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.

As for me, life has been pretty busy and it will surely continue to be that way until the big wedding day coming up in September. I did manage to sneak away last week and put together a review of the Viaje Oro Edicion Limitada Perfecto Squared. Try saying that 10 times fast! haha.

Now Viaje is a brand I don’t really get to see a lot of North of the border in Canada. Due to their mostly limited production they also have a fairly limited distribution and they also seem to be well sought after, making them even harder to come by. The few I have gotten come from trades or bombs, just like this one did. Today’s Viaje is part of their Oro line up and is the limited edition version, so it’s even more limited production so I’m happy to have a chance to review this one for everybody.

There isn’t a ton of info on the Viaje brand or this particular cigar but I’ll do my best to give a little bit of background. The brand owner is Andre Farkas and he naturally portrays the brand as a boutique cigar company which specializes in small batch cigars. The actual name Viaje is a Spanish word that translates to ‘Journey’ and Andre currently has 7 lines under the Viaje flag. The Oro lines is produced at the Raices Cubanas factory and comes wrapped with a Corojo99 leaf and a double binder.

Now if you can get your hands on a few of these, they’ve all been pretty darn tasty from the small samplings I’ve had so far. They are all Nicaraguan puros, so if you are a Nicaraguan fan, you will be at home here. So let’s jump on in and see if the Viaje Oro Edicion Limitada Perfecto Squared lives up to the reputation that I’ve come to expect from the brand so far.

Cigar: Viaje Oro Edicion Limitada Perfecto Squared
Drink: Unibroue Raftman
Vitola: Double Torpedo (5.25 x 52)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo 99
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $9
Burn Time: A little over an hour

Construction:
• The Viaje Oro Edicion Limitada is an interesting looking figurado shaped cigar with a very dark brown wrapper that has a few golden highlights
• The wrapper definitely has some toothiness to it and isn’t afraid to show off a little bit of oilyness
• The cap of the cigar is finished cleanly with a single leaf that blends away into the wrapper
• There is definitely a soft springiness to this cigar, more so near the foot, I’m hoping it doesn’t translate into an open draw
• The foot itself is almost closed, with maybe just a quarter inch visible so I can’t really tell if it’s well packed or not
• A couple medium sized veins show through on the wrapper but they are fairly short and don’t look like they will be a problem
• The stick I have has a small crack in the wrapper near the band, probably from shipment, hopefully it doesn’t cause any problems

Burn:
• The foot is so small on this cigar so toasting was obviously super easy, now let’s see if it works out to be a nice burn too
• I always tend to have a lot of burn issues at the start of tapered cigars like this but this one seems to be starting off pretty well
• Through the first inch the burn is a bit wavy but it seems to be staying within a decent range and not requiring touchups
• The waves got the better of the burn and I needed to give it a quick touch up near the halfway mark

Smoke & Ash:
• Even from the tiny tapered foot at the start this cigar started producing massive amounts of smoke from each and every draw
• The resting smoke was consistent but not overpowering, just a nice light line steadily emerging from the foot
• The initial ash is nothing pretty, it seems pretty uneven and dark grey or black in most spots
• I tapped it off after about an inch since it looked like it was gonna fall anyway
• The ash also has no smooth burn lines to it, weird to see that it’s all just chunks here and there
• The next ash lasted a bit longer than an inch but it was still fairly weak and pretty much exploded when hitting the ashtray

Tasting Notes:
• The aroma on the wrapper is fairly light with only a little bit of woodsy aromas shining through
• The foot is very small so the aromas were pretty much the same as the wrapper here
• The pre-light draw carries more of the woodiness through but this time it’s much more noticeable and comes with a bit of clove and fresh vegetal notes as well
• The initial flavors are very similar to the pre-light with a lot of woodiness and vegetal flavors, plus a bit more of the clove spices
• The spices started to pick up as I head past the 1 inch mark, lots of interesting peppers, nutmeg and a bit of saltiness I usually only find in cubans
• As with a lot of sharply tapered cigars, I tend to get a bit of the oils coming out of the cap that make it a little bitter. Cutting it a bit more usually resolves this problem
• I’m getting a bit of leather in the mix now and the wood flavors have become more toasted now
• For the most part, the whole cigar has been in the medium bodied range and it’s had a nice bite on the retrohale with a smooth woodsy and clove finish
• Just past the half-way mark I’m getting a nice espresso flavor mixing in with the spices and woodsiness, this is getting better and better!
• All the flavors really started to gain some intensity near the end and balance out amazingly
• A nice tasty and flavorful finish without any harshness to worry about, bravo!

Final Thoughts:
I haven’t had too many Viaje’s in my days, mostly because they don’t reach Canada in distribution and of course they are fairly limited. But all-in-all I quite enjoyed this one! The ash may not have been pretty but we’re not here for good looks, we’re here for flavors and the Viaje Oro Edicion Limitada Perfecto Squared did not miss the mark there at all. Tons of interesting flavors that kept changing made me wonder what the next draw was going to bring me, I love having that in any cigar. There were a couple issues on the burn but nothing major that I would knock this cigar for. The price is a bit up there at the $9 mark but even at that price I’d say it’s worth trying a few of these. That is, if you can find them cause they are pretty much all gone from what I can tell.

Pairings:
I’m not gonna re-invent the wheel here, I already did a good write up on the Unibroue Raftman when I paired it with the La Reloba Seleccion Sumatra. Here’s the rundown from my last post:

Next to the Scottish brewery of Innis & Gunn that I paired last week, another of my favorite breweries is none other than Canada’s own Unibroue. This place is based out of Quebec and has a HUGE inventory of brews with a ton of different and unique beers that are a rare find. Today’s brew is called Raftman and I only found a case of these while actually in Quebec, I’ve never seen it in any other stores so far. Now this brew was very interesting as the label says it is brewed with Whisky Malts so I just had to pick it up and give it a try. Well I’m glad I did cause this is one tasty brew and yet again another winner from Unibroue. It’s a fairly light amber beer but it packs in a ton of flavor. The whisky malts are very obvious as they give a classic touch of whisky, as if you just put a little whisky inside a good beer. Along with that it also has a delicious malty finish and some notes of sweetness as well.

As for the pairing, I found it made an awesome compliment for the Viaje Oro Edicion Limitada Perfecto Squared. The unique and interesting flavors on the cigar made for an awesome experience to go with the beer. Other good selections could have been a nice Porto, or a flavored coffee seems like an interesting idea here.

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