We will make this contest simple. First, please make sure you are 18 years or older before you decide to enter. That’s a given. Next, there will be 4 ways to enter the contest. If you do all 4 of the following tasks you will be entered 4 different times. If you do only one, you will be entered only once. Got it? Good. Here’s what you can do:

1)   Like us on Facebook. (https://www.facebook.com/casasfumando – if you already like us, you’re already entered)
2)   Share this article on your Facebook wall. (props if you ask you friends to follow us on Facebook. It will be easier for me to track them that way)
3)   Tweet your friends and let them know you entered to win a box of Romeo y Julieta from us. (Say whatever you want as long as you include the link and “@tonycasas” so I can track them)
4)   Comment below. (props if your comment involves Jeremy’s slackerness in any way)

The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, December 13^th, cause, well, it’s Friday the 13^th. I’ll ship these bad boys out the following Monday so that you will be able to smoke them for the holidays. I promise not to lick any.

Simple right? Now get to it. I want to give these cigars away.

The post Win a full box of Romeo y Julieta RyJ from Casas Fumando! appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Normally I wouldn’t re-visit the same cigar again but I thought this was a good opportunity to answer some questions and concerns about Cubans. A lot of people criticize Cuban cigars for not being very consistent year to year either in flavor or construction. There were definitely some year ranges that got more attention or praise than others so we’ll see how thye compare.

Another thing I sometimes hear about Cuban’s is that they need to be aged. The last Montecristo No. 2 we reviewed were about 2 years old so I picked the same age range here. Today’s cigar was produced 2 years ago, in 2010. So this should take the concern of age out of the mix.

Montecristo is obviously a famous brand and one that is commonly mimicked by fakes next to Cohiba and Romeo y Julieta. The most famous from the Monte line up being this cigar, the No. 2 and the very popular No. 4. so if you are shopping for these, keep yor eyes peeled for fakes because there are tons of them out there! So let’s see how this newer version stacks up to the older one we reviewed and I encourage you to read our previous review before going ahead with this one: Link here.

Cigar: Montecristo No.2 (2010 Box Date)
Drink: Dieu du Ciel Blanche Neige
Vitola: Piramide (6.125 x 52)
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Price: $30 in Canada; Just under $10 in Cuba
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The light orangey wrapper on the No. 2 has a nice oily shine to it
• There are some medium sized veins on these sticks but none of them look big enough to pose and problems
• There is a slight spongy feel to the whole length of the cigar, giving just a little bit when squeezed
• The foot seems very well packed and has a nice consistent tone to it
• The tapered cap has one leaf that blends right into the body smoothly

Burn:
• Toasting was very easy and even, the whole foot was glowing with minimal effort
• The first bit of burnline is a tad wavy but nothing horrible and it’s holding so far
• The burnline came around pretty quickly, and although not perfectly straight or razor sharp, it’s still staying within a safe range
• The No. 2 continues it’s funky but safe burn into the last third, also it’s letting me smoke it nice and slow to get the full enjoyment going
• The cigar finished up without any major issues and I was able to smoke it down to the nub without ever needing to touch it up

Smoke & Ash:
• Right from the first draw, I’m met with a nice mouthful of smoke
• There isn’t much in the way of resting smoke to notice but there is a light burning wood aroma coming off the cigar
• The ash here is nothing to write home about, it’s pretty dark grey or black
• In terms of cleanliness, the Montecristo No. 2 looks a bit weak but it doesn’t do much flaking
• To be safe, I tapped off the ash at about the 1 inch mark so I didn’t end up with it in my lap
• The next couple of ashes were in the 1 inch mark as well and still the dark grey colors
• Happy to say the smoke volume is staying nice and full, making it easy to just take a single draw and enjoy the cigar slowly

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off a nice cedar aroma and a touch of light baking spices
• The foot gives more of the same cedar but there are definitely more baking spices noticeable here
• The pre-light draw is more of the same tasty notes, cedar and baking spices with a bit of earthiness here
• The initial draws bring a touch of pepper now and a little more roasted flavors, the lighter cedar notes are not present right now
• As the peppery notes die down, there is a flavor of burnt or roasted wood coming through right now
• The body has started off in the mild to medium range and there is a smooth cedar finish on the retrohale
• The baking spices started to creep in slowly through the middle of the stick, definitely some nutmeg and cloves in here
• Along with those notes came some nice light coffee tones that really balanced out the whole profile now
• The body built up a bit to the full range in the last half but the smooth cedar finish continued on the retrohale
• There was a build up of the coffee and baking spice notes while the subtler flavors died down a bit towards the nub
• There was no harshness at the end but the flavors definitely picked up intensity

Final Thoughts:
The Montecristo No. 2 is still one of my favorite Cuban’s and I already knew that going into this cigar. My hope was to give a good look at the comparison between this 2010 box and the 2008 box Tony and I reviewed here. On final note, I have to say the flavors here weren’t as refined as the older box was. Given they were aged for about the same time, I found the 2010’s to be a little more in your face and have a little more body to them. As for construction, they were fairly similar in quality, maybe the 2010’s have a bit of an edge with regards to good burn. The flavors are still tasty and if you like a little more strength you might actually like the newer boxes better. But for me, I’d probably seek out some of the older boxes if I could, but they are all probably gone now. Maybe a little more rest time will give them a different profile?

Pairings:
I thought this pairing was a perfect match for this autumn time. It’s by one of the great breweries in Quebec called Dieu du Ciel. The brew, called Blanche de Neige, roughly translates to “Snow White” and is a wheat beer brewed with cinnamon and cloves flavors. The awesome infusion definitely shines through in this beer and tastes amazing. It obviously has the cinnamon and clove flavors along with some night light malty and toffee like notes. Paired very nicely with the Montecristo No. 2, a strong coffee or some Port would have made a nice choice too.

The post Montecristo No. 2 from 2010 (Cuban) appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

While in Florida this summer, I stopped by Jackie’s awesome shop to buy a few cigars and she generously gifted me a couple as well. This particular one stood out to me for two reasons. Firstly, it came in an awesome cedar chest that looked amazing. And secondly, she bragged to me about how good it was and also that it was getting harder to find them. So I had to give it a try and decided to review it as well to see what all the hype was about!

Now, I did absolutely no research on this cigar before smoking it so my review is prety much as unbiased as it comes. And I’m glad I chose to do this because after reading about it I realized it’s an Altadis brand. In the past, I haven’t been too fond of most Altadis brands. I also learned that Jose Seijas is the man behind the Tabacalera de Garcia in Dominican Republic, where this cigar is made. He also had influence in the blends of brands such as the non-Cuban Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Trinidad and H.Upmann.

A little more reading showed me that in January of this year, Jose Seijas left Altadis after more than 30 years running the factory, which is also one of the largest cigar production factories in the world. This probably explains why the brand is getting harder to find and it will probably disappear of Altadis’ inventory eventually or at least change names. So without further delay, let’s see how this blend performs tonight!

Cigar: Jose Seijas Signature Series
Drink: Ferreira Tawny Porto (Bottled in 2003)
Vitola: Churchill (7 x 50)
Wrapper: Ecuadoria Sumatra
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian
Price: Gifted by Jackie @BonitaSmokeShop
Burn Time: about 2 hours

Construction:
• A very nice cinnamon brown wrapper with some orange highlights keeps this cigar together
• There are a few bumps and veins here and there but none are major or look problematic
• There is quite a bit of spring along the whole length of this cigar when squeezed
• The foot looks very clean and well packed while the triple cap is clean along the edges but a little rough on top
• There is an interesting texture on this cigar, it’s a almost like velvet sandpaper of that makes any sense, smooth in some parts but still a bit rough in others
• After a small trim I’m getting a perfect draw on this Jose Seijas

Burn:
• The toasting here was a bit challenging, it did not want to light up evenly so lets hope that doesn’t affect the future burn here too much
• Gave a small correction about half an inch in to help correct the burn line here
• After that little correction we are burning pretty even through the first third and moving at a nice slow pace too
• A couple minor corrections through the rest of the cigar but nothing major or problematic
• The cigar also burned at a good pace, allowing me to enjoy it slowly without needing to take extra draws or relight

Smoke & Ash:
• Despite a bit of an uneven toasting, I still managed to get a ton of smoke out of the first few draws
• There isn’t much resting smoke to mention, just a thin faint line giving off a nice mild burning wood aroma
• The initial ash here is a bit of a mess probably because of my bad toasting skills and a couple small corrections
• That first ash got a little flaky so I tapped it off just short of an inch
• Around the end of the first third the resting smoke really ramped up for some reason
• Second ash easily passed the one inch mark before being tapped off, it was much cleaner and stronger now that I haven’t had to do any more corrections
• All the rest of the ash lasted past the one inch mark and stayed clean, a good sign of consistent construction here

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off a light cedar aroma mixed with a touch of tobacco
• The foot has an interesting tarty fruit note to it, along with some cloves and more cedar
• The pre-light draw brings more of the tarty and clove notes to my palate
• Initial draws on the Jose Seijas bring a punch of cedar and cloves, there is a slight sweetness here but not the same fruity tart notes I was getting before
• The ceda quickly calmed down to a more mild flavor and I’m starting to pick up some interesting earthy and green pepper notes
• There are some coffee notes sneaking in here and there as well as a bit of licorice, lots of interesting flavors here
• The body here has been pretty mild for the most part but I feel it creeping into the medium section as I approach the halfway mark
• I have to mention how awesome the retrohale here is, it’s got a sort of sweet licorice finish to it along with a small bite, very nice
• The coffee flavors are definitely developing nicely along with the sweet licorice flavors that I’m really enjoying
• The flavors themselves have started to really pick up now, mostly being the coffee, licorice and cedar notes
• The sweetness seems to be tapering off in the last third and the pepper and clove notes are coming back for a stronger finale
• Body is almost into the full range now but the nice licorice finish on the retrohale is still there
• The licorice flavor is sort of changing to a deep black cherry sort of note now, very interesting, and the smoke is getting a lot more creamy near the end
• A very good finish with no harshness or bitterness, just a burst of flavors (including a pretty large blast of pepper near the end)

Final Thoughts:
I honestly did not know what to expect coming into this review. I’ll admit that I only had one sample and I have to say I regret not buying more. I typically like to have a few more to put together a review but Jackie bragged so much about it that I decided to jot down my thoughts as I smoked it and snap some pictures. And I’m glad I did. This stick had a ton of flavors going on! They weren’t in your face but they weren’t overly mild either, it was a very nice and delicate balance. And minus the toasting, the burn did very well. If you happen to stumble across these somewhere, make sure to pick one up and give it a try, definitely a worthwhile smoke! I will be seeking out a few more just in case they disappear as well.

Pairings:
Found this bottle of port in the basement and I can’t actually remember where it came from. If I’m correct, I believe someone brought it over a while back when we enjoyed a cigar. So I decided to give it a go tonight with my cigar pairing and see how it went. The Ferreira Tawny Porto is a late bottled vintage variety and although the bottle doesn’t state the year, you can always find it on the white label that covers the cork. This 2003 was pretty light in color but offered a pretty rich blend of boldness and dark berry sweetness along with a very noticeable oak flavor. It made for a very nice pairing with this medium bodied cigar. I also think a good dark beer, triple or even a strong cup of coffee would have gone well here tonight.

The post Jose Seijas Signature Series appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

So at the end of my last post we had just finished up at first island on our cruise which was the beautiful island of St. Thomas.

Our next day was spent at sea so I went to check out the “cigar bar” that this ship apparently had. It was a small room that the bartender sold cigars from under the counter. They were all the mass production blends such as the Dominican Romeo y Julieta’s and Cohiba Red Dots, none of which appealed to me so I passed on that and enjoyed another Padron 2000 I picked up the day before.

Our third day brought us to the island of St. Lucia where we took a Pirate ship to a beach, no shopping here so I can’t report on any cigar selection or prices. But the weather was awesome, the water was blue and the rum punch was flowing!

The next island stop was Barbados. We went into the main town but it wasn’t much to see or do, we were gone pretty quickly and I didn’t see any shops that looked to be selling cigars in our short time there. We spent some more time at the beach then walked around the duty free shops in the cruise port. There was one shop that had a decent selection here including their locally made Royal Barbados brand which is a decent mild stick and a variety of Avo’s, Joya de Nicaraguan, Davidoffs and a few La Aurora brands. Prices were still a bit over US Retail here but were actually pretty good. I managed to grab myself a sampler of La Aurora sticks and some Royal Barbados while at this shop. That night I sat outside and enjoyed one of the La Aurora Cameroon’s I picked out.

The island of St. Kitts was up next, we did a scenic tour on train which took us the entire way around the island. The island has an amazing mountain right in the middle that touches the clouds, was very impressive. Then we walked around the shops at the cruiseport again but I didn’t see much in the way of cigars. This port was full of souvenir shop after souvenir shop. Not all that interesting but I did get to see an awesome sunset. Here’s a shot of it from my iPhone, I’ll have more on Flickr soon if anyone is interested in seeing some trip photos.

Our final island, and one of my favorites was St. Maarten (or St. Martin). This is a beautiful clean island with lots of nice shops and long beaches by the blue water. Another place I’d really like to come back and stay for a week or so. Here I found some of the best prices on Cuban cigars but the next day we’d be flying into Florida so I didn’t want to bring them into the US. If you do happen to stop here I do have to caution you that there were a lot of fakes so be careful what you buy! I did grab myself an RyJ Corona to enjoy while we walked around and also managed to buy myself a nice watch! While watching the ship leave port I also enjoyed a Don Lino backed by some awesome scenery.

The next day brought us back to San Juan where we made another dash to the airport and off to Florida. No time to shop around in San Juan unfortunately. While in Florida I got to enjoy a few more sticks and even remembered to take pictures of some. Here I am enjoying a Leon Jimenez Red Label with some more Rum & Coke.

While we were in Florida I made a trip down to visit our friend Jackie over at Bonita Smoke Shop. It’s about 2.5 hours away from where we were so I didn’t get a chance to stay too long. I dropped off my wife to do some shopping and headed over there. Now I have to say Jackie and the crew are a bunch of super awesomely nice people and I will DEFINITELY be going to visit them again next time I’m in Florida. She sat me in her office and we just chatted for a bit then she took me for a grand tour. This place is like cigar lovers heaven. It was room after room of nothing but good cigars. Was great to meet her and to see the shop. If you live or will be anywhere near Bonita Smoke Shop, make sure to pay them a visit! This pic is just a tiny corner of the store, there’s tons more in there.

I managed to grab myself a whole variety of sticks but here’s some of the main ones. I got a few of each of these but to make the picture easier I just lined up one of each.

When I got home that night I lit up one of Jackie’s special house blends called the Time Warp and paired it with 2 interesting brews, the Vieille Provision Saison Dupont and some Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale. The cigar was fantastic with tons of flavors and the beers were very tasty too. Thanks for the awesome cigar Jackie, you rock!

Another place I hit up while down there is a restaurant chain called Columbia. This chain started out in the cigar town of Ybor City which is just outside of Tampa. They make some great food and offer up a killer Sangria. They also have some house blend cigars out of their own little factory. I blindly picked up a couple of sticks, more out of curiosity and a bit of a souvenier. Turns out I should have bought more, this was a damn tasty cigar and next time I’m down there I will definitely be grabbing more! I also paired it with some Stone Imperial Russian Stout which was damn good as well!

I smoked a few more cigars that week but doesn’t seem I grabbed many pictures. Some were while we were walking and shopping and sometimes at the beach when I didn’t have my phone. I did manage to snap a pic of this pairing which was another Jaime Garcia Reseva Especial and a tasty brew called the Weyerbacher Blasphemy Ale. Both were darn good!

I think that’s all I got for our good readers. Hope I didn’t ramble too much and it was an interesting read. I had an awesome time and if anyone has questions about any of the places I visited I can go into more detail for you on what/where things were or whatever else. Things are still crazy at home since I’m still moving boxes and clothes while also working but look for me to finally buckle down and squeeze out a full review for everyone next week (I hope!) lol

Will have more pics of the trip up on Flickr soon, if you want that link just let me know!

The post Why I was MIA – Part 2 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The cigar I’m talking about here the is Cuaba Distinguidos. Now Cuaba is brand that does not have its own factory in Cuba, it’s actually made at the Romeo y Julieta factory. It’s also fairly young, dating back to only 1996 when Francisco Linares launched it. All of their cigars are fully hand made and stuffed with only premium long filler. The region most of their tobaccos come from in Cuba is called the Vualta Abajo.

One unique thing about the Cuaba brand is their choice of vitolas. If you take a quick peek at their line-up, you will see that all the cigars in their inventory are actually made in the perfecto shape with a variety of sizes ranging from a short 4 inches all the way up to a long-smoking 9.1 behemoth. The goal behind the brand was to revitalize this vitola for all cigar enthusiasts. The Perfecto shape was very common in the early 1900’s but as you can see from most cigars on the market today, both Cuban and non-Cuban, this vitola is not very common at all.

I ordered a 10-count box of these cigars in the fall and they’ve had a chance to rest for a few months now. They just recently passed their 1.5 year mark according to the date on the bottom of the box. I think they’ve had plenty of time to age and it’s about time to start smoking them and seeing if they are worth keeping on hand longer, smoking through them now or getting rid of them so other people, lol. So let’s see where this one falls in todays review!

Cigar: Cuaba Distinguidos
Drink: Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection New World Tripel
Vitola: Perfecto (6.4 x 52)
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Price: About $11
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This Cuaba Distinguidos is a nicely shaped cigar, very different in terms of most cigars on the market today
• The wrapper is a light woodsy brown type of color, just a shade darker than a connecticut would be
• There are a few sizeable veins on this cigar so I hope it doesn’t cause any issues for me
• From head to toe, there is quite a bit of firmness on this cigar, almost no soft parts to be found
• The cap is finished with a smooth single leaf that looks like it was supposed to have a pigtail at the end but someone cut it off
• I can’t really comment much on the foot since it’s tapered into a small end but from what I can see it is well packed

Burn:
• The toasting was pretty simple since the foot was so small, I opted for a nice focused single flame torch and tried my best to only light up the foot
• The burn started off fairly well but after almost an inch it seemed there was a hole in the filler that caused a bad burn spot, hopefully it will realign itself without my help
• Happy to report that the major hiccup in the burn fixed itself without any help at all, very nice
• Burn line continues to be nice and even, it’s not perfect and has a slight wave to it but I haven’t had to touch it up and it’s burning without me having to pay any extra attention to it
• It is actually burning a lot faster than I would have thought
• A couple minor touch-ups were needed in the last third but it didn’t ruin the experience

Smoke & Ash:
• There isn’t too much smoke coming from this Cuaba Distinguidos, it is fairly light and thin and takes a few draws to really fill up your mouth
• The ash seems to be holding on nicely, it has mostly light and dark grey accents
• It’s also fairly neat and tidy with no flaking or messiness to it at all
• The first ash held on just past an inch before I tapped it off
• The second ash held on nice and cleanly until just passed the one inch mark again, good construction on this cigar so far
• The smoke volume seems to have ramped up in the second third which is a welcome change in my books
• The smoke volume kicked it up a notch again in the last third, really full and thick now
• Final ash stayed consistent with another 1+ inch before being tapped off

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper aroma has a nice woodsy and floral aroma to it
• The pre-light draw has a bunch more cedar and some slightly sweet notes
• The initial flavors offer more cedar notes but now mixes in a bit of roasted flavors
• The cedar is the main flavor through the first third but it’s very soft and mild, almost just giving a plain light tobacco flavor, hoping that ramps up somehow soon
• Similarly to the flavor, the strength of this cigar is super mild with no bite on the retrohale and just a slight cedar finish
• As we pass the first third the flavors are finally starting to step up a bit, the cedar is joined by some light coffee notes and a bit of licorice
• The coffee, cedar and licorice have remained through the second third, slightly more flavorful than the first bit of this cigar but I still feel like I’m wanting more of these flavors
• The flavors continue to gather some intensity as I get near the last third, at this point they are sort of what I had hoped they would have started out at. A bit late but we’ll see how they do now
• I’m starting to pick up some light baking spice notes, almost like a gingerbread cookie type of thing
• The licorice and coffee flavors took the lead in the last third which were an interesting combination
• In the last 2 inches, I started picking up some more intense spices, maybe a bit of cloves or pepper, not too strong or overpowering but they are there
• The body approached a light medium at this point, if the cigar would have hit this note earlier I think it could have been a killer smoke
• The Cuaba Distinguidos didn’t have any harshness at all to the nub and finished with some nice tasty flavors, if only they were like that earlier

Final Thoughts:
The size and ring gauge on this cigar seems pretty daunting at first but when you actually light up this cigar you realize it’s not really as bold as it looks. The Cuaba Distinguidos started off very mild and much lighter than I would have liked with mostly just cedar flavors. Lucky for me, the flavors increased their intensity a bit around the halfway mark and threw some more notes into the mix. The intensity did eventually pick up more but I had to smoke through most of the cigar to get to it. If you are looking for a nice strong post-dinner cigar you won’t find it here, I’d actually suggest this more as a morning or afternoon smoke for the more frequent cigar enthusiasts but it can also make a good intro to new smokers who want to try a larger vitola. The flavors themselves weren’t bad but at $11 a cigar I was hoping for something a lot more complex. Unfortunately, the difficulty in rolling this type of vitola often raises the prices so there’s not much we can do. It’s worth trying if you haven’t had a Cuaba before but I probably wouldn’t be purchasing a box of these again anytime soon. It had the right idea but it just seemed to execute it a little bit late in the game. These were also fairly young in terms of Cubans at only 1.5 years so I wouldn’t age them very long as I’d be afraid they might get even more mild with time. But that could be a good thing depending on the person of course.

Pairings:
It seems that I don’t get too many Samuel Adam’s brews up here North of the border. I’ve really only seen the Boston Lager and maybe one of the seasonals. A short while ago I was lucky enough to stumble across a few of these New World Tripel’s from their Barrel Room Collection which looked might interesting, so I picked some up. I’m a sucker for pretty much anything that is aged in an Oak barrel so I had high expectations and this Sam Adam’s brew did not disappoint. This is a very flavorful brew with tons of light fruity notes backed by a dark and thick base. Mix in there some hefty malt and the awesome Oak flavors and I’m sold. This is a darn tasty brew and worthy of trying! As for a pairing, I think I failed here today. The first half of this cigar was so mild that the brew strongly over-powered it. I think a much lighter blonde or amber beer would have gone better, possibly with a nice coffee taking the cake as my number one suggestion on this Cuaba Distinguidos.

The post Cuaba Distinguidos (Cuban) appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

So let’s get something out of the way for some people who may not be as educated in the various brands of cigars. This “Partagas” is not the same as the Cuban Partagas. With the Cuban embargo in place some companies took advantage of the chance to capitalize on a well known cigar brand such as Partagas. You can also see similar non-cuban manufactures producing Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta and many others. As much as some people may not like this, it’s hard to argue that it was a very smart business decision! No marketing expenses required and you already have a product with a well known name. There is a lot more to this story, including the fact that one of the executives worked at the original Partagas factory in Cuba, and this is just a brief overview but now you get the idea.

As for my selection today, it is produced by the General Cigar Company who has other well names under it’s belt such as Cohiba, Macanudo and Punch. The Partagas Benji Menendez Master Series is obviously something special and unique, not just part of the normal large production line. This cigar was blended specially by Benji Menendez himself who is the Senior Vice President of the General Cigar Company.

The Partagas Benji Menendez Master Series was released in limited quantities of 5000 boxes. There is actual a small website devoted to the Partagas Benji Menendez Master Series cigar made by General Cigar Co which you can find here. The site was used to promote a tour he did in 2009 when the cigar was originally released. But enough banter about the cigar and it’s story, let’s find out how it fares in today’s review.

Cigar: Partagas Benji Menendez Master Series
Drink: Delaforce Reserve Porto 2004
Vitola: Majestuoso (6 x 46)
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Habano Connecticut
Filler: Dominican & Nicaraguan
Price: About $9
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• A velvety smooth dark brown wrapper surrounds this cigar and only shows small veins here and there
• The entire length of the cigar is very firm with almost no spring to it, although the foot seems a bit soft
• The double cap atop this cigar is very cleanly finished
• The foot appears to have some voids in the filler which could explain why it’s softer near the bottom
• The cut cut off fairly easy and didn’t make too much of a mess

Burn:
• Toasting the foot took a little bit longer than I would have expected for this vitola but it did light up evenly
• Burn is going razor sharp through the first half, very clean and even
• Straight through to the end the cigar burned with extreme precision and ease

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw brings a significant amount of smoke and fills my mouth easily
• There is quite a bit of resting smoke on this cigar and it smells sorta like a tobacco cigarette, not really a nice aromatic cigar…
• The initial ash is clean and tight despite the filler being loose near the foot
• After about an inch I tapped the ash off into the ashtray as it started to look weak
• Each subsequent ash lasted about the same 1 inch and had a medium grey/yellowish color to it with some zebra striping

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper aroma on this cigar is distinctly barnyard, apparently this is a sign of a good cigar but it’s definitely not the appealing
• The foot of the cigar presents more barnyard aroma but not as strong, there’s a bit of mild tobacco mixed in there too
• The pre-light draw brings with it a burst of cedar and a hint of peppery spice
• Initial draws here are very bland with mostly just tobacco flavor and a touch of woodsiness
• After the first inch the flavors become more of a creamy woodsiness and the tobacco flavors died off
• As the cigar progresses to the halfway mark, I’m still not getting much more than a creamy woodsy flavor
• The flavors are balanced, at this point still fairly mild with a small bite on the retrohale and a smooth finish
• As I approach the last third, the body increased a bit to about medium but the flavors have stayed pretty much the same
• If anything has changed up to this point I’d say the smoothness on the finish is fading

Final Thoughts:
This cigar is an interesting one to make judgement on. The flavors here were not amazing but I can see their appeal to some people as a cigar to sit back and relax with. The burn and ash were both excellent so I can’t knock any points off here. I think this is one of those cigars that is VERY dependant on your personal palate. I know that is a factor in all cigars but some have general characteristics that are the same to a lot of people, this one seems to fly somewhere between the radar. Where this cigar lost it’s points in my opinion was on the price. For $9 I don’t want a cigar to just relax with and have an easy straightforward experience. For $9 I want something that challenges my palate, offers dimensions, complexity and keeps me on my toes. I don’t feel this cigar did that for me unfortunately.

Pairings:
I really enjoyed the heck out of my last bottle of Delaforce LBV Porto. See my previous review of the Perdomo Grand Cru. When I went back to the store I picked up another bottle of the LBV and sitting beside it I saw the Delaforce Reserve Porto. So since the last one was good I decided to give this one a chance. The price was the same and the flavors are still just as good. Lots of dark berries and bold red wine undertone. I found the Reserve to have a little more oak flavor to it but other than that was very similar to the LBV. For the cheap price of only $17 in the over-priced alcohol market of Ontario, this bottle is a steal and pairs amazingly well with a lot of cigars. I think this Partagas Benji Menendez Master Series would also pair well with coffee or maybe a lighter bodied scotch.

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Again, if you are just tuning in, Brooks from Smokingstogie.com was kind enough to send me a 5-stick set of (so far) rare, blind cigars to review. If you haven’t checked out Smokingstogie.com before I strongly suggest you head that way and give Brooks a hello. The blog is jam-packed with honest reviews, and amazing photography of some of the rarest, most expensive cigars every made.

Prelight: Cigar #3 is a standard, bulky little robusto sized cigar. The wrapper is a very light brown with shades of yellow and orange mixed in all accented by an extremely shiny, silky overcoat. The wrapper is beautiful and carries a very textured character as each and every little bump and vein in the leaf are highly visible with a darker shade of brown. The meaty body leads to the famous, and well loved round triple cap. The construction of this cigar is mnear flawless outside of a few softer spots towards the foot of the cigar. Overall the cigar is tightly packed with a ton of tobacco visible at the foot, but overall very soft and squishy in contrast to most other cigars.

I can pull very little aroma off the wrapper of the cigar. Just a slight spice and soft woodsy smell. The story is similar for the foot, but I am able to pull more of the spice, less of the wood. The cap clipped very cleanly with extreme ease using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw produces a very earthy, malty flavor with only a little of the spice present on the aftertaste.

First Smoke: This cigar was a pain in the ass to get lit. But once I did, it was off and running. The cigar started out with just a subtle greeting of white pepper which transitioned into a very pleasant spicy, wood mixture much like what I picked up from the cold draw. The main flavors are accented by a splash of citrus, and the saltiness picked up on the wrapper. If you read a few of the reviews on this site, I have made mention to that salt flavor taken from the wrapper, and how it is only present on certain cigars. Is it too early to call the country of origin? If the thick, crazy burnline, flaky, zebra striped ash, and light body have anything to say about it, I would have to dub this one a Cuban early in. But we all know I screwed this up on the first cigar that Brooks sent my way. Anywho, cigar #2 is kicking out a massive draw that leaves behind a thick, cedar scented lasting cloud of smoke. The ash held steady for about an inch and a half before falling to its doom in my ashtray.

Halfway there: The pepper is completely gone, and what is left behind is a hell of a smooth and creamy smoke. The cedar and other woodsy/earthy flavors are rocking hard while a more milky, almost heavy-creamed coffee flavor has snuck in. The malty flavors I spoke about early in are starting to jab through as well.  I’m not sure if it’s the cigar or the we-haven’t-gottona-a-drop-of-rain-in-3months El Paso weather, but I am developing a case of dry mouth. Again, I am pairing all of these blind cigars with water as to not hinder the experience. I only get one shot at these and pairing incorrectly usually turns out to be a horrible idea. The burnline has shockingly enough completely corrected itself and the cigar is burning dead even at this point. The retrohale on this cigar is wonderful, coating my nasal passage with a very rich and creamy cedar flavor/aroma. I’m not feeling too much of anything nicotine from this cigar at all.

Finish: The body began showing face a little more into the final third. It didn’t get crazy strong or harsh, but there was a noticeable increase in strength. The pepper also came out of hiding and held on to a flavor accent to the very potent cedar and creamy malt that commanded my attention. The burnline still remained completely even cause no touch-ups or relights of any kind. I’m still not really feeling much in the nicotine department, which is a good thing. This cigar is perfect at the mild/medium that it is. I am forcing myself to really take my time and enjoy this one as it’s been burning pretty quickly. It took only about and hour and fifteen minutes to take the whole stick down. There was only a very slight harshness that I encountered into the very final inch of this cigar. Nothing off-putting, and the fact that the cigar never burned hot, even down to the nub made it all worth it.

Overview: This cigar was a very awesome stick, perfect for those lazy Sundays. Mild, smooth, full of flavor, and just quick enough to not have to spend a lifetime in the backyard. Depending on the price tag this cigar is something totally worth keeping on hand as it fills the void in those early to mid afternoon smoking sessions.

Final Guess: I’m going to coin this cigar Cuban for sure, but the difficulty is choosing exactly which Cuban I think it is. I’m going to go with either the Partagas Serie D, or some sort of Romeo y Juileta. I’m not as versed in the ways of the ISOM’s so I may be way off with those two guesses. But we shall soon find out.

The Reveal: From Brooks:

It was a Cuban (great call :), actually a Cohiba Robusto from 1995….

Did I read that right? At first I glared right over it. But 1995?!! This Cuban Cohiba is 15 YEARS OLD?!!?! Wow! I almost felt bad for smoking it. Almost…So much for wanting to keep a few of these on hand. I’ve never had a Cuban with that much age on it. Or anything close for that matter. I actually reviewed a newer Cuban Cohiba Robusto recently, and I have to say, there was dramatic change in the experience. The age really mellows out the cigar and helps build up the main, targeted flavors. Big thanks goes out to Brooks for not holding back on the sticks he sent my way!

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