Carlos Toraño Signature Collection Short Cigar Review

Pre-Smoke

The Carlos Toraño Signature Collection features a sun grown Brazilian maduro wrapper, a Connecticut broadleaf binder and the rest of the tobacco is Cuban-seed ligero from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Very good looking cigar with tons of oil. This cigar is truly a fine piece of craftsmanship. I am smoking the toro vitola (6″ x 50) for this review and it retails for a little more than $7.00 a stick.

Smoke

Earth and cocoa are the first flavors I get. Most of the flavor is evident in my mouth and not when I exhale out my nose, which is different than my normal experiences with most cigars.

There is an almost tart flavor on the tip of my tongue. The burn is basically even, the draw is good and this is turning into a tasty medium bodied cigar. The flavors are moderately above average.

Sweetness is apparent in the immediate aftertaste associated with the cocoa and then fades. On a side note, the cocoa becomes watered down.

After-Smoke

If I had to teach the “law of diminishing returns” I would have my pupils smoke this cigar. It starts out as a solid example of earth and cocoa. But then it progressively got weaker. Still, at its low point, it is a decent cigar. For the most part… I liked it.

3 points

Alec Bradley Maxx Traditional Toro Short Cigar Review

Pre-Smoke

The most obvious difference between the original Maxx line and the Maxx Traditional line is that the Traditional line has smaller ring gauge cigars. Other than that, the traditional cigars are suppose to impart the same bold flavor as the oversized Maxx cigars.

I am smoking the Alec Bradley Maxx Traditional Toro (6″ x 50), which costs around $5.25, for this review. The wrapper has a good sheen of oils but it also has a number of veins. Furthermore, the wrapper color is not consistent but rather a mottled assortment of milk and dark chocolate colors with the occasional black spot.

AB Maxx Traditional Page

Smoke

Coffee flavors without any of the bitterness. There is a lot of chocolate, it just coats my mouth and won’t leave – not necessarily a bad thing. As this cigar progresses I’m afraid that coffee and chocolate will be all you get from it (and the coffee is relegated to a minor role in less than half an inch).

On the bright side it is a mostly sound cigar. The draw is great but the burn is somewhat uneven and the flavors (um, flavor – so far) is strong. It is a medium bodied cigar. This is all up to the halfway point.

After that point a saltiness comes on. It’s definitely a negative flavor but it is in no way overpowering or even a large enough part of the flavor profile to significantly take away from my overall enjoyment of this cigar. In conjunction with the saltiness a meaty flavor starts coming on. The chocolate is still the major flavor though.

After-Smoke

Now that I have finished this cigar I feel let down. Chocolate is a fine flavor as long as it is, at most, a secondary flavor. Making it the leading flavor, for me at least, is a mistake. It is a decent cigar but could have been much better considering its lineage.

2.5 points

Arturo Fuente Chateau Series Short Cigar Review

Pre-Smoke

Full disclosure, I like Fuentes. They are quality cigars and some of the upper level Fuentes are good. Hopefully, this one is great as well.

This cigar comes with a cedar sleeve, which means something or another. After taking off the cedar a very nice looking cigar is revealed. There are a couple of minor veins but that is the only thing wrong with this Arturo Fuente Double Chateau Fuente Natural (6 3/4″ x 50). Not very oily.

Smoke

Spice, creaminess and some burnt wood are the first flavors. The draw is good and the burn starts out evenly but then begins to stray. It is a medium bodied cigar with some above average flavors.

A sweet spice flavor starts to develop after about the one inch mark. The burnt wood flavor has shed its burnt-ness and is now more of a clean oak flavor. The flavors are nowhere near exceptional but it is an enjoyable cigar. There is a foul, almost bleach-like aftertaste that comes in after the halfway mark.

After-Smoke

It’s a good cigar with some good flavors. That foul flavor that comes on after the halfway mark takes away any shot it had at 4 points for me. But it isn’t enough of a big deal to make this a bad cigar. As long as you focus on the flavors when inhaled and the ones you get after exhaling out your nose it is quite enjoyable.

3 points

Price: $6.00

Another take from Cigar Inspector

Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte Barcelona Cigar Review

I recently posted a Sancho Panza review and I thought it was a good cigar. It got 88 points. This will be my first Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte review and this one is better than it’s conventional brethren.

It has pretty good construction. Box pressed cigar with an imperfect cap. Deep, chocolate brown wrapper. Supposed to be a really full bodied powerhouse of a cigar from what I’ve heard. We’ll see. Drinking Wild Turkey and a Cherry Coke.

Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6 1/2″
Ring Gauge: 48
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
Price: $4.00

Late Night Fire!

It is not overly full bodied – not nearly as strong as I was led to believe. Draw is a little tight but not too bad. Mellow maple syrup flavor. Smoky flavor as well.

Not burning evenly. Some kind of licorice tinged spice coming to the fore in this cigar.

A third of the way through and there is a mild sweetness to it. It really is beginning to smell like a barnyard. The burn has thankfully evened out though.

Two-thirds of the way through now and I have found that retrohaling it makes it a lot better, much more enjoyable. I was already retrohaling it (blowing the smoke through my nose) but now I’m concentrating on it more. When I retrohale I get mocha and some spicy notes. I’m glad I concentrated on retrohaling this cigar.

Nearing the end and I am getting chocolate notes when I retrohale. Very complex flavor profile. The flavors, individually, are not great but when you add them all up it becomes very, very good.

90 points

Romeo Y Julieta Habana Reserve Toro Cigar Review

This cigar has a slight sheen of oil. It looks perfect and it’s the second cigar I smoked after the CAO Vision. Very big cigar. Drinking Wild Turkey and a Cherry Coke.

Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 56
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
Price: $5.00

Go Light!

This cigar is on the verge of being too fat. Yet, the draw is perfectly fine. I usually end up having draw problems with the thinner cigars anyways. I’m not getting a ton of flavor from this cigar however, which is somewhat surprising.

Feels like a medium bodied cigar, which is shouldn’t be. It should be full bodied. The only flavor I’m getting from this cigar is that it’s a little nutty. Cashew? Maybe. There is also a mild sweetness to it that’s nice.

About halfway through now and it is just a boring cigar. There really isn’t that much flavor to it. No spice or anything that would push the limits of my palette and nothing that makes me think that this is a full bodied smoke.

It does burn evenly though. But who cares if it burns well if it’s boring? I would rather have a cigar that was more of a technical problem and tasted wonderfully than a cigar that was technically perfect, like this cigar, but is just boring. Even if it had some more good flavors to it but it doesn’t – so I don’t like it.

84 points

Padron 4000 (Natural) Cigar Review

The Padron 1964 Anniversary is my favorite cigar to date so I must admit that I do have high hopes for this cigar. No, I do not think it’s going to even come close to the 1964 Anni but I do expect great things from this one. But the presentation of this cigar has me a little worried. This cigar is very bumpy with some raised veins. There is also this small stretch mark near the foot. Very little amount of oils. Drinking Wild Turkey and a Cherry Coke.

Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6 1/2″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nic
Filler: Nic
Price: $7.00

Ball of Fire!

Leather and spice and everything nice. Perfect draw. More spice than leather, I have to say. Not burning evenly though. Wow, very spicy cigar and, as you may know, I really do like spicy cigars.

There’s also a steak flavor with this cigar. Meaty and slightly salty. Juicy even. Not a sweet cigar at all. Not as good as the 1964 but it is still a very good cigar. The burn isn’t even after 1 1/2″ but it isn’t too bad either.

Halfway through the cigar now. Had to correct the burn a little bit. That spicy flavor is almost gone now and I am a little disappointed about that. The meaty taste is what is strong now. Full bodied. The saltiness is even more pronounced at this point, which I am not ecstatic about. It’s not a big negative but it is a minor annoyance that the salt is coming through stronger.

Three quarters of the way through and the saltiness has, thankfully, vanished leaving the meaty flavor to take over. It’s a great cigar and I will definitely be smoking more of these in the future.

90 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!

Partagas Black Label Magnifico Cigar Review

I basically told you yesterday what I thought about this cigar. It just wasn’t that good. Which was weird because I thought the pyramid version of this cigar was excellent. Anyways, here is my review of the Partagas Black Label Magnifico:

Tons of oil. Jet black cigar. Perfect construction. There seems to be nothing wrong with the construction of this cigar. I am drinking Maker’s Mark and a glass bottle of Coke with this cigar.

Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: USA/Connecticut
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dom Rep, Nicarauga
Price: $6.50

Scrubs Flame!

I’m watching a great show, Scrubs, while smoking this cigar so I am in a good mood. Right off the bat I am getting chocolate and earthy notes. It’s like a sweet earthiness though. Not sure that I like it all that much.

The draw is great but the burn is awful. I know I will have to fix it soon. This cigar would be a lot better if there was a strong bitterness to it so that it could cut the sweet earthiness. As it stands a quarter of the way through the cigar the major flavor I’m getting is sweet grass.

About halfway through the chocolate flavors take over. It is just barely a full bodied cigar. Even though the earthiness has mostly vanished I still cannot say that I like this cigar.

What started out as a subtle sour taste has only gotten worse. I don’t know what’s wrong with this cigar but it’s just bad. The sourness kills any good feelings I had for this cigar.

Maybe I am being a little too harsh about the sourness. It’s only an intermittent flavor. In between the sour flavors the cigar is fairly good. Unfortunately, for me at least, I cannot get past the sourness – it ruins the cigar.

82 points

Bolivar Toro Cigar Review

This is a fairly dark cigar. It has a good amount of oils and bumps. Other than the bumps this seems like a well made cigar. For this cigar I am drinking some Makers Mark with some water.

Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 52
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: USA/Connecticut
Filler: Dom Rep, Nicaragua
Price: $6.00

2009 Light!

Ashton Double Magnum – Cigar Review

This is a well packaged cigar with a cedar sheath and two bands; one at the foot and one near the cap, like normal. The problem is that the glue securing the bands to the cigar are actually securing the bands to the cedar sheath and when I went to take the sheath off it also took both bands off. Oh well.

The cigar itself has a nice, oily wrapper. The wrapper is unusually smooth. Looks nearly perfect with only a mild imperfection in the way the wrapper looks in one spot. Light brown cigar. I’m smoking this cigar with Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel and some water.

Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 50
Wrapper: USA/Connecticut
Binder: Dom. Rep.
Filler: Dom. Rep.
Price: $10.00

Evening Light!

Finally, a cigar with a good draw! It’s not the best drawing cigar ever but after the last couple of cigars I’ll take it. Even though in the past I have thought this was a mild cigar there is a little more bite to it this time around. (Note: It should be a mild cigar, I don’t know what was up with this cigar.)

Flavors: earthy, black cherry, peat; almost tastes like a single malt. It is also burning evenly and I think it’s medium-full bodied, which it shouldn’t be. It is supposed to be a mild smoke.

Guess my luck, the draw got a little tight about halfway through. The flavors are still mostly there but, for me at least, when the draw tightens up it lessens the flavors and thus my enjoyment of the cigar. Wait, I just ashed the cigar and the draw has opened back up. Weird.

Nearing the end now and there haven’t been any more problems with the draw for this cigar. There is also an added sweetness to this cigar now. I think it’s an excellent pairing with my single barrel bourbon. Good cigar.

89 points