Nestor Miranda Special Selection Cigar Review
I usually stay away from panatelas because I have had problems with the draw from them. But I had seen a lot of good things about these cigars and I just couldn’t pass up a deal for these cigars. So I bit and I couldn’t be happier.
It is a beautiful looking cigar. The dark wrapper isn’t marred by many veins and it is a rarity to see discolorations on these cigars’ wrappers. Well filled with tobacco and there it has some oils on it.
Thanks to Miami Cigar for providing this cigar for review.
Cigar Stats
Lancero
Length: 7 1/2″
Ring Gauge: 40
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Rosado
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua, Honduras & Dominican Republic
Price: $6.75/Cigar | $150.00/Box of 25
March Madness 2011 Torch!
Spice and grass are the main flavors in the beginning. Also some sweetness when you draw in some smoke. The draw is, unfortunately, a little tight. I’ve smoked ten of these cigars and around seven of them had draw issues. However, if you focus a little bit and take a draw slightly more frequently than normal the draw issues can be overcome.
Less than an inch into the cigar a nice chocolate flavor comes on. The spice is still there but the grassy flavor has fallen off almost completely. And then, in less than a half an inch, the grass comes back. It is a complex cigar that has most of the flavors that I love in a cigar.
Coffee really starts coming on at the beginning of the second third of this cigar. It’s a nice, bitter version of coffee; very black.
Entering the last third of this cigar and the flavors are staying fairly consistent. A little more spice than before, a little less coffee.
Very good cigar with a lot of high points. The draw was a pain though and that takes away from its overall score. I bet that with a bigger ring gauge I would enjoy it a lot more.
89 points
Sencillo Short Churchill Cigar Review
Today we have a very special review from Danny (@dannysguitar is his Twitter handle). He’s a cool guy and he has done an awesome review of the Sencillo Short Churchill. Enjoy!
First off, I would like to thank Travis for inviting me for a guest review on his site. Today we have for you the Sencillo Short Churchill. I have smoked my way through a box of these and this is one of the last sticks I have. A little background on this cigar. Keith K Park, owner of Prometheus and God of Fire was looking for an everyday cigar to add to his portfolio. He contacted Christian Eiora of Camacho cigars to put together some blends for him. This is the one that was chosen. So let’s light it up!
Giving the cigar a good once over reveals a nice dark wrapper. Tightly packed, and heavy for it’s size. This particular cigar is a Honduran puro. Prelight smell is sweet tobacco on the wrapper. Almost like vanilla. The foot is more musty barnyard with a touch of spice, maybe cinnamon? I decided to use a punch on this cigar and the prelight draw gives me slight pepper.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6.25
Ring Gauge: 48
Wrapper: Honduran Habano de Jamastran
Binder: Honduran Habano de Jamastran
Filler: Honduran Habano de Jamastran and Honduran Piloto Cubano
Price: $7.95
The first few draws are natural tobacco with a slight pepper and a hint of bitterness. Actually a little dry. Tons of smoke with a nice easy draw. A few puffs later I get some nice spicy earthy flavors. On the retrohale and I get a little black pepper spice and a nice bitter chocolate or coffee. Not sure which. Burn is straight, and the ash is strong, holds on for about an inch. Chewy thick smoke. Medium to full body.
Heading into the 2nd third, the smoke changes to a predominately smokey wood flavor. The further down I smoke this, the more I’m begging for some sweetness to balance out these flavors.
Coming to the end and the flavors are about the same. Earth, bitter chocolate/coffee, wood, and a bit of pepper spice. The spice has ramped up a tad bit. I find these flavors to be very enjoyable, but this cigar still missing a little sweetness to make this the complete package. I think this cigar would go well with a nice bourbon or rum. Something sweet to contrast the flavors of the cigar.
Final thoughts on the Sencillo Short Churchill. I think it’s a pretty good smoke. Better than an average cigar. I’m kinda surprised one type of tobacco could produce so many flavors.
89 points
Diesel Unholy Cocktail Guest Cigar Review
From my cigar buddy TriMarkC comes this great review of the Diesel Unholy Cocktail.
Diesel Unholy Cocktail, made by A.J. Fernandez
Size: 5×56, Belicoso torpedo
Wrapper: USA/Pennsylvania Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaraguan Long Fillers from Jalapa, Condega and Esteli region
Binder: Nicaraguan
Strength: Medium-to-Full Body
Price: Box of 30, $100 ($3.33/stick) or about $6 each in local B&Ms
The Diesel Unholy Cocktail is a cigar made by AJ Fernandez which was released mid-to-late in 2009. Since I had heard that these were full-bodied (read: full strength) cigars, and I tend to like mild-to-medium strengthened cigars, I’ve been a little hesitant to smoke one for fear of getting blown out of the sky. So I’ve had one sitting in my humidor for most of a year, until, as my friend “IronMikeCW” from @CigarWorldcom who gifted it to me, “my cigar palate grows some chest hairs”. Well, its time!
For this review, I smoked two Diesel Unholy Cocktails in one weekend, which only come in one size – a big, beefy belicoso torpedo that’s 5” by 56 ring gauge. The first had been resting for nearly a year, and the second was purchased about a month ago. I paired my first cigar with a great cup of good strong coffee, and the second cigar was matched to a Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale beer. I’m a big fan of pairing cigars with whatever you feel like drinking … I’m not a snob about the pairing, since I find it much more enjoyable when your palate tells you what you’re in the mood for.
Pre-light:
Let me say right off the bat that I love the look of the Diesel Unholy Cocktail’s band! It has a single band, at the foot, that has an antique look to it, with a medium brown old English-style text spelling out “Diesel” against a light tan background and some gold script crosses. With that band drawing your initial attention, and getting your mind thinking “old world,” I felt that the cigar itself looked rustic but elegant. It has a very dark wrapper, dark brown like dark chocolate, with a few veins visible but still smooth to the touch. Holding the cigar while inspecting it, it has heft. Its already a big cigar, but it feels densely packed – there were no soft spots at all, not even at the foot. There were no tears, holes or other irregularities to mar its appearance, even when I slid the band off the end. The cap is well wrapped, with no pinching or unusual overlapping.
As for the aroma, it was spicy and earthy, with a touch of cocoa. The foot had more of those, but also with green fields, and a strong caramel smell that wasn’t sweet. I also picked up a slight fruity aroma that I couldn’t place.
For torpedoes I tend to snip the end twice using my favorite double-guillotine cutter, since it has a backstop to prevent over-cutting. The pre-light had a perfect draw, with a spice and caramel flavor present, too.
First Third:
After lighting the Diesel Unholy Cocktail, I was immediately hit hard and fast with spice!! I mean everywhere – my lips, my tongue, the back of my throat and on the retrohale into my sinuses! Its not unpleasant at all, but you know its there, let me tell you! That spiciness calms down a bit, or perhaps I got used to it somewhat, after about 5 minutes. Then, the smoke fills your mouth with that caramel flavor – again, its not sweet, its just a nice pleasant flavor. I also picked up some coffee flavors.
As I continued on through the first third, that spiciness continued in the background, mellowed and not so in your face. That unusual fruity flavor is gone, but now I swear I was picking up a “beefy” flavor – just barely teasing me as it came and went. Still got the flavor of coffee too, sometimes sweet coffee, sometimes black coffee – very interesting! I could feel the strength of this cigar building as I worked into it; I’d say it starts out as a medium-bodied cigar and builds from there. The burn was a little wavy on both cigars but nothing that ever required a relight, and the ash was solid with black and white bands. In fact, the ash stayed on very solid, a testament to the construction of this cigar!
Second Third:
The Diesel Unholy Cocktail’s second third changed things up, and not always in a good way for me. There was still the spiciness that varied up and down as I progressed, and was most noticeable on the back of my throat. The caramel flavor picked up, adding in just a touch of some sweetness now. And the coffee flavor occasionally, too. But there was this off-putting flavor in one cigar that I haven’t been able to place, kinda like the smell of rubber cement, which startled me enough that I checked to see if perhaps I had laid the burning foot on something unexpected somehow. It would go away, and then shock me again. I eventually knocked the lit cherry off and touched up the light, which worked to eliminate that problem. But, on the other cigar, not only didn’t I have that strange problem, but my ash stayed on well past the half-way point (see picture)! The strength of still building, and it is now medium-to-full, but is still not a killer, even for me (remember, I tend to smoke mild-to-medium bodied cigars).
Final Third:
In the final third, the Diesel Unholy Cocktail’s strength is still increasing, and I can really feel it in my sinuses. Not enough for me to feel dizzy, but I know its there. Strangely, unlike any other cigar I’ve ever had, the draw got a little tighter in this last third; normally, I’ve experienced cigars’ draw opening up at the end. The burn has remained slightly wavy throughout this entire cigar, but has not caused any problems. The spiciness has been replaced with the cocoa I picked up in the very beginning, with some vanilla, and the caramel flavor that has been throughout. As I nubbed this cigar down to its last, it was that caramel flavor that I most enjoyed and remember.
Overall:
Overall, I not only liked this cigar – a lot – but I also felt that it wasn’t as strong as I had expected it to be. Perhaps I had listened too much to the hype, or perhaps my palate has matured since its release. Either way, I found that I really enjoyed the flavor changeups that Mr.Fernandez has created in his Diesel Unholy Cocktail. Like the Joya de Nicaragua Celebraciòn, another Nicaraguan puro, this cigar was spicy and full-bodied. BUT, knowing that, even a newer cigar smoke can still enjoy these stronger cigars by slowing down! I found that when I’m worried about the strength of a cigar, I slow down, which allows me to really pay attention to and enjoy the flavors more, too!
In summary, I will be looking to add more of these cigars to my humidors and to my rotation. With its great flavors and complexity, a solid feel and heft that makes you feel like you’re smoking a real cigar, and a fantastic box price (come on! 30 cigars for under $100!!), this cigar is worth buying a box or two.
91 points
Cuban Stock Royal Selection Cigar Review
This cigar was sent to me by the Cuban Stock Cigar Co.
Alright, this is the third one of these that I am about to smoke. I really liked the first two so I have high hopes for this one as well.
This cigar has a pretty severe box press to it, which is aesthetically interesting. The thing about this Cuban Stock Royal Selection is that the wrapper looks, for lack of a better word, like an old man’s face. It’s got wrinkles, some holes in it and it just plain looks like Clint Eastwood’s face after a week of shooting in the desert. Well, to be fair, a darker complexion Clint Eastwood but I think you get my meaning.
But then you touch it. The wrapper is smooth and sturdy. There is a good helping of oils on it as well. And, if it performs as well as I think it will, the appearance will be of little import.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 50
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: $25.00 for five cigars
Witching Hour Light!
Spice is one of those flavors that I have come to cherish with all these Cuban Stock cigars I have smoked, this one included. It isn’t the most robust spice out there but the flavors are very enjoyable. It’s a warm spice.
Raisins and leather are strong supporting flavors in this cigar. I am also getting a little bit of coffee as an aftertaste, which is nice.
The draw is open and the burn is good. It is a medium-full bodied cigar, almost in the full bodied range, which is fine by me.
There is some complexity apparent with these cigars. Spice takes on an increasingly stronger roll as the cigar progresses.
91 points
For another take head on over to Beer Review Dude
Graycliff Double Espresso Cigar Review
This cigar hales from the known cigar Mecca of the Bahamas – created by a guy who owns a five star restaurant and so on. Basically, the whole Graycliff line of cigars came about because this gustatory maestro didn’t think any other cigar in the world could stand up to his blue plate specials. My first encounter with these cigars came with the Graycliff 1666 Pirate. My opinion of that cigar can be stated thusly: It’s a lot less Black Beard than it is Somalia youth with an AK.
But I held out hope for this cigar nonetheless. I was told that it was quite good and that it warranted a smoke or two. Well, after a few more smokes I can safely say that it is nothing extraordinary. While it is better than the other Graycliffs that I have smoked I cannot say that it’s worth the exorbitant amount of money that it costs.
Anywho, let’s give it another shot. Maybe months in the humidor will have imbibed it with some extra flavor that I haven’t tasted before.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves here I should mention that this cigar doesn’t look special. It is very veiny but it is oily. Other than that, it does look like a fine cigar. The pre-light draw is open.
Cigar Stats
Robusto
Length: 4.5″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Costa Rica
Binder: Costa Rica
Filler: Cuban Seed Corojo & Ecuadorian Ligero
Price: $18.00/cigar
Expectant Flame!
The initial round of flavors centers on chocolate and coffee, which seems, to me at least, to be fairly run of the mill. What makes this cigar more run of the mill, like all the other Double Espressos that I have tried, is that the flavors are watered down. Think hot chocolate laced with a healthy helping of river water.
Another thing about this cigar is that it is billed as being full bodied. It’s not. I have to seriously wonder whether or not the retailers I’ve seen call it “full bodied” to trick people into buying this cigar. It’s a medium bodied cigar. Maybe a little stronger than that but not much more.
On the bright side the draw is very good. Resuming the parade of ill feelings now. The burn needs the occasional touch up. And the flavors only get further watered down.
Honestly, this is a ho-hum cigar.
86 points
For another opinion check out the Stogie Guys’ Review.
PS: For those of you who think I am being overly harsh on this cigar I have my reasons. It just wasn’t that good of a cigar. The flavors were lacking and for the price that they are charging for these things I expected something a lot better than what I got. That’s all.
