September and October 2015 Recap

Most Memorable Cigars Smoked

1. Crowned Heads – Las Calaveras 2015
2. La Mission du L’Atelier
3. Tatuaje – La Riqueza
4. Mel Caribbean Corp. – Bella Dominicana

 September and October Cigar Reviews

Review Highlights

Jeremy’s Reviews
Mel Caribbean Corp. – Bella Dominicana 

Bella Dominicana delivered medium/full flavors at the start and transitioned to more of medium smoke throughout the last two third. The strength behaved exactly opposite with reaching medium/full at the end. I would characterize the core of the smoke, or the most consistent flavor, as sweet, rich woodsy notes with no lack of complexity and change-ups and a fair amount of pepper spice.

J. Fuego – Vudu Sacrifice and Vudu Dark, Famous Smoke Shop Exclusives

Sacrifice: Right of the bat, the Sacrifice delivered full-flavors that were full in body and medium in strength. I have absolutely no complaints in the performance department. While the draw was stiff at the pre-light, once lit, the draw was fine and the burn and ash was exceptional for a cigar less than $3.00. Not overly complex, but highly enjoyable smoke that I could see picking up in the evening and standing up to fuller body beverages.

Dark: The Vudu Dark is my cup of tea. The flavors of earth, cocoa, and pepper suited my palate with an evolving strength that moved from mild to medium/full throughout the smoke. Compared to the Sacrifice, the burn-line was not nearly as even, but was of no concern. I actually ordered up a jar of No. 7s, and I believe you may be hard-pressed to find a better cigar for the price.

Macanudo Estate Reserve 2015

Macanudo Estate Reserve 2015 delivers medium flavors, body, and strength, sometimes pushing full, with an effortless performance. The sweetness noted in the first third brought a nice balance to the dark and sour/floral flavors and was sorely missed once it exited in the middle third and never made a return. The sour floral or grapefruit essence held my interest throughout but I longed for the return of the sweetness.

Carnage, a Famous Smoke Shop Exclusive

Famous Smoke Shop’s Carnage blended by Nestor Plasencia delivers medium flavors and medium/full strength with a consistent profile with a core of rich woodsy notes and pepper spice, with some subtleties that are much more noticeable if this cigar is not hot boxed. The Carnage Robusto required one touch-up, but other that I don’t have any complaints on the performance.

Tatuaje La Riqueza Lancero

The core of the flavors were dark and spicy, with lots of subtleties in the profile and change-ups in each of thirds kept me engaged the entire time. Each time I burn through one of the Tatuaje lanceros in the Limited Lancero Collection, I feel like I just found my new favorite Tat. As it stand today, this may very well be my favorite.

Tony’s Reviews

Padron – Damaso No. 8

In my case, I was pretty disappointed in the lack of everything that you have come to expect from Padron in the case of the Damaso. The body was lacking, the flavor profile was less than stellar, and the price point was way too high for what the cigar delivered. Not to mention that I really tried to take my time with this cigar, but even then it burned way too quickly. It seriously only took me about 50 minutes to smoke this down to the very nub.

Crux Du Connoisseur

Each of Crux’s cigars have been hits in our book, and the Crux Du Connoisseur is no exception. In fact, it’s probably one of my favorites by the company. The cigar sports lots of character with a complex and interesting flavor profile that isn’t too far over the top.

Guest Reviews by Jeff Oda

L’Atelier Extension de la Racine ER14

Looking over my review of the first release of the Extension de la Racine (ER13), it appears that this one is quite a bit different in the flavors it presents, and I have to wonder if the shape of the cigar has something to do with that.  I definitely missed the Asian spice and floral elements that were present in the ER13 and that I enjoyed so much, so perhaps the Parejo shape is a better fit for this blend than figurado.

Roberto Duran Cigars – Neya 

The flavors were enjoyable and reasonably complex, and the experience was very much in line with the Duran EPF target.  The previous two that I had actually lasted about ten to fifteen minutes longer than this one, so YMMV.  At four bucks, I think that this cigar is an absolute bargain, and I have no qualms about recommending it to someone who’s looking for a high-value medium-plus bodied stick.

AJ Fernandez Enclave

The AJ Fernandez Enclave turned out to be a solid smoke, which while not the most complex around, provided a good range of flavors with enough transitions to keep me interested in it.  Construction and burn were top-notch, it smoked nice and slow, and the price is absolutely consumer friendly.

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Silver Tongue is native to Jamaica organically grown in the Montego Bay region. It is described as a low yield tobacco that is one of the most expensive filler tobaccos in the world. This is an exclusive proprietary leaf to General Cigar.

Production is limited to 18,000 cigars or 1,800 10-count boxes of the Macanudo Estate Reserve 2015 that consists of tobaccos from five counties. Based on the blend alone, the cigar intrigues me as it has a 10-year aged Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, San Andres binder, and the exotic  Silver Tongue tobacco from Jamaica in the filler next to Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos. Three vitolas will be available in the 2015 release to include: No. 9 (5 by 50 Robusto), No. 8 (6 by 57 Belicoso), and No. 7 (7 by 50 Churchill). The Estate Reserve line carries a premium price tag ranging from $16.00 for the Robusto to $18.00 for the Belicoso.

The Facts

Samples Provided by General Cigar Co.
Price: $16.00
Vitola: No.9 Robusto
Size: 5 by 50
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Mexican San Andres
Filler: Dominican, Jamaican (Silver Tongue), and Nicaraguan
Smoke Time: 1 Hour and 5 Minutes

Pre-light

The silver, gold, and black band is eye catching against the oscuro, almost black, wrapper that has a nice oily sheen and a fine tooth. Mainly small veins web the cigar with a couple of medium-sized veins that are hard to see on the dark leaf. A pugent barnyard aroma is found on the wrapper, while the foot shows off some natural sweet tobacco and woodsy notes, with just a hint of cooking spices.

Clipping through the beautifully applied double cap, the cigar is jam packed with tobacco making it difficult to cut through the beautifully applied double cap. My worries are quickly relieved as I find an easy draw with just the righ amount of resistance. The dry draw flavors are rich with more of the cooking spices, clove, and woodsy notes.

First Third

As the cigar warms up, I note common flavors of wood, dirt, and black pepper. However, there is a very interesting sour and floral essence to the flavors.  As I pass a small amount of smoke through the sinuses expecting a black pepper hit, a cocoa sweetness peaks through and really compliments the other flavors. Quickly, the sweetness makes its way into the main profile. A white ash is being formed as the cigar burns evenly with a thick burn-line.

Middle Third

Transitioning into the middle third, the black pepper and spice heat are gaining in intensity. The darker flavor of earth (dirt) is playing a more dominant role, while the woodsy notes have moved to the background and the sweetness has exited but the an unsweetened cocoa is found on the finish. The sour quality is still hanging around but difficult to pinpoint somewhere between floral and grapefruit.

Final Third

The smoke is drying out my palate and the flavors remain similar to the previous third. The deep earth notes are heavy on the palate. The sweetness is trying to make a reemergence but is unable to cut through. Without the sweetness, the profile is off-balanced. The floral and cocoa linger on the finish for a long time. Closing out the cigar, the strength is at the high-end of medium.

Wrap-up

Macanudo Estate Reserve 2015 delivers medium flavors, body, and strength, sometimes pushing full, with an effortless performance. The sweetness noted in the first third brought a nice balance to the dark and sour/floral flavors and was sorely missed once it exited in the middle third and never made a return. The sour floral or grapefruit essence held my interest throughout but I longed for the return of the sweetness. $16 for a Robusto is a steep price, and even though there were some things left to be desired, the cigar is most certainly unique in terms of flavor and worth giving a shot.

Note: the cigar pictured in the pre-light photos had a much lighter wrapper leaf, with more visible veins, and hardly any tooth compared to the cigar smoked for review. While the cigars appeared quite different, both samples smoked the same.

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