The brand I’m referring to is of course Carlos Torano. In fact, there’s only one other review up on our site from a Torano line and it’s the Carlos Torano Casa Torano that I reviewed back in March 2011, almost a whole year ago. Today’s line I’ll be reviewing is the Carlos Torano Signature Collection in the Toro vitola.

This particular blend seems to be hailed by a few retailer websites as the best blend in their inventory, so it will have some big shoes to fill in this review. The interesting mix of fillers and binder leaves is a curious one, and on paper it sounds very tasty. The blend seems to have been first released back in 2000 and according to the official website, Torano.com, it comes in 5 vitolas ranging from a Perfecto up to a Churchill.

It’s interesting to see that for a cigar that’s been available for 12 years there isn’t much history or interesting news on it. The basic word is that it sells well and is a top performer in the Torano brand. The factory that makes this particular cigar is located in Honduras and is rolled completely by hand. I haven’t had one in awhile but we’ll see how close my older notes hold up to today’s experience…

Cigar: Carlos Torano Signature Collection
Drink: Lake of Bays Brewing Company Mocha Porter
Vitola: Toro (6 x 50)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Brazilian Maduro
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Dominican Cubano Ligero & Nicaraguan Habano Ligero
Price: About $7.50
Burn Time: About 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this cigar looks like it got beat with a meat tenderizer, it’s got bumps and dents and even looks a bit crooked
• The wrapper looks to be a very dark and consistent chocolate color, almost too dark and consistent, perhaps a bit of dye was used here?
• Despite the rugged nature and shape of the wrapper, there are very few large veins here but the wrapper definitely has a sandpaper type of feel to it
• The single cap has a slightly rough application to it which fits in with the rest of the cigar
• The foot looks very well packed and the entire length of the cigar has a fair bit of firmness to it

Burn:
• Toasting was nice and slow and resulted in a evenly glowing foot after about 30 seconds
• We’re off to a good start with some razor sharp burn through the first inch or so
• No problems as I pass the halfway mark, the burn is moving along at a very nice pace
• When I don’t have much to say in this section it’s a good thing, damn near perfect burn right to the end

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw is giving me a good amount of smoke with very little effort
• Even though it’s pumping out lots of smoke on the draw, the resting smoke is actually fairly moderate and not overpowering at all
• Ash looks to have a nice pattern of medium gray and some dark, almost black striping
• The ash is lasting just over an inch before it shows some signs of weakness and I tap it off
• No flaking on this ash, it’s clean and tight

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper doesn’t have too much aroma but I do get a faint hint of sweet tobacco
• The foot tells a very different story giving off tons of barnyard aromas
• The pre-light draw reveals lots of woodsy and earthy notes with a touch of the barnyard flavors thrown in there
• Initial flavors are some mild woodsiness with a touch of sweetness and a slightly creamy, yet dry, finish
• Within the first inch, I get a nice introduction of some subtle cooking spices, somewhere in the white pepper range
• The body has started off fairly mild so far with a small bite on the retrohale and a barely detectable woodsy finish
• The flavors are continuing to develop nicely as we hit the halfway mark, some more woodsiness, a bit of leather, earthiness and still a touch of those spices is lingering
• As I move into the last third the body as barely reached medium and I’m starting to get some sweetness added to the mix, maybe like a coffee with sugar type of flavor
• A lot of the flavors seemed to fade into a woodsy and leather mix near the last 1.5 inches, not bad but not as interesting as they were

Final Thoughts:
If you’ve been following some of my posts here or even on Facebook (Like us Please! ) and Twitter, I think you’ll find I’ve historically not been a huge fan of the Carlos Torano lines. I’ve never found any of them to be bad but just not exactly the profile I would gravitate towards. I think we found a slight exception to that rule today. Although this cigar didn’t knock me off my socks, I did find it to be a nice relaxing and enjoyable cigar. The burn was nice, the flavors were varied and enjoyable and it never tried to go out on me. I was a bit surprised that the body was a lot weaker than expected, the ligero didn’t pack the punch I was preparing for but I’m fine with that. The last bit of the cigar did go a little bland but it wasn’t off putting or bitter, just bland. My only real gripe is the price. I know, I sound like a broken record here but if I’m forking out almost $8 for a cigar it should be a very good cigar, not just a “good” cigar. Having said that, I did see them on sale for some more attractive prices so if you can find them on sale I’d say they are worth a try.

Pairings:
I don’t find too many bottles from the Lake of Bays Brewing Company at my local store but when I saw this one recently I decided to give it a try. The brewery is located about 2.5hours north of the city of Toronto in a place called Muskoka. You might have heard of Mukoka before, it’s a pretty popular escape to a cabin or cottage on some beautiful lakes and forested areas where a lot of celebrities actually own cottages. Todays offering is their Mocha Porter. I was expecting a bit more chocolate in this brew but for the most part it’s more like a coffee porter. Lots of smooth and tasty coffee flavors without any bitterness and very little malt. There is a touch of chocolate in there but not much. It actually paired very nicely with the Carlos Torano Signature Collection since the brew wasn’t too bold and complimented the flavors nicely.

The post Carlos Torano Signature Collection appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now there isn’t a whole lot of info out there about the ELO #3 so I’ll do my best here. If anyone has any more accurate or additional info, feel free to add it in the comments and I’ll be glad to append it to the review! From what I found while researching, this cigar comes exclusively from New Havana Cigars and is an “encore” release of a popular cigar they had previously sold in 2008.

It seems the cigars were sold at record speeds as do many of the limited releases from Tatuaje and especially from New Havana Cigars. As with many cigars from Pete Johnson of Tatuaje, this is a Nicaraguan puro and is rolled at the My Father Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. At the moment only New Havana Cigars is selling the ELO series from what I understand but it is possible that the retailers could expand, depending on demand and supply of course.

Now this next part is pure speculation but there may be some truth here. Apparently, the ELO series, which runs with numbers 1 thru 5, are overruns of some other popular Tatuaje cigars. And just to clarify, an overrun is not a 2nd, it’s basically just extra stock without any imperfections. From some reading, it seems this ELO #3 is the counterpart to the Tatuaje Verocu #2. Reading that and looking at some pictures of the Verocu 2 seems to be pretty accurate, but who knows.

So remember, a lot of this info is just stuff I found randomly and not from any official sources, so I’m not sure how accurate it is. Feel free to share any more info on his cigar if you have it, I’d love to learn more about it! Now I won’t do any more speculation or yapping, let’s just get straight to the review!

Cigar: Tatuaje ELO #3 2011
Drink: Muskoka Brewery Winter Beard Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout
Vitola: Robusto (5.5 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $6.50
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Tatuaje ELO #3 2011 has a pretty rough and beefy wrapper on it
• Despite having quite a few decent sized veins the oily sheen of this cigar definitely makes it attractive to look at
• The triple cap topping off this cigar is very smooth and well applied, so I can’t complain there
• Now the foot of the cigar looks like it has it’s fair share of filler leaves in there, very packed
• Surprisingly though, there is a nice give and spring to this cigar when squeezed
• The more I look at these veins the more they worry me, I’m hoping they don’t cause any burn issues here…
• The cut with my double bladed guillotine cutter made a huge mess and little pieces of tobacco leaves went everywhere
• The pre-light draw seems a bit tight but we’ll see how it goes
• The draw actually turned out to be ok, it is a bit tight but it’s not affecting the experience so far

Burn:
• The toasting was slow and steady and although there were some problematic spots it all lit up fairly evenly in the end
• The burn through the first inch of so has been razor sharp and super slow, so far so good!
• The burn continues to be stellar and slow through the whole first half, I’m actually very surprised because I saw a few good sized veins
• I had one little peninsula form in the last third of the cigar but it actually corrected itself, all in all this was a superbly burning cigar!

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke coming from this cigar is plentiful but it seems a little thin, not a bad thing just something to note
• The resting smoke is fairly minimal but it does give off a nice woodsy aroma
• The ash on this ELO #3 2011 is a very nice whitish color with accents of black striping here and there
• The ash lasted easily past an inch with a strong and clean looking structure before I tapped it off into the ashtray
• Loving the strong and clean ash on this cigar, another easy passing of the 1 inch mark on the second ash

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper of this cigar has surprisingly little aroma, maybe just a touch of woodsiness to it
• The foot is similarly lacking in aroma but I did detect a touch of floral notes in there, kind of surprised cause I’m used to getting a lot of spice from Tatuaje cigars
• The woodsy and floral flavors are still there on the pre-light draw but now I’m definitely picking up the trademark Tatuaje peppery spice that I’m used to, tingling my lips and tongue
• The first few draws had a very charred taste, might have been due to the extended toasting but I’m glad they went away fairly quickly
• The next array of flavors seems to be a musty woodsy type of flavor with a side order of mild spices and just a dash of leather
• The retrohale on the Tatuaje ELO #3 2011 has just a small bite and a smooth creamy cedar finish
• The body is resting at a comfortable mild-medium right now
• Now I’m not sure if it’s partly the beer here but I’m getting a nice thick rich flavor on this cigar, like a dark chocolate or roasted espresso, really enjoying it
• The flavors continue to get richer as the cigar burns, the spice has mostly disappeared and I’m left with a nice woodsiness backed by those delicious espresso and dark chocolate
• The body started to kick up into the full category in the last third but it still maintained a smooth creamy finish and lots of rich flavors
• The strength of this cigar seemed to sneak up a bit on me at the end, I got a little bit of a nicotine kick but not much. Might be due to smoking this earlier in the day and having only a small lunch
• The flavors diminished a bit as I hit the nub but they didn’t get harsh, just sort of washed out, still enjoyed it up until my fingers were burning

Final Thoughts:
Now this was a darn tasty smoke. I’ve had a bit of an up and down experience with Tatuaje lately but I always come back because when Pete Johnson does it right, he does it really right! The perfect burn, the awesome ash and the great array of rich flavors made for a superb smoking experience. The slow burn also gave me plenty of time to enjoy the cigar without the need to babysit it. I have to say that this blend definitely carried some similarities to the Verocu line, especially the Verocu Tubo since I smoked it not too long ago. So maybe there is some truth to that info… If you can track down a few of these I would definitely recommend you give them a try.

Pairings:
Today’s pairing is definitely an interesting one. It comes from a brewery about an hour North of me in what we call “Cottage Country”. It’s from Muskoka brewery and it is called their Winter Beard which is a Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout. Now I took a bit of a risk here since I actually haven’t even tried this brew before today and I’m glad to say it worked out rather well. I was a bit scared that the cranberry flavor would be overpowering but it’s actually barely discernible at all. You can get a touch of sweetness but it’s not a super fruity flavor at all. Even the double chocolate is fairly balanced. Once thing to note is that this is probably one of the thickest beers I’ve ever drank. It poured out like well aged port but it surprisingly had very little head (foam) to it. I found the richness of the beer to be a perfect match for the richness of the cigar, they both played to each others strengths and made for a great overall experience.

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