seriously it looks like someone waxed this thing. I can practically see my reflection off the tobacco leaf. Along with the gleam the wrapper is a medium to dark brown with lots of darker areas around the medium sized veins and the natural webbing in the tobacco. The wrapper feels really fragile and thin as it leads up to a round triple cap. This may actually be a double cap as one of the cigars I have on hand looks to carry a double cap while this one has a triple. Not too sure, but either way the caps are flawless. The Camacho Ecuador is packed incredibly tight with tobacco making it as hard as a rock all over. This is fine with me as long as it doesn’t plug up the draw. The Ecuador is polished off with the new Camacho band design which I absolutely love. Each blend has a different color, the Ecuador’s is a bright, turquoise. The band has the Camacho brand printed largely across it with the statement “Infamous since 1962” and “Ecuador” with the brands scorpion mascot as well.

The wrapper on the cigar gives off a really musky, leathery aroma while the foot of the cigar carries nothing more than natural tobacco with a bit of dirty earthiness. The cap was surprisingly easy to clip using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw produced a lot of the musk I was picking up along with a really grainy, natural, doughy mix of flavors.

First Smoke: Right off the bat I was greeting with a big pepper rush that I wasn’t expecting at all which quickly faded away after the first few draws. The Camacho Ecuador then presented me with some bold musk, leather, spice, raisin and hints of clove and sweetness. The body is full right away and it will be interesting to see how it keeps up later in the experience. The draw on this beast is perfect kicking out a whole mess of thick smoke with every little puff. The burnline is razor thin and dead solid leaving behind a tightly compacted medium and light gray ash which held on for and inch before tumbling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: Into the second third of the Camacho Ecuador the flavors began to subside a bit as they all started to mix in with one another. It makes for a creamy experience but the body became just a bit muted here for a while. But as I continued into the second third the flavors began to ramp right back up leading off with lots of musk and tons of woodsy flavors backed by the raisin and leather with bits of espresso and spice. The retrohale showcases large amounts of wood flavors with some nice, subtle spice. I found it incredibly easy to retrohale this cigar .The draw is still perfect, some very sight waves have formed in the burnline (which don’t bother me one bit), and I am actually feeling some slight nicotine as I close out the second third.

Finish: The Final third of this Camacho Ecuador is finishing just as bold as it started although the flavors have switched up quite a bit. Now the cigar is leading with some REALLY strong spice, lots of clove with musk and espresso backing along with some slight fruit and sweetness. I love the changeups, the boldness, and the complexity this cigar offers. It’s taken me about an hour and a half to take it down to the nub and never once had to reach for my torch as it’s burned solid the entire time. I do feel a bit of a nicotine kick, but it’s not real bad. The last inch carried no harshness, a bit of heat, and a whole lot of spice with little hints of the pepper I picked up in the first third.

Overview: What can I say about this cigar other than it rocked. First of all, I am a huge fan of what Camacho has done with their branding. The old branding was just a bit too flashy in my opinion and now they are letting the cigars speak for themselves. The Ecuador is complex, bold, smooth, and incredibly affordable. What else can you ask for? A box maybe? That’s where I’m going. This cigar fits perfectly in anyone’s rotation whether you are a seasoned smoker who enjoys complexity or a novice looking to break into premium cigars without breaking the bank. This is by far a box worthy cigar and knowing Camacho, they will be pretty easy to come by. On a side note, I have smoked a few of the other Camacho reblends and have enjoyed them a lot. That being said, the Ecuador has to be my favorite core line Camacho cigar that I have smoked in a really long time. Don’t be surprised if it’s a contender in this year’s top 10 list not only on our site, but many others.

Pairing: A cigar with as much flavor and body as the Camacho Ecuador needs a beer that can hold it’s own and 21^st Amendment’s Lower DeBoom handled itself quite nicely. Lower DeBoom is a flavor powerhouse of a Barleywine Brewed in California coming in at a whopping 11.5% ABV. I can’t get this brew in Texas but was able to score it in a beer trade with my buddy Patrick. Big thanks goes out to him for the hookup. Lower DeBoom starts out with some really strong citrus and spice which transforms into a bold fruitiness before finishing off with some lingering spice and malt. The spice, fruit, and malt paired up perfectly with the spice, fruits, and natural flavors in the Camacho Ecuador. A word to the wise though as Lower DeBoom, and most other barleywines for that matter are almost always too strong in body and will easily overpower almost any cigar unless they are maxed-out in the body category like this Camacho Ecuador was.

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The Good Stuff: Rogue is the third release from Gurkha’s newest “division” named the East India Trading Company. While East India Trading Company operates under Gurkha, it is said to be it’s own entity. The Rogue is composed with a Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, and “rare”, unnamed Ecuadorian binder wrapped around a 3 year old, all ligero blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran filler tobaccos. The Rogue is offered in 5 different sizes: The Armageddon ( 6 x  66 ), the Bamboozle (6 x 60 ), the Rascal ( 5.5 x 46 ), the Ruthless ( 6 x 54 ), and the Tyrant ( 5 x 52 ). All of which are soft-box pressed with an unfinished foot. They come packaged in boxes of 20 and range from $9.99 – $5.99 a stick. Gurkha graciously sent me over a few of the Armageddon for review.

Size: 6 x 66
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: “Rare” Ecuadorian
Filler: 3 year aged Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Honduran Ligero
Strength: Full
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $9.99

Prelight: The Rogue is a beautiful cigar. The wrapper is just gorgeous sporting a consistently medium/brown, oily, silky, wrapper. This thing just wants to slide out of your hands.  The Rogue sports a beautiful un-finished foot and a nice, round double cap. While the Rogue seems to be packed pretty tight the foot of the cigar has a bit of sponginess to it and that wrapper feels pretty thin and delicate. The Rogue if polished off with a rustic looking white, double band with the words “Rogue” and “Armageddon” on it in black ink with a gold metallic skull and a few of the Gurkha crossed blades we see on just about all of Gurkha’s products.

Draw/Burn: The cap cut very clean and easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. The Rogue started right up using my single flame butane torch. Despite having an un-finished foot the Rogue burned razor sharp and incredibly even the entire time. The cigar never required any attention from my lighter after the first light. The ash was a very tight compacted medium gray ash well held on rather well. The draw was just perfect. I am really not a fan of large ring gauges at all, but even this 66 fit comfortably in my mouth. I am assuming the soft box-press had something to do what that. Each little puff kicked out a ton of thick, white smoke. Even with the larger ring gauge I found no issues getting the draw I wanted on the first or second puff.

Flavors: The Rogue started out with a lot of black pepper. Given the amount of ligero in the cigar I was surprised with how quickly the pepper worked itself out of the equation. I was left with some soft woodsy/leathery flavors, a bit of spice and a whole ton of cashew notes, probably the boldest cashew flavors I have ever picked up in a cigar. As I smoked the cigar more the woodsy flavors dropped out and a bit of creamed coffee snuck into the mix. After about the halfway point I noticed a really strong chalkiness began to sneak in. The chalkiness became stronger as I smoked through the second half and never really faded out, in fact it really muted out some of the better flavors that were buried underneath.

Thoughts: The East India Trading/Gurkha Rogue started out with great promise, strong flavors, and a pretty strong experience. The chalkiness that took over each of the samples I smoked really put a damper on the experience. I would attribute the chalkiness to the large amount of ligero and the huge ring gauge. It probably didn’t leave a lot of room for the wrapper and binder to really expose itself in the experience. That being said, I would really like to try this blend in a smaller ring gauge. The flavors were great, and if the robusto or corona could pump out more of the core flavors I think this could be a great cigar. On a side note, on two of the samples I smoked the band on the cigar contained too much glue. Since the wrapper is pretty delicate this glue tore a few little patches off of one, and almost completely destroyed another. Gotta hate smoking through a cigar only to have the band destroy it before you can nub it.

The post Quick Draw – Gurkha/East India Trading Company Rogue Armageddon Cigar Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: Smoke Inn has teamed up with some of the biggest names in the cigar industry to bring you their exclusive Microblend Series. This time, they paired up with Quesada to bring you the Oktoberfest Dunkel. The other blends in the Microblend include: Tatuaje’s Anarchy, Padron’s Anniversary 1964 SI-15, My Father Cigars’ El Hijo, A. Fuente’s Solaris, Tatuaje’s Apocalypse, and Room 101’s Big Delicious. The Oktoberfest Dunkel is the same basic Dominican binder and Dominican Cuban Seed Criollo, Olor Viso, Ligero fillers from the standard Oktoberfest (you can read my review of that cigar here) with a swap on the wrapper leaf. The Dunkel carries a Broadleaf  Maduro instead of the  Dominican Cibao Valley. As an added bonus the Dunkel has a very small portion of Ecuadorian Connecticut at the foot of the cigar to resemble the head on a freshly poured beer.

Here is the information provided in their press release:

In the spirit of Oktoberfest, the Dunkel uses the same binders and fillers of the regular Oktoberfest release, with the exception of the wrapper. A very select broadleaf maduro wrapper envelops this rich cigar with a slight underlying Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper at the foot, thus giving the appearance of a dark rich Dunkel beer with a savory foamy head.

The unique experience of smoking one wrapper, then 2 wrappers, and then one wrapper again give this Oktoberfest a unique complex flavor while maintaining that core flavor of Oktoberfest that fans across the world have grown to love.

There will only be 750 15-Count boxes released in a single 6×54 format running $8.95 a stick.

Size: 6 x 54
Wrapper: Broadleaf Maduro – Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican Cuban Seed Criollo, Olor Viso, Ligero
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $8.95
Pairing: Paulaner Oktoberfest (German Marzen 5.8% ABV)

Prelight: Like the original Oktoberfest the Dunkel carries a very dark, very consistent  brown wrapper. While the Dunkel’s wrapper lead is very dark brown, I find that some of the original blends that I have actually carry a darker wrapper. The Dunkel’s wrapper is silky smooth with only a few smaller veins. It carries some nice tooth and a bit of oil and I am surprised with how seamless the construction is. The wrapper is capped off with a big, round, triple cap while the foot of the cigar has about a centimeter of a lighter shade wrapper leaf. This is supposed to represent the head of a beer that is created as you pour it into a glass. I love the little added touch. The cigar is very heavy, firm, and bulky while the wrapper leaf feels very tough and solid. There are absolutely no soft spots throughout the entire cigar. The Oktoberfest Dunkel is polished off with the traditional Quesada crest and a German Flag stretching the length of the band behind it, just like the traditional Oktoberfest.

The Oktoberfest Dunkel’s wrapper gives of a slightly sweet aroma covered in a ton of black pepper while the foot of the cigar boats of strong natural tobacco and earthiness. The Dunkel cut clean and easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw kicks out a whole ton of sweet spice over some more natural flavors.

First Smoke: I had a conversation with Jeremy last night about the tiny little wrapper addition to the foot of the cigar. We were debating whether or not it would produce any type of difference in the experience or if it was there basically for aesthetics. Honestly,  I feel there actually was a difference, even though my  first hypothesis was that there would not be. When I first lit up the cigar it started out very creamy and smooth with what I would call some muted flavors. I’ve smoked my share of Oktoberfests so I know what to expect with these cigars and the first couple of puffs didn’t add up to what I was expecting. It wasn’t until I hit the darker shade of wrapper leaf that the experience began to take off.  The Dunkel went from creamy to full force kicking out some awesome sweetness, natural tobacco, cinnamon and spice, as well as some nice musky flavors with hints of black pepper. While it lead off with lots of different flavors they were well balanced and really didn’t overpower me. The draw on the cigar is slightly tight but nothing that I see bothering the experience down the road. The burnline is slightly wavy, and pretty wide leaving behind a beautiful, solid, white ash that held on for about an inch and a half before giving way.

Halfway There: The flavors in the Oktoberfest Dunkel in the second third are very similar to the flavors in the first third. Lots of sweetness, lots of musk and spice, natural tobacco, earthiness and a really nice cedar has finally began creeping its way into the profile. You can smell the cedar on the stationary smoke, and the retrohale is straight up sweet cedar, but it isn’t quite as powerful in the actual draw.  The burnline is now burning dead even and a lot sharper as I am feeling absolutely no nicotine kick at this time.

Finish: As I enter the final third of the Oktoberfest Dunkel a really nice gingerbread type flavor began to creep in. Maybe I am imagining it, but I swear I am picking it up. Along with the gingerbread the musky flavor has ramped up while the sweetness, cedar, and spice have began to drop back. The body of the cigar has jumped up considerably as well. This cigar burns extremely slow. It took  me a little over two hours to smoke it down to the numb in which I have encountered absolutely no harshness at all and felt nothing more than a slight nicotine kick.

Overview: You can’t just throw Connecticut Broadleaf on any cigar and expect results like this. I remembered smoking my first few Oktoberfests thinking “Man, this cigar would rock with broadleaf”. Smoke Inn and Quesada made my dream come true with the Dunkel. The flavors are similar to the original Oktoberfest. Lots of spice and earthy flavors with a bit of the cedar but everything seemed more creamy in the Dunkel with a hell of a lot more sweetness. I love the sweetness in cigar so naturally I find myself liking the Dunkel just a tad more than the original and that says a lot considering I’ve smoked through literally a few boxes of the original Oktoberfest. They say these blends were made specially to pair with beer but in my opinion, I feel any cigar can pair well with beer if paired properly. This cigar is semi-complex with a ton of great, bold flavors and it kept me entertained all the way though. I think it’s a great cigar for any type of smoker.

To Sum it Up: It’s a great cigar. It’s not too strong and carries lots of flavor so it’s perfect for the seasoned smoker and the novice as it won’t leave you on your ass. The price point is spot on, and the Dunkel is more than box worthy. It’s limited so make sure you head over to Smoke Inn and order yours before they are gone.

Pairing: It’s not Oktoberfest without some Paulaner Oktoberfest. This is a staple in any beer drinkers Marzen arsenal. Brewed at the Paulaner Braueri in Germany this 5.8% Marzen is by far one of the easiest to drink, smoothest session beers on the market. After all, isn’t that was Oktoberfest is all about? This beer leads off with a ton of malt and caramel finishing off with a hint of sweetness and prune. It makes for an excellent pairing beer as the flavors are so consistent and smooth they seldom overpower any smoke while the sweetness and caramel pair in perfectly. This beer is a great transitional beer from the hoppy, dry summer beers to the full-bodied, heavy, stout beers of the Winter.

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This cigar was gifted to me by a great friend and BOTL. I want to give a big “Thanks” to Roman O. for hooking me up with this cigar. The Avion is a line extension of the Tatuaje Fausto  line. In 2011, Pete Johnson, owner of Tatuaje, released the first extension being the Avion 11, which has been followed by a release each year since. Currently, the extension includes:

• Avion 11 – Perfecto – 6 ¾ by 48/52
• Avion 12 – Perfecto – 5⅝ by 48/52
• Avion 13 – Perfecto – 6 ⅞ by 52
• Avion 13 Limited – Perfecto – 7 ¼ by 52 (Connecticut Broadleaf)

The Facts

Price: $8.50
Vitola: Perfecto
Size: 5⅝ by 48/52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan – Esteli and Jalapa Ligero
Pairing: Club Soda
Smoke Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes

Pre-light

The Ecuadorian Habano Maduro wrapper is a beautiful dark brown and very oily. There is a small tear about an inch down from the head of the cigar but I don’t foresee it impacting the experience. The wrapper is almost seamless with small veins webbing across the leaf.  I’m loving the aroma off of the wrapper. Notes of chocolate, musty earth, and faint cedar arouse my senses.

The tapered foot makes it hard to find much in the aroma department other than the notes already pulled off the wrapper. The cap has been neatly applied on its pointed head. After a beautiful cut, the cold draw is revealing rich tobacco with clove and other spices.

First Third

A copious amount of smoke pumps out of the Avion with each small puff. The flavors are just as dark as the wrapper itself. Deep notes of earth and cocoa grab my attention and spice lingers on the palate. The retrohale highlights cedar and pepper, while oily smoke coats my entire mouth. As expected, the crazy thick burn started wavy. Burning pass the tapered foot, the eyeliner burn is now about perfect. The flavors are full but completely balanced and the strength is coming in at a solid medium. The dark grey ash is a bit flaky on the outside but holding firm past an inch.

Middle Third

As I enter the second third of the cigar, the smoke has become a bit toasty. But don’t get me wrong, it is not bad at all. The toastiness, which seems to be a combination of roasted coffee and burning wood, is complementing the cocoa . The earth flavor has also evolved from musty earth to diesel-like.  A sweetness is beginning to hit the tip of my tongue and I am interested to see what kind of role it will play later on.The  burn line is a bit wavy, flavors remain full, and the strength is putting me in a relaxed state of mind.

Final Third

Other than a slight tartness (think SweeTart) that has joined the mix, there has not been much development in the flavor department. The notes of cocoa, earth, and pepper are well balanced and extremely satisfying. The faint sugary sweetness is not making the appearance I expected. As I draw my final puffs, the strength cannot go unnoticed as it sits firmly in the full range. The burn line is right on and the ash is still nothing to write home about but nothing to complain about either.

Wrap-up

The Avion 12 was a pleasure to smoke. Well, to be honest, this cigar was unbelievable. The profile just fit my palate, a copious amount of smoke was produced, the burn line was rock solid, and the strength full but not overwhelming. At $8.50 each, and even lower with a box purchase, these cigars are a steal.  As I was smoking this cigar, I texted Roman O. and told him we had to get a box of these bad boys right away. Without hesitation he agreed. And that is my recommendation to you: Get over to your B&M and grab a handful. Smoke them. Then go back and grab a box.

The post Tatuaje – Fausto Avion 12 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

• Jamais Vu
• Honor Series (Check out Daniel’s review of the Honor Series Reagan here)
• Tantrum
• Eminence

Ezra Zion Cigar Company is owned by the same guys (Chris Kelly, Kyle Hoover, and Alan Fonseca “the Don”) who are behind cigarfederation.com, a social media site with the mission to “be the world’s greatest social website for cigar Connections, Information, & Entertainment”. The site also hosts two excellent podcasts/webcasts (Half Ashed and Cigar Chat) that I watch on a regular basis.

This week, I will be reviewing the Tantrum Edicion Limitada, which is produced at the Aganorsa factory in Nicaragua and is distributed by the House of Emilio. Kyle Hoover, co-owner of Ezra Zion, provided the following information on the Tantrum:

Ezra Zion Tantrum is 44 x 4.4 inch boxed pressed “Prensado Pequeno” and is presented in boxes of 28. It is a limited edition production of 1500 boxes annually and is made in one vitola. The retail price is $266.00 and retail individual price is $9.50. Tantrum pre-released in select retail locations beginning April 2013 and was released nationwide at the 2013 Annual IPCPR Convention.

The Facts

Samples Provided by Ezra Zion Cigar Company
Price: $9.50/single $266/box of 28
Vitola: Boxed Pressed Petit Corona – “Prensado Pequeño”
Size: 4.4 by 44
Wrapper: Vintage Nicaraguan 99 Corojo Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan 99 Criollo
Filler: 5-7 Year Aged Nicaraguan Ligero
Pairing: Water
Smoke: Just under an hour (I smoke slow)

Pre-light

The design on the primary band can be found on all of Ezra Zion cigar lines with a couple variations in color. There is an amazing story behind the band design and the company name “Ezra Zion”. You can hear the story here at the 16:47 mark. Also, as with the other lines, the foot band distinguishes the line. This one being the Tantrum. The Tantrum wears one rustic wrapper. Instantly, I think of a Padron 1964 Anniversary Series Natural Principe due to the size and the rugged wrapper leaf. And trust me, that is not a bad thing. Veins and bumps can be found across the entire stick.

The Corojo Rosado wrapper is medium brown with a slight reddish hue. The wrapper has velvety feel and the cigar is evenly packed with a slight bit of give. The wrapper aroma is unbelievable. Notes of sweet honey contrast a musty cedar in the background. The foot is nutty, followed by the honey and cedar aromas that I pulled off the wrapper.  A shallow clip has opened up a great draw that showcases rich tobacco, cedar, cinnamon, and a spice sting in the mouth and on the lips.

First Third

After sliding off the foot band with ease, I am ready to light this Tantrum Edicion Limitada up. I absolutely adore the size of this cigar and the box pressed format is just one more plus. From the first few puffs, I can tell this is going to be one powerhouse of a smoke. The Tantrum is delivering an incredible amount of spice that is stinging the back of my throat. The flavors are full with the pepper in the forefront followed by cedar and a slight sweetness, along with a heavy amount of spice, lingers on the finish of the smoke. Three quarters of an inch into the cigar, the spice has calmed but by no means is it gone. The richness of the cigar is more noticeable as sweet cedar arrives on my palate that is complementing the spicy profile. The burn line is thick leaving behind a light grey, layered ash.

Middle Third

As I burn into the second third, one side of the wrapper is having trouble burning. I am going to wait it out to see if it will correct itself. The retrohale, which was extremely sharp in the first third, has leveled out. The mixture of earth, cedar, and pepper makes the retrohale very enjoyable, but not recommended for a novice. A toastiness has joined the sweet cedar, as well as a mild cocoa and coffee. Each draw produces a copious amount of smoke. Sure enough, the burn has completely corrected itself. No touch-up was necessary. The strength is definitely full but not pushing me over the edge. Ash is flaky but still holding to ¾ inch.

Final Third

The band has been applied tightly around the cigar, so there is no way I can slide it off. However, the band comes unglued with ease. Another band for the collection! The spice is back in action. Almost a complete return to the start of the cigar.  Once again my lips and mouth have a tingling sensation from the spice. On top of the peppery spice, there is an added layer of cayenne pepper. The cigar remains toasty with earth and leather notes and, as I put the cigar to the close, a tad bit of cocoa is still noticeable on the finish.

Wrap-up

As I mentioned, this cigar packs a punch and is worthy of its slogan “a little baby powerhouse”. I could care less about strength if a cigar doesn’t deliver in the area of flavors and performance, so it is a good thing that this cigar delivered in both. No construction issues were experienced and the burn line was solid, except for the minor burn issue in the middle third that quickly corrected itself. The full, spicy flavors grabbed my attention from the beginning and took me on a wonderful journey. When I first saw the price tag of $9.50 for a petit corona, I was immediately turned off. However, upon smoking the Tantrum, I was extremely impressed and would dish out $9.50 anytime for this stick. I want to give a big “THANK YOU” to Ezra Zion Cigar Company for providing the samples. If you have smoked the Tantrum, let us know your thoughts.

The post Ezra Zion Cigar Company – Tantrum Edicion Limitada appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: La Barba is a boutique blend that has recently started to slip its way into the hands of the cigar community. I personally heard about it via social media and was immediately drawn to the concept and the design. As stated in many previous posts, I’m a sucker for design and I just loved the simple, elegant, hand drawn razor artwork on the bands of these bad boys. La Barba is founded by best friends Craig Rossi and Tony Bellatto. Those names may sound familiar as Tony is the owner of Havana House cigars and very active on social media. The two bearded men teamed up with another company that has really been making a name for themselves as of late, Wynwood cigars. Wynwood cigars is a new boutique company headed by Robert Caldwell and Christian Eiroa. The Wynwood Cigar Factory, a part of the Fabricas Unidas Family recently opened it’s doors in the Wynwood art district of Miami. That being said, here is a quick introduction to La Barba Cigars as pulled from their website:

We founded La Barba Boutique Cigars in 2010 after many different ideas, cigars and a few too many bourbons.  We wanted to present a product to the marketplace that was not only fun but also focused on the craft of blending and making of something that we are both very passionate about… cigars.

After tossing around a lot of ideas, we decided to name the brand La Barba, which is Spanish for “the beard”. We agreed that we needed something that expressed us, as well as everyone around us. Individuality and the concept of expressing yourself is something that we strongly believe in. And we hope you see that in our cigars.

La Barba embodies the idea of the individual, focusing on the idea that everyone is different, their palates included.  We will offer a dynamic array of small batch, limited edition products as well as a core group of static products. Focusing solely on quality and small production. La Barba keeps the nostalgic, vintage feel and utilizes social media and viral advertising as well as personal interaction as marketing tools.

We believe in the artisanship of the craft of premium cigars and the culture and brotherhood it represents.  Our passion is what drives us to succeed and we will operate this company on the basis of slow, steady profitable growth.  We want to present a unique and unprecedented product as a lifestyle brand. We will focus on being approachable, comfortable, and fun. Family, friends, food, wine, beer and cigars are what we love.  It is what we know and what we do best; this company is founded on our love and passion for those interests.

While some people may coin the concept as a gimmick or even mildly cheesy, I like it. They state above they are best friends, doing something fun. And to be honest, without giving too much away, I think the product speaks for itself. The cigar is composed of Ligero Corojo fillers, Habano Criollo Binder, wrapped in a Corojo wrapper. La Barba is trying to keep their sizes within classic Cuban Styles. They offer La Barba in five formats: Petite Lancero (6 x 38), Corona (5 ¾ x 46). Petite Robusto (4 ½ x 50), Box Pressed Robusto (5 x 50), and Box Pressed Toro (6 x 52). The samples I was given by Tony are actually non-box pressed robustos. These may have just been made for sample purposes only. Many of the boutique brands and companies carry very high price tags since they have to offset more of their costs, but working with Christian the La Barba is able to come in slightly cheaper than I expected with a price tag between $8 – $12 depending on format. La Barba is aiming for a September release.

Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Corojo
Binder: Habano Criollo
Filler: Ligero Corojo
Strength: Medium/Full
Body: Medium/Full
Price: ~$8
Pairing: Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Wild (Belgian IPA – 8.8% ABV)

Prelight: La Barba starts out with this awesome, rustic looking wrapper. The wrapper is a dark to medium brown but carries lots of natural splotches in the leaf of a darker and much lighter brown. Again, I love it when tobacco really showcases how natural it is and this wrapper does just that. The wrapper is very toothy with some light oils. The construction is a close to flawless as you can get. Each fold is seamless and there are only one or two small, visible veins throughout the body of the cigar. La Barba is capped off with a beautifully round double cap. The band on the cigar, which I love, has a beautiful hand drawn, black and white crest with an old-time straight razor on the front and the words “La Barba” in the black laid in red ink. The cigar is very firm and sports no soft spots at all.

The wrapper screams of natural tobacco, sweet cedar, with just a pinch of spice while the foot of the cigar kicks out just a ton of sweet tobacco aromas. The cap cut very clean and easy using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a really strong, natural tobacco flavor with just a touch of spice and pepper.

First Smoke: La Barba starts out with a whole ton of pepper and spice right off the bat. You can definitely taste the high amount of ligero in this bad boy. After the pepper began to fade a bit the cigar revealed some sweet cedar, natural tobacco, and a really earthy/grainy profile. The draw on this cigar is spot-on pumping out a ton of thick, white smoke with every little puff. The burnline is razor sharp and dead even right from the start leaving behind a very compact, dark and medium grey ash which held on for an inch and a half before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: The second third of this La Barba is very similar to the first. The pepper has let up quite a bit to make room for strong spice flavors while the sweet cedar, natural tobacco, and earthiness is still rockin’ hard. One word comes to mind with every puff, creamy. Although the flavors are pretty strong they blend in so well with one another. The retrohale is very sharp with insane amounts of pepper and spice and I won’t find myself retrohaling this cigar very often. The burnline is still sharp, but a few small waves have began to form. Given how much ligero I am assuming is in this blend I am surprised that it’s burning as well as it is. I am not feeling any substantial amount of nicotine as I close out on the second third.

Finish: La Barba has continuously smoothed out over the course of the experience. Crazy though, the pepper has remained in the mix the entire time. While it’s not as strong, its still noticeable and pairs up well with the strong spice. There was a bit of nuttiness as I ventured into the final third as well as the same sweet cedar, natural tobacco, and earthiness that have been along for the entire ride. The cigar took about an hour and a half to take down and remained incredibly smooth and creamy the entire experience, even into the final inch. The burnline is still sharp, and still has a few minor waves, but I never had to touch up or relight the cigar. I am feeling a slight nicotine kick, but nothing too crazy as I put this guy to rest.

Overview: This cigar reminded me a lot of something that I would expect from an Illusione line. Which is great, cause I love me some Illusione so that’s a big compliment. In saying that, La Barba wasn’t an overly complex cigar full of change ups and crazy flavors. In fact, La Barba was the opposite. The cigar was very solid, very consistent and very bold. The flavors held true the entire length of the cigar and rarely fizzled out. While the cigar carried a substantial amount of strength, I never once thought it overpowered the experience thus making it perfect for the novice smoker looking for a premium boutique cigar. The balance, creaminess, and just overall great flavors are enough that any seasoned cigar smoker will appreciate. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see what else Wynwood has up their sleeves.

To Sum it Up: While the cigar may seem a bit pricey, it’s actually right on par with what you can expect from boutique blends nowadays. I think that the experience, flavor, and construction all justify the price point and I can totally see these falling into my rotation on the regular. While a box may be pricey for some, I would still suggest picking one up, and if you can’t then at least get your hands on a five pack as this is something you will want to smoke again. I would imagine Havana House will be the first to start selling them.

Pairing: We all have heard of, and possibly sipped on Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’.  This has to be one of my go to beers as it’s both high in alcohol (7.5% ABV) and it boasts some of the craziest, boldest, smoothest, sweetest flavors that you can get from a wheat/IPA hybrid. Probably one of the best all around beers that you can easily find on shelves. Well Lagunitas likes to ramp it up this time of the year introducing a Belgian yeast from Westmalle Trappist (yes, that Westmalle) that not only ramps up the already bold flavors, but also the alcohol content bringing it up to a rockin’ 8.8% ABV. This beer is like drinking Christmas in the Summer. It starts with some very sweet brown sugar and spice and then finishes with a tart citrus, hop, and caramel. This beer is not only refreshing as hell, but it, while bold in flavor remains incredibly smooth. If it was a bit milder it could easily be an all day session beer. As stated before, while the La Barba didn’t pack a whole ton of different flavors, it did capitalize on what flavors it did have. The caramel, spice, sweet tobacco, and cedar married up perfectly with the existing caramel and spice in the beer as well as added a little depth by piling on the citrus and hoppiness. This was such a great pairing and the awesome mild mid-90’s, sunny weather I enjoyed it in only added to the experience.

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The Cain F is a Nicaraguan puro made up of 32% Esteli Ligero, 25% Condega Ligero, and 25% Jalapa Ligero. I guess we will never know where the other 18% of the tobaccos come from. Available vitolas include: Nub (4 by 60), Nub Torbedo (4 by 64), Robusto (5 ¾ by 50), Torpedo (6 by 54), Double Toro (6 by 60), and Lancero (7 by 38).

The Facts

Vitola: Lancero
Size: 7 by 38
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Pairing: Seham’s Costa Rican Coffee
Smoke Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Pre-light

The Cain F sports a dark brown wrapper that has a rusty undertone. The dark imperfections, color variations, veins, and bumps make this one rugged looking cigar. The oils off the wrapper can be felt as I examine the cigar for soft spots.  The cigar has a good amount of bounce and there are a couple of spots that are noticeably softer. The wrapper aroma is of cedar, dark earth, and some other unidentifiable vegetal notes. The cedar notes are sharper off the foot, with a minor vanilla sweetness.

The double cap gets the job done. Clipping through the first layer of the cap, I find a decent draw that has just a tad more resistance than I prefer, but nothing unexpected due to the smaller ring gauge. The cold draw showcases a myriad of spices that are very rich. It reminds me of the smell of potpourri during the holiday season. Both foot bands slide off with ease and I am now ready to fire up this Cain F Lancero.

First Third

Even with the resistance on the draw, a good amount of flavorful smoke fills my mouth with each puff. Right out of the gate, the Cain F is a flavor bomb, firing off black pepper, cedar, and deep earth.  The spice sits on my palate for a good amount of time between each draw.  At the one inch mark, the pepper has shifted down, while the cedar has settled into a more significant role.  There is also a sweetness that hits the tip of my tongue. The smoke has a very thick, chewy feel in my mouth and oily quality on the finish. The black pepper on the retrohale will wake you up but not unbearable. A beautiful layered ash is a result of an almost perfect burn. Flavors are full and strength is coming in at a solid full as well.

Middle Third

The Cain F Lancero is putting me in a nice, comfortable state. The smoke has become very rich, delivering a caramel-like sweetness that compliments the cedar notes.  However, the caramel doesn’t linger on the finish but more of a dusty cocoa. The cocoa may be tied to the Costa Rican coffee I am enjoying with the cigar. In a similar way that coffee pairs with a rich dessert, the coffee is offsetting the richness of the Cain F nicely. The burn line is not as sharp as the first third, but is of no concern. As I smoke this cigar, I can’t help but think how comfortable the lancero format is in my hand and mouth.

Final Third

Due to dinking around a little too long with the photos, the Cain F did go out on me. But in no time at all, the cigar is back in action with a quick re-light from my Zippo Z-Plus! lighter. The “F” has a little more heat in the final third. I am going to have to be careful not to overheat this 38 ring gauge beauty and ruin the flavors.  The spice has crept back in warming my entire mouth and there is a lingering spice sting on my lips. The combination of woodsy notes, spice, and caramel reminds me of a spice rum. Don’t ask me what kind of rum because my rum knowledge is way below par. The strength is definitely full but it has not pushed me over the edge.  With less than an inch left, the flavor has become a bit charred and it is time to put this Lancero down to rest.

Wrap-up

I am just going to say it. I freakin love this cigar! While it has been well over a year since I smoked the 2011 release, I felt that this release offered bolder flavors and more complexity. While ugly in appearance, the construction and burn were excellent. As I have mentioned in previous reviews, I lean towards cigars that deliver some sweetness and the Cain F Lancero it right up my alley.  I adore the Lancero format and it is just unheard of to find a lancero in the $6.00 range for single. Actually, skip grabbing a single, just buy a box. Several places on the web have boxes of 10 for under $60.00. I think I know what my next box purchase is going to be.

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Now I’ll be honest that I hadn’t heard too much about Ezra Zion cigars or any of their particular lines before I came across this particular stick. But after doing some research I realized there was quite a bit of buzz around them. Now the company is fairly young looking to have really started pushing itself only last year but the big buzz came when our good friends over at Emilio Cigars partnered up with Ezra Zion to handle their distribution.

We all know Emilio Cigars has a knack for turning around quality sticks and they wouldn’t just accept any cigars, they must be good, right? Well the Reagan edition is one of 2 lines offered by Ezra Zion, the other line is called “Jamais Vu” which was renamed from the original “Inception”. The Reagan series only has two vitolas available at this time, the “President” (6.75 x 54) and today’s vitola dubbed the “40th”.

All the tobaccos in the Reagan are Cuban seeds grown in Nicaragua, as well as being aged a 5 to 6 years before rolling. It also should be obvious that these cigars are a tribute to President Reagan, the names should have given that away too ;). I also want to point out that I love the box press style toro, it’s just awesome and more people should do it. So let’s dive on in and see how this cigar stacks up!

Cigar: Ezra Zion Reagan Honor Series
Drink: Mill Street Breweries Cobblestone Stout
Vitola: “40th Boxpress” Toro (6 x 52)
Wrapper: 2006 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan – Sun Grown Habano
Binder: 2006 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan
Filler: 2007 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan Seco, Viso, and Ligero
Price: $12.50
Burn Time: Almost 2 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this Ezra Zion Reagan has a very smooth texture and a color of soft cinnamon brown
• There are hardly any veins to be seen, super smooth and velvety to the touch
• I really like the box-pressed shape on this cigar, definitely need more companies to start doing this
• All my samples were pretty soft to the touch, all the way from head to foot
• Packing looks to be pretty full at the foot even though they are soft, interesting…
• The cap has some imperfections but overall it’s finished well
• A very thin cut leaves me with a perfect draw

Burn:
• The Ezra Zio Reagan toasted up with ease and quickly, leaving a nice glowing foot to see
• Through the first inch, the burn has been somewhat wavy but no cause for concern yet, we’ll have to keep a close eye on this
• A little past an inch in and i got a pretty big peninsula growing that I needed to correct with a small touch up
• Just before the halfway mark I had another peninsula rear it’s head so I needed another touch up here
• Some more small touch ups needed towards the end but nothing too major

Smoke & Ash:
• This cigar has got a ton of smoke from each easy draw
• It actually doesn’t produce much resting smoke though
• So far just under an inch in and the ash is looking pretty messy, some pieces are already falling off and it appears pretty weak
• Despite the flimsy look, the ash lasted past an inch and started to look more clean and stable as the burn continues
• The ash lasted just about an inch before I tapped it off
• Second ash was a mix of looking strong and weak again due to the touchup, still lasted about an inch though
• The third ash is coming along much nicer with no touch ups, it’s clean and string with a light and dark grey striping

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a very hay-like aroma to it, with just a bit of woodiness
• I’m getting more hay and woodsy aromas on the foot with a touch of spice thrown in
• The pre-light draw had some nice sweet cocoa flavors and a touch of spice
• On the initial draws, I’m getting mostly light coffee flavors so far, a touch of dry spice on the back of my throat as well
• Through the first third of the cigar, coffee and light spices are still playing the biggest parts
• The whole experience has been in the mild-medium range so far
• From the retrohale, I’m getting a nice little bite and a smooth sweet and creamy finish that I’m enjoying
• As I get into the final third, the spice is ramping up a tad and the sweet coffee has switched over to more of an espresso note
• The deep rich flavors continue through to the end with a bit of leather being mixed in there as well
• No real harshness towards the nub so I got to finish this nicely

Final Thoughts:
There were some really nice flavors in the Ezra Zion Reagan Honor Series and I enjoyed the experience for the most part. There were two key parts that brought down my experience today. The main one was the touch ups and wavy burn throughout most of the cigar. The price is also a bit steep, so when I go into a cigar knowing I spent well over $10 for it, I am expecting a good cigar. On the upside, I really enjoyed the flavors here. They were deep, rich and right up my alley so that kept me interested the whole way though. Also, I’m happy that the touch ups did not ruin that flavors here either. All in all, I will be looking for more of these. I’m hoping the burn issues were restricted to the bunch I had because if you take that away, this would be a very tasty cigar!

Pairings:
Today we have another pick from Mill Street Brewery that I’ve also paired with before. I love supporting the local people and when it’s a darn good stout, I will keep supporting them! lol. The Cobblestone Stout is still fairly new to the stores but it seems to be selling quite well. It is a classic stout with lots of deep malty and smoky flavors and even a touch of coffee, but not too much. It’s got a ton of head when you pour it and a bit of a dry finish. I really liked how the rich flavors of the Ezra Zion Reagan. This would pair really well with anything deep and rich, such as a porter or even just a nice strong coffee.

The post Ezra Zion Reagan Honor Series appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

You might remember a while back Tony took a trip down to the Dominican Republic courtesy of our awesome friends over at General Cigar. He got a very neat tour and had an awesome time. You can read more about it from his recap here. He did an awesome job of detailing the whole trip including all the educational pieces that General Cigar mixed in. If you haven’t read it yet, make sure you do now.

While on the trip, Tony had the chance to blend and even help roll a special cigar of this own. He got to choose all the tobacco leaves that went into it and sprinkled a little bit of sunshine into the recipe! lol. When he came back, he graciously sent me one of his samples and today I am going to review it.

As a special treat, I also found out that Tony sent one of these sticks over to our friend Jeff, so I sneakily went behind his back and asked Jeff to review it as well. Check his thoughts out at the bottom of the post and a big Thanks to Jeff for sending it along to me!

So enough with the chatter, let’s see if Tony is next master cigar blender!

Cigar: Macanudo “Tony Casas”
Drink: Unibroue Raftman
Vitola: Corona (5.5 x 46)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Ometepe Ligero, Nicaraguan Viso, Brazillian Mata Fina and Piloto Cubano Seco (Can anyone say “Frankenstein’s Monster”? ;))
Price: Priceless!
Burn Time: About an hour

Construction:
• When squeezed, there is mostly a fairly squishy type of feel with some soft spots to be found
• Spotty cinnamon brown wrapper has no major veins to be worried about
• Foot appears very well packed and almost even tapered a bit towards the foot, interesting style there
• Cap seems like some sort of single cap with a messy application, but not too shabby for a first attempt (sorry Tony!)
• The cut was very easy and left me with a really nice draw

Burn:
• The toasting was super easy, probably due to the slight taper at the end, not sure if that was intentional or if the cigar got squeezed but I like the idea! lol
• There was a bit of a wave just near the foot after lighting but it quickly corrected itself without my help
• Through the first third I’m having a nice burn, not perfectly straight but still very nice
• I noticed that some big draws were over heating the cigar, causing very black burn lines and a change in the flavor, slowed it down a bit now
• Happy to report that I only needed one minor touch up around the halfway mark, the rest of the cigar burned pretty nicely

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of smoke right from the start here and no need for any extra draws
• There’s a bit of resting smoke as I lay the cigar in the ashtray, just a burning wood aroma from there
• Ask is a bit flaky and messy, getting some bits falling off now and then
• Tapped the ash off at just about a half inch, was worried it would fall on my laptop
• The ash has some parts that are very light grey and others are super dark black
• After I changed my draw pattern, the ash is a consistent medium grey, not over heating it anymore
• Kept the ash under a half inch since it was flaky the whole way through

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper had a bit of a woodsy aroma to it but nothing too strong
• The foot is more woodsy aromas with a little bit of greenery tossed in there
• On the pre-light draw, I’m actually getting some tarty or fruity notes along with the woodsy and greenery
• First few draws were kind of burnt wood flavors, nothing interesting here
• I started get a bit of the tarty flavors coming out as I burned through the first third
• I realized that drawing too fast on this cigar is causing some really hot burning, so I slowed it down and all those burnt flavors are slowly disappearing
• Getting some nice woodsy and sort of cinnamon type of flavors into the mix now
• I also started picking up a bit of the tarty notes I had before lighting it up, they are peeking in and out
• The slightly burnt flavor never completely left but slowing down on my draws definitely reduced it
• For the most part the body was fairly mild, maybe just near medium towards the end
• No harshness or bitterness towards the end at all, a nice finish and some of the flavors really bolded up

Final Thoughts:
So what to say here? I’m not too sure. I’ll be easy on Tony since it was his first attempt. I have to point out the mess of fillers he put in this stick, it’s like he grabbed one leaf from every pile and put them together! Just joking, I’m sure it made sense in his head.
Aside from the over heating aspects, the Macanudo Tony Casas had some promising flavors to it and it actually burned quite well. The price was astronomically too high for this cigar though!
Good job Tony, you’re well on your way to becoming the best Texas grown cigar maker out there!

Pairings:
This isn’t a new pairing here but it is the last bottle I have (and probably last I will be able to get for a long time). This offering by Unibroue is called the Raftman and is brewed with whisky malts. I’ve only ever been able to find it when I was in Quebec which is a good 5-6 hour drive away. The flavors are fantastic with a great mix of oak, a hint of those whisky malts and a nice helping of regular malt. There’s even a touch of citrus in there too, very good stuff! It paired well with the Macanudo Tony Casas because it’s not an overpowering beer so it was a good choice.

Macanudo LE by Tony Casas (Review by Jeff Oda)

Pre-Light

The wrapper is fairly veiny and bumpy. The pack is firm with no discernible soft spots.
Wrapper smells of tobacco and light cedar with very faint barnyard.
Foot smells of tobacco, not much more.
The cold draw is snug and doesn’t offer up much other than tobacco flavor.

Light up!

First draws are of lightly sweet tobacco and cedar on the tongue with a slight pepper bite. It’s mild and smooth with some nice cedar on the retrohale. The stationary smoke is very light but has a nice aroma.

One inch in at 15 minutes, the draw has improved and ash held for 1”. Pepper has ramped up a bit,
feeling it in the back of the throat, but the body is still mild, although it is climbing a bit. The retrohale continues to be cedary and lightly sweet with a peppery sting.

Two inches in at 35 minutes, I’m now getting a bit of acidic brightness and pepper has faded but is still there. The small amount of sweetness that was there has also departed, but I’m enjoying the aroma through the nose as I take a draw.

Halfway through, I’m starting to pick up some creaminess, but not a lot. The body is at medium and I’m still getting a bit of peppery tickle at the back of the throat, though it seems to come and go. Burn-wise, I haven’t even had to think about it, a bit wavy at times, but mostly even.

Into the final third at 1 hour, the spice has faded once again and nuttiness has come into play. Further down, the pepper zing has surfaced again on the tongue and lips. With 1-1/2” left, the flavors have washed out, but the burn remains cool to the last inch, where I stopped at 1:20. Pretty slow burn on this one.

All in all, not bad, but I was hoping for more sweetness and creamy richness to intermingle and balance with the pepperiness and wood and tobacco flavors. I’m sure part of it may have to do with the tobaccos that were available for blending.* Would I smoke one again? Sure. Would I pay for it? I plead the 5th on that. I have to commend Tony on this first effort. The flavors were a bit thin and
unbalanced, but even though it wasn’t the prettiest cigar to look at, the construction, burn, and draw
were great. Now I’m really looking forward to trying the Drew Estate and Joya de Nicaragua blends he did.

I paired it with Lagunitas New DogTown Pale Ale, but I think it would go better with a cup of coffee.

Photo Courtesy of Jeff

The post General Cigar – Macanudo “Tony Casas” appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now I have to apologize for a HUGE fail on my part… I had taken a bunch of pictures and absent mindedly deleted them from the camera before I moved them to my computer! What a super fail! So not too many pictures today, sorry!

“What the heck is the Vallejuelo?” some of you might ask. It seems that a lot of people simply haven’t come across this cigar before but it’s actually got quite a big following for two reasons. It’s commonly held as a well manufactured medium body cigar, and secondly, it comes in at a very fair price of just around $4 if you buy by the box.

The Vallejuelo brand comes from a factory called Intercigar in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The owner, Maurice Antonius Koks, comes from Holland where his roots there were also in the Tobacco industry. He is also the blender of the Vallejuelo. This cigar has got quite a lot of hype as one of the best budget cigars so I’m excited to see what it offers me. So let’s dive right in and see if the Vallejuelo stacks up to the hype people have created for it.

Cigar: Vallejuelo
Drink: Innis & Gunn Highland Cask
Vitola: Robusto Gordo (5 x 54)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Nicaragua and Dominican Republic
Price: $4.00 – $4.50
Burn Time: Just over an hour

Construction:
• The milky brown wrapper on this cigar has a wonderful oily sheen to it
• There are some veins here and there with one major one down the back but it doesn’t look to be a problem
• The single cap has a very clean finish to it, very well constructed
• The Vallejuelo is fairly firm and consistent from end to end, there is only a touch of spring to it
• Glancing at the foot you can easily see why it’s firm, this thing is packed to gills with tons of leaves
• The cut was easy and even but I’m left with a pretty tight draw, let’s hope it opens up a bit here

Burn:
• The toasting was a good at first but the burn quickly climbed the edge of the wrapper and charred it a bit before the foot was glowing. I find this happens often with delicate wrappers, sometimes affecting the first few puffs a bit but nothing major
• The burn got off to a nice even start and is going well through the first third
• The burn is staying nice and straight through to the halfway mark, no corrections needed and it’s smoking nice and slowly too
• Spot on burn straight through to the finish, no corrections needed at all!

Smoke & Ash:
• Since the draw is a bit tight it is taking a few attempts to get a good amount of smoke flowing here
• There’s a bit of resting smoke when I put the cigar down, slow but consistent
• The ash on this cigar looks super strong and firm, probably due to the serious packed in filler
• The color is mostly darker tones of grey with some lighter ones but no clean or neat zebra striping here today
• The ash held strong until I tapped it off at around the 1 inch mark, no flaking at all
• Ash stayed strong and lean with easy 1 inch pieces every time right to the end

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has an almost nutty aroma to it, a first for me I think
• I got a bit of a tingling sensation from smelling the foot, definitely some spices in there, perhaps a bit of white pepper and still some nutty notes
• The pre-light draw brings more white pepper spice but now it’s backed with some woodsy and licorice type notes
• The initial draws have a bit of a charred flavor, probably due to the awkward toasting but I still am picking up some cedar and licorice notes
• The charred flavors quickly disappeared and I’m left with a sort of roasted woody and almond type of flavor with some licorice to back it up
• The licorice flavor is really shining through around the halfway mark and adding a bit of sweetness to the mix as well, very nice
• The pepper has died down and the flavors are balancing nicely
• The Vallejuelo has been in the mild category so far with only a soft sweet finish on the retrohale thats quite enjoyable
• The body is picking up a bit into the medium range as I pass the halfway mark and some of the white pepper spice is making a comeback
• The cigar picked up surprisingly strong in the last third. Body jumped into the fuller range and the pepper and woodsy flavors made a strong comeback
• The sweet licorice notes are mostly gone now which is disappointing because they were really good
• A nice medium finish to this cigar with just a touch of harshness, I still nubbed it!

Final Thoughts:
All in all this was an interesting cigar. It had a lot of change ups and some distinct flavors. I would have liked the sweet licorice to stick around more but I really enjoyed it when it was there. The burn was top notch and was also nice and slow which are big bonuses for me. I think I’ll want to seek out some other vitolas to see how the blend changes, maybe a corona size or so? I think this could really shine in a smaller ring gauge. Definitely worth picking some up and giving them a try if you haven’t had one before. A big thanks to Jeff for hooking me up with this and letting me try a brand a might not otherwise have picked up!

Pairings:
Yet another brew from one of my favorite breweries, Innis & Gunn. It’s another limited batch called the Highland Cask and I stumbled on it in the beer store earlier this year. This interesting batch is aged for 69 days in barrels that once contained 16 year old Scotch. Now that’s pretty cool if you ask me! It comes in another fancy box with a cool story and has a Best Before date of December 2012 so I’m guessing there won’t be too many more left on store shelves now. It’s got more of the awesome oaky, malty and toffee notes I’ve come to love from Innis & Gunn but also adds a layer of Scotch type of flavoring. It’s quite subtle and not in your face so don’t be afraid to try this even if you aren’t a Scotch lover. It definitely paired well with the Vallejuelo and another choice pairing would have been coffee here, I think that would have made a very interesting.

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