Cigar Review: Don Lino 1989 Maduro

Don Lino 1989 Maduro

I was gifted today’s cigar from the guys at Ashes Tobacconist in the Bronx, NY. As a fan of the Don Lino Africa line, I was curious to try this smoke which I have never seen before. It is always nice to come across a brand that is new to me even if it has been out for a while.

Cigar: Don Lino 1989 Maduro
Origin: Dominican Republic
Size: 5 x 50 (Robusto)
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Indonesian
Filler: Columbia, Nicaragua, Mexico

Appearance & Construction (16/20): A dark chocolate wrapper adorns the box pressed cigar from the Miami Cigar Company. The regal looking band sports the classic Don Lino brand name is a cream colored rectangular box. The rest of the band is adorned in colors of gold and shades of red making it very appealing. The cigar itself has some stems visible at the foot of the cigar, and the wrapper has a few blemishes.

Flavor & Notes (25/30): The initial notes of this cigar are nuts with some coffee. Nothing special here, but enjoyable at the same time. As we approach the 2nd third the cigar the coffee notes really begin to shine through. As we finish the cigar the notes of coffee remain with a touch of earth.

Burn/Ash/Draw (22/25): This box pressed cigar offer a nice draw, with a dark gray ash that while flaky holds on strong. The burn line was slightly wavy but it never got out of control.

Overall (21/25): Smoking this cigar took me down memory lane to when I first got into the enjoyment of cigar. I would be sitting in The Humidor in Brooklyn NY when it had its original owners, with guys that had names like Tony Karaoke and Tommy Locks. Tommy Locks would always be smoking a Don Lino cigar as we played the Italian card game Briscola. So perhaps I enjoyed this cigar a little more then most, but it was a nice memory to visit and I can still still hear Tommy Locks laughter, may he rest in peace.

Rating: 84
Price: $28.99 for a 5pack at Famous Smoke Shop

Cigar Review: Kristoff Maduro Ligero

Kristoff Maduro

I was informed by someone on twitter who I know via the cigar boards that it seems like all the cigars I review score an ’85′ or better. I stated that I tend to only review cigars that I know I like and avoid those I do not like as if it was the plague. Well today’s review is to break that trend as I review the Kristoff Maduro Ligero. Please take the time to vote in the poll at the end of the review.

Cigar: Kristoff Maduro Ligero
Origin: Dominican Republic
Size: 6.5 x 56 (Matador)
Wrapper: Brazilian Maduro
Binder: Dominican and Cuban Seed
Filler: Dominican, 70% Ligero Nicaraguan

Appearance & Construction (19/20): The Kristoff cigar features a dark wrapper with a lot of veins. The cigar has pigtail cap, and a shaggy foot. The band is a simple brown on brown label with the word Kristoff in white. A secondary band is underneath stating the cigar is a maduro. The pigtail cap and the shaggy foot make it a nice cigar visually, but as well all know looks can be deceiving.

Flavor & Notes (20/30): The first third of this smoke is very bitty with notes of heavy earth. Once you get past the dirt there are some notes of a dark coffee similar to that of bustelo. The second third of the smoke, my palate was so dry despite drinking plenty of water as I smoked this cigar. The notes of Bustelo coffee were joined by the occasional nutty note,  but for the most part it was a very dry smoke to this point. As we reached the final third there was a brief period of sweetness, but the cigar began to burn hot and finish was a very dry earth

Burn/Ash/Draw (19/25): The burn of this cigar is very jagged, and needed to be touched up. The ash was a medium gray that did hold on well and looked very cool with the excessive veins visible as ash. The draw was tough and while annoying, I have had worse.

Overall (19/25): I know some people love the Kristoff line of cigars, but I am not one of them. The flavor profile reminds me of the days playing baseball, sliding into third base and getting a mouthful of dirt. Thankfully the notes changed at times, but the finish was a very dry dirt. No thanks, I’ll pass.

Rating: 77
Price: $8.75

Cigar Review: Don Ramon Maduro

Don Ramos Maduro

Last week the HJ Bailey Company reached out to me to review a few cigars that they recently came out with as a tribute to the founder of their company. HJ Bailey was founded in 1932 by Raymond Roth and he passed away in 1998. Produced in Honduras by Camacho cigars, these cigars are the result of a passion and love of cigars to honor a man loved by his family who still runs the business to this day.

Cigar: Don Ramon Maduro
Origin: Honduras
Size: 6 x 60
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras

Appearance & Construction (17/20): A flawless leaf with virtually no veins adorns the maduro version which has the appearance of dark chocolate. The large style band on the cigar is eye catching if not a little busy and the one drawback is the weight of the cigar. For a 6 x 60 the smoke is very light and the foot reveals a loosely packed cigar.

Flavor & Notes (27/30): The foot of this cigar reveals prelight notes of anise, and on the draw the notes are sweet. Upon lighting this cigar one quickly realizes this is a true maduro smoke with a sweetness to it and a well defined cocoa is the primary note on this impressive cigar. The cocoa begin to take on a more chocolate like note with notes of wood and leather creeping up in the background in the second third of this smoke. The final third has notes of pepper, leather and cocoa.

Burn/Ash/Draw (22/25): Despite a pretty jagged burn line the cigar I never felt the need to touch up the cigar. The impressive thing is the medium colored grey ash which held on. And despite looking to ash at 4″ and not wanting to make a mess I had to work to break the ash. The draw is a little loose, but nothing to really complain about.

Overall (22/25): I generally dread having to smoke a cigar I never heard of to do a review at the request of a manufacture, but this cigar is a definite winner. Even though I dislike big ring cigars, I did not want to put this down. The value of this smoke is great, the one draw back is how fast it smoked.

Rating: 88
Price: $80.00 a box of 25

Cigar Review: Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ Maduro

Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ Maduro

I’ve had these cigars sitting in my humidors for a while and I kept putting off smoking them. Why I am not sure as it is a cigar that I was very much looking forward to smoking. Perhaps it is that not one local B&M carries them by me and I was worried I would like them too much and not have easy access to them.

Cigar: Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ Maduro
Origin: Nicaragua
Size: 6 x 54 (Sublime / Toro)
Wrapper: Corojo Maduro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Strength: Med/Full

Pre-Smoke: This well packed cigar is not as dark as your typical maduro. The corojo maduro wrapper can be a tad misleading to the naked eye. The scent off the wrapper is sweet while the foot offers a wood like spice. The cigar has its fair share of veins but nothing extreme and it features a cuban style triple cap. So far this seems like a maduro is supposed to be.

Smoke: This is definitely a full flavor big smoke producing cigar that on the light you were definitely hit with some well defined notes. The first third offers wood with some spices at the start. As I reached the end of the 1st third one of the most defined mocha notes I ever came across took control of the stick. The 2nd third of this cigar offered the same defined mocha notes with some pepper (yes I went into a sneezing frenzy!) and the wood notes remained as well. The final third of the cigar was a heavyweight bout between the wood and mocha notes each taking turns on the lead of the judges scorecard with the wood winning out in the end. The finish of the cigar was very woody.

Overall: Hands down the best Don Pepin Garcia I ever had. What I really liked about it was that it was a classic maduro in the sense it had a lot of sweetness to it in the mocha notes. I have noticed that recently a maduro cigar is not what they have been historically. A maduro cigar is supposed to be sweet, not necessarily strong. Today a lot of these cigars are strong fro the sake of being strong and offer nothing special. There are a lot of people at my local B&M that smoke these cigars because they like the buzz they are getting from the high nicotine content of the leaf. Perhaps I am being a cigar snob, but I believe these people smoke for the wrong reason. These maduro cigars turn the real smoker off to what a maduro is really meant to be.

Rating: 93
Price: $9.75

Cigar Review: Carlos Torano Casa Torano

Carlos Torano Casa Torano

Just a random thought to start with, right now I am craving apple cider. It is the fall, the leaves are changing colors and I am craving apple cider.

Today’s smoke is from Carlos Torano, and lately I have become a fan of this cigar company. I’ll admit I am a bit of a boutique whore, but every now and then I visit an old reliable and I get hooked on them again. After all it is the everyday brand of cigar that got me hooked on cigars, and a lot of them deserve their praise. Is this particular cigar one of them? Let’s find out shall we?

The Skinny:

Cigar: Carlos Torano Casa Torano
Origin: Honduras
Size: 6.25 x 50
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras & Nicaragua
Strength: Medium

Pre-Light: The maduro wrapper is very oily and it has the appearance of being dyed to make it look darker. The wrapper is very toothy and the foot offers notes of cocoa and wood. While the prelight draw was that of wood with slight notes of nuts. The cigar while very oily seemed like it was a little brittle to the touch, but I was able to find a few soft spots in the roll.

Smoke: One thing I like about Torano cigars is the quality of the burn. The cigar had a nice tight white ash throughout and the first third was notes of wood with coffee and a slight earth. I didn’t lose my ash til the second third of the cigar which revealed notes of coffee with subtle chocolate and nut notes in the background. The final third was a burnt coffee and some pepper.

Overall: The final third of this cigar knocked off some points for me as it lost some of its luster for me. This cigar reminds me a lot of the Signature line especially in the appearance department. The finish of the cigar was burnt coffee.  The cigar was good, but it just misses in my book. The original Casa Torano is much better, and I will follow up with that review in a few days.

Rating: 87
Price: $88.00 a box of 25

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Cigar Review: H Upmann Reserve Maduro

H Upmann Reserve Maduro

Every month I look forward to my package from Altadis as part of their VIP program to see what cigars they have sent me. This is a good thing as they send me cigars that I have forgotten about because I have become boutique cigar frenzied.

H. Upmann cigars were founded in 1844 by a German banker named Hermann Upmann who was heading the Havana branch for his family’s business. He set forth to create a smoke that would become the envy of Cuba’s finest cigars makers. At least that was his goal.

The H. Upmann Reserve Maduro is the newest of the line and the subject of today’s review.

The Skinny:

Cigar: H Upmann Reserve Maduro
Origin: Dominican Republic
Size: 6 x 54 (Toro)
Wrapper: San Andres Morron (Mexico?)
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Honduras & Nicaragua

Prelight: The cigar is typical of a mass produced cigar as it is very well rolled, or at least appears so to the naked eye. Upon further inspection this toothy wrapper has some soft spots throughout the cigar from head to foot. Nothing to bad, but in feeling the cigar you are aware they exist. The reserve maduro is a very oily cigar, with notes of sweet tobacco on the foot and on the draw. This is a perfect example of what a maduro cigar should be. Too many people equate maduro with strong, but a maduro cigar historically is supposed to be sweeter.

Smoke: First let me address the negative of this cigar. It has a lot of oils, but it felt like a wet cigar. I am not sure if I am relaying that correctly, but it felt like it was not dried/cured/aged enough and as a result I had to relight it a couple of times. The burn itself was acceptable but keeping it lit was a challenge. On the first 1/3rd of the cigar the sweet tobacco notes remained with a touch of cocoa and coffee in the background.

As I reached the 2nd third of this smoke I was teased with subtle notes of cherry for a little while, but when I had to relight the notes were gone. The coffee notes were much stronger in this third of the smoke and a touch of leather crept in as well.

The final third of the cigar was stronger than the rest of the smoke as notes of leather took over, but in the background remained the coffee that was present from start to finish.

Overall: While I am not a big fan of H. Upmann cigars as in general I feel they are a little too generic. This cigar was no different as nothing really leaped out at me to make it something I would reach for again and again. However, it was a nice change of pace for me on yet another fine fall day.

Rating: 87
Price: $30.00 a 5 pack at various online retailers

Cigar Review: Los Blancos Maduro

I recently took part in a cigar pass on one of my favorite websites, cigarlive.com. A cigar pass is when a group of people get together and pass around some sticks. The pass starts with someone sending out a batch, and the next person takes what he wants and puts in others at equal or greater value and the USPS delivers our smokes to the next person.

The last cigar pass that I took part in I took a couple of cigars including this one. I had never heard of the Los Blancos and the label attracted me to the cigar. The bright yellow on the dark maduro cigar offers a wonderful contrast.

The Los Blancos website has this to offer, “Our family grows premium Habana 2000 wrapper in Esteli, Nicaragua, and allows it to age through the traditional and time honored Cuban process. The result is this beautiful maduro wrapper. These cigars are blended with tobacco from our fields in Esteli (Nicaragua)and the Jalapa (Nicaragua) and Jamastran (Honduras) valleys. The result is a Maduro cigar that has all the elements and taste of a great Maduro without the heavy smoke of a full-bodied cigar. Habana 2000…simply exquisite!”

The Skinny:

Cigar: Los Blancos Maduro
Origin: Nicaragua
Size: 5 x 52 (Robusto)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Nicaragua

Pre-Smoke: As I stated before the eye catcher on this cigar is the bright yellow band which is on the foot and the body of the smoke. It offers a wonderful eye catching contrast. This maduro is dark, toothy and full of oils. The scent of the wrapper was an extremely strong cocoa bean with a touch of Jamaican spice. I wanted to go have some jerk chicken after smelling this stick. The foot offered notes of wood and pepper, while the pre-light draw offered the same but not as strong. I was really looking forward to smoking this beauty.

Smoke: As I smoked this stick the similarities to the Partagas Black Label caught my eye. The stick looks a lot like that cigar and the smoke has a few similar qualities. The notes I picked up off of this cigar were cocoa and pepper to start. Around the half way point of the stick, some notes of wood were introduced which created a well balanced cigar with absolutely no burn issues.

Overall: Whenever I come across a cigar that is new to me, and the results are this good I am more than ecstatic. I would hope that Los Blancos would do a little better job of marketing these in the future as it is a very enjoyable smoke and I plan to keep a couple in my humidor

Rating: 88
Price: $6.00

Review: Reyes Family Premier

About 2 weeks ago I received the Reyes Family Premier from Frank Santos of Reyes Family Cigars to review, with a killer looking t-shirt. Being that I had a funny story attached to Puros Indios Cigars which Reyes used to be known as I was really looking forward to reviewing this cigar.

A few years back when I was manager of a cigar store in Brooklyn New York we had a girl who hung out from time to time, who we affectionately called Minnesota being that is where she hailed from. Amazing that her nick name stuck with me all these years, but I can’t recall her real name. She was amazing, she had Angelina Jolie’s lips and a killer body that guys were falling over, including me. Anyway, one day we’re all smoking and she goes “you can tell a lot about a guys manhood by the size of cigar he smokes. Guys tend to stick to sizes close to their own so they don’t feel threatened”. One guy who happened to be smoking a small perfecto cigar quickly objected. In the mean time my boss went to the back of the store and came out with a Puros Indios Chief which measures 18 x 66. As he is lighting the cigar and everyone is laughing hysterically, he says, “what she says is true, definitely true”. One of the funniest moments I could remember…

The Skinny:

Cigar: Reyes Family Premier
Origin: Honduras
Size: Robusto 5 x 50
Wrapper: Maduro Ecuador Sumatra
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua (Condega & Jalapa)

Pre-Light: The wrapper on this cigar isn’t the prettiest in the world with prominent veins and visible lines on the roll. It did however shine with oils. With the cigar in hand I felt the wrapper and realized this cigar was loosely packed with a couple of soft spots. The scent of the wrapper was very nutty as was the foot. The flavor on the pre-light draw was that of espresso.

Smoke: I used a straight cut on this cigar, and remembering my lighter for the first time in days, I toasted the foot of the cigar. Taking my first few draws I realized the cigar was loose, and the smoke would be fast. The notes off the cigar was delightful and on the 1st third of the cigar there were notes of chocolate and espresso while on the 2nd third it was espresso and earth, before giving way to earth with slight notes of pepper.

Overall: This full bodied smoke lasted just under an hour, and was a really enjoyable smoke. I smoked it to the nub and was very disappointed when the smoke was over . The overall finish was dry, so have some beverage available, perhaps a cup of espresso. The ash was a medium gray that held despite the defined image of a loosely rolled cigar. The notes were espresso, chocolate, earth, and slight pepper. If a loosely packed cigar bothers you a lot deduct one point from my rating.

My Local Price: 7.50 (A Gift from Reyes)
Rating: 90 (Out of 100)

Review: Rocky Patel Edge Maduro

I remember when the Edge first came on the market, the cigar store I managed could not keep them in stock. Back then they were without a band and without a cello. They would come in boxes of 100 and we would sell out of about 5-7 boxes a week. It was incredible the buzz this cigar got. The question I always had, would they be able to keep the quality up with that type of mass production. The answer to me is they haven’t at least on the maduro smoke.

The Skinny:

Cigar: Rocky Patel Edge Maduro
Origin: Honduras
Size: Toro 6 x 52
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Mexico
Filler: Nicaragua, Panama

Pre-Light: This is the second cigar in a row that I was unable to pull a scent from the wrapper, while from the foot the smell was of light pepper which put me into a sneezing fit. The wrapper itself was a dark maduro, that was a little veiny but glistening with oils. The draw which had a sweetness to it, was firm.

Smoke: As I clipped this cigar with my V Cut it began to rain, and the mass exodus from the beach streamed past my car.  So with my cigar clipper, I lit up. The flavors were consistent all the way through of spices, light pepper and some wood. The ash was a tad bit flaky, although there were no burn issues.

Overall: This cigar missed for me. I can’t put my fingers on it what was missing, but it was not the same Edge that came on the market years ago. There was no desire to go back and get more, there was no desire to tell all my friends. It was just your average run of the mill premium cigar.

My Local Price: $6.50
Rating: 86 (Out of 100)

Review: CAO L’Anniversaire Maduro (10th Anniversary)

The Skinny:

Cigar: CAO L’Anniversaire 10th Anniversary Maduro
Origin: Nicaragua
Length/Ring: 6″ x 60
Shape: Perfecto
Wrapper: Triple Fermented Connecticut Broadleaf
Fillers: Ecuadorian, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers

Before I start this review I need to get into some background of the day at hand. It was Sunday 6/22/08 and I had declared the day as a no smoke day. A chance to rest my palate, and if I smoke to often my asthma kicks in.  Then the Yankee game went into a rain delay and the days plans changed. Not wanting to sit at home and wait for the rain to stop, I headed over to the beach with this cigar.

I live about 10 miles south of Yankee Stadium and when I walked out of my house it was the total opposite of what was happening at the stadium. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and it was pretty damn hot. So I made the 1 mile drive to the beach, and again there was a totally different weather system. At the beach it was overcast, the winds were at 15mph gusting to 25mph and it was 10 degrees cooler then my house 1 mile away according to the temperature readout on my car.

So as I was smoking my cigar there was a seagull circling the area with something between its beak. As it circled higher and higher it released the object and with a loud cracking sound I realized the seagul dropped a crab. With the crabs shell cracked the seagull feasted on his dinner. The circle of life is a beautiful thing.

Pre-Light: So with my cigar in hand I began my pre-light inspection. I could instantly tell via the weight of the cigar that it was not packed. There were a lot of pockets in the cigars and I knew right then and there it would be a fast smoke or perhaps one with burn issues. The scent of the wrapper was that of cocoa and spice. The pre-light draw was easy with hits of cocoa and tea. Since this was a perfecto I used my Colibri straight cutter on the cap.

Smoke: Luckily I found my cigar lighter burried in the seam of the passanger seat. With the wind conditions at my location I would of never gotten this baby lit with matches. As I smoked the cigar it started as a medium bodied cigar, slowly working its way into that of a full bodied cigar. You could sense the change as you smoked it, which was a nice. A gradual build up is better then a full out onslaught. The cigar started out with traces of cocoa, which quickly faded. The cigar was sweet with wood tones and rich dark chocolate. I did have some burn issues, but I will chalk it up to the windy conditions in which I was smoking.

Overall: The cigar was loosely packed with tobacco and I am sure despite the wind it might of contributed to some burn issues. It is something I would smoke again though as it was enjoyable.

Local Price: $9.00
Rating: 89 (Out of 100)