The Good Stuff: Oliva’s Saison is a vintage style blend. Meaning, each year the blend may differ as it’s based on tobaccos grown during that year alone. As the years change so do the soil, sunlight, weather, and tobacco meaning each year could be different even if the same blend is used. The Saison is a limited blend that could be found only at Cigars International and here is what they have to say about it:

‘Tis the season for Oliva.

What happens when the Oliva family takes the best yield, from all their fields, from the same year? Amazing things….amazing things dubbed Saison by Oliva.

Saison by Oliva is the latest addition to their growing arsenal of standout Nicaraguan handmades. To create this blend, a silky, dark brown Ecuadorian Habano wrapper was paired with a rich combination of long-fillers from Oliva’s farms in Somoto, Esteli, and Condega, Nicaragua – all harvested in the same crop year. This vintage ensemble is ripe with flavor, delivering a big, booming Nicaraguan personality that’s notably refined and well-balanced. Notes of leather, oak, pepper, earth, coffee, and a slight twang on the finish offer a perfect interplay and coat the palate with proficiency. It’s medium to full-bodied at its peak, but the density of flavor can hold its own against even the fullest of them. In a nutshell, this new handmade from Oliva has charm, character, and ample flavor. Plus, it’s yours in a box for around $4 apiece every day. ​

I tend to shy away from a lot of “mail order exclusives” as I am always too quick to judge them as seconds or just blends that simply didn’t make the cut. I can’t wait to see how the Saison measures up to the bar that Oliva has set for their blends, especially the more recent ones. As I stated earlier, you can order these directly from Cigars International. They come in four different sizes: Robusto (5 x 50), Toro (6 x 50), Torpedo (6 x 52), and Churchill (7 x 50). The cigars come packaged in boxes of 20 and will run you only $3.99 to $4.99 a stick.

Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $3.99
Pairing: Sixpoint’s Autumnation 2013 (American Wet-Hopped IPA – 6.7% ABV)

Prelight: The Oliva Saison starts out with a beautiful, webby, consistently medium brown wrapper that carries a few darker splotches as well as a few lighter areas around the larger veins running through the body of the cigar. The wrapper is very firm and extremely hard to the touch with some light oils. In fact, the entire cigar is incredibly dense and hard with no soft spots at all. The Saison is polished off with a perfectly round double cap. The band design is very similar to what we find on the Oliva Serie V. The first band carries a crest which says: “Saison by Oliva” while the secondary band simply says: “First Harvest 2009”. The wrapper on the Saison gives off a very rich, sweet, caramel aroma while the foot of the cigar screams of spice and natural earthiness. The cap cut very clean and extremely easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw was a bit tight producing a crazy sweet, caramel and candy like flavor mixed in with lots of earthiness.

First Smoke: It took a bit of convincing from my single flame butane torch to get this cigar going, but it was off to the races when it finally did. The Saison started out with a bang leading in with a great, white pepper followed up with a whole ton of cedar, a whole mess of caramel and sugars, all over a natural/earthiness. This cigar really starts out with a lot of flavor. I was a bit worried that the draw would be tight as it took a bit of effort to get anything during the cold draw, but I am happy to report it is spot on kicking out a bunch of thick smoke with every little puff. The burnline was razor thin and dead even leaving behind a perfectly consistent medium gray, compacted ash which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: Into the second third of the Oliva Saison and the pepper is completely gone, but the cedar, which is already pretty pronounced is really ramping up. There is still a lot of spice, a ton of sweetness, and even a bit of ginger creeping over the earthiness. I’m impressed with how bold this cigar is. The burnline is still dead even and I am feeling absolutely no nicotine as I close out the second third.

Finish: As I venture into the final third of the Saison a very rich, black cherry flavor has crept into the mix. The cedar is still very bold, there is still a whole ton of sweetness, a ton of spice, and some nice natural tobacco. While it’s been pretty consistent, I liked the flavor profile so much that I wouldn’t really want it to chance. The Saison took me about a little over and hour to take down and it left me with absolutely no nicotine kick, and there was no harshness even as I entered the final inch.

Overview: As I touched on during the intro, a lot of times I am very quick to judge all these “Mail Order Exclusive” cigars as factory rejects, or seconds. Usually I feel that the cigars just won’t live up to the expectations of the other blends in each manufacturer’s portfolio. Was I wrong in the case of the Saison? Absolutely. This cigars surpassed any expectation I had for it. Not only was it a beast in the flavor department, but the flavors were incredible and the blend was exactly what I look for in a cigar. Now, toss in the $4 price point and how can you not love this stick? I strongly suggest you pick up a few of these, hell, even a box for the price of what you’d pay for just a few sticks.

Pairing: Keeping with the winter them, I decided to set the tone with a nice autumn pairing (ha, I know, right). Pairing the Saison with Sixpoint’s Autumnation was a wise choice on my end as the two paired up very nicely. Here is what they have to say about the brew:

Every year, the main-hops featured in the Autumnation Ale is chosen by Sixpoint fans. This year’s hops is Mosaic, a relatively new strain with huge potential. Copper in color, the Autumnation Ale clocks in at 6.7 %abv. The initial assertive but pleasant 74 IBU-bitterness is carried by a well-balanced malt backbone, accompanied by citrus, berry-like and pine flavors. The massive aroma of fresh hops features citrus, strawberry, stonefruit, berry and piney notes.

That being said, I didn’t really get as much of the berry flavors, but more of the grape, pine, hoppyness, and citrus. The berry I did get actually came from the cigar, but it mixed in with the flavors of the beer perfectly. The pine and citrus really mixed in well with the cedar and sweetness from the Saison. Usually I would have paired this cigar with an actual “Saison” or “Farmhouse Ale”, but believe it or not I didn’t have any on hand. I think the spice from a Saison beer would marry in very well with the cigar though.

The post Oliva – Saison Cigar Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

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 onto the cigar… If you attended IPCPR back in 2010 or read articles about the event, you probably heard about the new blend from El Primer Mundo, called the Liga Miami. I recently stumbled across a few of these sticks at the bottom of my humidor and realized they’ve been sitting there since sometime last year (oops?). With the upcoming IPCPR 2011 in July, I figured it would be a good cigar to pick up and review.

The Liga Miami blend from Sean Williams(Twitter: @PrimerMundo) made some waves at IPCPR 2010, especially in the blogosphere where a lot of reviewers were impressed by the unique array of flavors this cigar offered. The El Primer Mundo website is currently under construction, but before it went down you could also read up on their previous blends, the Connecticut Shade and Habano Criollo Maduro. The Liga Miami has the same company band on it but also adds an additional goldish-brown and silver band with the words Liga Miami on it.

The cigar itself is produced in Miami at the El Titan de Bronze factory. Willy Herrera of El Titan de Bronze also has a hand in making them This is a big change from the other two blends which are made in Esteli Nicaragua. You’ll also nice there is no box press on this cigar like the other offerings from El Primer Mundo.

Along with today’s Robusto vitola, you can also find the Liga Miami in a Toro and Churchill size. The cigar has an interesting mix of tobacco including a double binder and some ligero used in the filler. So without any more babbling from me, let’s see how this cigar stacks up!

Cigar: El Primer Mundo Liga Miami
Drink: Waterloo Brewery Radlermass Lemonade Lager
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 52)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sungrown
Binder: Double binded Nigaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican Republic (some Ligero)
Price: about $9
Burn Time: About 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Liga Miami has a very nice reddish colored wrapper surrounding it
• Slightly oily and rough, the wrapper has some medium sized veins running along it
• There was a nice spring to the cigar when squeezed, not enough to seem under-filled though
• The head of the cigar is finished with a very clean triple cap, definitely some attention to detail there
• The bands themselves take up quite a bit of real estate on this cigar, at least a good 1/3rd
• The foot looks the be moderately packed
• The cut was fairly easy and left a clean opening but made a bit of a mess in the ashtray

Burn:
• Toasting didn’t go so well, had some unevenness to it and I just couldn’t get it all lit properly without some assistance from a couple draws
• Despite the my failed toasting, the burn started off surprisingly well through the first inch
• Burn was razor sharp through the first half
• The cigar has burned nice and slowly the whole way through and allowed me to enjoy it slowly without ever feeling like it was going out

Smoke & Ash:
• Tons of smoke coming from the cigar straight from the start
• The ash has a very nice white color to it
• Despite the nice color, the ash is getting a little flaky very fast
• The resting smoke on this Liga Miami is consistent and has a very unique aroma, you get a bit of sweetness on the nose. Very pleasant.
• Ash managed to hang tight for close to two inches

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on the Liga Miami has a nice sweetness to it, along with a bit of cedar
• The foot definitely brings more sweetness and a tasty mild spice, almost like Cinnamon Sugar
• The pre-light draw brought with it a heavy helping of woodsiness and a bit of earthiness
• The initial draws offered up more of he woodsy flavors with a subtle note of sweetness in there, still along the same lines of cinnamon sugar
• The sweetness is definitely building up in this cigar, almost adding a syrupy flavor to the mix
• Body has been mostly mild to start and the retrohale has the tiniest bite with a smooth and creamy finish
• Adding to the syrupy/cinnamon sweetness, the cigar has a very pleasant creamy finish
• The woodsiness is still hanging around, is that burning caramelized wood could smell like? lol
• Body built up to a nice medium around the half-way mark
• The sweetness has tapered off a bit now, it’s still there and I’m getting some nice nutty almond flavors
• Definitely seems like the ligero was saved for the last half of the cigar, I’m getting some leathery flavors in the mix now and a touch of spice
• With about 1.5inches left, the sweetness has mostly left the mix but the remaining flavors are balancing well and the body is still a comfortable medium
• The creamy finish has remained consistent, I think this can probably be attributed to the double binder along with a smooth wrapper
• The creamy finish and leather/woodsy flavors continued to the nub with no bitterness, this was a finger burning cigar!

Final Thoughts:
Now this was a surprisingly unique and enjoyable cigar. When I hear ligero I usually brace myself for a powerful cigar with a straightforward flavor profile. This was definitely not the case with the El Primer Mundo Liga Miami. The first half of the cigar was totally unexpected. Sweet, smooth, creamy notes with a superb burn. Very uncharacteristic of a ligero filled cigar and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The last half came closer to what I expected from this cigar but it still had a smooth and balanced creaminess I don’t usually find in ligero cigars. I’m curious if the extra age in the humi made a difference since I didn’t smoke one when I first got them. It’s easy to see there was a lot of care and planning that went into this cigar and the final result speaks for itself. These are something everyone should try and can go well as a mid-day or evening cigar.

Pairings:
Today’s pairing was from Waterloo Brewery, just a short 1 hour drive from my house. It is part of the Seasonal Collection and is called the Radlermess. It is a Lemonade Lager and has an interesting story behind it. The term Radlermess comes from Germany and was coined by a Innkeeper not far from Munich. The story says that he was overloaded with cyclists one day and was running low on beer so he took a risk and mixed his remaining beer with some lemon soda. It was a big hit! In German, Radler means cyclist and Mass means a liter of beer.
I took a bit of a risk with this pairing but based on the past few Liga Miami’s I’ve smoked I figured the sweetness from a lemonade beer would go nicely. I was worried the beer may have been too sweet but they did a good job balancing the lemonade and beer together. It actually worked out very well! The sweetness of the beer complimented the sweetness of the cigar at the start. As the cigar turned a little more into the woodsy/nutty/leathery flavors, the beer counteracted them, leaving a nice sweet aftertaste between draws. I think this beer would also go excellently with some connecticut wrappers. As for the cigar, an Amber lager would have gone well here too, as would my favorite tawny port. Maybe even a nice coffee with a bit of sugar to add some sweetness.

The post El Primer Mundo – Liga Miami appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

I’m pretty sure everyone has heard us and other blogs jabber on about La Aurora. They’ve been turning out some fantastic cigars as of late so I can’t really blame all the great press they’ve been getting. Also worth mentioning, Guillermo Leon recently bought out La Aurora and is now running the successful ship! He’s not shy to turning out quality smokes as you can see in our review of the fairly new Guillermo Leon Signature Cigar. I decided to pick up a La Aurora cigar but instead of one of their fancy new blends, I went with one of their blends that’s been a staple on their profile for awhile now. That cigar is simply called “La Aurora” but a lot of people seem to call it the La Aurora Cameroon so it’s easier to differentiate.

The Cameroon addition to the common name comes from the wrapper used to hold this cigar together. The majority of the leaf used in this cigar is harvested from the El Cibao Valley in Dominican Republic, the hometown country of the La Aurora factory. The La Aurora Cameroon is available in a variety of boxes not typically seen in other blends. You can actually pick these up in full presentation boxes of 5, 10, 20 and 25 cigars. As you can see from the pictures, I managed to get myself a 5 pack box of the Doble Coronas.

Let me note that this cigar is huge! It’s much bigger than what I normally smoke as my max comfort range is usually in the Toro/Torpedo range. But at the price they are I couldn’t resist. Be sure to check out some of our previous La Aurora reviews as well, such as the 107, 100 Anos, Broadway Series, or the 1495 Connecticut. The weather here in Toronto is wacky as usual. It’s gone super hot and dry back down to very cold and damp all within a couple days. At least it was some nice cigar smoking weather while it lasted so I sat down with this cigar and prepared for a long review session. Let’s see how it went…

Cigar: La Aurora Cameroon
Drink: Waterloo Brewery Dark Ale
Vitola: Doble Corona (7.5 x 50)
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan Olor
Price: $3.50
Burn Time: 2 hours

Construction:
• This cigars wrapper has an interesting dark cinnamon color with specks of a darker brown here and there
• It has a velvety touch to it and a bit of toothiness
• There are some major veins running down the side of the cigar but I’m hoping they don’t cause any major issues
• The foot of this cigar was well packed, and given it’s size that kind of worried me that it would be a tight draw
• Given the length of this cigar, I’m amazed at how even the diameter is from start to finish, very well made
• The head of the cigar is finished with a slightly messy double cap, a few folds can easily be seen
• For the most part, the length of the cigar has a soft spring to it, but I did notice one very firm part about an inch above the foot
• The cap clipped off easily and made a slight mess in the ashtray
• Draw is perfect! I’m amazed because I usually have bad luck with large vitolas

Burn:
• Toasting took a bit longer than usual and even after 30 seconds with my large culinary torch I couldn’t get it glowing properly but I started smoking it anyway
• As expected, my poor toasting led me to require a retouch within the first inch
• After that first touch up, the burn was been excellent up to the halfway mark here
• As I make my way into the last third, still no burn issues and continuing along fairly razor sharp

Smoke & Ash:
• This thing is producing a ton of smoke, each draw fills my mouth completely and with ease
• The resting smoke is still fairly full and gives off a nice sweet woodsy aroma
• The ash on the La Aurora is nothing pretty, it has some light and dark grey tones and is fairly flaky through the first inch
• The ash lasted just over an inch before I tapped it off because it was flaking and looked like it was snowing every time I moved the cigar
• The second ash was a little less flaky and held on for nearly two inches, this was also the part of the cigar that was a little firmer and could explain the difference

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper aroma gives off a light sweetness and earthy aroma
• The pre-light draw is woodsy and earthy with a touch of spice on the lips
• Initial draws bring earthy and woodsy flavors mixed with a bit of coffee, a nice start
• As the cigar progresses, I’m picking up some sweetness here and there, almost like some sugar was added to the coffee flavor
• Cigar has been mostly mild through the first bit
• Approaching the halfway mark, the sweet coffee notes are becoming more prominent and I’m getting some raw cinnamon notes in there too, the earthy and woodsy flavors are still there but are more in the backseat now.
• The retrohale is very smooth with a small bit and a roasted coffee finish
• As I get into the last third stretch, the coffee has developed very nicely into a roasted coffee flavor, the sweetness and raw cinnamon still remains
• The finish at this point has turned super creamy as well, a very tasty touch!
• The intense sweet coffee and cinnamon flavors continued to the end, with some added roasted cedar. Although the last half didn’t change much it was still very enjoyable
• The retrohale developed a stronger kick to the end, still tasty and not overpowering
• The body also developed towards the end of the cigar, coming in at a comfortable medium

Final Thoughts:
Let me start by saying I was very impressed by the overall construction of this cigar. I always tend to have burn or draw issues when it comes to very large vitolas, especially ones that are well priced. This cigar hit those marks with flying colors offering a perfect draw and great burn. The flavors were also extremely enjoyable and offered a bit of dimensionality to keep it interesting. This cigar is still larger than what I would normally smoke and I think it would be even better in a smaller vitola. I also found through some searching that these are commonly offered as “Factory Seconds” at some retailers with this huge vitola selling for under $2! That’s just crazy good! Even the normal retail of this massive vitola is under $4, that’s a hard price to ignore for such a good cigar. These will definitely be part of my regular rotation at this price and I would highly recommend you seek them out.

Pairings:
For today’s I went with a trusty brew that I always have on hand. It’s from Waterloo Breweries located only about an hour from my house and it’s their Dark Ale offering. Their Dark Ale is surprisingly light and refreshing but offers the great notes of roasted hops and a slight bitterness mixed with a mild fruity and malty flavor. The La Aurora Cameroon is a fairly mild stick so this brew fit it well with it’s crispness. The bitterness and mild fruits paired excellently and accented to roasted and sweet notes of the cigar. I think an IPA or Amber lager would also pair well here. The flavors of the cigar could also compliment a nice coffee.

The post La Aurora Cameroon appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.