Ave Maria Short Cigar Review
Full Disclosure: I received this as a sample from Cigars Direct. All reviews are my own.
Wrapper: Brazilian Habano Oscuro | Binder: Nicaraguan Habano Ligero | Filler: Nicaragua (Esteli, Condega & Jalapa) Habano | Box of 12: $195.00 | Single: $20.00 | Torpedo | 7″ x 54
0/3: It comes in a coffin. The fact that some cigars come in “coffins” has always been a little disconcerting for me. Who wants to smoke something out of a coffin? But it’s a cool coffin because when you lift the lid there is this little piece of wood attached to top that raises the cigar from its slumber so that you can easily pick it up.
The cigar itself looks really nice. Very dark brown wrapper, almost mahogany. Looks well made and is very oily to the touch. There are some veins but what you will probably notice first about this cigar is its ostentatious band. It’s a mishmash of heraldic symbols from the Crusades. I wonder if this has gone over well with many of the brick and mortar cigar stores that are owned by people of Arab descent?
1/3: Very refined flavors hit my palette immediately. Slight black pepper on the retrohale that sticks around for a while, dry oak and a general warmness of flavors. It’s quite good.
2/3: During the second third a smoky woodiness starts to come through. The black pepper starts to fade into nothingness and there is a mild sweetness bordering on floral lurking in the background like a stalker (a fun one, if there is such a thing).
3/3: There really isn’t much of a change from the second to the final third. It’s still tastes very good.
4/3: Medium bodied with an excellent draw and a fairly even burn; this cigar is very good. Standing in your way is the fact that this is a fairly expensive cigar. The matter of value I leave up to you as I review only the cigar and not my perceived value of the cigar. All I can say is that I absolutely enjoyed it and thought it was a very worthy cigar.
4 points
Black Pedro Cigar Review
I received samples from Felipe Gregorio; all reviews are my own.
Is this cigar somehow related to the Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite? But the Pedro in that movie wasn’t black so I’m guessing that there’s something else going on here, maybe a comment from someone in the know would help elucidate the etymology of this brand of tasty cigars.
The cigar is a good looking specimen. This particular cigar, named “Gitano” is a 6″ x 54 torpedo, which is part good and bad for me. Personally, I love torpedoes. For whatever reason, probably due to the fact that since torpedoes are more difficult to roll more experienced torcedores roll them, I have had a better smoking history with this vitola. On the other hand, the ring gauge is on the big side for me now. Earlier on in my smoking career (Really? A career?) I liked the bigger ring gauge smokes but now I find myself going for thinner cigars.
Evenly packed with some stretch marks around the veins this dark, dusty brown maduro wrapper gives off a rustic impression as if embodying the hard scrabble lifestyle that many people in the cigar industry come from. It is a bit hard to the touch but there are some oils on the wrapper and the wrapper itself feels a little rough.
Cigar Stats
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Sumatra Ecuador
Binder: Dark Nicaragua Habano
Filler: Corojo Dominican & Nicaragua Habana 92
Price: One of each four sizes + 2 others for $27.00
Pulling John Flame!
When I looked at these cigars the first time and saw the ominous name – “Black Pedro” – I thought “uh oh, this is going to be one of those kick you in the teeth kind of cigars.” But that isn’t the case. It actually has some refinement to it, some nuance. Black pepper may be the leading flavor here but the smoke also has a creamy feel to it and there are other moderating flavors to notice like tobacco and coffee with cream. Black pepper really is the leading force in this cigar though and I’m thankful for that. It may be a bracing flavor for some but I like it… a lot.
Entering the second third I thought that there was going to be some flagging of the black pepper flavor but there was no such thing. It’s quite astonishing that something so simple, black pepper, could be so enjoyable but that is where I’m at. Black pepper isn’t the only flavor I have observed. There are also flavors in the nut spectrum and creamy coffee. Very good mix of flavors but without a lot of complexity and, so far, no evolution in flavors.
One of the things that separates the good from the great cigars for me is how the flavors manifest themselves. With great cigars the flavors are strong and clean and those little flavor molecules permeate around every taste bud wrapping them in a tasty cocoon. This is one of those cigars.
Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case when there is one predominant flavor, even when that flavor is a great example of its archetype, it can become too overpowering by drowning out the other flavors. That happened with this cigar a little ways into the final third. My cocooned taste buds have become numb to all the other flavors and has decreased my enjoyment of this cigar a little bit.
Overall, I can safely say that I have enjoyed this medium-full bodied cigar with its good draw and burn, which only required minor course corrections a couple of times. If there had been a little more complexity and evolution to the flavor profile this would have been an amazing cigar. As it stands it is still a great cigar because it is one of the best examples of black pepper that I have had in a long time and there was enough complexity in the early goings of this cigar to make it interesting. If you can find some then do yourself a favor and pick a couple up.
91 points
Urbano Corojo Cigar Review
Full disclosure: I received two of these cigars for the purposes of this review from Urbano Cigars.
It’s a gnarly looking wrapper. There are some raised veins, black colorations in both the line and spotted variety and a couple of small holes on the wrapper. As I have said before, I don’t care so much about the look of a cigar as long as it tastes good.
The feel of the cigar is oily, a little spongy to the touch but evenly packed. The band reminds me of a coat of arms with the fleur-de-lis, which I thought was a big no-no nowadays (maybe not). Let’s do this.
Cigar Stats
Length: 5″
Ring Gauge: 50
Wrapper: Dominican Republic Corojo
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: $115.00/Box of 24
Weaver Torch!
The first one I had started out well – this one is starting out really well. It has that spiciness that I like, pretty strong but well balanced, and the texture feels powdery. The spiciness is pretty close to black pepper and it sticks around on your palate, the back of your throat and in your nostrils for a long time.
Black pepper is good but there needs to be more to a cigar than that and, thankfully, there is some evolution during the second third. The spice takes on a softer presence and there is also a floral note that is not very sweet, but good nonetheless.
The final third is much like the second third, which is fine. The spice is soft and has a bit of sweetness to it and the floral presence is still there. This cigar has a good draw and burn and I would put it in the medium-full bodied range. It’s a really tasty cigar that you should consider if you like black pepper and spice in general.
91 points
My Father El Hijo Cigar Review
When I first received my samples of this cigar from Smoke Inn I was impressed because it was a My Father production and they make good cigars. But I was a little confused by the “El Hijo” name attached to it. From my three years of high school Spanish I thought that translated into “Hi Joe.”. Feeling good about learning something in high school I went to Smoke Inn’s site to make sure that I was right. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Here is what they have to say about this cigar:
The third installment of our Microblend SeriesTM, the My Father “El Hijo” (meaning The Son), is a 5.5 x52 box pressed cigar with an unfinished foot, where the binder and filler protrude beyond the wrapper of the cigar. The unfinished foot gives the smoker a flavor experience before the very limited 2009 harvest of select Ecuadorian Habano wrapper kicks in. The experience is unique and very interesting.
This select wrapper had been set aside by the Garcia Family, due to the small quantities produced, and we were very pleased and honored that we were allowed to have it for this project. You will find this medium to full bodied smoke has an extraordinary savory quality.
Now onto the review.
This cigar has a slight box press to it. It is oily with a medium brown wrapper and some small to medium sized veins. It’s got the coveted triple cap as well. But, as a sign of the times, it looks like the cigar maker has cut some costs by ending the wrapper about a quarter of an inch down from the foot. That’s a joke.
Cigar Stats
Length: 5 ½″
Ring Gauge: 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: $48.75/5 Pack | $146.25/Box of 15
One Man Army Flame!
Right from the beginning you are greeted with bold spice. Spice that lingers for minutes on the back of your throat in the form of black pepper. Through the nose is a combination of warm spice and red pepper. Red pepper is on the tongue as well. As you can tell, there is a lot of spice here in the beginning but there is also a little bit of cashew.
During the second third the flavor profile does go through a bit of a metamorphosis by transitioning partly away from spice to sweetness and wood. Over the course of this third the spice really dissipates; almost into nothingness, which is something I’m not liking.
Around the transition from the second to the final third there is yet another change in the flavors. Wood, nuts and a nice smokiness make up the flavor profile now. Think of it this way: this cigar came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. A tasty lamb though.
I would have much preferred if the flavor profile would have stayed similar to what it was during the first third but that was not meant to be. In both of the samples that I tried there was a change in the flavor profile away from the spice after the first third. While the first third was amazing the last two-thirds were less than spectacular.
It is a medium-full bodied cigar with a good draw and burn. Is it worth trying? Yes. Pick some up here and only here (unless you live in Florida and can go to one of the Smoke Inn shops, that is).
91 points
Tatuaje Cigar Rights of America Special Edition Cigar Review
Note: This cigar came from the CRA Sampler Pack #1.
It looks old, worn. Older than Clint Eastwood, an Afghan goatherd and the Sahara combined. Leathery valleys are punctuated by veiny mountain ranges that jut upwards harum-scarum. The excess tobacco is not cut off at the foot but is folded over completely hiding the filler tobaccos.
Even though the picture looks bleak I am holding out a lot of hope for this cigar. It’s a Tatauje, which is usually a good thing. It’s oily, which is, again, usually a good thing. And it smells like it is going to be a robust cigar.
The rough outward appearance and texture suggests, to me at least, that Pete Johnson’s crew used an older wrapper that grew at the top of the plant. More sun exposure may mean a meaner look but it also usually leads to a lot of character as well. Hopefully that comes through loud and clear.
A syrupy sweetness is the high note for the pre-light draw. It’s also a surprisingly open draw as well – with tobacco hanging over and covering the foot I expected a lot more resistance than I got. There is some spice that reveals itself in the aftertaste but it is not a lasting flavor. The sweetness is low in acidity and reminds me of a darker, fruity flavor.
I decided against circumcising my cigar before I lit it and that did not cause any problems. The initial flavors run the gamut from plum, which bears little resemblance to the “syrupy sweetness” of the pre-light draw, to dried out leather. In a way it does taste like it looks – complex.
In between plum and leather there is spice, salt and a saccharine sweet aftertaste that lingers on the tip of my tongue for way too long. Other than that last flavor this cigar is very enjoyable. It will probably reach the full bodied spectrum, or at least barely so, as the cigar continues to burn. And the draw and the burn are relatively good (the burn being the better of the two) an inch in.
While I was smoking this cigar (and writing this post) I decided to go online and see what others were saying about the Tatuaje Black Label and I found this thoughtful review from Matt’s Cigar Journal. Great review.
At the halfway point and I don’t think my prediction of a full bodied cigar is going to come true. No bother, it is medium-full bodied and tastes great. The big change from the first half is a strengthening of spice – black pepper. A nutty flavor also presents itself. Sweetness disappears.
It ends with an intermittent raggedness maybe even some harshness. Taken in its totality, this cigar is still a very good one. Well worth the price of the CRA sampler. (No score given to CRA Sampler cigars.)
