Wrapper: Habano Sun Grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Jalapa Valley Ligero
This is one of my favorite vitolas, and this one is perfectly constructed, triple capped. Nice and firm. The wrapper feels toothy and smells of dark chocolate and coffee. 
It really smells fantastic. The wrapper almost looks like it was taken from the Padron reserves. It is really that rich and dark and flawless. Pre-light draw tastes of cocoa and nuts.
Easily lights up and right off the bat I get a subtle sweetness off the rich tobacco flavor. Good helping of cedar and wood shows up here in the first third. By the second third, the sweetness fades out and the cedar and wood seem to over take the smoke. I wouldn’t call this leathery, but I suspect some of you might pick up leather components to this. There is also a hint of spice on the back palate.
By the final third this cigar was starting to disappoint. The cedar and wood flavors developed a bitter edge and the smoke was getting very warm in the mouth. I put this cigar down just before it would have burned past the band. It’s almost as if the cigar started off with the best flavors and then slowly degraded every one of them. I was really digging the taste of this cigar in the first third. Too bad it just couldn’t keep it up.
If you like cedar/wood flavors and for some reason like a little bitter edge too it, this is the cigar for you. It is not, however, the cigar for me.
These cigars have gotten great reviews in Cigar Aficionado lately so when I saw a box in my local B&M I decided to pick up a few. The wrapper is beautiful and toothy. It smells a bit stinky, which is a good thing I’ve found, when it comes to flavor later on. Beyond the stinky, almost wet earth-like smell, comes chocolate and a little spice. Very pleasing on the nose.
When I cut the head of the cigar, I barely cut into the cap and it still immediately unravelled, leaving me a little perturbed. Little did I know this was only the beginning of the construction issues to follow.
The first third of the cigar tasted of tobacco, nuts, and hints of spice on the back palate. Then – as I was still puffing on this thing, mind you – this cigar extinguished itself. I’ve been smoking for over five years now and I have yet to experience a cigar with a plug so bad. I kept puffing in vain but the tobacco just wouldn’t burn. Pictured to the right is where it stopped. And things were just starting to get good!
I let the cigar cool off and then clipped it about an inch past the burn line and it was clear it was bunched so tight that the air was just not able to enter the center of the cigar for fueling the burn. I have two more of these so I will not jump to conclusions just yet. Perhaps this was a fluke. Although, even as a fluke, they have machines that test the airflow through the cigars before they package them that should have alerted them to a problem like this. Not sure if box-pressing played any part.
Oh well. For now, its a good tasting cigar with unsound construction.
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Connecticut
Filler: Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Dominican blend
Lets start with the beautiful Honduran-grown Viso Rosado wrapper which was cultivated from the Jamastran Valley. Its reddish-brown, toothy, and visually beautiful. Now I reviewed this cigar once before back in early 2008. I really enjoyed this cigar back then, consuming quite a few of them if memory serves me correctly. So a month or so ago I was back in a large humidor at my local B&M and saw this cheap but loyal old friend and figured I’d fire up some more of these.
Boy, what a difference a year makes. And for those of you who would ask, “is it the cigar that changed or your palate?” I honestly don’t know. But the experience was not a good one. The cigars sat in my humidor for about four weeks prior to smoking. They had no visual flaws or otherwise. The reviewed cigar looked perfect. But the experience was far from it, and has been consistently so.
First Third: Very tight initial draw, no real aroma off this cigar except ammonia, it is faint, but its never been a pleasant smell in my book. Touch of spice, medium tobacco notes. Nothing really jumps off the palate here at all – even with Fernet con Coca as the drink of choice.
Second Third: Draw finally opens up. Plenty of smoke. Good helping of roasted nuts and medium tobacco flavors. Very flat on the flavor profile. Tickles of spice on the back palate. Aroma is stronger and more ammonia coming through now. Very disappointed in the aromatics of this cigar. I don’t remember it being like this.
Final Third: Gets very toasty. Roasted nutty flavor almost becomes too overpowering. AMMONIA MONSTER shows up and really takes over here. Needless to say this is not a cigar I burned my fingers on.
In the end, I was supremely disappointed. I don’t believe my palate to have changed this much in one year and so I am curious as to whether or not the leaves in these ‘09 Tradicions are just not up to par. The ammonia is a good indication of young leaves. Has anyone else noticed the quality of the newer Hoyo de Tradicions slipping? DM me.
You really don’t know what you’re missing. Neither did I, until a recent trip to Argentina opened my eyes to what has to be one of the best marriages of drink and smoke ever. Late one night in a smokey club in Neuquen, a city in the south-west region (Patagonia, some call it), my brother in law orders us two drinks. Fernet con Coca. “Dos, por favor.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s the drink.” He replies utilizing 80% of his english vocabulary in one sentence. And he’s right, in a way. It is the drink. In Argentina, it is the national alcoholic beverage of choice. It is made with two simple ingredients: A shot of Fernet-Branca – an italian herbal digestif seriously high in alcohol content – and Coca-Cola. You start with a tall collins glass, fill to the brim with large ice cubes. Fill 1/10th with Fernet and the rest with Coke. The combination, for some reason unknown to me, creates a much thicker head of fizz than usual. Fernetis a type of amaro, a bitter, aromatic spirit. It is made from a number of different herbs and spices including myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and saffron, with a base of grape distilled spirits.
The taste the Fernet imparts to the Coke is uncannily smokey. You can taste wood, especially cedar, along with tea leaves and dry earth. This is delicately framed by the sweetness of the Coke to create, in my opinion, a great addition to a smoke. Because the flavors of the Fernet are very broad, they don’t distract from the flavors of the cigar. In fact, they almost force your palate to get into the “zone” where you start to taste those nuances you read about in Cigar Aficionado. Abbiritions of orange peel, currant, wheat, honey; things many of the smokers I know say they have yet to taste, begin to appear on your tongue as bright and clear as day.
Of course, when I got back to the states, the first thing I went looking for was Fernet-Branca. Can it be found easily? Hell, yes. In fact the very first liquor store I visited had it. It is also easy to find at online retailers. The going price is around $24, which is fine considering you only need to use very little at a time. Check back soon, as I will soon be doing a video-blog tasting of an old favorite, a 2007 Illusione cg:4 that’s been cooking in my humidor and tasting it without, and then with Fernet con Coca. Hopefully we will see it enhance the flavors. Maybe it wont do shit. You’ll have to tune in to find out.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
First off, I feel bad not having reviewed a bad cigar (or what I would consider a bad cigar) on this blog yet. Frankly, since I started it all the cigars I have been smoking have been really fantastic. The only real poor rating has been the Romeo y Julieta Vintage III cigar, and even that cigar didn’t drop into the 7 point category.
This cigar is not going to change the trend though. Not by a long shot. This cigar was once rated Best Cigar of the Year by Cigar Aficionado, and after smoking several of these both before and after that rating, I would say it was a no brainer. The Padrón’s are unlike any other cigar makers out there right now. As far as I am concerned, they are the bar at its highest. They are the only company who make consistently great cigars, and not just in taste, but also in construction. Their box pressed 1926 and 1964 Series are always of impeccable quality. I have yet to have a single draw or burn problem with a Padrón cigar, and I’ve smoked at least sixty of them by now. That is astonishing!
This particular size is my favorite. Not too short, not too long, but just right. And unlike the more infamous 80th perfecto, the price is just right too. At $18 MSRP (and God knows what in your local B&M, I paid $23 a stick for my recent acquisitions) it’s certainly not cheap. But for what you get, it’s right on the money. You simply can’t get a better smoke for less. Hell, you’d be hard pressed to get a better smoke than this AT ANY price.
The cut, light, and draw of this baby was perfect; so lets just move on to what you really want to know about, the taste. To me, Padróns have a very distinct flavor profile and no other cigars come close. Pre-light tastes of good-ol-fashioned aged tobacco, maybe tea leaves as well. It’s cedary and a tad spicy out of the gate, but then mellows down within the first inch to open up to some beautiful black cherry, roasted nut notes. Halfway brings on espresso, coffee bean, and dark chocolate flavors, all notably sweet, but in that subtle Padrón way. The finish is a mile long and holds strong with a dryer, cocoa-like note. Spices are dusted throughout the smoke, framing and balancing it perfectly.
This cigar doesn’t disappoint. And if it does, email me and I will happily take any extras you might have off your hand. To José and Jorge: Well done guys. Well done.
Wrapper: Connecticut
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
This is a limited release cigar by one of my favorite makers out there. Let’s start with the gorgeous maduro wrapper, covered in the classic sandpaper-like bumps it smells sweet and musky. The construction on these cigars is always perfect, as would be expected from the Fuente rollers. Pre-light draw tastes of tea leaves and honey. After the first minute of puffing the draw opens up and the flavors come in. Mellow is the key word in the first half of this cigar. Lots of tea, honey, maybe some cedar. The smoke is very mild mannered and elegant. And if I’m honest, I loved every minute of it.
At the halfway point it strengthened up a bit, with cedar and nutty flavors coming in stronger, always holding on to that initial sweetness. The finish is short and a tad warm, holding onto the sweet taste of cedar till the last puff. This is a mild to medium-bodied cigar, but it is complex and sweet and balanced. I could smoke it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you’re lucky enough to find these in your local store do yourself a favor and purchase more than one. Once you try it, you’ll be happy you can go back for more.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
If there is such a thing as ‘hype’ in the cigar world, this was the cigar that may have started it. I have had the unique privilege and pleasure to have already smoked four of these bad boys. Every single time the cigar’s construction was perfect, the draw was literally perfect, the burn was perfect. And at over $30 a piece, they damn well better be. This is far and away the strongest cigar I will probably ever review on here. Pre-light draw is heavy on the tobacco and licorice. Once lit, this cigar exudes a sharp and potent, almost unmistakable, Padron smell. It can literally sting the nostrils. Not that its a bad smell at all, just potent.
The tastes are strong and a tad spicy right out of the gate. An older aficionado with an acute sense of taste could, I believe, pull many different flavors out of this cigar. It’s that complex. I am not blessed with such a sense of taste, so I will just stick to what I could put my finger on. Leather and nuts, and lots of both, danced around on a stage of spicy nutmeg the entire smoke. I could have sworn I tasted berries for a bit as well. For most of the cigar the strong leather notes fight with the nutty notes, almost as if they are pushing each other back and forth for my attention. This is no short smoke, took me over an hour, and if you try to rush it down I can guarantee you will walk away reeling from cigar buzz. Overall, this smoke is superb. Simply one of the best around.
However, I fear the Padron’s reach may have exceeded their grasp when you consider the price. At $32 MSRP, this is one of the most expensive smokes on the market, and with such limited quantities made this stick is now almost impossible to find anywhere close to the original price. A quick search on the Internet today revealed a online retailer charging over $40 a stick. I don’t even want to think of what they are charging at tourist stops in Vegas or Key West. The fact of the matter is, the price of this cigar is beyond unreasonable. Look at my last review, a five dollar cigar that gives me just as much pleasure as this one. Sure this cigar is far more complex and has that certain “snob” appeal, but I can smoke six Hoyo Epicure’s for the price of one 80th Anniversario. The math speaks for itself.
Wrapper: Brazilian
Binder: Indonesian
Filler: Dominican
This company has become a very recent addition to my cigar vocabulary. Created by a land developer and avid cigar smoker, this new company is really producing some spectacular smokes right now. The cigar reviewed here is from the Maduro line. The thing I really love about this company is that they break up their cigars into three blends, Mild, Medium, and Strong. And they are all really fantastic, with the Medium line (the Maduro’s) rising to the top. With an introduction like that, I should just get down to business.
The only reason this cigar did not score higher was due to some of its cosmetic problems. The wrapper is veiny and toothy, not the best looking maduro wrapper I’ve come across, but its not ugly by any means. The cigar band is a bit tacky and cheap feeling, which wouldn’t be an issue if this was just another cheap house brand smoke but this cigar can compete with the best of them, and I found myself longing for a band that said as much.
The cigar cut clean and pre-light draw tasted of chocolate and aged tobacco. The draw was perfect for my taste, the burn was even but I should note that the ash tends to curl and get blown off on this cigar, which is something I don’t come across often. The first inch or so of this cigar tastes heavily of cappuccino. Further smoking brings in dark chocolate underlined by a hint of spice. This keeps up until the midway point where the chocolate fades to a heavy tobacco taste. The finish is short, in fact the whole smoke is short, and ends on that heavy tobacco taste with hints of spice throughout. Fabulous cigar, I currently have a few boxes on order and for the price, $6 a stick, I can’t imagine why I haven’t bought more…
Wrapper: Honduran
Binder: N/A
Filler: N/A
If you took off the wrapper of this cigar and gave it to an avid Camacho fan and once they had finished smoking it, told them it was a Camacho, odds are they wouldn’t believe you. I am not a fan of Camacho, never have been. They are usually too strong for my taste. But this cigar is different. Very different.
Grown from a new strain in the mineral rich soil of the Jamastran Valley, the wrapper is a first for Camacho and the flavor it produces is fantastic. Only one problem: there was only enough wrapper to make approximately 50,000 cigars. So in walks Abe “Ming” Dababneh, the owner of Smoke Inn, on a recent trip to Camp Camacho in Honduras. He tastes the cigars made with the limited wrapper and loves them. By some miracle, he manages to get them to sell the whole batch to him. One lucky sonuvabitch, right?
Construction: The cigar itself is beautifully constructed, the wrapper is perfect without any blemishes on any of the cigars I have smoked so far. The band is as ornate and visually appealing as any of Camacho’s others. The fact that they put as much effort in the band as any of their other cigars is quite a surprise considering they had already sold every single cigar before they even had to come up with a band.
Pre-light: The head cuts perfectly. Draw is fine. Tastes of cedar and nuts before lighting.
Taste: The first inch or so as some very heavy notes of roasted nuts and earthy spice. By the midway point the smoke mellows out into a damp cedar taste and holds strong until the finish when the nuts and earthy spice come back to frame it out. The cigar did have some bitter notes but these were always associated with the cedar taste and did not make the smoke unpleasant at all.
Overall this cigar is a solid choice, especially for those who enjoy Camacho’s more than I do. This cigar will allow Camacho fans to taste those little nuances they are missing out on when they are getting their asses handed to them by those big black triple maduros.
Wrapper:Ecuadorian Connecticut – Sun Grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
This cigar is an impressive sight at first. With a 54 ring gauge it’s nice and beefy, and its pigtail cap looks as cuban as can be. Even the wrapper says “Cuba” on it, which I found to be rather misleading, if not a bit gimmicky. This cigar is built like a rock, when squeezed there’s no give. The pigtail cap guillotines easily, and the foot lights up fast. However, I had some burn and burst issues with this cigar, enough so to actually bring down the score substantially. As the cigar started, it began to crack and burst under the heat. Eventually giving me two nice deep cracks running up both sides of the stick till about midway. This really annoyed me. I bought three of these from my local B&M, all from the same box, and in two out of the three the filler tobacco tried to break out in the beginning of the smoke. These factors brought the score for this cigar down almost one full point, taking it from a 9.1 to an 8.1. So I’m really hoping this isn’t the fault of the cigar and maybe perhaps a humidification issue at my local store. I am going to test some more and let you know.
Taste: Mellow, smooth, yet very aromatic. This cigar tastes fantastic in my opinion. Lots of sweet tobacco, mixed with coffee notes, and a good amount of tea, with very light spicy notes on the nose. Taste-wise, this cigar pushed all the right buttons for me. The draw was a tad stiff, and the smoke was very light, but I just couldn’t get over how well this cigar tasted. I’m going to try a few more before buying a box just to make sure the crack and burn issues were a fluke, and then I would happily recommend buying a box of these limited edition cigars. Perfect lunchtime smoke.