Now, unless you’ve been under a rock lately, you have probably heard of the Avo line of Limited Edition cigars that are released each year to commemorate Avo Uvezian’s birthday. We’ve covered a bunch of these starting with the 80th from 2006, the LE09 Companero (83rd), the LE10 (84th) and LE12 La Trompeta (86th). Click on any of those to see their reviews.

Now thanks to our good friend Martin I get to bring you our review of the AVO LE11, 85th Annirversary! Martin was kind enough to send this all the way up north through Tony and I finally had some time to sit down, enjoy and take notes for everyone.I’ve had a couple of these before but never jotted down a full review so I figured it was time to do that.

As you might guess, the AVO 85th is to celebrate Avo’s 85th birthday and like most of the limited editions, it was restricted to only 10,000 total cigars world-wide. If you managed to be lucky enough to get a box of these, you would have a beautiful lacquered box with a giant gold “85th” printed on the front, very classy!

The Avo Limiteds have always been excellent so that leaves a lot of expectations for this cigar to live up to. I’m sitting outside today to enjoy this cigar and am really looking forward to it, so lets jump on in and see what it has to offer.

Cigar: AVO 85th Anniversary
Drink: Sleeman Honey Brown Lager
Vitola: Diademas (6.625 x 50)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Dominican
Binder: Peruvian
Filler: San Vicente and Piloto
Price: Gifted by Martin (About $18)
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The two ends of the AVO 85th are tapered to almost the exact same ring gauge and the center of the cigar is perfectly even from end to end
• The cap is completed cleanly with one leaf and it blends seamlessly into the rest of the cigar
• You can’t see much of the foot due to it’s tapered nature but it looks to be very tightly packed from what I can see
• There is a soft springiness through the whole cigar
• I’m finding a few medium sized veins but nothing that looks to be a problem on this velvety smooth wrapper
• The draw is very nice even with the packed tapered foot which surprised me

Burn:
• The tiny foot on this AVO 85th lit up with ease and was evenly toasted in only a few seconds
• I usually run into a bunch of burn problems with a tapered foot like this but it seems to have burned through that section with no problems and stayed even
• I’ve had two minor touch ups as I hit the halfway point but otherwise the cigar has been burning at a nice pace and fairly straight
• A couple more minor touchups as the cigar continues to burn but nothing major to report otherwise

Smoke & Ash:
• Even with the two tapered ends I’m still getting a nice volume of smoke from each draw without needing to draw multiple times
• The ash was looking nice and clean but the tapered piece must have been a bit weaker, it fell off at about a half inch
• The next ash made it up to an inch before I tapped it off, it did look pretty fragile and flaky though
• Color of the ash is mostly light grey although there is a brownish/yellowish type of color in there too
• The ash continued to look a bit weak throughout so I kept tapping it off pretty early to avoid any messes

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a soft subtle sweetness in it’s aroma
• The foot is the same subtle sweetness with an added touch of cedar
• Pre-light draw on this Avo 85th brought a bunch more cedar and a bit more sweetness, add to that some light baking spices now
• Initial draws are fairly mild and starting off with some light spice and cedar flavors
• The spices are developing nicely, like nutmeg and cinnamon, nothing too strong
• Retrohale has a tiny tiny bite to it a smooth cedar finish
• The flavor is still smooth and I’m getting some creaminess sneaking in there around the halfway mark
• Starting to get a bit of a leathery taste now and the cedar is fading out a bit, spices are also shifting over to some peppery notes
• Body has picked up a bit but we’re still in the medium range here
• The The spice really picked up near the last third now, lots more pepper sneaking in
• The Avo 85th finished smooth and tastefully with a slight spice kick and cedar

Final Thoughts:
Well I have to say once again that the Avo Limited Edition did not disappoint. The 85th turned out to be another tasty experience that I would go back to try again anytime and recommend it to all. The Avo’s have a way of bringing in lots of complex flavors into a well balanced experience and it never turns out to be muddled. Just smooth creamy flavors. I would have been slightly happier with no touch-ups but they were pretty minor so I can’t knock back too many points for that. The price here will tend to scare away a few customers but that’s the case for pretty much all LE’s. If you feel like spoiling yourself and see an Avo 85th on the shelf at your local shop, just pick it up and enjoy!

Pairings:
Today I went with a simple pairing, mainly because I ran out of other stuff and it was too early in the day to jump into some Port. It is a Sleeman Honey Brown Lager. I won’t dive too far into this beer, but it does have a darn interesting history dating back to 1834 including some bootlegging and smuggling across the border. It was shut down for a long time but eventually restarted using original recipes in 1988. Sapporo Brewery of Japan bought them in 2006. The Honey Brown lagers are simple and classic with clean and crisp flavors including touches of citrus. It’s not a craft brew by any means but it’s good to have a couple in the fridge, I think I like the history of the company more though ;). As for the pairing, the beer was a little overpowered by the flavors in the Avo 85th and I think a tasty Port would have made for the perfect pairing. Coffee would have worked nicely too but it was too damn hot out here!

The post Avo LE11 85th Anniversary appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The full name of this cigar is the Montecristo Epic Premium Selection ’07 and it was released about announced about a year ago in June 2012. Tony also did a full review on it not too long ago, read his thoughts over here. I’ve had the chance to light up a few of these so I thought I’d take the time to jot down some of my own notes on it as well and share it with our fine readers.

Now I’ve been a long-time critic of Altadis’ cigars in general but the last few newer releases have started to sway my opinion to the better side. The dark Ecuadorian Habano wrapper on this cigar does help it’s case, it is super oily and toothy and looks awesome. The aroma of the Montecristo Epic gives a nice cedar note on the nose and just a touch of spice in there. It’s topped off with a super clean cap and a well packed foot.

Lighting the cigar was a breeze and I had a nice glowing foot in no time at all. Smoke production on this bad-boy was also pretty hefty, pumping out some pretty big plumes through a nice and even draw. The flavors started out pretty exciting and interesting with lots of cedar backed by some peppery spices and a sort of dark fruity note. As the smoking continued, the fruity and spicy notes seemed to fade away and I was left with the cedar and some new instances of leathery notes.

I had a few burn issues I needed to tackle but none were major and didn’t ruin the experience much. Body stayed at around medium and the retrohale started off with a nice bite to it but ended up being mostly bland near the end with a bit of a cedar finish. As I stroll into the last 3rd I’m getting some espresso notes sneaking in here and the body is definitely jumping into the full range. I was able to get the Montecristo Epic down to a good sized nub before I put it down.

I’d have to say that the Montecristo Epic started out with a lot of promise and excitement but it slowly faded away into a decent, but not overly-impressive finish. I didn’t get the extreme tartness that Tony mentioned in his review and I wonder if the extra age had something to do with that. I ended up pairing it with a Mill Street Brewery Tankhouse Ale which is a tasty and malty American Pale Ale. I think I should have gone with something a little more bold to pair with this cigar though, perhaps some port or nice scotch. While the Montecristo Epic is one of the better cigars in Altadis Montecristo line-up, it wasn’t quite up my alley. But I do think there is a large group of people this will appeal to so give it a try and let us know what you think!

The post Quick Draw Episode 16 – Montecristo Epic Premium Selection ’07 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now today we have a new blend from La Aurora called the Fernando Leon Family Reserva. Fernando León Asensio was the “Father” of La Aurora and passed away in 2009. This particular blend was actually made for personal consumption and reserved for friends and family only. To commemorate his father, Guillermo Leon decided to push out this special blend for the masses to enjoy.

The cigar comes wrapped in a very similar band to what the Guillermo Leon Signature had, only with a different color scheme. The lion logo still adorns the top middle of the band and instead of Guillermo’s signature, we have Fernando’s signature in gold print across the middle of the band.

The Fernando Leon Family Reserve comes in the same classic sizes as the Guillermo Leon. A Corona, Corona Gorda, Robusto, Belicoso and Gran Toro. For today’s review I’m picking up the Corona Gorda vitola, which is also becoming one of my favorites of all the vitolas lately. It turned out to be a warm(warm to me at least, it’s still only like 35F) afternoon with only a little bit of wind. So let’s get to it and see how this new cigar stands up!

Cigar: Fernando Leon Family Reserve
Drink: Wellington Breweries Imperial Russian Stout
Vitola: Corona Gorda (6 x 47)
Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Dominican Corojo
Filler: Peruvian, Brazilian, Dominican
Price: About $8
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Fernando Leon Family Reserve has a rough, but soft, wrapper with a touch of toothiness to it
• There is a definite softness when squeezed from head to foot, pretty consistent the whole way through
• Looks to be a triple cap that is finished extremely smooth and well, blends right into the wrapper
• The foot has some small gaps, so it’s not too tightly packed
• Golden brown is the color of the wrapper, with some shiny hints of oil
• The cut was very easy and smooth leaving me with a perfectly sliced cap
• Draw was just perfect with enough resistance but not with too much

Yes, that is a big pile of snow! lol

Burn:
• Toasting was nice, even and slow with only the foot catching and leaving me with a nice amber to start off with
• No burn issues through the first third, razor sharp and thin burnline, just the way I like it!
• It’s also burning at a nice slow pace, allowing me to enjoy it slowly without burning out
• At about the half-way mark I hit a tunnel that ended up requiring a touch-up, now we’re off to the races again
• After that touch-up, we had smooth sailing right to the end, a very well constructed cigar!

Smoke & Ash:
• Right from the start I’m getting a nice mouthful of billowy smoke with very little effort
• The ash is nothing spectacular here, it’s a light grey and dark grey mix, it is nice and clean and string though
• The first ash made it to about an inch before I tapped it off
• The next couple of ashes both fell off at about a half-inch even though there were looking strong
• Smoke continues to be very full with very little effort on the draw
• The ashes continued looking strong but always seemed to fall unexpectedly or really shatter in the ashtray

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a sweet woodsy sort of aroma
• A little more boldness on the foot where the aroma is adding a bunch of spices like nutmeg
• Pre-light draw was a big kick of cedar with some touches of spice
• First few draws started with a small spice kick but that quickly disappeared
• I’m now left with a smooth and creamy cedar flavor backed by some light coffee notes
• Through the first third, the body seems to be in the medium range and I’m also getting some accents of nutty notes
• The retro-hale is giving me a nice little bite with a smooth creamy finish, nice touch
• Through the first half, the cedar and coffee notes are prime with a smooth creaminess to round it all out
• As I get into the last third, the coffee is ramping up a bit but sadly the nice creaminess has toned down a notch
• I’m also getting a little more of the early spices as we sneak into the last bit here
• The last inch or so turned into a bit of charred wood type of flavors, not off putting, but not as exciting as it was before
• The Fernando Leon finished with lots of wood and spice flavors and I was able to nub it happily

Final Thoughts:
I was a huge fan of the Guillermo Leon Signature so I was pretty excited when there was another cigar added to Guillermo’s lines. Now I can’t help but compare the Fernando Leon Family Reserve to the Signature and I feel it fell a little short. That’s not to say this was a bad cigar, it was actually quite tasty(minus the last part which got boring). I just felt that the Signature brought all the flavors together a little better and made it enjoyable from start to finish. I would probably pick up more of these up again in the future but if the Fernando Leon Family Reserve was right beside the Guillermo Leon Signature, I’d go with the signature every time. Maybe I’ll pick out some different vitolas as well to see if that changes the profile much. Either way I’m happy to see more additions the La Aurora line-up and I hope to see more coming up as well

Pairings:
Today’s beer is actually a pretty rare find for me up here. Most of the local breweries tend to stick to typical stouts and dark ales and rarely venture outside of that territory. Welling Breweries took a step outside the comfort zone and came out with an Imperial Russian Stout. This brew clocks in at 8% alc./vol. and has a dark and thick consistency with a very thick head as well. The flavors bring lots of coffee and cocoa notes, but one interesting thing was that I was actually picking up some citrus notes. That made for a very interesting brew and paired quite well with the spice that the Fernando Leon had to offer. I’d like to try this cigar with a nice strong coffee as well, maybe with a little cinnamon sprinkled in there!

The post Fernando Leon Family Reserve appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now I have to apologize for a HUGE fail on my part… I had taken a bunch of pictures and absent mindedly deleted them from the camera before I moved them to my computer! What a super fail! So not too many pictures today, sorry!

“What the heck is the Vallejuelo?” some of you might ask. It seems that a lot of people simply haven’t come across this cigar before but it’s actually got quite a big following for two reasons. It’s commonly held as a well manufactured medium body cigar, and secondly, it comes in at a very fair price of just around $4 if you buy by the box.

The Vallejuelo brand comes from a factory called Intercigar in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The owner, Maurice Antonius Koks, comes from Holland where his roots there were also in the Tobacco industry. He is also the blender of the Vallejuelo. This cigar has got quite a lot of hype as one of the best budget cigars so I’m excited to see what it offers me. So let’s dive right in and see if the Vallejuelo stacks up to the hype people have created for it.

Cigar: Vallejuelo
Drink: Innis & Gunn Highland Cask
Vitola: Robusto Gordo (5 x 54)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Nicaragua and Dominican Republic
Price: $4.00 – $4.50
Burn Time: Just over an hour

Construction:
• The milky brown wrapper on this cigar has a wonderful oily sheen to it
• There are some veins here and there with one major one down the back but it doesn’t look to be a problem
• The single cap has a very clean finish to it, very well constructed
• The Vallejuelo is fairly firm and consistent from end to end, there is only a touch of spring to it
• Glancing at the foot you can easily see why it’s firm, this thing is packed to gills with tons of leaves
• The cut was easy and even but I’m left with a pretty tight draw, let’s hope it opens up a bit here

Burn:
• The toasting was a good at first but the burn quickly climbed the edge of the wrapper and charred it a bit before the foot was glowing. I find this happens often with delicate wrappers, sometimes affecting the first few puffs a bit but nothing major
• The burn got off to a nice even start and is going well through the first third
• The burn is staying nice and straight through to the halfway mark, no corrections needed and it’s smoking nice and slowly too
• Spot on burn straight through to the finish, no corrections needed at all!

Smoke & Ash:
• Since the draw is a bit tight it is taking a few attempts to get a good amount of smoke flowing here
• There’s a bit of resting smoke when I put the cigar down, slow but consistent
• The ash on this cigar looks super strong and firm, probably due to the serious packed in filler
• The color is mostly darker tones of grey with some lighter ones but no clean or neat zebra striping here today
• The ash held strong until I tapped it off at around the 1 inch mark, no flaking at all
• Ash stayed strong and lean with easy 1 inch pieces every time right to the end

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has an almost nutty aroma to it, a first for me I think
• I got a bit of a tingling sensation from smelling the foot, definitely some spices in there, perhaps a bit of white pepper and still some nutty notes
• The pre-light draw brings more white pepper spice but now it’s backed with some woodsy and licorice type notes
• The initial draws have a bit of a charred flavor, probably due to the awkward toasting but I still am picking up some cedar and licorice notes
• The charred flavors quickly disappeared and I’m left with a sort of roasted woody and almond type of flavor with some licorice to back it up
• The licorice flavor is really shining through around the halfway mark and adding a bit of sweetness to the mix as well, very nice
• The pepper has died down and the flavors are balancing nicely
• The Vallejuelo has been in the mild category so far with only a soft sweet finish on the retrohale thats quite enjoyable
• The body is picking up a bit into the medium range as I pass the halfway mark and some of the white pepper spice is making a comeback
• The cigar picked up surprisingly strong in the last third. Body jumped into the fuller range and the pepper and woodsy flavors made a strong comeback
• The sweet licorice notes are mostly gone now which is disappointing because they were really good
• A nice medium finish to this cigar with just a touch of harshness, I still nubbed it!

Final Thoughts:
All in all this was an interesting cigar. It had a lot of change ups and some distinct flavors. I would have liked the sweet licorice to stick around more but I really enjoyed it when it was there. The burn was top notch and was also nice and slow which are big bonuses for me. I think I’ll want to seek out some other vitolas to see how the blend changes, maybe a corona size or so? I think this could really shine in a smaller ring gauge. Definitely worth picking some up and giving them a try if you haven’t had one before. A big thanks to Jeff for hooking me up with this and letting me try a brand a might not otherwise have picked up!

Pairings:
Yet another brew from one of my favorite breweries, Innis & Gunn. It’s another limited batch called the Highland Cask and I stumbled on it in the beer store earlier this year. This interesting batch is aged for 69 days in barrels that once contained 16 year old Scotch. Now that’s pretty cool if you ask me! It comes in another fancy box with a cool story and has a Best Before date of December 2012 so I’m guessing there won’t be too many more left on store shelves now. It’s got more of the awesome oaky, malty and toffee notes I’ve come to love from Innis & Gunn but also adds a layer of Scotch type of flavoring. It’s quite subtle and not in your face so don’t be afraid to try this even if you aren’t a Scotch lover. It definitely paired well with the Vallejuelo and another choice pairing would have been coffee here, I think that would have made a very interesting.

The post Vallejuelo Robusto Gordo appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now the first thing you notice when you pick up a Perdomo Fresco is the very bright and eye-catching band! This thing has all sorts of stuff happening, sorta like a retro 80’s look. I managed to grab these as part of a recent order. I got a few of the Toro size to try out in my hunt for a budget stick to add to the regular rotation.

I have to admit here that I’ve had a really good track record with Perdomo in the past. Their sticks typically don’t surprise me but they are solid, good smoking cigars that I tend to enjoy pretty frequently and they are usually very fairly priced. So I might be expecting more than normal from this stick due to my reputation with them.

As most of you know, Perdomo has been around for quite a while and churns out a lot of tasty cigars, most of them being Nicaraguan puros. The Fresco is no different on that front, it just comes at a very fair price and is still packed with premium long-filler tobacco. The leaves come the valley of Esteli and are available in 4 different sizes, all ranging from Robusto and up. No small vitolas in this bundle line-up.

As mentioned, these are bundle only cigars so you won’t find them packed in any fancy boxes. This obviously helps to keep the costs down and allows Perdomo to maintain the fair price they have these targeted at. Today’s pick happens to be the Maduro wrapped version but the Fresco line is also available in a Connecticut Shade wrapper. So let’s sit down and see what this Perdomo has to say!

**NOTE: For some reason my memory card got corrupted and I lost a bunch of these pictures, so sorry that there aren’t more pics while smoking it

Cigar: Perdomo Fresco Maduro
Drink: Waterloo Dark Ale
Vitola: Toro (6 x 50)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $2.00
Burn Time: 2 hours

Construction:
• The Perdomo Fresco is a rustic looking stick with an uneven medium brown color
• There’s lots of texture to the wrapper but no major veins that look to be problematic
• The foot appears to be very well packed with lots of tobacco
• One thing I noticed was that the wrapper looks fairly dry
• From top to bottom, the Perdomo Fresco is nice and spongy but not too soft
• The cap is finish cleanly with a double cap application, it’s visible but still well done
• The band is pretty wide but it came off very easily without damaging the wrapper

Burn:
• Toasting was quick and easy although there was still a bit of a dark spot in the middle
• The burn line started off a little lopsided but it quickly corrected itself and is coming along nicely now
• The cigar is allowing me to smoke it slowly and it has been staying lit very easily
• Through to the halfway mark I’m having a great razor sharp burn here and loving it
• I have to mention how super slow this stick is burning, I’m drawing on it quite a bit and still heading towards a 2 hour burn time!
• No issues all the way to the nub here, great burn for a budget friendly cigar!

Smoke & Ash:
• I was a bit concerned with the smoke after the first few draws, it felt pretty light but soon after that it filled in and I’m getting a nice amount of smoke off each draw
• There is a fine line of smoke off the cigar while it’s resting and it gives off a nice cedar aroma
• The first ash lasted a good inch before falling into the ashtray nicely
• It had some darker grey colors to it and a lot of ridges but it remained strong and clean till it fell off
• The second ash stayed consistently strong and clean, this time I tapped it off at the 1 inch mark but it probably could have help on longer
• All the ashes were nice and steady at 1 inch and stayed clean throughout
• Smoke volume kept consistently full to the very end

Tasting Notes:
• Prelight draw brings out a bit of spice, especially on the lips, and some nice woodsy and earthy flavors
• The initial draws bring in lots of woodsy flavors backed by a bit of tobacco and just the smallest amount of peppery spice
• There’s a bit of a burnt flavor I’m picking up now, but it’s not too prominent
• The retrohale has a pretty nice peppery bite to it but the finish is more of a smooth cedar
• So far the body has been on the mild side
• Now that I’m through the first inch I’m pretty much just getting some mild cedar and a lot of burn tobacco type of flavors, let’s hope this cigar can turn it around here
• The burnt flavor seems to be finally going away as I get near the mid-point mark thankfully
• In it’s place I’m getting some nutmeg and earthiness along with a touch of sweet coffee
• The body hasn’t really changed from mild and the flavors are fairly light too, nothing in-your-face with this cigar.
• The coffee flavor started becoming a little more prominent in the last third, even getting to an espresso type of flavor
• The ending flavors were a little more interesting with the espresso flavors working together with the cedar notes
• A touch of harshness as I hit the nub but nothing off-putting

Final Thoughts:
I came into this cigar with slightly high expectations. Even though this is branded as a budget bundle type of cigar, I still hold Perdomo in high regards for consistently good quality cigars. I have to say I’m on the fence with this one. There were some parts that had great flavor and others that left me wanting more. I do have to say that even for a budget cigar, the construction here was spot on with great draw and burn. It also has a great price tag for a mild cigar that I think a lot of novice smokers will enjoy. I think I may have to investigate some other vitolas in this line to be sure since all the samples I had for this review were the same size. Having said all that, I know for sure that there are people that will really love the straightforward flavors that this cigar offers, just don’t go looking for anything overly complex here. This might be a good candidate for one of the Quick Draws in the future. I’d love to hear some other opinions on this stick as well so post them up!

Pairings:
Tonight’s pairing is one you have seen before but it comes in a brand new can. It starts with a standard silver colored base but has a pretty near large black label. It’s the Dark Ale offering from the local Waterloo Brewery. The can might look different but its contents remain just as good as I remember them to be. This Dark Ale is a total classic, it doesn’t try to do anything fancy or different, it’s a solid straight up dark ale. In it you can find obvious notes of roasted hops and a touch of coffee backed by a sweet malty finish. It’s just a great all around brew that I always seem to keep in my fridge. It paired quite nice with the mild flavor of the Perdomo Fresco and neither one overpowered the other, allowing for a nice experience. This cigar would also pair very well with a nice cup of coffee.
**NOTE: Sorry, this was one of the ones I lost

The post Perdomo Fresco Maduro appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: First and foremost, I couldn’t find these locally so a huge thank you to Skip (a.k.a. ChiefHava) for hooking a brothah up. As most of you know the Avo Annual limited edition release was created to celebrate the famous jazz compose/aficionado Avo Uvezian birthday. The LE12 La Trompeta was created this year to celebrate the man’s 86^th birthday. I can only hope to look as good as Avo when I get that age. Anyways, this edition in particular holds a special meaning to it as the cigar is designed to actually replicate a “trumpet” style smoking experience with an elongated, tapered cap and three small circular wrapper cutouts that represent keys on a trumpet. Interesting design to say the least. The blend starts with Dominican Ligero and Peruvian seco filler, bound by a Dominican Piloto binder, then wrapped in a very dark Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper. Much like the previous LE releases La Trompeta is only available in one size (6.5 x 54 pyramide). There were only 100,000 cigars released (10,000 boxes of 10) with a retail price of $15.50 a stick. Every year I look forward to these Limited Edition releases, especially since the LE10 which is still my favorite Avo blend to date.

Size: 6.5 x 54  –  Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sun Grown  –  Binder: Dominican Piloto  –  Filler: Dominican Ligero/Peruvian Seco  –  Body: Full  –  Strength: Medium/Full

Prelight: The obvious story here is Avo’s interesting design on the Trompeta, attempting to make the cigar actually look and feel like a Trumpet. Even though I would call it more of a flute approach, I commend the company for doing something fun and out of the ordinary. As is the story with most Avo Cigars, the construction is top notch on the Trompeta. The cigar starts off with a beautiful dark chocolate looking wrapper that is just covered in thick oils. I actually had a hard time getting the texture of the leaf to show through as the oils on the cigar would just soak up all the light. Anyhow, Avo’s trompeta is a huge cigar. The meeting stick starts off with a very thick wrapper, and a very heavy, tobacco-filled body. There are a few mid-sized veins running the length of the body up to the crazy long, tapered, belicoso style cap. I swear almost a third of this cigar is cap. I guess that plays off the whole “Trumpet” style design on this stick.

The wrapper of the Trompeta gives off a very musky, dirty, earthy aroma. It almost smells like wet mud with some spice. The foot of the cigar is very earthy as well with the core of the aromas surround a wet, oaky, woodsy aroma. Avo’s in my opinion, always give off very unique aromas. The cap on the Trompeta cut very clean and easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. I clipped it about halfway through the taper. The cold draw matched my prelight aromas almost identical, pushing out some very wet, mossy, oaky, earth and tobacco flavors.

First Smoke: The Avo La Trompeta starts out with only a slight pepper to it. The pepper only lasted a few draws before it completely faded away and what I was left with was some very mossy, spicy, chocolate earthy tobacco flavors. When I mention spice, I talk about flavors like nutmeg, cinnamon, basil, and so fourth. Basically it’s a mixture of those that I can’t quite nail. Avo cigars are one of the very few cigars that I actually pick up the mossy style flavors in. The draw on this cigar is spectacular pumping out lots and lots of thick, white smoke with every little puff. The burnline was razor sharp but had a ton of smaller waves that I can only hope don’t turn into big, annoying ones. The ash left behind was a solid, dark great and seemed to flake off a lot more than most Avos.

Halfway There: The second third of this Avo La Trompeta is much of the same. The experience is still overtaken by lots of the mossy, earthy flavors but a bit of creamy sweetness has moved in. It’s almost like the difference between cream and sugar in coffee. It’s really starting to mellow the full-bodied cigar out a bit. The retro hale is very nice and surprisingly mild coating my nasal passage with nothing more than oaky tobacco. The burnline has completely corrected itself and is burning dead even and still razor sharp. I have to add, it’s a bit windy today and I’m glad to see even with that, this cigar is burning like a champ. I am feeling only a little bit in the nicotine department. I really like that Avo has taken a step to finally producing cigars with a bit of strength over the last few years.

Finish: There was a significant ramp up in both body, and strength coming into the final third of this Avo Trompeta. The mossy, earthy tobacco flavors are still very strong, taking center stage to some bittersweet chocolate, leather, and again this overall creamy composure. Despite having a bit of strength, the Trompeta is incredibly easy to smoke. The cigar burned perfectly after correcting it’s own waves in the first third and required absolutely no touch ups or relights for the entire two hours it took to smoke this beast. Although the cigar did have a bit of a punch, I didn’t at any time feel overwhelmed by the amount of nicotine in it.

Overview:  We will start off with my thoughts on the cigar. Despite hearing that this cigar didn’t deliver, I thought it was a pretty good cigar. Actually, a damn good cigar. Each of the last handful of annual limited editions Avo has released haven’t disappointed. This cigar started with flawless construction, great flavors, and a terrific burn. Did it live up to the Avo LE10 that I hold so close to my heart? Not at all. In fact, I would rank this cigar right up there with the Heritage.  That being said, the Heritage can be found for less that $10 a stick, and in some cases, much less. If this cigar is being compared to the Heritage then it’s safe to say that the value just wasn’t worth it. It’s an eye catching solid cigar, but at the price point I’d much rather grab a few Heritage or even a Padron. What I will say is that it’s very much worth trying yourself. It’s a talking piece to smoke around your friends because of the unique design, and it’s a traditional annual limited edition release. Pick one or two up, but I wouldn’t go spending the coin on a box.

Pairing: Again, I’m a sucker for Belgian beer. Anyone who reads this blog knows this. What you may not know is that I really enjoy Lambics, no matter how sweet or girly they are. Lindeman’s has to be one of the easier Belgian Lambic beers to find around these parts. That being said, I am usually limited to whatever is in season. To my surprise I recently stumbled across a brew by them that I hadn’t seen before, Lindeman’s Faro. Basically, Faro is similar to their Gueze in that the beer doesn’t sport any fruit flavors. Instead, it’s a lambic that boasts of it’s more natural ingredients. While the Gueze is wheat-based (any my personal favorite) the Faro is a barely based lambic. Brewed at the infamous Brouwerij Lindemans, this 4.2% ABV sweet beer really hit the spot. The Gueze plays off it’s tart, bitter flavors while the barley in the Faro open you up to a much sweeter, milder experience. With honey, brown sugar, malt, and just a touch of sourness the Faro really is a hell of an experience. This beer went absolutely wonderful with the bittersweet, earthy flavors of the Avo La Trompeta, and I am pleased to announce that it has also taken over the number one spot as my favorite brew that Lindemans produced. Seriously, pick one up if you can find them. This smaller bottle ran me $5.99 which is pretty reasonable considering it’s a Belgian Lambic.

The post AVO – LE12 La Trompeta appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now this is a very special line made by Padron Cigars to honor their many great years of quality cigar production. It remains a family owned business so you can see where the name comes from. This line is amongst the best cigars ever to come from the Padron factory. Only the top quality tobacco leaves are used here and as with most of their cigars, all the tobacco leaves are exclusively Nicaraguan. On top of that, each leaf is aged a full 10 years before being rolled into one of the limited edition cigars.

Similar to some other limited cigars on the market, these blends are released annually, usually landing in September, and each year brings a new vitola and some different names. The name here, No. 44, commemorates the 44 years of successful cigar manufacturing by the Padron Family. This particular blend/vitola was released in 2008.

I fully plan on taking my time and enjoying this one, as you can see below, the price isn’t exactly cheap. The price, along with Padron name on the band, sets some pretty high expectations as I head outside to light this cigar up. I’m hoping it can live up to my expectations now. Let’s get to it!

Cigar: Padron Family Reserve No. 44 Years
Drink: St. Ambroise 2011 Special Reserve Extra Strong Imperial Stout
Vitola: Box Pressed Torpedo (6 x 52)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $30
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• First thing I noticed when I picked up this cigar was the subtle toothiness on the wrapper, there’s tons of little spots on it and it’s super oily to boot, damn tasty from an outsiders perspective
• The oily wrapper also has a super dark chocolate tone to it that just adds to its appeal
• Now the springiness on this cigar is almost non-existent, it’s a pretty solid box-pressed stick from end to end with no soft spots
• The cigar is a little bumpy but there are almost no veins above a “small” size here and it’s got a very silky feel to it
• The cap actually looks pretty poorly applied considering the special edition here, it’s kind of a crescent shaped tapered cap
• The foot is understandably well packed but despite being such a solid stick it actually feels pretty light in your hands
• After an easy cut, the draw was a little bit tight but not too bad. I didn’t want to cut much of this pricey stick so I’ll work with this

Burn:
• This cigar lit up with ease, within a few seconds the whole foot was glowing evenly with minimal effort
• Through the first inch I’m getting a super tight, razor sharp burn that is going very well so far
• This section is gonna be pretty short, the Padron 44 years is smoking wonderfully without any needs for touch ups at all
• It’s also letting me smoke it slowly and enjoy it without having to take a bunch of extra draws to get it going again

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke from each draw isn’t overly thick but it’s not thin either, I’d say its a nice balance right now
• The first bit of ash is coming along nicely, keeping tight together and fairly clean with only one kind of split on the side
• The resting smoke was fairly light and gave off a sweet cedar type of aroma, very pleasant
• The ash held on strong to an inch before I gently tapped it off into the ashtray
• The ash has a nice light grey color to it with thin black lines creating a nice zebra stripe effect
• The second ash stayed nice and strong and clean up until I tapped it off at about the one inch mark

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper is pretty much aroma-less, can’t pick up anything except for the slight cedar smell of my humidor
• The foot brings some more interesting aromas including cinnamon, a touch of sweetness and bit of coffee too
• Pre-light draw brings just a touch of cedar flavors to my tongue, not much else here though
• Right off the initial draw you get a super flavorful mouthful of cocoa, coffee, baking spices and a wonderful sweetness, what an awesome start!
• Within the first inch the cigar quickly ramps up from an initial mild body to getting near the high end of medium
• The retrohale started off with a light cedar finish and now I’m getting nice spicy bite to go along with it
• As the body builds at this early point, so does the spice. It has changed from being baking spices to more cooking spices in the range of white pepper and even paprika while still keeping the cedar, cocoa and coffee
• As quickly as the body and spicy flavors came, they are now gone and I’m back to the sweet and tasty cocoa, coffee and cedar. So much action in just the first third!
• The coffee and cocoa are dominating right now and it’s so damn tasty, there’s just enough spice and cedar in the background to make it interesting
• I should also note the body came down a bit towards the low end of medium after towing the line of becoming a full bodied stick before
• As I get into the last third, the cedar and spice started taking charge, leaving the sweet cocoa and coffee notes aside
• I also started picking up some tasty almond flavors and an interesting flavor I can only characterize as “red wine”. I’ve never got this before and I’m pairing it with beer so that really caught me off guard!
• Flavor and body picked up a little intensity towards the end but it never got harsh and I enjoyed it right to the nub!

Final Thoughts:
These are obviously super limited cigars and I’m very glad I had a chance to try one. The first thing everyone will look at is the price. It is way up there for sure and I don’t think I could justify a whole box but it was definitely worth having a couple to try. The flavors, construction and burn were all top notch and worthy of the price it carries, especially considering the rare tobacco that goes into it. The Padron family has a huge reputation to live up to so chances are, when you pick up a special edition cigar by them that it’s going to be a good one. Having said that, the Padron Family Reserve 44 years lived up to that legacy for me.

Pairings:
I picked up this brew while on a trip to Ottawa. We crossed over into Quebec where the selection of beers far outweighs what we have here in Ontario, and they are cheaper to boot. At the local stores here I can only find the oatmeal stout by St. Ambroise and I really enjoy it so I figured I’d give this special edition a try. It is a 2011 Special Reserve Extra Strong Imperial Stout. Now what a wonderful brew this turned out to be. It’s got a smooth creamy texture that is so darn tasty. The amount of malt in here is damn near staggering and it’s paired with some awesome coffee flavors and a touch of cocoa. To round out the mix, it is aged in Bourbon barrels and the bourbon flavor definitely shines through, but it’s not overpowering, just a nice hint. It is a strong brew coming in at 9.5% alc./vol. but it paired perfectly with the Padron Family Reserve 44 Years. Other good pairings here would be my port of course or maybe a good strong coffee.

The post Padron Family Reserve No. 44 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now the label on the Onyx Reserve has no information on it other than its name and the word “handmade”. I actually did no research on this cigar prior to smoking it and I’d never really read much about it before so that allowed me to give a more unbiased review. A little research after smoking it and making notes revealed to me that this cigar is made by Altadis. Historically I haven’t really hit alignment with the flavor profiles of most Altadis sticks, so will smoking it without knowing that ahead of time affect my opinion???

A little more research showed me that this cigar has an interesting mix of three different fillers and if you check out me pre-light inspection notes below you’ll see I actually picked out three distinct coloured filler in the foot. I thought that was interesting that they are so easily discernible. It’s also wrapped with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper which Tony and I are both big fans of.

There isn’t too much other info on the cigar out there but I can tell you that it is made in the Dominican Republic. It also seems to have some pretty good ratings from a variety of sources, mostly outside of the blogging world though. I especially liked the vitola here today, it’s a box-pressed Mini Belicoso and you don’t see many of those around. Reminded me of the Oliva Serie G Belicoso. So let’s jump right in and see what I though of the Onyx Reserve by Altadis Cigars.

Cigar: Onyx Reserve
Drink: Chimay Yellow Trappist Ale
Vitola: Mini Belisoco (5 x 52)
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Dominican, Peruvian and Nicaraguan
Price: A little over $4 (Gifted by Lou B!)
Burn Time: A little over an hour

Construction:
• A nice darkly colored cigar with fairly consistent dark chocolate tone
• There is a nice bit of oiliness on the wrapper as well as very few veins to be worried about
• The tapered cap is finished cleanly with a single leaf that blends in almost seamlessly
• The foot is well packed and I find it interesting because I can pick out 3 distinctly different colors of filler, possibly the different types of leaves from the blend or just a coincidence?
• The cigar is quite firm from cap to foot with almost no spring to it, hoping that doesn’t cause a tight draw
• The cut was pretty easy and even, also kept itself in a neat and clean pile
• Draw ended up being a little tight, maybe it’s cause I didn’t cut much but a couple pokes with my toothpick opened it up nicely

Burn:
• Toasting was almost too easy, the whole foot lit up evenly without much effort or time
• The first bit of the cigar was smoking dead even with a single wave to be seen
• Through the whole first half this cigar burned razor sharp without a hint of problems at all
• It also stayed lit without the need for extra attention, this is how all cigars should burn! Let’s hope it keeps up
• I spoke a little too soon… right after ashing in the middle area the burn started going a little lopsided so I gave it a little correction
• No more corrections required right to the end, great overall burn on this Onyx Reserve cigar

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke from each draw is a little light on this Onyx Reserve, even with a few extra draws it just doesn’t seem to produce a very thick smoke
• The resting smoke is very very light, after just a couple seconds you actually can’t even see smoke anymore
• The ash is looking awesome, very white with only a few darker accents
• The cleanliness of the ash is also looking great with no flaking or signs of weakness
• Ash is holding on nicely just past an inch, gonna tap it off now to prevent any messes tonight
• Subsequent ashes kept holding on past the 1 inch mark with ease, very nice construction here

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has very little aroma on this Onyx Reserve, maybe just a touch of sweet tobacco and thats about it
• The foot is pretty light on aroma too but there is a bit more sweet floral scent there
• The pre-light draw is pretty light on flavors as well, just a bit of the sweet tobacco again
• Initial draws are pretty flat, no interesting flavors here to start but nothing harsh either, just a sort of mild sweet tobacco taste
• For the most part, the cigar is in the mild range and the retrohale has a bit of woodiness to it and a smooth tasteless finish
• There is a bit of woodsy flavors making an appearance with the sweet tobacco notes, maybe a little leather in there too
• It seems the body creeped into the medium area somewhere in the middle but the flavors are still very washed out
• There isn’t much to report here, the profile hasn’t really changed as I approach the final third
• I’m still getting some light wood and leather flavors backed by the stronger tobacco notes

Final Thoughts:
The Onyx Reserve didn’t quite do it for me tonight. It had some good elements to it and definitely had some quality construction but the flavors were just a little too weak for my liking. For the price, it could be a decent cigar to hand out but I think there are better options out there for the so-called “yard-gar” ideal. I’m hard-pressed to see why this got such high ratings in other places. Perhaps there is a market for the more bland tobacco flavored cigars? Maybe they appeal to past cigarette smokers a little more? I’m not quite sure but for me it just wasn’t the profile I enjoy. It might be worth trying if you are looking for something different to add to a regular rotation but I’d suggest opting for a sampler before you venture into a whole box here. One thing I can take away from this cigar is that it is another stick that confirms Altadis and me just don’t agree on flavor profile. I’m sure there are people that disagree with me but this is just one little fishes opinion in the big pond.

Pairings:
Another Belgian Trappist ale on Casas Fumando? Yup, you got it! But this time it’s not from Tony! Chimay is one of the few Belgian brands I can actually find regularly here in Ontario. Mostly it’s the Yellow label or the Red label and today we have the Yellow. Now I should note this particular brew is also sometimes known as the “White’ and it is actually a Tripel although it doesn’t really say that anywhere on the front label. This bottle clocks in at a full 8% alc./vol. and is definitely a lot less fruity than a lot of other Tripel’s. It’s super carbonated and has a bit of citrus backed by a heavy malt and slight bitter flavor. I think I missed the pairing here though, a darker more robust beer would have gone better. Perhaps a dark ale or stout, even a coffee, would have matched up better.

The post Onyx Reserve Mini Belicoso appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now let me just toss this out there.. One thing I’m not happy about when it comes to AJ’s cigars is the restricted distribution and sale of most of them, namely through cigar.com and all it’s affiliates such as cigarsinternational.com. I don’t have a problem with those retailers, but they seem ot have a problem with the awesome people North of the border since they don’t ship to Canada. So needless to say, they are more difficult for me to get my hands on. This also affects a lot of people who prefer to purchase cigars from local B&M’s. Ok, so now that we got that out of the way, what else do we know about this cigar.

Well, the Morro Castle brand actually has roots in the Cuban cigar industry but A.J. Fernandez took ownership of the brand and began blending and manufacturing them in Nicaragua. He also gave what seems to be a throw back to the original heritage by using some Cuban seed leaves in the filler. I stated the MSRP below as being $5 but if you get them by the box and catch them on sale, they can actually be had for prices well below $4 per stick in the Belicoso vitola. Other available vitolas include the Robusto, Toro, Torpedo and Churchill.

We have quite a few other reviews from AJ’s massive resume on the site as well, some of my personal favorites include the Man O’ War Armada, Man O’ War Virtue and a more recent popular cigar that Tony reviewed, the San Lotano Oval. So I think this cigar has a lot to live up to and hopefully it’s lower price will give it a slight edge in the final thoughts section. I received most of my samples through trades and/or gifts, the cigar I’m lighting up today comes from a trade made this past Christmas, let’s see how it stacks up!

Cigar: Morro Castle
Drink: Lindeman’s Cuvee Rene Lambic Beer
Vitola: Belicoso (5 x 52)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Cuban Seed Nicaraguan and Honduran
Price: MSRP $5.00
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The outside of this cigar looks very shiny and smooth, it’s glistening with oil and has a nice golden-brown glow to it
• Even though there are no large veins, the cigar is fairly bumpy. Most likely due to a rough binder
• The cap of this cigar is finished very cleanly and with expertise as the leaf blends seamlessly into the rest of the cigar
• The length of the Morro Castle has a nice little spring to it as I squeeze it lightly
• The foot appears very well packed and cleanly finished, it’s easy to see a lot of care went into the construction
• Cutting the cap was clean and easy, I didn’t have to cut much and I’m left with a good draw

Burn:
• The foot did not want to co-operate wit ha slow toasting and just refused to start glowing, but after a few draws it seems to have evened out
• Despite a somewhat challenging toasting, the Morro Castle is burning razor sharp through the first couple of inches
• I ran into a few wrapper issues that caused some burn problems, but I’m attributing these to the cold day today, I can’t knock the cigar since the first half burned perfectly

Smoke & Ash:
• There is a ton of smoke coming from this Morro Castle cigar, just one draw seems enough to provide a thick cloud of smoke
• Even when resting, there seems to be a fair bit of smoke coming from this cigar
• The ash seems to be coming along with a nice white color but it seems a little flaky so far, we’ll see how it progresses
• Even though it looked a little flaky and weak, the ash managed to hang on for about 1.5 inches and it stayed a nice shade of light grey/white for the whole way through
• Another solid ash lasting past the 1 inch mark, showing some good construction quality on this cigar even with the very cold temps today

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off very little aroma, maybe just a touch of woodsiness
• The aroma on the foot is also fairly faint but it brings out a little bit of cedar and some mild baking spice notes
• The pre-light draw brings more cedar and a little more of those baking spices, now with a bit of sweet paprika mixed in
• The first few draws after lighting had an extremely bitter and dry after-taste that I’ve never really had so early on in a cigar
• As I slowly progress, the bitterness is tapering off a bit, I hope it completely disappears soon
• Flavor wise, the Morro Castle is kicking out a spicy cedar mix with a touch of earthiness thrown in
• The body seems to be hovering in the low end of medium right now and retrohale has just a slight bite and smooth yet dry cedar finish
• It took about an inch of the cigar before I can say the bitter dryness is completely gone, I’m now left with an enjoyable profile of cedar, mild baking spices and earthiness
• The whole balance of this cigar is really hitting it’s stride as I get to the halfway mark, the spices and cedar have developed nicely
• There is a bit of sweetness sneaking into the mix too, maybe like a roasted nutty caramel type of profile, very interesting.
• The earthiness is still lingering and the finish has changed from the dry start to a creamy sweetness, much, much better!
• The body and retrohale haven’t changed much as I get into the final stretch, maybe just a touch higher in the medium range on the body
• The flavors seem to have all melded together in the last third, they aren’t bad but they aren’t as interesting as they were in the middle
• The flavors stayed tasty to the nub with no harshness at all, a good finish

Final Thoughts:
I think it’s pretty easy to tell that I wasn’t a fan of the first inch of this cigar. That bitter dryness is not a great way to make a first impression. But I’m glad to say I stuck it out and kept going because this turned into a pretty good quality cigar. It had a nice array of flavors and the burn was damn near perfect. When you factor in the price you can get these at by box purchase, it makes them a worthwhile purchase. I had a few in this vitola and they all seemed to suffer from bad starts so if I were to purchase them again I’d probably opt for a larger vitola to get more of the sweet spot in the experience.

Pairings:
I took a bit of a risk with this pairing today. I’m no Lambic aficionado like Tony, but from the few I’ve had I know that they are very sweet and usually flavored with some sort of fruit such as raspberry or cherry. They are tasty, but probably not a great pairing for a cigar. So I found this lambic that doesn’t seem to be flavored, I knew it was going to be sweet but I hoped it would still work out. It’s from Lindemans brewery in Belgium and is called the Cuvee Rene. So it is sweet, but not nearly as sweet as their flavored offerings and it’s got a fair bit of carbonation. Surprisingly though, it seemed to work well with a cigar, especially one with a bit more body and a touch of spice to counteract the beers sweetness. It’s sort of hard to describe a lambic beer but I guess you could compare it to an alcoholic version of pop. This particular one has some citrus notes to it so maybe like a delicious and alcoholic version of 7UP or Sprite? I’m probably way off but that’s what I think, lol. Either way, it was tasty and went well with the cigar. Other options for the Morro Castle would be a porter or dark ale, maybe a strong coffee and even some black tea.

The post Morro Castle by A.J. Fernandez appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Late Harvest might sound familiar to any wine aficionados we have around here. In the wine world, some grapes are harvested later in the season to produce a slightly different type of wine typically called a Late Harvest. It’s even a popular method of making Ice Wine which is a very interesting dessert wine especially common to the Niagara region wineries up here in Ontario.

Contrary to what the name actually seems to mean, the Late Harvest cigar from Viaje is not actually produced with tobacco leaves harvested later in the season. It’s trademark is actually that the filler being used is sourced from the last priming’s of the tobacco plant. These last priming’s are left on the plant slightly longer and are also exposed to the sun longer, this produces a darker, thicker, oilier and stronger leaf. The blend is said to have about 90% of it’s filler from these last priming’s.

To put the limited blend into perspective, the Late Harvest is made in 125 boxes of 35 cigars each making a grand total of 4375 cigars(if my math is right). The Late Harvest was debuted at IPCPR 2011 and it seems like Andre is planning to make a yearly release of it, although the yield could change from year-to-year. The production factory of these cigars is located in Honduras, the popular Racines Cubanas factory which is part of Casa Fernandez Cigar company.

My one gripe here is that there’s no indication on the band of the production year. Although I know this one is a 2011 release since it’s brand new, I would have liked to see an indication for future years to compare with and keep track of when aging. I guess we’ll have to be vigilant and make note of them if you’re not buying a box. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, lets see if these cigars are worth aging and worth trying out next year…

Cigar: Viaje Late Harvest
Drink: Wychwood Brewery Wychcraft Blonde Beer
Vitola: Toro (6 x 48)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $9.00
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Viaje Late Harvest is a bit of a rough looking cigar with a few medium sized veins running up and down along with some bumps here and there
• The wrapper presents with a medium cinnamon brown colour with some dark speckles here and there, it’s also fairly coarse
• The top of the cigar is finished with tight little pigtail on top of a triple cap that looks clean and well applied
• A little squeeze produces almost no give, the Viaje Late Harvest is fairly firm from foot to cap
• With a quick glance at the foot it’s easy to see this is a well filled cigar with almost no gaps to be seen
• Clipping off the cap with my double bladed guillotine cutter was fairly easy and left a nice clean cut

Burn:
• The foot of the cigar lit up very quickly and easily while toasting
• The initial burn has an interesting zig-zag pattern… let’s hope it tightens up
• Zig zag seemed to calm down and although it’s a bit wavy we’re off to a better start now
• A couple small corrections were needed in the first half but they were very minor and did not affect the flavor of the cigar
• A couple other small touch-ups through the cigar but nothing major, it burned very well for the most part

Smoke & Ash:
• The Viaje Late Harvest is producing a good amount of smoke from each draw, it’s not super-thick and billowy but it’s not light either
• Resting smoke is also fairly moderate, nothing over the top but it is notable
• The ash is looking to be a pretty dark tone of grey as I smoke through the cigar
• I’m also getting some flaking so I don’t think the ash is going to last too long
• It started to look really weak at about an inch so I tapped it off into the ashtray
• As I hit the halfway mark it seems the thickness of the smoke has been slowly increasing, getting a nice billowy thickness now

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper of the Viaje Late Harvest has a fairly strong barnyard aroma to it, smells like it’s fresh from a farm!
• The foot, on the other hand, is strong with earthy and woodsy aromas followed by just a touch of peppery spice
• Pre-light draw brings an interesting mix of fresh cedar, earthiness and a touch of sweetness
• Initial draws bring more of the woodsy and earthy flavors I caught onto earlier, with a touch of very mild spices
• After a few draws there is a kick of pepper to this cigar, you can feel it on the back of your throat as well
• The Viaje Late Harvest is starting off in the mile-medium bodied range and the retrohale is giving a nice little bite with a smooth cedar finish
• The strong pepper faded as quickly as it appeared and I’m back to a nicely balanced cedar and earthy flavor profile
• There is a touch of tart sweetness that I’m picking up now and again although it’s not too strong right now
• The woodsy flavors are developing nicely and I’m getting a nice bready flavor coming in all wrapped up with a smooth and creamy finish
• The bite on the retrohale is pretty much gone now but it’s still giving me a smooth creamy cedar finish that I’m really enjoying
• As I creep into the final third, some of the spices are starting to make a comeback. It’s not the strong pepper like before but rather a more mild white pepper profile
• The Viaje Late Harvest finished on a smooth medium note with no harshness at all, I enjoyed it’s creamy finish and sweet tart cedar flavors right to the nub

Final Thoughts:
This was an interesting and unique cigar and I’m glad I was able to give it a try. As I mentioned, my access to Viaje cigars is pretty limited so it’s always a treat when I get a few sent to me in a package and this one was not a disappointment. It had an interesting variety of flavors that were very well balanced along with a smooth creamy finish to round it all out. The burn had a couple small touch ups but nothing worth complaining about. Considering the type of filler used here I was expecting a much stronger cigar but I ended up with a smooth medium bodied stick that I really enjoyed. The price on these is also fairly reasonable considering the limited production runs they are offered in. If you can track down some of these they are definitely worth a try. I’m curious to see if they change much from year-to-year…

Pairings:
Today I have another offering from Wychwood Breweries. Just recently, I tried out their winter ale called “Bah Humbug” with the Tatuaje TAA and I’ve also done a full review of their buby beer called Hobgoblin. This particular brew is their Blonde beer called Wychcraft. It clocks in at a light 4.5% alc./vol. and is triple hopped and filtered. It made for a perfect midday beer with lots of citrusy and malty flavors to it. An interesting combination since most blondes don’t carry too much of the malts with them, but I guess that’s where the triple hopped process makes a difference. I found that the Wychwood Breweries Wychcraft paried quite well with the Viaje Late Harvest. The cirtusy sweetness of the beer complimented that tart sweetness that sometimes made an appearance in the cigar and neither of them over-powered the other. I’d recomend sticking with a lighter pairing similar to the Wychcraft with the Viaje Late Harvest, choice such as a thick stout or strong coffee might drown out the cigars flavors.

The post Viaje Late Harvest 2011 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Today we have a fairly limited cigar up for review that I actually don’t think got all that much Press. It comes from the B&M Exclusive line by Pete Johnson of Tatuaje. If you haven’t stumbled across any of these before, you can find one of the previous ones reviewed here on Casas Fumando, it was the Tatuaje Barclay Rex 100th Anniversary. Pete Johnson continues this line with the Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011.

The TAA in the name actually stands for the “Tobacconists Association of America” and unlike his previous B&M Exclusive releases, you will actually be able to find these in more than just 1 store. The total distribution went out to 40+ TAA retailers across the United States of America. There was also a larger production turned around for this cigar with numbers totaling up at 30,000 cigars. This worked out to 1,500 boxes of 20 cigars per box, and if you had a retailer in your area, they would have sold between $10 and $11 per cigar.

As with most exclusives from Tatuaje and Pete Johnson, they don’t last too long on shelves and are already fairly scarce in most areas. One thing that made them a bit of a draw to Tatuaje fans is that Pete hinted the blend was similar to that of the Pork Tenderloin and the Brex. Both of those were limited releases from Tatuaje that were difficult to track down. Pete also decided to change up the shape of this cigar a little bit. You can find that it is a slightly rectangular box-pressed shape and the 5.675 x 54 vitola is also non-standard. I actually found the vitola here to be a good balance between a Toro and Robusto.

The cigar itself comes wrapped in an interesting Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Now the wrapper alone doesn’t make the cigar, but both Tony and I both seem to have a great appreciation for a lot of Broadleaf cigars so I’m hoping this continues the trend. It’s terribly cold out here today but I’ve got my propane heater to keep me warm from the outside and a nice tall bottle of beer to keep me warm on the inside. So let’s see what the Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011 has in store for me!

Cigar: Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011
Drink: Wychwood Brewery Bah Humbug Christmas Cheer
Vitola: Box-Pressed Toro/Robusto hybrid (5.625 x 54)
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $10
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Tatuaje TAA is actually a tad rough looking on first glance with a few medium to large sized veins and some uneven areas in the diameter
• The wrapper looks like a tasty chocolate bar with a bit of toothiness and I’m actually getting some sort of glitter type effect on it, could just be my lighting (I later realized the glitter was likely caused by the temperature being so cold that the humidity droplets were icing over…)
• The cigar sports a closed foot and a box pressed shape, the triple cap ties up the presentation nicely
• There is a bit of inconsistency with regards to firmness on the cigar too with some areas being soft and springy while others are very firm
• The cap clipped away fairly cleanly with my double-bladed guillotine cutter, I’m met with a bit of an open draw here that concerns me
• The draw remains very open which is disappointing

Burn:
• I actually peeled away the closed foot pieces to reveal a nice clean foot for my toasting since I’ve had terrible luck in the past with closed feet
• This resulted in a nice and evenly toasted foot and kicked me off to a great start
• A bit of a wave started after the toasting, we’ll see how it progresses
• The wave is progressing to be worse and will definitely require some touch-up soon
• The cigar almost went out and needed a fairly hefty touch-up, but we’re chugging along again now
• The draw seemed to get a bit tighter after my relight/touch-up and the burn has been a little more consistent, although still a tad wavy

Smoke & Ash:
• There is an absolute insane amount of smoke coming from each draw of this cigar, I could make smoke signals rivalling campfires with this cigar!
• Surprisingly, there isn’t much resting smoke coming off the cigar, just a moderate amount giving off a burning wood aroma
• The ash appears nice and clean so far with a light grey color tone
• First ash lasted just about an inch before falling off into the ashtray
• Second ash seemed to keep with the 1 inch mark as it’s standard

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has very little aroma, maybe just a bit of sweet tobacco
• Since the foot is closed, there isn’t much variance on the aroma but I do get a little bit of spice there
• The pre-light draw brings more sweet tobacco and spices, both in greater intensities now
• The initial draws offer an interesting mix of spices dominated by a white pepper type of flavor, mixed in there is also some cedar woodsiness that balances it all out
• The array of spices keeps changing as I smoke the Tatuaje TAA, there’s a variety of cloves, nutmeg and raw cinnamon along with the white pepper
• The initial sweetness I detected is pretty much gone but the cedar flavors seem to be balancing out the profile for now
• There is a very small bite on the retrohale and the finish is a nice smooth cedar flavor
• The body seems a little hard ot place right now, but I’ll say we’re near medium so far, I suspect that will increase soon though
• As I approach the half way mark I can’t say I’m getting much else in the flavor department, still spices and cedar
• It’s not a bad profile but I’m hoping it changes up a bit soon to keep me interested
• The balance of the cedar seems to be fading away and I’m getting more into a bland tobacco flavor paired with some mixed spices
• The Tatuaje TAA never really passed the medium threshold, stayed in the range until the end with only a slight buildup
• I really wish that initial sweetness made a presentation here, it would really bring a nice dimension to this cigar…
• Flavors going into the last 1.5 inches are really fading away, mostly getting a burnt woodsiness and some leathery flavors
• Had to put the cigar down a bit early as the flavors started getting harsh

Final Thoughts:
The Tatuaje showed some promise initially and I was enjoying the flavor profile from the start. Unfortunately, that profile didn’t change much as the cigar progressed and actually got a little bland shortly after the halfway mark. I also had a few issues with the burn and an extremely open draw. I think the cigar had some potential and maybe needed a little more rest time in the humidor, I’m not too sure. I’ve come to expect a higher calibre of cigars from Pete Johnson’s B&M exclusive lines and I don’t think this one lived up to the expectations I had. I’d definitely want to try another couple after they’ve had time to rest though and see how age treats them.

Pairings:
As we all know, Christmas is just around the corner and that means by favorite time of year in the brewery world! Christmas and Winter ales are probably my favorite seasonal brews and there’s always cool gift packs available too. You may recognize the Wychwood Brewery name from their famous Hobgoblin ruby ale which I’ve enjoyed in my review of Illusione 888 Slam and it’s own review here. This offering is called “Bah Humbug Christmas Cheer” and is one of theie seasonal ales. I actually found the flavors to be very similar to the Hobgoblin and not as “heavy” as you might expect. It’s basically got that smooth ruby ale character with an added touch of spices common in winter seasonal ales, such as cinnamon. I found it to be a very tasty pairing to the Tatuaje TAA since it offered a change of pace from the cigars profile and kept the whole experience a little more interesting.

The post Tatuaje TAA Exclusive 2011 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

So the pairing I decided on today to celebrate Halloween is the Grimalkin by Emilio Cigars. If you’ve been following our reviews over the last couple months you would have seen Tony post up two reviews from Emilio, the AF1 BMF and the AF2 Toro. If you take a glance through Tony’s reviews you’ll see that he enjoyed both of them quite a bit. I also had the chance to smoke them and thought they were both quite enjoyable. So does the Grimalkin continue that trend?

If you haven’t heard of Emilio Cigars don’t be surprised. They’ve been making a larger splash in the market recently but up until a few months ago I hadn’t really heard of them either. They are slowly expanding distribution and getting a name out for themselves. You can check the Emilio Cigars website for information on retailers near you that carry their products. Emilio Cigars is owned by Gary Griffiths and there isn’t too much info available on this cigar.

From what I can find, the Grimalkin is made in Esteli, Nicaragua from selected and limited tobaccos. The yield of this cigar is limited based on the harvest amounts of the various tobaccos. So what this basically means is that each year will have a different production amount based on the amount of required tobaccos they manage to harvest. I like this approach, it’s fairly practicle and it’s not limiting production to a set amount of boxes every year. A quick google search shows them available in a few shops so that’s a good sign as well.

Now I found the band here to be kind of interesting… The name “Grimalkin” seems sort of like some creepy monster, maybe like a more evil Gremlin, and it goes nicely with the ominous yellow cat-like eyes on the wrapper. What seems odd to me is that the text is printed in curved pattern which makes it look sort of like the cat is smiling at me? Am I crazy? It’s not really an evil smile either, it looks happy to me! Seemed to take away from the spooky aspect since it made me laugh, lol. But maybe it’s just me? I’ll stop talking now… let’s get to the review!

Cigar: Emilio Cigars Grimalkin
Drink: Huyghe Brewery Delirium Nocturnum
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 52)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: about $7.00
Burn Time: 1.5 Hours

Construction:
• The is a very nicely constructed cigar that is evenly round and has almost no veins on it at all
• The wrapper is smooth and oily which compliments its dark cinnamon brown color
• The Grimalkin actually feels a tad firm along it’s whole length, I’m hoping that doesn’t mean a tight draw
• The head of the cigar is finished with a triple cap, it’s not overly neat but not messy either
• Not the foot looks to be as tightly packed as could be possible, there are almost no gaps here at all
• The cut was pretty easy considering the firmness of the cigar but the draw was definitely suffering at the start
• Within an inch the draw definitely opened up which I wasn’t expecting but is a pleasant surprise

Burn:
• Toasting took a bit longer than I expected for this vitola and got a little messy as the wrapper edges started to burn a bit
• Got started off to wavy burn and it’s continued that way through the first inch or so, hasn’t gottne worse and seems to be nice and sharp
• Burn seems to be improving slowly, staying sharp and getting straighter
• It’s actually burning very slowly and easily too, no need to constant draws to keep it lit
• The burn did round out and burned razor sharp through to the end

Smoke & Ash:
• Despite a fairly tight draw I am getting a ton of smoke each time, really fills your mouth
• The resting smoke seems non-stop but at least it’s somewhat moderate, gives off a nice aroma too
• The ash is coming along nice and clean, looks to be strong but we’ll see how long it lasts
• White is the dominant color of the ash with some light grey tones, very nice
• I knocked the first ash off at just about an inch as I could see a crack forming along it but it stayed clean and strong
• The thick billowy smoke continued to the end and so did the nice looking ash

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper aroma has an interesting cedar and grassy touch to it, I usually don’t get much grassy aromas on the wrapper
• The foot offers more woodsiness, but this time it’s just a generic chopped wood type of aroma, not really cedar. Along with that I’m getting some dirt-like earthiness and a bit of the grass aromas again
• The pre-light draw brought lots more interesting cedar and a bit of earthiness
• The initial few draws are very tasty, filled with a smooth cedar, some earthiness and a bit of a cinnamon/nutmeg/clove mixture
• The body seems to be in the low medium range at the start and comes with a small bit on the retrohale and a cedar finish
• The mixture of spices is really picking up in flavor intensity as I get near the halfway mark, I’m also picking up some coffee notes which are accenting very well
• Not sure if it was intentional at all but the mixture of flavors in this cigar seems to pair perfectly with this time of year
• As I continue, I got some toasted almond type of flavors mixing in, this keeps getting better
• The woodsiness made a big comeback in the last half, at times it seemed a little overpowering “roasted”. Not quite burnt though
• The spices, coffee and almonds are still around but with less intensity now
• The retrohale has pretty much remained the same and the body is gaining a bit of ground and more in the high range of medium now
• The general flavor profile didn’t change much in the last third and the flavors each took turns being the prominent flavor
• I was able to smoke the cigar down to my burning with almost no harshness at all, a nice finish

Final Thoughts:
I enjoyed this cigar quite a bit, not sure I would call it a top 10 or anything but it made for a good relaxing afternoon. It had a variety of flavors, burned well and kept me interested the whole time. I think the balance was a lot better in the first half but it wasn’t bad at all in the second half, just had a little more of the woodsiness versus the other flavors. The band still makes me laugh a little but oh well, lol. The flavors seemed to be perfect for fall for some reason, they reminded me of what you would find in pumpkin pie or something. I think I would definitely pick up a few more of these to keep in the humidor. The price is just a touch higher than I would want for this flavor profile, but considering it is a limited release it’s not over the top either.

Pairings:
This pairing was actually a recommendation I got from our resident Belgium beer connoisseur, Tony. I happened to find it down in Florida a couple months ago and finally decided to crack it open today. I thought the weird label fit well into the “silly spookiness” of the Grimalkin. There’s not much I can say about this label other than it looks like someone was high on something when they came up with the idea of a pink elephant dancing in a blue and yellow vortex type of thing… It is made in Belgium by the Huyghe Brewery and clocks in at a nice 8.5% alc./vol. The name itself is called the Delirium Nocturnum and claims itself to be simply a Belgian Ale. Now aside from the crazy label and interesting stone textured bottle, the brew is actually very good. It’s got a nice amount of hoppy bitterness on the finish and when it first hit’s your mouth you get a wake up call to your senses. There’s all kinds of flavors going on including a burst of fruitiness, a nice helping of malt and there’s even some roasted flavors in there. All in all, it’s a great brew and definitely worth trying if you can find it. I know they don’t sell it here in Ontario which is disappointing
Now did it pair well? Hell yes it did. Tony is lucky this time! lol. The fruit, malt and bitterness made an excellent pairing to the coffee and spices of the Grimalkin and I think it would pair excellently with a ton of different cigars and various strengths.

The post Emilio Cigars Grimalkin appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Tonight I’m revisiting a cigar I got as part of a Mobster Movie blind review series not too long ago. If you take a look at that review you’ll see that I wasn’t overly impressed with the cigar. After talking to a few people it seems there are some mixed feelings about the Illusione ~mj12~ and I wanted to give it a full out review to see if my experience would be any different. So here it is finally, I made sure to let the ones I have rest and acclimate properly before this review since the blind stick might have been a little fresh from transit.

So after smoking a few more I’m lighting up one of the Illusione ~mj12~ cigars for review tonight. Now I’m a pretty big Illusione fan and I’ve also enjoyed a few of his other lines including the Cuchillos Cubanos and the Cruzado’s (Tony actual posted a review of the Cruzado Dantes awhile back). In case you didn’t know, the person behind the Illusione brand is Dion Giolitto. We also have a few reviews up for the Illusione line such as the ~88~, ~888~ “Slam”, Epernay Le Elegance, ~mk~, and Singulaire Phantom. Now you’ll see from those posts that both Tony and I really enjoyed the cigars. Knowing that, I have to admit I’m coming into this review with mixed expectations. I have high hopes due to other Illusione’s I’ve enjoyed but I also have concerns because of my experience with the blind version of the ~mj12~.

If you haven’t visited his website before I’d highly suggest checking it out over at www.illusionecigars.com. He has a great section called “The Illusione Story” where he talks about his personal history and a little bit about the meaning of the names behind each of the cigars. It makes for an interesting read. Now I was slightly disappointed to see that Dion did not include a little blurb about the meaning behind the ~mj12~ name. All I can find was it’s nickname which is “The Majestic”. On the section of the website for the ~mj12~ specifically the only information it offers up is the following paragraph:

“A classic connoisseurs’ cigar revealing hints of leather, cinnamon and a long finish.”

So of course I started scouring the web to see what else I could find cause I love learning more about the sticks I review.

What I did find was somewhat limited but still interesting. The cigar is a Nicaraguan Puro and the specific seeds used are Corojo ’99 and Criollo ’98 finished with a Cafe Colorado wrapper. Each of the cigars is also handmade in the Raices Cubanas factory which is located in Nicaragua of course. The cigars come in boxes of 20 and are surrounded by an interesting silver foil wrapper. Warning: You are supposed to remove the foil before smoking! Wanted to get that out there just in case, you never know sometimes!

Now being the little investigator that I am, I curiously typed “MJ12” into Google and came upon an interesting Wikipedia article. Apparently, “MJ12”, or “The Majestic 12” is “the alleged code name of a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, supposedly formed in 1947 by an executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman”. Now I’m not one for conspiracy theories or anythign so I’ll leave it at that, but interesting nonetheless!

Ok so enough of my detective work and blabbering away, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of the review before Tony comes back and cracks the whip!

Cigar: Illusione ~mj12~ “The Majestic”
Drink: Southbrook Wineries 2006 Triomphe Cabernet Merlot
Vitola: Toro Gordo (6 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $10
Burn Time: A little under 2 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this cigar has a wonderful dark chocolate brown tone with just a slight oily shimmer to it
• I did notice a few cosmetic imperfections such as a small knot and water spots but no major veins that look concerning
• Near the cap and foot, the cigar is fairly firm while being almost mushy in the middle. The softness there worries me and could produce some tunneling or a hot burning cigar
• The triple cap on the head of this cigar is applied with extreme precision, it is super smooth and blends right in
• From the foot’s perspective, all you see is well packed tobacco leaves
• The cap was pretty firm when clipped with my double bladed guillotine but it still left a clean cut

Burn:
• Toasting was a surprisingly long process but left me with an evenly glowing foot
• Unfortunately, the perfect toasting did not lead to a perfect burn, I’ve already had 2 canoeing issues within the first 1.5 inches
• Sadly, I’ve had 2 more relights before reaching the halfway mark
• More and more burn issues that needed correction throughout the cigar, looks like it did not differ much from the blind stick I received
• A little past half way the cigar actually went out completely, I took that opportunity to give it a nice complete re-light and lets hope we get a better burn now
• My hopes for a better burn were shattered quickly as it almost immediately started to tunnel…
• More constant relights as I get to the nub of this cigar

Smoke & Ash:
• Tons of smoke from each draw right from the start of this cigar
• The ash is looking to be moderately strong and holding together
• Fro a visual standpoint, the dark grey color of the ash is not very pleasing and it’s probably related to all the relights
• I was surprised to see very little resting smoke on the cigar, it all but disappears within seconds of laying it down
• The first ash lasted nearly 2 inches before I tapped it off
• Second ash got near 2 inches as well before tapping off to relight

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on this cigar has a super attractive bitter cocoa aroma to it
• The foot on the other hand carries more of a barnyard scent with a kick of spice on the nostrils
• The pre-light draw brings a little of the barnyard flavor but it mixing in some coffee adn woodsy notes
• The first few draws were not impressive to me at all, I got a heavy tobacco taste from them but luckily that went away quickly
• Afterwards, the profile is mostly in the burnt woodsy area with a touch of leather
• After about 2 inches the cigar is still mostly woodsy and leathery, I’m starting to pick up a touch of peppery spice now and then
• Retrohale is bringing a wonderful cedar finish and a small little bite, very nice
• Just like most Illusiones I’ve had the retrohale is always significantly more enjoyable than the smoke, I stand by my previous comments that if you don’t retrohale an Illusione you are probably missing out on a lot
• After each re-light I’m getting the expected harshness for a couple draws, it’s ruining the experience for me
• As I pass the halfway mark the profile is mostly the same although I am picking up a bit of sweetness when I’m not fighting the relight harshness
• For the most part this cigar stayed in the medium bodied range although it seems to be picking up a bit in the last third
• The sweetness I was picking up is turning into a sweet coffee type flavor which is a nice addition to the wood and leather, hoping it develops a bit more
• The only thing that really developed towards the end was a little more bite on the retrohale, which is still super good
• The rest of the cigar tapered off in sweetness and built up some harshness to the end, mostly due to the relights I’m sure
• Had to set the cigar to rest early, the harshness and relighting just got to be too much

Final Thoughts:
Let me start by saying I REALLY wanted to enjoy this cigar. It has a wonderful visual appeal to it and I’ve enjoyed mostly every Illusione I’ve had. Sadly though the ~mj12~ yet again failed to meet my expectations. I know it has potential though, the profile when I wasn’t relighting was pretty tasty. And the retrohale was very enjoyable. It’s the terrible burn that lost all the points on this cigar. It made it difficult to enjoy and ruined the flavors for the first couple draws after a relight. If I had this cigar without burn issues I probably would give it a glowing review but I’ve smoked through about 5 of these from different batches and I had the same issues every time. Maybe it’s just my luck cause I know a lot of people really enjoy them, but for me, I’ll stick to other vitolas in the Illusione line before looking at these again.

Pairings:
On the flip side, I happened to discover a wonderful wine last time I took a road trip to Niagara. The Southbrook name was actually a farm not far from my house many years ago. They used to do the typical fruits and vegetables with awesome fresh baked pies and a hay maze for the kids in the fall. Pumpkin picking too of course! When they closed the farm they opened a winery out in the Niagara region so I had to visit them. The wine I’m pairing with tonight is from 2006 and is a blend of a Cabernet and Merlot, which are 2 of my favorite wines from this region. It has a fantastic smooth flavor to it and a nice medium body. It’s got a surprising amount of fruity notes, in particular I’m getting black cherries and blackberries mostly. It also has a smooth oak finish to it from the barrel aging process that comes through very nicely. This is a great cigar pairing wine and would hold it’s ground against a variety of medium and full bodied smokes. It did very well with the Illusione ~mj12~. Other pairings with this cigar could be a coffee with milk, an brown ale and of course, Port!

The post Illusione ~mj12~ ‘The Majestic’ appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The L’Esprit de Vérité and the La Vérité cigars are part of what Pete Johnson has coined as his “Vintage” line. Now don’t think “Vintage” as in grungy jeans, think “Vintage” in terms on Wine. Just like a winery offers vintages of it’s wine (ie. the year the grapes were grown), Tatuaje is using the same idea and applying it to their tobacco crops. So what does that mean to you and me? It means that every year will be slightly different. As you can appreciate, different weather will affect how the tobacco leaves grow and therefore will affect their flavors. The same percentage of a blend may not work as well the next year due to these subtle changes.

With that knowledge, it’s also worth knowing that all the tobacco leaves also come from the same farm in Esteli Nicaragua, making each one of these a Nicaraguan Puro. The 2009 vintage cigars were actually rolled in 2008 and aged for a year. Tony also did a review on the Tatuaje L’Esprit de Vérité 2008(http://www.casasfumando.com/?p=698) last year so take a read through his review first then come back here and see how it compares. I am also reviewing the L’Esprit de Vérité vitola which is the Robusto. The other size is a Churchill and is called the La Vérité. The two words stand for “The Truth” and “The Spirit of Truth”.

It’s worth noting that the blend did change from 2008 to 2009 quite a bit. In the 2008 vintage, the cigar contained 100% Habano leaf so it was all from one type of plant. In the 2009 Vintage, there is actually a mix of 4 different leaves. In the La Vérité it’s 45% Habano, 40% Criollo ’98 and 15% Pelo De Oro. In today’s cigar, the L’Esprit de Vérité, we have 50% Habano, 40% Criollo ’98 and 10% Pelo De Oro. The difference isn’t much but it’s worth noting. Now you might raise an eyebrow at the Pelo De Oro tobacco? Thats because it’s pretty rare and the only cigars I’ve had that contained it were the My Father Le Bijou 1922 and the My Father Limited Edition 2010. To tie all that information together, it’s becomes clear when you know that this cigar was made at the My Father Cigars factory in Nicaragua. You’ll also notice the addition of a second band that just says “Tatuaje” and has Pete’s initials on the back side.

So I hope that’s not too much info but I found it pretty interesting to hear the history of this cigar. If I haven’t lost you yet or you just skipped to the last paragraph cause my rambling looked long, let’s just get right into the actual review!

Cigar: Tatuaje L’Esprit de Vérité 2009
Drink: Great Divide Brewing Co. Yeti Imperial Stout
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 55)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: Currently MSRP is $20
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• A wonderfully constructed cigar that has a perfect diameter from end to end with a wrapper that has almost no veins
• The color of the wrapper is a very warm golden brown color and the texture is slightly rough, like a very soft sand paper
• The top of the cigar is finished with an expertly applied triple cap that blends in extremely well
• The firmness is consistent from end to end with very little spring and the tightly packed foot explains why
• The cap took a little effort to clip off and made a bit of a mess

Burn:
• The toasting of the foot was a slightly slow process but resulted in a perfectly flowing foot
• Through the first inch the L’Esprit de Vérité 2009 is smoking super razor sharp
• Not much I can say here, super sharp through the first half and it’s staying lit with ease, no need for extra draws
• I should also note it’s burning at a nice slow pace and I feel I’m getting more time out of this cigar than I expected based on seeing it’s length
• Not a single issue with burn right to the nub, I wish more cigars were like this

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke on each draw is just about right, it’s not overly thick and full but it’s not light and airy, a nice middle of the road here
• The resting smoke is very minimal, mostly jsut immediately after taking a draw then within a few seconds it looks like it’s not even lit
• The ash on this cigar looks fantastic from the start, it’s clean and tight with a glowing white color
• The ash continues to impress, it’s stayed strong and clean through 2 inches without a problem
• Ash was consistently about 2 inches so I only had to ash twice through the whole smoke, great construction here

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper aroma is giving off an almost citrusy cedar smell that is very pleasant and inviting
• From the foot you pick up more cedar with some mild tobacco and a small touch of spice
• The pre-light draw has surprisingly little flavor to it, maybe just a touch of cedar and mild spice
• Initial draws bring more of the aromatic cedar flavors I was picking up with maybe just a slight touch of nuttiness
• The finish on this cigar is extremely smooth with a fantastic creamy cedar flavor
• The cigar has been in the high range of mild so far with a smooth and bite-free retrohale
• I’m picking up some coffee notes peeking around here and there, but nothing solid yet
• The cedar remains prominent through the first half and it’s a very flavorful cedar
• Some other flavors like the mild spice, nuts, coffee and even a bit of earthiness are helping keep the cigar interesting and well balanced
• The coffee notes seem to be shining through just past the half way mark
• As the coffee takes charge I’m still picking up cedar, nuts and some earthiness, and they are all balancing fantastically
• As I approach the last third the cigar has settled comfortably into the medium range and I’m getting a slight bite on the retrohale with a smooth aromatic cedar finish
• The wonderful balance of flavors continued through to the nub with each slowly getting more substantial
• There was almost no harshness or bitterness right to the end so I enjoyed it until my fingers were burning

Final Thoughts:
This was a very enjoyable smoking experience from start to end. The flavors were tasty, consistent and well balanced from start to finish. Although there was nothing that jumped out of this cigar it all molded together to make a great smoke. The construction was fantastic, it burned exceptionally and the price is well placed among limited edition cigars (although this is still high for the average consumer). It also let me enjoy it right to the nub with no issues at all. What probably surprised me the most about this cigar was its easy smoking profile. It had a smooth and relaxingly creamy profile from end to end. This was unexpected for me as I’ve come to know a blast of pepper and spice from a lot of Tatuaje cigars. This is definitely not a bad thing, I really enjoyed what this cigar had to offer and it’s good to see something a little different in the Tatuaje inventory. I’d highly recommend grabbing a few of these before the 2009’s are sold out. I can’t really say anything negative about this cigar, I will definitely be seeking out some more for my humidor.

Pairings:
Today we have one a brew from the Great Divide Brewing Co. and it’s called the Yeti Imperial Stout. The brewery hails from Denver Colorado and I think this is the first beer I’ve had from that state. We actually don’t get any brews from Great Divide up here in Ontario so this is another one I picked up while down in Florida. The stout is very full and thick, it coats your whole palate and the flavors linger long after. From each sip I get a strong malty coffee flavor with some dark chocolate thrown in the mix. It’s really a great stout and I enjoyed it. As for the pairing, I think the brew overpowered the cigar a bit. The cigar has some great flavors but it was not full bodied or overpowering so possibly a dark beer may have played nicer and allowed you to enjoy the flavors the cigar had to offer. I also think a cup of coffee would be a great pairing. Even water would go well with the smooth profile of the Tatuaje L’Esprit de Vérité 2009.

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Nestor Miranda is the founder of the Miami Cigars and Company and has recently started producing his own blends that come attached to his name. These include the Nestor Miranda Collection 1989, the newer Nestor Miranda Special Selection and the recent Casa Miranda. The Art Deco cigar also carries the Nestor Miranda blend and is currently sold in 3 vitolas, all of which are over 50 ring gauge.

The Art Deco is a joint effort effort between Nestor Miranda & José Pepin Garcia. I think we all know that Don Garcia is no stranger to success in the cigar industry and if he has a hand in the blending, you can usually be guaranteed it will be a quality cigar. The blend consists of 60% Nicaraguan Corojo 99 and 40% Dominican San Vicente, plus Dominican Criollo ’98 & Nicaraguan Habano 2000 binders rolled and triple-capped in dark, shimmering Nicaraguan Corojo ’06.

I actually picked up this cigar as part of a box set which included 4 Nestor Miranda Special Selection Ruky’s (2 Oscuro and 2 Rosado) along with an Art Deco. I’ve also enjoyed a few singles of the Robusto Grande vitola bought separately. I want to mention how awesome I think this band is. It’s so retro and different and the colors really pop. The cigars are also packaged in retro tins with the same neat design. But as they say, don’t judge a book by its cover! So I think that’s enough chatter, let’s get onto the review

Cigar: Nestor Miranda Art Deco
Drink: Unibroue Don De Dieu
Vitola: Robusto Grande (5.5 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo ’06
Binder: Dominican Criollo ’98 & Nicaraguan Habano ’00
Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99 & Dominican San Vincente
Price: $8.50
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• This looks to be a wonderfully constructed cigar, very even in diameter with a dark golden brown wrapper
• The whole cigar is very firm when squeezed and has almost no bumps on the wrapper
• The head of the cigar is finished off with an extremely clean triple cap, it’s easy to see some extra care went into making this cigar
• The foot looks to be mostly well packed with a one gap that looks a bit under-filled
• The cut was fairly easy despite the firmness of the cigar
• The draw seems to be a bit more open than I’d typically like but it’s not terrible
• Seems that the draw tightened up a bit near the halfway mark making for a perfect draw each time

Burn:
• The cigar toasting was very easy with a short time frame to get the foot evenly glowing
• The initial burn was a bit wavy but it quickly corrected itself and started burning razor sharp after that
• Through the first half I have no complaints about the burn here, it’s still razor sharp and requires zero attention from me

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke from each draw is fairly full but it’s actually not that thick in density
• The resting smoke here is almost non existent at times, it’s a very friendly cigar to have while non-smokers may be nearby
• The ash is starting off with a nice light gray color and looks to be tight and clean
• I’m getting some awesome striping on the ash and its staying clean and strong
• It lasted nearly 2 inches before making an awesome nosedive into the ashtray. A perfect 10 anyone???
• The next ash only lasted about an inch but it stayed clean and crisp and fell off easily into the ashtray

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on this cigar gives a strong earthy and barnyard aroma with a touch of cedar
• The aroma on the foot carries through with the earthy and cedar notes but adds in a slightly sweet spice, maybe of raw cinnamon
• The pre-light daw brings an interesting mix of sweet notes on top of the cedar, possibly some dried cherries
• Initial flavors are stong in the cedar department with that slightly dried cherry taste in there, very interesting!
• The cedar has stuck around through the first inch but the initial sweetness has tapered off a bit
• For the most part, the cigar has started off in the low end of the medium range with a small bite on the retrohale
• As I continue along, I’m getting a bit of leather and the initial earthy aromas are making an appearance in the flavor department now
• As I pass the halfway mark, the mix of cedar, leather and earth has me seeking a little something more. It’s not bad or harsh but I feel like there’s something missing since the sweetness disappeared…
• As the cigar continued I started getting a bit of the sweetness returning here and there along with some slight nuttiness
• The body is building ever so slowly in the last third, heading into the high medium range
• Some toasted nutty/almond flavors are making this last third a lot more interesting along with the dried cherry sweetness that keeps rearing it’s head here and there
• The nice final mixture of flavors stuck through to the nub with almost no harshness, a very nice finish

Final Thoughts:
As with all of the Miami Cigar offerings I seem to come into them with high hopes. They’ve had such a great track record recently that I only expect the best. The Nestor Miranda Art Deco is a well balanced cigar with a variety of flavors. The first and last 3rds of the cigar were interesting and kept me on my toes but the middle portion seemed to lack something. The burn was excellent the whole way through and overall construction was top notch. The price is also very reasonable so it’s something I would probably buy again, perhaps in the Coffee Break vitola (4.5 x 50). I think that size may be the sweet spot and keep the interesting flavors going from start to finish. If you like a good medium smoke with an interesting profile these are worth checking out.

Added note: I asked Tony his thoughts here and he’s only smoked the Coffee Break vitola and loved it. I’ve only had the Robusto Grande, so I think my guess that a smaller vitola would make this cigar great is probably a good guess!

Pairings:
So this beer comes with a funny sort of story.  I’ve done a few other reviews with Unibroue brews and always loved them, not to mention they are also Canadian which is a plus in my eyes!  Unfortunately, most of their brews are actually not even available for me to purchase cause of the ridiculous taxes and restrictions in my province. The brewery is only about a 5 hour drive away, but it’s in another province… So, I actually picked this bottle up in Florida. Yes, that’s right. I drove 1600 miles away from the brewery to actually buy it! I guess that speaks to the silliness of our taxes here! lol
Enough of my complaining, let’s move onto the actual beer. I had no idea what to expect from this as I’ve never had it before and the bottle doesn’t really explain what type of beer it is. The name of this beer, “Don De Dieu” literally translates to “Gift from God” so I figured it can’t be that bad!
After doing a bit of research, I found out this is a triple fermented wheat beer that is also unfiltered, giving it a cloudy appearance in the glass. The flavors in this brew are excellent, mixing a little bit of fruit, maybe some vanilla and very smooth malty finish. This is not your average wheat beer though, it packs in 9% ABV and the triple fermentation without filtration makes it feel a lot fuller bodied than you might expect. I found it to be an excellent pairing with the Nestor Miranda Art Deco as it offered up lots of interesting flavors. I think a fine tawny port would also be an excellent pairing here or perhaps keep it simple with a dark soda.

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