Perdomo Habano Maduro Short Cigar Review

Pre-Smoke: It feels too tightly packed and the wrapper is dry. The wrapper doesn’t show any imperfections except for one raised vein.

Smoke: Weak flavors. Tobacco, dirt and a mild sweetness, which is grassy, that occasionally pops in. I think it tracks really nicely with a heavily watered down coffee.

Mild-medium bodied with a loose draw and an even burn. The wrapper begins to crack and unravel as I near the end of it.

After-Smoke: Frankly, I had no idea what to expect from this cigar but I expected more than what I got from it. Completely mundane.

2 points

Partagas Naturales Natural Cigar Review

This cigar brand started back in Cuba way back when, actually, way before Castro. This isn’t one of those Cubans though. But it is made by the same family, the Cifuentes, that was making these cigars in Cuba before Castro’s merry men took that Caribbean island, just south of Florida, over.

Partagas cigars are offered in a ton of different vitolas (it is offered in three different vitolas with the maduro wrapper); if you can’t find your favorite size with this line then you probably won’t find the right cigar anywhere. They are offered with a natural (Cameroon) wrapper and a maduro wrapper. They are priced anywhere from $4.00 to $10.00. I’m smoking the Naturales vitola with the Cameroon wrapper for this review.

Upon first glance it does look a little rustic. There are bumps all over the place and it is not perfectly cylindrical in shape. With a small crack near the foot, a couple of raised veins and a really hard feel to it one would be forgiven for dismissing this cigar. But, working in its favor, is the fact that it is an oily cigar. And, truth be told, you can not ever really tell how well a cigar will be until you light it up.

Cigar Stats
Robusto
Length: 5 1/2″
Ring Gauge: 50
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Mexico
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: around $6.00

Flame Flickering!

Unfortunately, the draw is tight – I guess being too tightly packed does matter. It is not too tightly packed as to make this Partagas unsmokable but it’s bordering on that. On the bright side, the burn is pretty even.

Tobacco is the main flavor for this mild-medium bodied smoke. There is also some burnt wood flavors coming through. Near the end of the cigar there are some sweet and salty notes.

82 points

Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur (Natural) No. 3 Cigar Review

I smoked this one a while ago so I’m just basically going off of my notes.

There’s a decent amount of oils on the wrapper but there’s also a minor stretch mark in one area. Other than that stretch mark it looks like it has perfect construction. Right before this I smoked a crappy Don Tomas and a second one (forget what it was at this point) that was just as bad. So there’s a chance that they can adversely affect this cigar. Drinking Maker’s Mark, Cherry Coke, and a water.

Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6 1/8″
Ring Gauge: 48
Wrapper: USA/Conn
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Dom Rep, Nic
Price: $6.00

Night Light!

Pride of Jamaice Vintage Reserva Crystals Cigar Review

This cigar comes from Barrington House International, Ltd. Barrington House is one of the only cigar companies that operates in Jamaica and before I started this blog and did a post on Jamaican cigars I can’t recall ever hearing about them. Luckily for me the good people at Barrington House saw the post and decided to send me a few dozen cigars for free and, based off the first couple I have smoked, I am very glad.

And I must say that even though I did get these cigars for free from Barrington House in no way have they paid me for my reviews nor would I be any easier on them in a review. Now onto the review:

Very pale cigar. It comes in a glass tube and it looks like it has very good construction. There are some oils in this cigar. I must also mention that I just got this cigar today and it hasn’t had enough time to rest in a humidor – so keep that in mind. I’m drinking Makers Mark and some water.

Cigar Stats
Grand Carona
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 45
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Mexican
Filler: Jamaica
Price: $6.50

Gratis Fire!

It’s actually quite good. Mild-medium bodied but strong on the flavors. Perfect draw. Earthy with fleeting spice on each puff. The flavor is musty, it’s not a dry cigar. There’s also an herbal flavor to it – something like sage or rosemary.

Normally, I do not like cigars that are less than medium bodied but this one has strong flavors so I’ll make an exception. Half an inch in and the spice still lingers on the palette. Very laid back cigar; none of the flavors are too strong nor offensive.

Burning quickly – that could be because it’s not properly humidified. Whatever the case, I’m really liking the flavors. Spice is taking over more now. Halfway through and it’s turned into a spicy little firecracker! That herbal flavor is still there but it’s way in the background now.

Burns evenly with lots of smoke. I am really enjoying this cigar. Maybe if I give it some time in the humidor it will get even better. Usually I would be lowering a cigar’s rating as the cigar progressed but this isn’t the case here. This cigar only gets better.

91 points

Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet Churchill – Cigar Review

[Editor's Note: type in www.sulcubano.com and you get redirected to cigar.com's website. Does this mean that cigar.com owns the brand? I don't know.]

Cigar Stats
Length: 7″
Ring Gauge: 47
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder & Filler: Nicaragua and Honduras
Approximate Price: $5.75

Decent construction – there are a couple of stretch marks on the cigar which makes me worry about how well the cigar will draw because, if a cigar is rolled too tightly there is an increased chance that the draw will be tight. There are also some raised veins and the color of the cigar is medium brown.

Da Flame!

Cuvee Rouge Robusto – Cigar Review

Cigar Stats:
Length: 5
Ring Gauge: 50
Wrapper: Dominican Republic
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price:$7.00

Go to the Cuvee Cigars site and you’ll get a flash-enabled bonanza of information about these cigars. Be forewarned, there is a long intro and the whole site is very, how should I say this, involved. But just because the site is really, really involved doesn’t mean it isn’t full of great information.

Enough! Onto the cigar review.

Very good looking robusto. It has a ton of oils and the wrapper has a medium darkness to it (it is a sun grown tobacco). I am pretty sure that I liked these cigars in the past so I am very hopeful for this one as well.

Double Flame!

The draw is great and there is a lot of smoke. Nice. There’s some kind of cocoa taste to it, not overpowering though. It’s also a unique flavor that I haven’t come across all that often before. To tell you the truth I really start getting that cocoa flavor when I blow smoke out through my nose.

There’s a rich, chocolate aftertaste for this cigar which I can really taste on my tongue. Overall, this is a rich and creamy textured cigar. And you get all of this from a mild-medium bodied cigar. Amazing!

Most weaker cigars get overpowered by my Wild Turkey. Basically, I think this is a result of most mildish cigars just being dull and not worth smoking anyways. However, this Cuvee Rouge cigar is standing up very nicely to my drink and the burn is very even as well.

Even though I do think that this is a great cigar I still feel like there is something missing that would bump it up to another level. There is no spice with this cigar. There is no kick. There’s nothing about this cigar that I will absolutely crave for in the future.

It is a great cigar nonetheless. It is a dependable cigar with some good flavors. But it’s sort of like the cigar equivalent of my Mom’s Honda Accord. Sure, it’s great in every way that matters but, like my Mom’s Honda Accord, it just doesn’t have that something extra special.

As I look at my tasting notes now I see that I said that this is a dessert cigar. And while all the flavors are some derivative of cocoa I’m not sure, looking back on it now, that this is a totally apt description. I mean just because the flavors are cocoa with some chocolaty notes doesn’t mean it’s a dessert cigar. But that’s what I put in my notes so that is what I’m going with right now.

And even if you want to define this cigar as a “dessert” cigar and relegate it to that category of cigardom I could care less. It is a great cigar. This cigar has an effortless grace to it because it does the important things (great draw, burns evenly, good mix of flavors) better than most other cigars.

I would rather drive my Mom’s Accord or smoke this cigar than drive or smoke something that is only occasionally great. So even though this cigar isn’t classically a great cigar in my book it is undeniably a great cigar by any rational measurement.

92 points

A Cigar with a Red Band – Cigar Review

A while ago I bought a bundle of cigars that were cheap and came highly recommended. I forget the specifics about these cigars, maybe they were seconds or they were discontinued, I don’t remember. But what I do remember is that they were cheap and I thought how bad could they be. Right?

Well, a dissection of that misguided reasoning will have to be set off for another day. While a couple of the cigars were very good the vast majority were bad. Until then, here is a review of one of those cigars.

Cigar Stats:
Frankly, I don’t remember much about the exact specifics about this cigar. They are thick and dark and usually don’t taste good. Oh well. If I find more out about this cigar you will be the first people I tell.

Thick and dark with what looks like decent construction. I’m thinking that these cigars have to be factory seconds because there is something wrong with each one. Maybe one or two have been good, but that’s about it. These cigars look like they have been colored (sort of like it was in the ’90s when full bodied “maduros” were all the rage).

Torch!