08/10

Trinidad Fundadore

It’s not often that I’m the recipient of such fine cigars as a gift from another brother of the leaf. Therefore it’s a real treat when I get to indulge in a vintage Havana cigar of such pedigree as the Trinidad Fundadore. Beginning in 1980, the Trinidad Fundadores were produced exclusively for Fidel Castro. The only boxes that left Cuba were gifts to foreign diplomats. In February of 1998, the brand was officially launched as an export in Trinidad, Cuba.

The cigars were first made available in Canada and Mexico in April 1998, and later became available to the world market. The Fundadore, which means Founder, is a pig-tailed lancer measuring at a ring guage of 40 and a length of 7 and 3/4 inches.

Named after one of Cuba's most beautiful cities, the Trinidad is produced only in the El Laguito factory, and packaged in boxes of 24 cigars and cabinets of 50.

These past several days, I’ve been enjoying a lovely vacation in sunny San Diego. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet up with several guys from the Cigar Family online forum. One of the guys gifted me a Fundador from the 1998 release! This 12 year old stogie was beautiful in appearance, with a medium brown, silky wrapper leaf. It cut clean, drew perfectly, and lit well.

From the first draw to the last, this cigar was a real treat! The flavors were rich and heady with hints of spice, wood, and deep flavors of well-aged premium Havana leaf. The body was not particularly strong, in fact I would probably rate it medium-bodied at best. However, when paired with the rib-eye steaks and fine Cabernet we were drinking that night, it held its own very well.

08/10

This week’s cigar review will be a short one. Sorry, no pics except stock pics. But wow what a nice cigar I ran into!

Yesterday I smoked the LegendArio cigar by Camacho. This 6” x 60 ring gauge monster is one of Camacho’s “core brands” according to their website, and is a Honduran puro. For those not in the know, a puro is a cigar made with wrapper, filler, and binder leaves that all originate in the same country, in this case, Honduras.

This particular vitola is called the Bertha (no surprise). It was very well constructed, and had a wonderful pre-light aroma that was strong with earth and spice. It was quite firm and had no soft spots at all. This cigar took to flame VERY well, and the draw was perfect. I’m not usually a fan of such large, fat cigars, but this thing had everything going for it right from the time I picked it up.

The smoke was cool and there was tons of it with every puff. The flavor profile was not what I expected from a Honduran puro. It didn’t have that typical Honduran “je ne sais pas ce qui” that I’d come to expect from say a Punch or El Rey del Mundo, but that was no cause for alarm because this cigar was just flat out good. The smoke was smooth, creamy, and very earthy with a pleasant finish that didn’t linger too long on the palette.

As I sat in the warn summer evening with a Laquanitas “Little Sumpin” ale courtesy of my neighbor, I had a good cigar, good beer, and good conversation. Man, it doesn’t get any better than that! Well, I suppose it could get better if there were girls, and barbeque ribs, and potato salad…ahh to hell with it, you know what I mean.  

07/10

Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente King B

One of the reasons I love doing cigar reviews is because it allows me to flex my mental muscles, and indulge in a little creative writing, (which incidentally, I got poor marks for in high school). How creative could I be back then? Nothing happened to me yet to be creative about!

However, with a never-ending plethora of cigars to review, being creative isn’t really a problem. Now I’m not talking about coming up with a zillion unique ways of saying how a cigar tasted. I’ll leave that to the hacks at Cigar Aficionado magazine. I’m talking strictly about the smoking experience. Every cigar is different. Every manufacturer attempts to make them different from one another. As such, every time I break out a new cigar to review, I’m practically guaranteed of getting loads of source material to write about.

Tonight’s cigar comes from one of the Grand Dame’s of the cigar industry- Arturo Fuente. I saw my buddy Dave post on Facebook this evening about finishing off the day with a Fuente Double Chateau Sungrown, so I thought that in the spirit of things, I’d pluck out one of the Sungrown line. I decided to go with the Chateau Fuente King B Sungrown which just so happened to arrive on my doorstep today! Time to light up the fire pit.

This cigar is an extension of the Chateau Fuente line, and according to Carlito Fuente, is named after a favorite Tampa, FL meeting spot of his grandfather, Arturo Fuente. It’s a 6” x 54 ring torpedo that cut well, but had a tight draw. I had to cut two more times to open up the cigar enough to get a decent draw. The wrapper leaf is a toothy and slightly oily Ecuadorian Sungrown Rosdo, and surrounds Domnican binder and filler grown right on Fuente’s own estate. The pre-light aroma Is rich and heady with strong hints of cedar.

The cigar took to flame well, but the draw was still not quite up to snuff. Now, this could also possibly be that the box came from JR Cigars. JR is notorious for keeping the humidity in their warehouse quite wet. Some folks in the past have even taken to dry-boxing their cigars from JR for a week or more in order to bring down the internal humidity of the cigars. So I’m not giving bad marks for this, especially since these are just off the delivery truck.

Now, as for the smoke, it was similar to the pre-light aroma in that it had very strong cedar overtones with an underlying earthiness that tasted different than other cigars in the Chateau Sungrown line. Typically the Fuente Sungrown’s have a pronounced spiciness to them that was not present in large part in this cigar. I would almost say that the spice flavor was muted in the King B. I could not find any information on whether Fuente uses a different filler or binder combo in the King B, but it does taste different.

My overall impression is that this cigar needs to dry out a bit before I try another one. There is greatness in the King B, I can sense it. It just needs a little tweaking to bring out that greatness, and time will definitely tell!

07/10

Carlos Toraño Reserva Selecta Churchill

Man, how I hate giving cigars bad reviews- especially cigars that used to be one of my favorites! The Carlos Toraño Reserva Selecta Churchill used to be one of my favorite mild cigars out there. What the heck happened? Gather 'round the old fire pit and I'll tell you.

About eight years ago, the Reserva Selecta line was one of the flagship brands at my shows. I carried them all the time because they were wonderful cigars! They came packaged in glass tubes, and placed in a beautiful presentation boxes of 20 cigars. I was like a kid on Christmas morning every time I opened one of these boxes because not only was it a sight to behold, but the cigars were outstanding as well. But like Virginia Slims, these cigars have come a long way, (and I think they got lost on a side road).

The Toraño website describes the Reserva Selecta line as being packed with soft, cool smoke with notes of sweet cream and cedar. Yeah, back in the day that’s exactly how I would have described them. Today, well, read on.

This line sports a Connecticut Shade wrapper, Indonesian binder, with Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Honduran filler. The cigar itself is a 7¼ x 48 beauty, with a smooth, silky wrapper that belied the smoke that was to come. It cut cleanly, and the draw was somewhat loose. It didn’t feel under-filled however, and there were no soft spots. It took to flame just fine. Unfortunately, those were all the positives.

From the initial draw, the cigar smoked hot and harsh. This was nothing like the Reserva Selecta’s of old. It was definitely not packed with soft, cool smoke. It was packed with hints of forest fire and charred shoe leather. Oh how I wanted to love this cigar. I wanted it to be just like the Reserva’s I used to smoke years ago. Instead, it was like running into a friend you haven’t seen for a long time and cringing because they really let themselves go.  

Anyway, I tried to smoke it down as far as I could, to see if the flavor profile would change at all. In the end, the remaining two thirds met an ignoble end in my fire pit. To the Toraño Family I would say, this is one old friend that needs to go to rehab.

07/10

Siglo Limited Reserve VI

As you may have read in my previous reviews, some of the selections from Altadis USA have gotten pretty bad marks from me. I hate giving any cigar a bad review because I want to love them all! I’m pleased to say that the Siglo Limited Reserve is definitely a winner.

These cigars were sent to me by my buddy John at Altadis to pass out at a recent herf. The vitola he sent was the Siglo Limited Reserve VI. The Siglo line is crafted in Nicaragua under the stewardship of master cigar maker Frank Llaneza, who blends some of my favorite cigars in the world such as the El Rey del Mundo and Frank Llaneza 1961 cigars. The man just knows how to make a stellar cigar, and the Siglo is no exception. Some folks would like to rag on Altadis because the Siglo cigar line is too close in name, marketing, and box dressing as the Cuban Cohiba Siglo line of cigars. Quite frankly, this particular instance doesn’t ruffle my feathers. A Cohiba is a Cohiba. A Siglo is a Siglo. You’re not going to confuse the two (especially since Altadis changed the design to look LESS like the Cohiba).

The Siglo sports an Ecuadorian Cubano wrapper, and surrounds a Nicaraguan binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan filler leaves. The pre-light aroma is wonderful with scents of rich earth and cocoa. It cut clean, lit well, and stayed lit without any touch-ups during the entire smoke.

The warm and sunny Summer evening on my buddy Dave's deck was the perfect backdrop to enjoy these cigars. The smoke is rich and flavorful. It’s not terribly complex, but it is very pleasant with hints of spice and cocoa. The flavors intensify as it burns down, with a very light sweetness that develops.

Regardless of what you may think of Altadis for its marketing strategy for this cigar, Frank Llaneza has created a winner, and they’re well worth the price.  

07/10

Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2

It’s not every day that I get a chance to smoke Cuban cigars. It’s not due to the expense- often times Cuban cigars are priced much less than their Dominican and Central American-produced counterparts. Nor is it the hassle of obtaining Cuban cigars- there are people I know. It’s just that with so many cigars out there to try, they don’t pop up in regular rotation very often!

So, I had a chance to break out a Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2 the other day while studying for class. The Epicure No. 2 is a robusto sized vitola that has that typical Cuban “barnyard” aroma to it. To anyone who’s familiar with island smokes, they’ll know what I mean.

The cigar was rough-looking, with a wrapper leaf that appeared to be stretched tight over a gnarly binder leaf. The cigar itself looks like it was left it in the pressing mold too long without turning it. You can clearly see the crease running the entire length of the cigar. Oh well.

The cigar did not cut cleanly. After cutting, the head started to peel apart somewhat, and I had to be very careful not to wet the end too much for fear of it shredding to mush. It lit well, and drew well.

While my cat Tommy Bahama took advantage of the warm day to snooze, I continued to study, and slowly and carefully smoked the Hoyo down a little further.  

Unfortunately the entire body of the smoke tasted young. The box stamping showed that the cigars were produced approximately a year ago. However, research from several sources indicates that some Cuban cigars simply take a long time to mature before they’re ready to be put to the flame. I suspect that these Hoyo’s fall into this category.

So, while I didn’t enjoy this cigar right now, I’m going to lay the others down for a nice long nap in the humidor and revisit them in a year or so. Hopefully the rest will do wonders for them!  

07/10

Berger & Argenti Entubar Double Corona

My friends, as I smoke cigars and do these reviews, I am sometimes reminded (mostly by others), that I have a tendency not to smoke the entire cigar. OK, I admit it, this is true. Sometimes it’s due to time constraints, sometimes I get going with something else and forget about it. But you know what? It’s my cigar, and I’ll smoke as much or as little of it as I like- as should anyone else!

That said, most of the time when I fail to finish smoking a cigar, it’s because the cigar just plain doesn’t measure up to what I think a cigar should be. I’m pleased to say that the Berger & Argenti Entubar definitely lives up to my expectations!

The cigar I had this evening while chilling at the firepit was the Double Corona, courtesy of the local Berger & Argenti rep., Ed Ryan. It’s a 7½ x 54 ring monster with a curious little tube sticking out of the foot end of the cigar. As I was informed, this tube is the ligero leaf which extends about ¼ inch past the foot. Those not familiar with the entubar style of cigar rolling will find this interesting.

In the entubar method, each leaf in the cigar is rolled unto itself, and bunched by the binder leaf rather than sandwiching the leaves together. Does this create a better cigar than the traditional sandwich style bunching? I’ll leave that up to others to debate. Suffice to say that the construction of the cigar was impeccable.

Surrounding this vitola is a lovely Ecuador-grown Connecticut seed Desflorado wrapper leaf. The binder is Nicaraguan, and the filler is Nicaraguan and Dominican. The pre-light aroma was rich and aromatic.

It cut well, lit well, and drew well- all good signs! From the initial draw, I could tell that I was going to like this cigar. I got hints of toasted nuts, and the finish was clean and very slightly sweet. The burn was excellent, and produced a perfect cone shaped ash.

By the midpoint of the cigar, the characteristics intensified, and I began to get deeper flavors of leather and coffee, coupled with slight floral notes. This continued through to the end, and I am happy to say I nubbed it!

The Entubar is a high-end cigar that retails around the $10.00 mark depending on size, however, if you’re looking for a real treat to add in to your regular rotation, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. Two enthusiastic thumbs up from this reviewer!

06/10

Bering Puro Nicaragua & Onyx No.2 Belicoso

You’ve heard me say it before, I love trying new cigars. With that love, comes risk. The risk is that you’re going to run into some awful cigars. Unfortunately, I ran into two of them today.

The first was the Bering Puro Nicaraguan. Now I’d like to preface what I’m about to say with this: Every cigar is different. Cigars are a handmade item and therefore subject to a lot of different tolerances, as is any handmade product. I may have just gotten a bad one.

That said, this cigar had been in my perfectly humidified humidor for months before I took it out today. I’m not even going to go into reviewing the cigar because I literally couldn’t keep it lit. I lit it once, and it went out within 45 seconds. I lit it again; it went out within 60 seconds. I lit it a third time; it went out in less than 45 seconds. I couldn’t even burn it down an eighth of an inch.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs down. I’m willing to try it again, but if I do then someone is going to have to shoot me a freebie. I’m not willing to pay for another one.  

Second up to bat was the Onyx No. 2 Belicoso.

According to the Altadis USA website, this cigar garnered a whopping 94 rating in a recent issue of Cigar Insider. For those of you not in the know, Cigar Insider is a subscription newsletter from Marvin Shanken Productions. This is the same guy who brings you the much-less-than-credible Cigar Aficionado magazine. Cigar Insider is supposed to have more cred in the cigar world because they don’t publish any advertising in the newsletter. However, how this cigar got a 94 is beyond me.  

Onyx cigars took a real beating back in the days of the cigar boom. For one, they were roundly criticized for having artificially dyed maduro wrappers. Not a great way to smoke a cigar when dark brown dye is being transferred from the cigar to your lips.

Looking at the Altadis website again, we see that the current version of Onyx sports a “Blackened Connecticut Broadleaf” maduro wrapper. What the heck “blackened” means escapes me. Perhaps they simply perfected their artificial dye method. (If someone knows the answer then please e-mail it to me at jeffery@pacificcigars.net). The binder leaf is Nicaraguan, and the filler consists of Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Peruvian tobacco.

This box-pressed vitola LOOKS great. Very minimal veining, and smooth-as-silk in appearance. It cut well and lit well, but the draw was a little on the tight side. Other than that, this cigar did not impress me one bit. There was absolutely nothing about this cigar that stands out other than the way it looked. The flavor was incredibly under-whelming. It tasted like a cheap bundled cigar knock-off.

I didn’t care for Onyx ten years ago, and I still don’t. At least they’re consistent!  

06/10

La Flor Dominicana Ligero L300

So, what are you supposed to think about a cigar that impresses at first, then goes bad halfway through? Mixed bag? So-so? 50-50? The La Flor Dominicana Ligero was like that.

I hadn’t had an LFD for some time, so when I was at the local brick & mortar store the other day, I decided to pull the trigger. I settled on the LFD Ligero L300 which is a 5 ¾ inch x 50 ring vitola. This one was the lighter of the two wrapper styles in this line. It’s an Ecuador Sumatra Wrapper, with binder and filler leaves grown on LFD’s own farms in La Canela Dominican Republic. The Ligero and Double Ligero lines’ claim to fame is the full-bodied flavor that comes from: you guessed it, extra ligero leaf in the cigar. But is it more full-bodied?

In a word: yes. Does this make it a good cigar? That’s subjective as are all cigar reviews. As I said before, it started out good anyway. It cut well, lit well, and the draw was right-on. Throughout the first half of the cigar I tasted wonderful hints of toasted nuts, with some leathery notes, presumably from the extra ligero. But at the midpoint it went south. The flavor profile changed from toasted nuts to burnt toast. I tried purging the cigar, but it didn’t help.

I don’t know what could have made it better in the long run, but it sure was a nice cigar for a while anyway.    

06/10

Te-Amo World Selection Dominicana Gran Corto

You know, loving cigars as much as I do, it’s sort of a drag when you run across one that really sucks. Seriously, you get to a point in time where you want every new cigar you smoke to be a winner, something unexpected, or just plain delicious.  

Sadly, the Te-Amo World Selection Dominicana Gran Corto isn’t any of those things. It just really sucks.

I especially wanted this one to be a winner because I’m actually very fond of the Te-Amo Nicaragua Selection. That particular vitola has wonderful flavors. But, they can’t all be winners.

For starters, the Gran Corto size/shape just isn’t for me. These cigars are stubby little buggers at four inches long, with a whopping 62 ring size. It’s also a torpedo shape to boot. The cigar just doesn’t feel good in the hand nor on the lips while smoking it. It’s very kitsch in fact- something I believe was copied from the NUB cigar line. If the blend of tobacco in a cigar is good enough, it should be able to stand on its own without resorting to goofy shapes and sizes. In my opinion, this size/shape is indeed just plain goofy.  

That said, this cigar features a Connecticut Shade wrapper, San Andreas (Mexican) binder, and Dominican filler. I’d be willing to try this cigar in another size, but man, this one was just bad.

After cutting, the draw was like sucking air through a large straw. If there’s anything I hate worse than a tight draw, it’s one that’s too loose. Right from the initial light, it tasted hot, bitter, and downright burnt. It never improved from there. I tried to give it as much time as I could, but I never made it beyond ¼ inch. I had to set it down after that.

Not all cigar manufacturers are going to make stellar cigars every time. You’re going to run into stinkers periodically. But as Kipling indicated in his poem, The Betrothed, there’s always another dusky beauty in the humidor!

06/10

CAO Gold Maduro Churchill

This week has finally seen an abundance of good weather in Oregon. Weather that you can actually sit outside in! So this week that’s exactly what I did while studying for my emergency management class.

The cigar- a CAO Gold Maduro Churchill.

I have to tell you folks, this has become my go-to maduro cigar. This is an extension of the CAO Gold line, and its been around for a while now. The binder and filler are Nicaraguan, but instead of the normal Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, they surround it in a dark and earthy Brazilian maduro leaf. The result is a blend that’s not as in-your-face as the CAO Brazilia line. Rich flavors of earth and cocoa abound, and you get that hint of sweetness from the maduro leaf.

The burn and draw of this cigar was spot-on as usual, and it stays lit even after sitting for over two minutes! You gotta' love a stogie with that kind of staying power; it really hints at top-notch construction.

You can have your Padron Anniversario’s, and keep all the Ashton Aged Maduro’s you want. I’ll keep smoking the Gold Maduro!

06/10

The 2010 Oregon Brews & BBQ’s show is in the books, and what a great time! The crowd was good, the staff were helpful and always ready to lend a hand, and the music was top notch.

What else was great? The cigars of course!

On Friday, I had the opportunity to smoke an H. Upmann Vinatge Cameroon that was sent to me by John Conroy at Altadis USA. This cigar features a high-quality Cameroon wrapper leaf from Africa, and Nicaraguan and Peruvian binder and filler leaves.

This was a solid performer with that typical Cameroon taste. The flavor profile started to head south toward the end of the cigar, but that could be due to having to re-light it a couple times. (My fault, not the cigar).  

If you haven’t had one, it’s time to check it out!