The Good Stuff: As cigar prices continue to skyrocket, there are a few cigar companies out there doing what they can to reduce the dent made on cigar smoker’s wallets. Kristoff is amongst those companies as they created the Kristania with value in mind. The Kristania originally debuted at the IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas in 2011 and has been rolling out to retailers ever since. The Kristania starts off with a Nicaraguan Criollo wrapper poured over a Dominican Habano binder and filler. The Kristania comes in 3 sizes, the Robusto (5×50),  the Toro (6×52), and an unnamed size (5.5×60) and come in at a very modest price, ranging from $5 – $6.50.

Size: 5×50  –  Wrapper: Nicaraguan Criollo  –  Binder/Filler: Dominican Habano  –  Body: Medium

Prelight: This Kristoff Kristania is the epitome of a rustic looking cigar. Seriously, this cigar looks like it has had much better days. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and in my opinion, this is a beautiful looking cigar. The medium brown wrapper has lots of bumpy, webby, darker shade veins throughout the entire body of the cigar up to the round, Cuban style triple cap. Although the wrapper may look a bit troubled, It’s actually very thick and tough, giving off a beautiful shine as lights reflects off all the crazy oils that coat this cigar. The band has some neat, rustic design to go along with the appearance of this cigar. The band is a neat, brownish purple with “Kristoff” printed in white, “Kristania” printed in black with some interesting design, and “Elite Cuban Taste” along with “Dominican Republic” and “Hand Made” in gold. The cigar itself is really firm, and give lots of pushback as I try to compress it.

The wrapper on the Kristania gives off a whole ton of mossy, muddy, earth aromas while the foot has some fun cinnamon, and spice. The Kristoff Kristania clipped like butter against my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw is really deep, and meaty, letting lose a very deep woodsy, earthy, spicy flavor.

First Smoke: Kristoff’s Kristania lets loose a massive, MASSIVE cloud of insanely thick, white smoke right off the bat. The draw on this cigar is remarkable. As stated on the band, the cigar actually has some very Cubanesque flavors, starting out with some subtle cedar, lots of earth tones, saltiness, honey, all wrapped in an overall mild approach. The Kristoff Kristania only lets loose a subtle amount of smoke as it sits in my ashtray, which really resembles the overall mossy, earthy flavors with a matching aroma. The cigar could be burning a bit cleaner as waves continuously form in the first third, but I haven’t had to touch it up yet. The ash is a very bright, and medium grey which is very tightly compacted holding tight for a little under an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: I am glad to say that the burn line on this Kristoff Kristania has cleaned up tremendously by itself. It’s now burning razor sharp with only a few slight waves. The flavors are much the same as they were in the first half only with a slight ramp-up in cedar, and a large ramp-up in that mossy-earthy flavor. The only bad thing is the flavors are so mild they are borderline cardboard. I really hope that they changeup into the final third or this cigar may just dud out.  The retrohale on this cigar is really nice, and really smooth, faintly coating with a lot of earth and cedar while I feel absolutely no nicotine at all.

Finish: Deep into the final third of this Kristoff Kristania and the flavors have still yet to change up. The only added feature to the cedar, mossy-earth tones, and slight cinnamon is the dryness I am getting in my mouth while I smoke it. This is very common and I know that there are certain tobaccos that are actually added to blends to promote the formation of saliva in your mouth. Obviously Kristoff forgot to take that in consideration when blending this cigar. I am still not getting any nicotine at all, nor did I experience any built up harshness all the way down to the nub. The cigar did begin to burn a little hot around the one inch mark though.

Overview: I think it’s pretty obvious that I was going to conclude this review on a disappointing note. To me, Kristoff cigars have always been hit or miss. Needless to say this one gets filed in the miss section. The cigar has good intentions of resembling Cuban cigars, but falls completely flat in the taste category by doing so. Honestly, this cigar bored me from the start, and continued to do so the more I smoked it. There is a glimmer of hope out there though. This cigar reminded me a lot of some of the standard, popular Davidoff blends out there. If you are a fan of those, like I know so many are, than this cigar is definitely something you will want to look into, especially at the price point. But if you are looking for a cigar with some interesting, or bolder flavors, or a cigar that resembles a Cuban, then I would take a pass on this one.

Pairing: Uerige’s Doppelsticke isn’t a stranger to this blog either. This is a hard to find brew, but when I do find it, I buy it in bulk. Doppelsticke is a 8.5% powerhouse brewed at the Uerige Obergärige Hausbrauerei GmbH / Zum Uerige in Germany. This Altbier, and most, if not all other traditional Alts are brewed in Düsseldorf. Old, loosely translates to “Old” describing the longer brewing processes used to create said beer. The strong brown ale boasts of strong, dark malts, caramel, honey, orange, apple, and orange. This is a very flavorful, yet smooth beer that pairs perfectly with just about any cigar, and meaty, hearty meal. The glass I decided to drink this out of is actually an “Altbier” style glass from the Gaffel house in Düsseldorf. My intern at the time visited Cologne and took the glass from the brew house for me. An interesting note on the glass is that at the brew house customers drink from the exact glass minus the gold trim. VIP members are awarded the gold trimmed glass to distinguish their excellence, among with other perks.

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This Padilla Hybrid was actually sent over by our good friends StogieBoys.com. If you aren’t familiar with the site check it out for some neat features such as the Make a Wishlist, and even a Military Discount program. Anyhow, originally released in 2004 Padilla’s Hybrid is a top-notch cigar created with value in mind. The Peruvian, Nicaraguan, and Dominican blend is constructed  under the direct supervision of the almighty Ernesto Padilla. That being said, you know that the product will be top shelf.

The Padilla Hybrid is released in three classic sizes: Churchill (7 x 48), Robusto (5 x 50), and Torpedo (6.2 x 52). You can pick these up from Stogieboys.com here for less than $3 a stick.

 Size: 5 x 50  –  Wrapper: Connecticut Shade  –  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  – Body: Mild

Prelight: The Padilla Hybrid carries a classic, shade character wrapper. Light, and incredibly consistent brown with only a few darker spots near the foot of the cigar. The wrapper is silky and smooth, but feel very delicate in my hands. The filler is firm for the most part with only a few softer spots towards the foot of the cigar. The body of the cigar carries almost no veins all the way to its round double cap. This cigar as well as the others I have look a bit sloppy. There are a few knicks in the wrapper as well as some peeling on the cap and the foot. The Band on the Padilla Hybrid is huge, and in my opinion not very pretty. It starts with a huge black stargate looking band with a brownish/orageish/reddish crest with a gold and black “P”. The crest is surrounded by a few gold coins before a silver “Padilla” emblem stretched out around each side of the band. Underneath each of those is the words “Hybrid” and “Hand Made”. It’s almost impossible for me to get any kind of aroma from the wrapper of this hybrid. I can get a very faint tobacco scent, but that’s about it. The foot’s aromas are barely noticeable as well but I did  get a nice whiff of some subtle spice in there. I actually used a V cut on this cigar. Something I have been trying out lately and its been working really well! The cold draw produced a very mild profile with lots of grassy, earth tones and just a little bit of spice and tobacco.

First Smoke: The Padilla Hybrid lit up almost the second the flame hit the cigar.  The flavors started out with a really mellow cedar, a little bit of spice, a tiny bit of pepper, and lots of natural tobacco flavor. The draw is awesome kicking out massive amounts of thick white smoke with every little puff. The Hybrid doesn’t give off a lot of stationary smoke, but it smells awesome! It’s like a little cedar stick burning away in my ashtray. The burnline is a bit thick with a lot of little waves, but nothing too concerning. The ash is a decently packed dark grey which only held on for about an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: As I stated before, the wrapper on this Padilla Hybrid is a gentle one, and deep into the second third it begins to show it’s weakness cracking about 4 different times throughout the body. The good thing is, it’s just the wrapper so there is not smoke escaping and it isn’t hindering the experience in the least. The flavors really haven’t changed up any from the first third, still really smooth with some nice subtle cedar and spice, natural earth flavors and a bit of tobacco. I am feeling zero nicotine at this point and the wavy burnline has completely corrected itself and the Hybrid is now burning like a champ.

Finish: The band slid off clean and easily which is a huge relief. Given the strength of the cigar’s wrapper I was really scared that it would just pull the whole damn thing off. Again, the Padilla Hybrid hasn’t really switched up too much in the flavor department. Although the spice has ramped up a bit in the final third, all the other flavors have remained the same. This cigar is really mild and smooth, not giving off even the slightest of nicotine kicks. I did encounter a little harshness into the final inch, but that was expected. It’s nothing too bad, and for the price I would have been shocked if I didn’t pick up any harshness at all.

Overview: It’s obvious that this cigar isn’t my flavor profile, but that doesn’t really make it a bad cigar. It’s very one dimensional but carries an very smooth and overall enjoyable composure. It’s very mild and only produces a handful of flavor, but given that it makes a perfect cigar for all those who don’t like the full bodied smokes or are just starting out smoking cigars. Another pro is the fact that I have seen these cigars sold for as little as $1.50 to $2.00 a stick! Can’t beat that. It might be a good investment for those of you who have a lot of people who normally don’t smoke cigars are need something smooth and mild to offer then that won’t break the bank. Needless to say, this cigar won’t be in my regular rotation but that’s just simply due to the fact that I didn’t care for the flavor or the body. Outside of the subjectivity it’s a great cigar at a great value.

Pairing: I decided to switch it up a bit and pair this Padilla Hybrid with some Ramos Pinto Quinta Ervamoira 10-year-old Tawny Port. I was just in a wine kind of mood and my lovely sister in law got this for me for Christmas. The wine is a very sweet, caramel type of port with lots of ripe grape, cherry, and spicy flavors. This isn’t as heavy as most ports I have had but definitely tastes like it is. Although the port was excellent, I wish I would have paired it with something that wouldn’t had overpowered the cigar so much. Maybe a nice ale, pilsner or some apple juice.

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