The Good Stuff:

Warped Cigars has had a history of releasing experimental blends using some of the rarest of tobacco and the Moon Garden Dark Blossom is no exception. Based on the popular “Skyflower” release which features Casa Fernandez’s famous High-Priming Medio Tiempo tobacco the Moon Garden Dark Blossom tweaks that blend slightly by using a higher priming Medio Tiempo leaf that only grows on only grows on a few of the plants to push the flavor profile into the next level. Produced at the TABSA factory in Nicaragua using all Aganorsa tobacco, the full blend features a Corojo ’99 wrapper over a Nicaraguan Jalapna Corojo ’99 binder, binder and Corojo ’99, Criollo ’98 and Media Tiempo fillers. The Dark Blossom comes in a single 7 x 40 size and is packaged in boxes of 10 with only 650 boxes released running $15 a cigar. Huge thanks goes out to my boy Jason for hooking me up with a few of these bad boys.

• Size: 7 x 40
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo 99
• Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo 99
• Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo 99, Criollo 98, and Media Tiempo
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $15
• Pairing: St. Bernardus Abt 12 2014 (10% ABV Belgian Quad)

Prelight:

The wrapper on the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom starts out with a rustic looking medium and dark brown wrapper with is very splotchy with lots of orange areas scattered throughout the cigar’s body. The wrapper itself feels very hard and very dense with some slight tooth and mild oils while the cigar as a whole feels very light, but very hard. There are some very minor veins and slight webbing as the long, slender body leads up to the cigar’s round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a similar bad to what you can find on the skyflower on with a tweak in the colors features a pastel green, pink, yellow and black color mixture.

The wrapper gives off some sharp spice and natural tobacco aromas while the foot of the cigar screams pepper, spice, and earthiness. The cap on the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw is very spice and peppery with underlying notes of dirt, moss and earthiness.

First Third:

Right off the bat the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom kicks out a good amount of spice and black pepper that left my turning burning for a few seconds. While the pepper was strong, it only lasted through the first few puffs and then bowed out allowing the cigar to showcase some great musk, cedar, espresso and notes of black cherry. The draw is absolutely perfect and each and every little puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which hang out for quite some time before dissipating. The burn line is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted medium gray ash which held on for almost an inch before dropping into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom and the flavors are still pouring it on as the cigar rest comfortably in the full-bodied arena. The pepper has completely exited the experience while the cedar and espresso lead the charge backed by black cherry, musk, and loads of earthiness. The retrohale really brings out the spice that I otherwise don’t really pickup during the normal smoking experience. The cigar has been burning flawlessly and I close out the second third with only a very minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

The final third of the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom is where the already great cigar really shines. The flavors have become extremely rich as the cedar and espresso still lead the charge but the black cherry and musk have really stepped up while the earthiness began to mild out. This flavor profile is incredible. It took me almost two hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I loved how slow it burned. I experienced no harshness nor any extended heat. The cigar burned perfectly from start to finish leaving me with a decent little nicotine hit.

Overview:

This is yet another winner in an already stacked Warped cigar portfolio. I LOVE the selection de Valle and the Skyflower is way up on my list of cigars I smoke every chance I get and I can honestly say that the Moon Garden Dark Blossom has edged even the Skyflower out as one of it not, my favorite Warped to date. The flavor profile is so balanced, and complex while matching up with my personal preference of what I enjoy in a cigar. Its a bit dry but pairing it with anything that has some sweetness fixes that right away. I only wish these were still available.

Pairing:

If you aren’t familiar with St. Bernardus Abt 12 you have been living under a rock. The 10% quad brewed at the St. Bernardus brewery in Belgium is one of the most household names in terms of Beglian beer in the U.S. This particular bottle has been in my cellar since 2014 and has aged absolutely beautifully. The beer leads with a great brown sugar sweetness over pear and black cherry notes along with a nice heavy malt, caramel, and piloncillo with a very light mouthfeel before finishing with more sweetness, caramel, and black cherry. This beer is incredible and often overlooked. The flavors especially the black cherry mash up so well with the flavors found in the Dark Blossom while the sweetness added another dimension to the cigar as the experience is a bit on the dry side.

The post Warped Cigars – Moon Garden Dark Blossom appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

The Flor de Valle blend was originally released by Warped cigars back in 2014 and was the first cigar Warped collaborated on with Casa Fernandez’s TABSA factory. Fast forward a bit and the company is released a new spin-off of the blend featuring Casa Fernandez’s famous High-Priming Medio Tiempo tobacco in the blend. Medio Tiempo is a high priming leaf that only grows on some tobacco plants eating up more sunlight and nutrients which results in a more full-bodied, flavorful leaf. This also explains the rarity of the leaf as well.

Along with the Media Tiempo the blend features a similar make up to the rest of the Flor de Valle blend: a Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo 99 wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan Corojo 99 and Criollo 98 fillers. The Skyflower is released in a single 5 5/8 x 48 Gran Corojo format packaged in boxes of 10 running $15 per stick. This is a limited edition cigar and it will go fast, so get them while you still can. We got ours over at Fox Cigar who still have some in stock last time I checked and offer free shipping on everything, no minimum.

• Size: 5 5/8 x 48
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo 99
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo 99 and Criollo 98
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $15
• Pairing: Chimay Premiere (Belgian Dubbel 7% ABV)

Prelight:

The Warped Flor de Valle Skyflower starts out with a very meaty, rustic looking wrapper thats sports lots of different medium to dark browns as well as splotches of orange scattered throughout. The wrapper itself feels semi-dense and hard while the cigar as a whole is very tightly packed and heavy as a rock. The wrapper carries lots of natural tobacco leaf webbing as well as some very minor veins running their course through the cigar’s body up to the round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a very beautiful, complex, black gold and blue wrapper carrying the Flor de Valle crest.

The wrapper on the Wrapped Flor de Valle carries a very sweet aroma with notes of chocolate and spice while the foot of the cigar is much more earthy with musk and natural tobacco aromas along with a very sharp spice. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces bold musk, dirt, and natural tobacco flavors.

First Third:

The Warped Flor de Valle Skyflower starts out with a massive cayenne pepper zing that really did a number on my lips and tongue. Once the pepper finally started letting up the cigar released bold notes of musk and pecan over caramel, earthiness, and a ton of spice. This start really gets off and running right from the start. The draw is absolutely brilliant as every little puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke that really hang out for a while before slowly dissipating while the cigar itself releases an average amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is pretty wavy but razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted medium gray ash which held on for almost an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Warped Flor de Valle Skyflower and man, this cigar is just pumping out flavor. The pecan is still leading the charge along with musk and caramel over notes of earthiness, espresso, spice, and a nice floral flavor that seems to pop up every now and again. The retrohale is very sharp with tons of pepper and spice and I can’t stomach doing it very often. The burn line is still a bit wavy but it hasn’t needed any additional attention from my torch yet as I close out the second third with a decent little nicotine kick already.

Finish:

Deep into the final third of the Warped Flor de Valle Skyflower and the flavors have began to balance out. There is a great, bold cedar that has entered the arena paired with the pecan make for a great leading profile backed by caramel, spice, espresso and musk with a strong reemergence to the cayenne pepper I picked up at the start of the experience. It took me two hours to take this cigar down to the nub and wow did it leave me with a very heavy nicotine kick. I experienced no harshness, nor extended heat and despite the wavy burn line I never once had to break out my torch to touchup or relight the cigar.

Overview:

I have always enjoyed the cigars that Warped has offered and over the past year or so I have really started to fall in love with the company and the Skyflower is a perfect example of why. Warped, especially when teamed up with TABSA create some deeply complex cigars utilizing many rare tobaccos resulting in very unique experiences. The Skyflower is bold, complex, and tasty. While the price point is pretty expensive, it’s justified considering the use if Medio Tiempo tobacco and something I don’t mind paying for considering the result.

Pairing:

Over time Chimay has became and household name and in many cases tends to get overlooked when choosing what beer to drink. I love how great these beers hold up and am always pleased when I go back and revisit them. Premiere Ale is Chimay’s standard Belgian Dubbel release. The beer starts off with lots of malt, sweet brown sugar, spice, apple and caramel with a very light mouthfeel before finishing with even more brown sugar and apple with a nice malty finish. The Warped Flor de Valle Skyflower is a bold cigar with lots of overpowering flavors so I wanted to pair it with something that complimented the flavors while adding some sweetness to the experience and the Chimay accomplished just that.

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The Good Stuff:

Warped Lirio Rojo originally made it’s debut back in 2015 with only 40 cabinets of 50 being released but has since made it’s return in similar limited quantities each year since. Translated to “Red Lilly” The Lirio Rojo is created at the TABSA factory in Nicaragua using an all Aganorsa Nicaragua blend of tobaccos. The cigar is offered in only one single 5 1/2 x 44 size running $10.25 per stick. Big thanks goes out to my buddy Jason for hooking me up with a handful of these beauties. 

• Size: 5 1/2 x 44
• Wrapper: Aganorsa Nicaragua
• Binder: Aganorsa Nicaragua
• Filler: Aganorsa Nicaragua
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $10.25
• Pairing: Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Midnight Orange Stout (Imperial Stout 15.2%)

Prelight:

The Warped Lirio Rojo starts out with a gorgeous, rustic looking medium brown wrapper with lots of areas of darker brown as well as orange spotting. The cigar’s texture carries a good amount of gritty tooth along with some mild veining and a good amount of natural webbing scattered throughout the cigar’s body. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the cigar’s round, triple-wrapped cap. This cigar has a good amount of weight to it as its packed pretty tightly. The cigar is firm I the hand and I found no soft spots what so ever. The wrapper on the Warped Lirio Rojo gives off a ton of sweet cedar and mixed natural tobacco aromas while the foot of the cigar gives off more spice, pepper, and earthy content. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces carries a good amount of honey and cedar backed by spice and natural tobacco flavors. 

First Third:

The Warped Lirio Rojo starts out with a good amount of spice and subtle black pepper. The pepper fades very quickly in this one revealing more spice along with bold notes of citrus, honey, vanilla, and cedar backed by some light pine, earthiness, and soft cocoa. The draw is slightly tight but after about an inch in it really opens up kicking out great amounts of thick, gray smoke which dissipates very quickly while the cigar gives off almost no stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is pretty even and thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white and light gray ash which held on for almost an inch before giving way. 

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Warped Lirio Rojo and the cedar has really taken charge of the flavor profile backed by bold spice, vanilla, and citrus along with soft notes of honey and earthiness. The retrohale really brings out the cedar and the spice and I find myself doing it quite often. I close out the second third with a tiny bit of nicotine kick while the cigar has been burning flawlessly up to this point. 

Finish:

Into the final third of the Warped Lirio Rojo and the flavors are just pouring on. The cedar and vanilla are front and centered back by notes of honey, cocoa, earthiness, spice and pine. It took me an hour and a half to take this cigar down to the nub an I experienced absolutely no harshness nor extended heat. The cigar burned absolutely beautifully from start to finish and left with me with only a trace amount of nicotine. 

Overview:

I have been a huge fan of Warped cigars and it seems they continue to kick out top notch cigars one after another. The Warped Lirio Rojo carries a unique and complex profile without making the smoker dig too deep into the flavor to appreciate the experience. I love when companies put the onus on the experience by not overly marketing the product with crazy artwork, band design, or box design. Sure these are limited but they have done their best to make them available year after year at a price that I wouldn’t mind paying for considering how much I enjoyed it. 

Pairing:

Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Midnight Orange stout is a 15.2% ABV Imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels with oranges. If you are as familiar as I am with German holiday chocolate oranges you’d know exactly why this beer is so appealing to me. The beer leads with heavy, sticky toffee, vanilla, malt, chocolate, bourbon, and a nice citrus with notes of cedar and a very heavy mouthfeel finishing sweet with more toffee vanilla and cocoa, notes of light citrus and tons of bourbon. This is a damn good beer and I am glad to see that the orange isn’t over the top. The vanilla, citrus, and cedar is what really enticed me to pair this beer with the Warped Lirio Rojo and I am glad I did as the flavors married up beautifully.

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• Futuro
• Maestro del Tiempo

Manufactured at Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. (TABSA) factory, Guardian of the Farm features wrapper, binder, and filler from Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan puro comes in three sizes: JJ (5 ¼ by 5), and Apollo Selleccion De Warped (6 by 44), and Campeon (6 by 52). The cigar will run you between $8.00 and $8.74. 

You can purchase the Guardian of the Farm Apollo Seleccion De Warped from our good friends at Cuenca Cigars in their 2017 Top 10 Cigars by Cigar Aficionado sampler.

THE FACTS

Price: $8.00
Vitola: Apollo Seleccion De Warped
Size: 6 by 44
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Shade-Grown Jalapa Corojo 99’
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo 99’
Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo 98’ and Corojo 99’
Smoke Time: 1 Hour and 20 Minutes

PRE-LIGHT

The Guardian of the Farm Nicaraguan Corojo 99′ wrapper that is light to medium brown in color does little to hide the character of the leaf. Veins and bumps are everywhere and there is a decent amount of oils. The cigar is evenly filled from top to bottom.

A floral and brown sugar aroma is found on the wrapper. The draw is stiff, which I hope opens up after I burn past the tobacco covering the foot of the cigar. Flavors of cedar, clove, and cinnamon are introduced on the cold draw as a mild spice is felt in the mouth.  

FIRST THIRD

This Casa Fernandez made cigar opens up with an earthy and woodsy profile with a medium pepper spice and a contrasting sweetness. The pepper heat quickly intensifies to full. The eyeliner burn is a little jagged and the easy draw is allowing the smoke to pull through effortlessly.

MIDDLE THIRD

The sweetness is now identifiable as brown sugar and a black coffee flavor has joined in with a faint cocoa. The pepper spice has the edge on the rest of the flavors.  As I pass the smoke through my nose, the spice is accentuated, but not overwhelming. A small section of the wrapper is struggling to burn, but I am not willing to bust out the lighter just yet. 

FINAL THIRD

A quick touch-up is required as pull into the last third of Guardian of the Farm Apollo. The brown sugar is getting pushed back by the darker flavors of earth and coffee. This is the first time in the smoke that the spice has settled and is not center stage. The smoke production is somewhat lacking in the final third. 

WRAP-UP

The Guardian of the Farm Apollo Seleccion De Warped brought to the table some darker flavors, a good amount of spice, and a sweetness that rounded out the flavors. At times, the spice overwhelmed the other flavors but played well for the most part. The 6 by 44 cigar burned for an hour and twenty minutes and required only one touch-up during that time. For an $8.00 cigar, I don’t think you can go wrong picking up Guardian of the Farm from our friends over at Cuenca Cigars.

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The Good Stuff:

Warped cigars hit the cigar world by storm a few years with some fantastic, unique blends offering a new voice in the cigar industry. Ran by Kyle Gellis, the company released the Maestro del Tiempo blend last year and it’s been the talk of the town ever since. Created at the famous TABSA factory owned by Casa Fernandez in Nicaragua the Maestro del Tiempo features a Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo 99 Clara wrapper over a Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 99 binder holding in pure Nicaraguan fillers all of which are grown at the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa farms. The Maestro del Tiempo is offered in 3 sizes: 5205 (6 3/8 x 42), 5712 (4 1/2 x 52), 6102R (5 1/4 x 48). All of which are full production outside of the 6102R  which also features a slightly different blend. The 5205 and 5712 come packaged in boxes of 25 running between $8.99 and $9.65 a stick. I purchased mine over from out good friends at Ford on Fifth.

Size: 6 3/8 x 42
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo 99 Clara
Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 99
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $8.99
Pairing: Alesmith Grand Cru (Belgian style strong ale 10% ABV)

Prelight:

The Warped Maestro del Tiempo starts out with a really rustic, beaten looking wrapper. It’s not beaten in terms of mishandling, the natural tobacco chosen for the wrapper leaf has a very unique texture. It’s very soft and sleek in some areas, very toothy in others while it carries a very bumpy mixture of small veins and natural webbing scattered throughout the cigar’s body. The color is a light brown, which is pretty consistent outside of the webbing areas. The wrapper feels very thin and delicate while the cigar as a whole is firm with no soft spots throughout the cigar’s slender body leading up to the round, triple cap. The cigar is polished off with a very small, elegant purple and gold band with the words “Maestro del Tiempo” printed in white ink across the front.

The wrapper on the Maestro del Tiempo gives off a very bold mixture of cedar, honey, and cashew while the foot of the cigar is more subtle with some great spice and pepper notes over natural tobacco. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar double bladed cutter. The cold draw gives off a good mixture of strong honey, brown sugar, spice, and cedar.

First Third:

The Warped Maestro del Tiempo starts out with an unexpected bold black pepper bang which quickly faded allowing the cigar to release some very sweet honey, cedar, spice, and citrus flavors. It’s a very interesting flavor profile. The draw is spectacular as each small puff kicks out a great deal of white smoke while the cigar releases a mild amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a very light trail of white and light gray ash which actually fell off into my shoe about a quarter of in inch in. So beware, the cigar will ash when you least expect it to.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Maestro del Tiempo and the flavors have held up leading sweet honey, cedar, spice, citrus and a really nice floral undertone. The cigar has started to build up a bit of sap on the cap so I clipped a bit off and will need to slow down my smoking pace to ensure that it doesn’t build up again. The retrohale is beautiful, coating my nasal passage with a ton of sweetness, honey, and cedar. I close out the second third with absolutely nothing in terms of nicotine.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Maestro del Tiempo and the cigar has really started to pick I’m steam in the strength department reaching in the the medium/full arena. The flavors still lead with cedar, spice, sweetness and honey backed by floral and a nice resurrection of the pepper we saw at the beginning, only its much more mild this time around. It took me almost two hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I never once had to reach for my lighter to touch up, or relight the cigar. Despite the sap I encountered mid-way through, I never found this cigar to be much of a nuisance. Simply slowing down my pace remedied the sap situation and I encountered no harshness nor extended head down into the final inch. I close out the cigar with only a very mild nicotine kick.

Overview:

I’ve been a fan of Warped cigars. Although I haven’t had a lot of the cigars from their portfolio, every one I’ve had has been lights out, and the Maestro del Tiempo is no exception. First, let it be known that I am a huge fan of the company sticking to more traditional Cuban formats. I really love smaller ring gauged cigars so this works right into my preference. The flavors an nuances in the Maestro del Tiempo also carried much of what I personally look for in a cigar. Bold flavors, good amount of sweetness, and great complexity. The construction was top notch which made for a flawless experience. This is a cigar I could see myself going back to quite often. Considering the decent price point and wide availability I think this cigar could easily find it’s way in my everyday rotation.

Pairing:

Coming out of San Diego, California is Alesmiths, Grand Cru. This particular bottle is from 2015. The Grand Cru is a Belgian-style brown ale that comes in at a whopping 10% ABV. The Grand Cru starts with a very robust mixture of Carmel and fruit over some light hops, sweetness, citrus, clove, and a bit of oak with a very light mouthfeel before finishing very crisp with plum, raisin, spice, clove, and a splash over oak. This was a perfect mixture not only for the Warped Maestro Del Tiempo but also for the fantastic summer weather.

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The Good Stuff:

HVC Cigars are no stranger to Casas Fumando. The boutique company makes some incredible cigars. Founded by Reinier Lorenzo the HVC La Rosa 520 focuses on Havana, where he was born and lived before coming the U.S. a few years ago. HVC stands for “Havana City Cigars” and the La Rosa 520 was created as a tribute to his upbringings named after the address he resided at within the city. The cigar itself is created at the TABSA – Tabacos de Jalapa S.A. factory in Estei, Nicaragua. Lorenzo created the blend by seeking out tobaccos that reminded him of San Luis and San Juan y Martinez regions of Cuba’s Pinar de Rio province. The cigar was originally released as a limited edition (250 boxes of 20) production blend in a single 5 1/2 x 54 format in 2015 before this particular “Reyes” line was released last year featuring a 6 1/4 x 48 format. There are only 500 boxes of 10 released and the HVC La Rosa 520 Reyes runs $11.80 per stick. We purchased these over from our friends at Ford on Fifth.

Size: 6 1/4 x 48
Wrapper: Nicaragua Corojo 99 (Jalapa)
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $11.80
Pairing: Ommegang Tripel Perfection (Tripel 8.9% ABV)

Prelight:

The HVC La Rosa 520 Reyes features a really gaudy, rustic looking wrapper. The color is mostly medium/light brown with a good amount of both darker and lighter splotches scattered throughout the cigar as it gives off a nice orangish gleam. The wrapper features a good amount of small veins and natural webbing as the wrapper itself is laid seamlessly over itself. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy, grainy, and oily white the wrapper feels very thin and delicate as the cigar is very heavy and tightly packed all the way up to it’d round, triple-wrapped cap. Polishing off the cigar is the same red, gold, and white wrapper we found on the previous release of the HVC La Rosa 520.

The wrapper on the HVC La Rosa 520 gives off a beautiful spiced cedar and floral aroma while the foot of the cigar releases some soft sweet notes over more cedar, spice, and natural tobacco aromas. The cigar cut like butter under my Xikar double bladed cutter. The cold draw gives off some bold pepper over sweet cedar and you guessed it, more spice.

First Third:

The HVC La Rosa 520 started out with a pretty big pepper boom right out of the gate. That pepper quickly faded and the cigar left me with some very sweet cedar, saltiness, honey, citrus, and a really nice overall natural tobacco taste. The draw is perfect. Each puff moves out a large amount of thick, white smoke which hangs around for quite some time before fading. The cigar also lets loose a good amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is pretty crazy and really thick as it leaves behind a trail of flaky white, and light gray ash wich barely held on for about a half inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

The flavor really become more vibrant in the second this of the HVC La Rosa 520 Reyes. The cedar is leading the charge with some great floral flavors, a bit of musk and spice, a great sweetness and honey with a dash of pine and saltiness. This cigar does really resemble Cuban style with a nice Nicaraguan twist. The retrohale is incredible as it coats my nasal passage with bold cedar and tart citrus. The burn line is still pretty wacky but I haven’t had to reach for my torch yet. The wrapper is cracking a bit which goes back to my thoughts on how delicate it felt, but the insanely dry El Paso climate probably has a lot to do with it. It’s not impacting the experience at all so no real complaints there. I close out the second third with nothing in terms of nicotine.

Finish:

Into the final third of the HVC La Rosa 520 Reyes and the flavors have started to cream out, yet become a bit more bold as they reach into the medium/full bodied range. The leading flavor is still the cedar backed by musk, spice, clove, honey, brown sugar, and the floral flavors are still hanging on. It’s a great flavor profile. The cigar is still cracking a bit as the burn line finally begins to even out but I never once had to reach for my lighter, nor did the cracking even hinder the experience so no points taken off there. It took me about an hour and forty five minute to take this cigar down to the nub and it was incredible the whole time. The HVC La Rosa 520 Reyes finished with no harshness, nor extended heat while I got only a very slight nicotine kick from it.

Overview:

As I said before, I am a big fan of HVC Cigars and the HVC La Rosa 520 is at the top of that list. The cigar is complex, full of subtle flavors while remaining mild and traditional. It’s an incredibly well-balanced cigar that anyone can enjoy from mild to bold cigar smokers, from novice to seasoned cigar smokers. The price point is probably right where it should be and my only real gripe about the cigar is how limited it is. I will be acquiring a good amount of these for sure as I could easily see this cigar becoming a go-to until its no longer around.

Pairing:

Ommegang seems to pop up in my reviews almost  monthly. Ommegang is a Belgian-style brewery in Cooperstown, New York and their Tripel Perfection is a Belgian-style Tripel which comes in at a modest 8.9% ABV. This particular bottle has a packaged done of November 2014 which is strange, cause I didn’t even know I had it in the cellar. The Tripel Perfection starts with a dash of celery, clove, spice, malt, and slight hop with a very light mouthfeel before finishing with more spice, apple, light hop and clove. Some great citrus flavors really come to the front as the beer warms. It was an easy choice pairing this beer with the HVC La Rosa 520 Reyes as the flavors really mashed up well while neither the cigar nor the beer overpowered one another.

The post HVC Cigars La Rosa 520 Reyes appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

Making it’s debut at this year’s IPCPR show in Las Vegas, the Garagiste is one of the newest blends added to Illusione’s already extensive portfolio. The term “Garagiste” is in reference to a small group of renegade winemakers in Bordeaux who produce “garage wines”. The Garagiste is the first blend to come from Illusione to features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The rest of the blend is composed of Viso Corojo and Viso Criollo Aganorsa Nicaraguan tobacco. Created at the Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A (TABSA) factory in Nicaragua, the Garagiste comes in four sizes: the robusto (5 x 50), the short robusto (4 1/8 x 48), the toro (6 x 52), and the gordo (6 x 56). Each come packaged in boxes of 20 and run between $8.35 and $10.80 a stick. The first shipment of these are pretty much sold out all over the U.S., but more should be on it’s way soon. I scooped up a handful of these over from our friends at Atlantic Cigar.

Size: 4 1/8 x 48
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $8.35
Pairing: Stone Xocoveza  (Spiced Stout 8.1% ABV)

Prelight:

The Illusione Garagiste starts out with a very deep, dark brown wrapper which isn’t very consistently colored. There are lots of scattered splotched of reddish-brown as well as darker brown found throughout the cigar. The texture of the wrapper is very smooth with only a tiny bit of grit to it and a good amount of oils. There are very few, small veins running through the cigar’s body as the wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the round, triple cap. The cigar is polished off with a very simple brown band with the words “Illusione” and “Garagiste” printed modestly across the front. As a whole the Garagiste feels very firm, with no softspots, and no give as I press the cigar between my fingers. The wrapper does feel a bit thin a brittle so I won’t apply too much pressure as I inspect it.

As soon as the Garagiste is taken out of the cellophane a rush of deep musk, oak, and spice aromas are unleashed from the wrapper of the cigar while the foot of the cigar carries more spice, oak, and honey scents. The cap cut clean and easily using my double bladed Xikar cutter. The cold draw produces some great raisin, oak, spice, and sweetness.

First Third:

The Illusione Garagiste starts out with a big black pepper zing right out of the gates which begins to fade and take a step back after the first few puffs revealing some rich spice, sweetness, musk, oak, cocoa and honey flavors. The draw is absolutely perfect. Each tiny puff kicks out a massive cloud of thick, white smoke which hangs around for a good amount of time before dissipating while the Garagiste gives off a decent amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a compacted trail of black and dark gray ash which held on for almost an inch before falling into my ahstray.

Second Third:

The black pepper is still lingering around as I venture into the second third of the Illusione Garagiste. Lying underneath is still the bold sweetness and spice, honey, cocoa, and some vanilla while the oak and musk have began to tone it down a bit. The retrohale pours on the spice as it brings the musk back to the forefront of my palate. The burnline is still dead even and sharp as I close out the second third with only a very minor nicotine bite.

Finish:

The musk is back in full force in the final third of the Illusione Garagiste. The leading flavors are cocoa, espresso, musk, and spice with a good amount of sweetness and some soft oak and honey. While the flavors have been consistent for the most part, I am impressed with the amount of changeups in the strength of each flavor. For such a small cigar the Garagiste actually took a while to take down. Clocking in at a total of one hour and forty five minutes I experienced absolutely no harshness, nor any extended heat from the cigar. It burned like a dream from start to finish. I close out the cigar with only a small nicotine kick.

Overview:

I’m a very un-biased fan of Illusione. I love most cigars in Dion’s line, but that doesn’t ever stop me from giving my honest feedback. With that out of the way I think that the Garagiste is an absolutely stellar cigar. The cigar provides a ton of complex, yet balanced flavors with a flawless burn at a great price. Never once did the cigar get too strong, more did the body become too much for me while the complex flavors kept me on my toes from start to finish. This is a box worthy purchase for sure and one that will easily find its way into my regular rotation and might just make an appearance on my best cigar of 2016 list (which I haven’t put a lot of thought into yet to be honest).

Pairing:

Stone’s Xocoveza is on my “must have” winter beer list every year. Brewed at the Stone Brewery in California, this 8.1% ABV stout is brewed with cocoa, coffee, peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. What an intense mixture that works out incredibly well. The Xocoveza leads with the pepper which seem a bit more potent this year, backed by sweet spice, cocoa, vanilla, and malt with a pretty light mouthfeel before finishing with very heavy milk chocolate, sweetness, spice, coffee, and oak while the booziness is completely masked by the sweet flavors in the beer. The flavors in the beer were almost identical to those found in the Illusione Garagiste and I knew the second I smoked this cigar for the first time that this would be the pairing I’d end up with. It’s almost as if they melted the cigar down to liquid form, tossed it in a stout, and released Xocoveza.

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The Good Stuff:

The Futuro is a cigar created by Warped Cigars in collaboration with Casa Fernandez with one goal in mind: to create a cigar unlike anything either of the two manufacturers have ever created in the past.  Kyle Gellis of Warped Cigars and Max Fernandez of Casa Fernandez have been working together at the Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A (TABSA) for a while now, but this is the first blend that they jointly blended together. The blend utilizes 100% Aganorsa leaf from the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa farms. The tobacco used in the blend comes straight from the TABSA vault which contains their most prized material. The blend features a Nicaraguan Corojo ’99 wrapper,  Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 Binder and Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 and Corojo ’99 fillers. The Warped Futuro comes in only two sizes which fit the creators’ own personal preference: the 109 (6 x 52) and the Suprema (5.6 x 46) which range run $9.25 and $8.75 respectively and both sizes come packaged in boxes of 20. This particular cigar was a gift from a good friend Jason while he was over last week celebrating some time with Jeremy while he was in town.

Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo ’98
Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 / Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $9.25
Pairing: Sierra Nevada Barrel-Aged Narwhal 2015 (Imperial Stout 12.9% ABV)

Prelight:

The Warped Cigar Futuro starts out with a gorgeous, insanely consistent, medium brown wrapper. The color is as close to exact throughout the entire cigar as you can get. The texture of the wrapper is some slight tooth and a little roughness, lots of oil, with an overall silky feeling to the touch. The wrapper leaf is laid seamlessly and there are only some very minor veins running thought the cigar’s body which leads up to a nubby almost half-belicoso style cap. The Futuro feels real dense, and tightly packed with tobacco while the wrapper is decently dense with only a bit of softness around the foot of the cigar. The cigar is then polished off with a gorgeous, modern-old-timey style gold, royal blue, and red band which carries the “Futuro 2015” crest on the front, with the creators’ “KG” and “MF” initials on each side.

The wrapper gives off almost no aroma outside of a slight tobacco while the foot carries a lot of sweetness, spice, and earthiness. The cap cut very clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some great sweet cedar, oak, spice, and gingerbread style flavors.

First Third:

Lighting the Futuro was cake using my Dupont single flame butane torch. The Futuro starts out with only some very light, extremely mild pepper which faded after the first puff or two. The main flavor profile leads with a great sweet cedar, cinnamon, gingerbread, soft tobacco, with a great oaky aftertaste. I absolutely love the flavor profile thats developing here. Each tiny puff kicks out a massive cloud of thick white smoke while the Futuro gives off a decent amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin, and dead even leaving behind a tightly compacted trail of white and medium gray ash which held on for a little over an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

As I smoke into the second third of the Futuro the pepper that disappeared in the first third has started to work it’s way, subtly, back into the flavor profile. The profile still leads with really sweet cedar, cinnamon and spice, tobacco, and just a pinch of cocoa. The retrohale really showcases the cedar as well as the spice. The burn line is still dead even and razor thin. I close out the second third with absolutely nothing in the nicotine department.

Finish:

So far the only complain I have about the Futuro is the amount of sap build up it’s been producing. A bit of clip, and slowing down my smoking speed has cleared that right up. The flavor profile is much the same, and I am totally ok with that. The Futuro leads with strong, sweet, cedar backed by cocoa, spice, cinnamon, and some really nice brown sugar. It took me about 2 hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I experience absolutely no harshness, or heat buildup, however I do recommend taking your time with it as the sap does tend to seep in when you rush through it. The burn line was solid all the way through and I never once had to reach for my torch to relight or touch the cigar up. I close out the cigar feeling almost zilch in terms of nicotine.

Overview:

This was my introduction to Warped cigars and if the Futuro is any indication as to how solid their blends are, it won’t be my last. The cigar’s flavor profile is incredible, the smoking experience was near perfect outside of the sap which was probably my fault to begin with, and the price point is more than reasonable. This is a box worthy cigar for sure and really can’t wait to try out some of their other offerings.

Pairing:

Sierra Nevada’s Narwhal is a beer that finds it’s way into my rotation every year. This year, I was able to score a few bottles of their Barrel-Aged variant. Brewed at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in California, this Imperial Stout rocks a modest 12.9% ABV. The Narwhal leads with great milk chocolate, malt, oak, and sweetness with a heavy mouthfeel before finishing very sweet with chocolate, espresso, oak, and more malt with a great amount of bourbon. This was a great pairing. This cigar has sweet bourbon pairing written all over it, but since I’m not a bourbon guy a barrel aged beer is my closest bet.

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