With the temperatures hovering in the 105 degree range after a weekend that was even hotter, I find myself gravitating toward smaller cigars. If I can manage to sneak out late at night, a larger cigar is still worth contemplating, but during the week that’s not so easy to accomplish. So I’ve been smoking the little guys, or the first half of cheaper cigars like the Pirate’s Gold that are only good for the first half anyway.

The London Club measures 5 x 40 and comes in an Ecuadoran grown wrapper in the EMS or a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro. The binder in both EMS and maduro is Connecticut broadleaf, and the filler is a combination of Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Dominican piloto cubano. Now how they get all that into a cigar with a 40 ring gauge (if in fact they do), I’m not sure.

A pretty cigar it is not — but good looks are not really a priority here. if you’re out on the town trying to impress the crowd with a $1.50 petite corona, you might want to reconsider your choice of cigar.

The roll on this stick is firm to the touch, and the prelight draw is a little tight. It lights up easily on a single match and opens with a strong taste of sweet rich maduro. There’s plenty of smoke here despite its diminutive stature. After a few puffs the taste becomes a little grassy with some earthy tones.

I sometimes find myself pulling a little hard and little too often on smaller cigars. The end result is a hot burn and an inferior taste. Smoked properly, puffing once or twice a minute, this cigar should last a good half hour and taste like it should. The foundation of earth and grass will become bitter and overly tannic if smoked too quickly.

The London Club is made in Cofradia, Honduras in the Honduras American Tobacco S.A. (HATSA/Villazon) factory, as are the other classic Villazon cigars like the Hoyo de Monterrey, Bolivar, et al.

This little guy has all the same flavor as its big brothers, and nearly as good construction. I’ve had a few in the past with very tight draws, but recently they’ve been much better. I prefer the maduro in this size, but both flavors are decent cigars, if just a little bit temperamental. Be kind to them, and they’ll be kind to you.

Courtesy K. Hansotia, here is yet another mystery, this time from his Gurkha department. I received this in a "pay it forward" trade, and haven't quite decided what species it belongs to. I have scoured the internet and pored over the Gurkha site with much frustration in an attempt to identify this cigar.

The Gurkha website is not much help because there are incorrect pictures posted. The picture for the Master's Choice is of the Expedition cigar. My best guess is that my cigar is in fact a Master's Select, though the picture on the website shows the Select without a cedar sleeve. Maybe someone out there can set me straight on this one.

Obviously this review is based on one lonely smoke, so I can't judge it as far as consistency. What I can tell you is that it's a rich reddish maduro in color with a great prelight scent of leather and earth.

The draw and burn are both excellent. At first light this cigar is quite similar to the Signature 101, but after an inch or so it shows a slightly different personality. The foundation flavor is an earthy char, complemented with cedar and just a touch of spice. The smoke is creamy and abundant– a great one for smoke rings if that's your thing. I'd rate the body of this cigar at a beefy medium, verging on full. The ash is well formed and perfectly white.

The aftertaste is quite earthy, a bit too much for my taste actually. I had the same problem with the Signature 101 — these are both great cigars with lots of body and flavor, but the aftertaste is just a little too funky for me. Maybe an appropriate beverage could lend an assist with this, but I'm not sure what that would be. What goes with funk?

My final thought is that this can't be the Master's Choice, which is described as mild to medium in body. So I'm going to go with the Master's Select Double Corona, which is billed at 6 x 52. But really, who knows… and who cares? It was a fine smoke to wile away a hot desert evening.

I found this cigar buried at the bottom of my desktop humidor where I keep my "everyday" smokes, cigars that are good enough for walking the dog or mowing the lawn. I remember liking this cigar a couple years ago, but evidently this single got away from me. It's been there long enough for the cello to take on a yellow tinge and for the label to fade somewhat. Now that this fugitive has been apprehended I plan to bring it to justice.

This is a JR Cigars house brand produced by Rolando Reyes, Sr., maker of Puros Indios and Cuba Aliados. This is enough to make some people run in terror, but not me. I think Rolando makes great affordable cigars. The copy on the JR website says that these "used to sell like hotcakes in plain plastic bags" with no bands. At some point the Rothmans and the Reyes had difficulties, resulting in the cessation of "Special Coronas" production in 1994.

Starting a few years back Lew and Rolando patched things up and now the Special Corona is again available, like the Puros Indios "Special Aged," in packs of 6. (Why Reyes likes six packs, I don't know.)

The No. 5 is a classic robusto size at 5 inches by 50 ring gauge and comes equipped with Ecuador Sumatran wrapper and binder, and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

The pre-light disposition of this stick is unremarkable. It lights easily and the draw is good. The first taste is classic Puros Indios — a light nutty flavor with an earthy base that can be slightly cloying. But there is something different here about the aroma. It's a richer, much more interesting scent. I can only attribute this to the wrapper. It seems to me somewhat floral, but muted, with a very mild cocoa overtone.

Which makes it sound more sophisticated than it really is… I'd say the JR Special Corona is basically a dressed up Puros Indios. A PI in a bow tie. If you happen to like Puros Indios as an "everyday" kind of cigar, you'll probably like the Special Corona as well.

Towards the middle of the stick it picks up a flinty, graphite flavor, and ends with a slightly sour finish. The aftertaste is earthy but mild.

The JR Special Corona No. 5 is not a cigar you'll want to break out to celebrate a special occasion, but it's not bad for a walk around the block. It's slightly more expensive than the standard Puros Indios rothschild, but it's also slightly better. 

This cigar is a bit of a mystery to me, as are most of Hansotia's cigars. Kaizad Hansotia is himself a mysterious character, as noted in my previous review of the Signature 101.

All mystery and conjecture aside, Hansotia can certainly design a fine cigar. While I didn't care too much for the Signature 101, I think the Symphony (review coming soon) and this Gold Edition are finely crafted smokes definitely worth sampling.

This robusto is in actuality a toro size at six inches long, with a ring gauge of 50. I can't shed much light on the anatomy of the Gold Edition, but Cigars International declares it to have a Connecticut wrapper and filler from the Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic. (CI should know, since they appear to be the only "major" vendor stocking this cigar.)

By looking at it, I wouldn't guess that this is Connecticut wrapper. With its rich colorado maduro hue it seems certain that this leaf is not shade grown. More of a broadleaf I would say, though not fermented to a true maduro.

The Gold Edition is a mild, sweet cigar that transitions nicely to a solid medium body. All of the three samples I smoked had a good draw and a problematic burn. The one I had this evening actually left a C shape of unburned wrapper near the band. Unfortunately I can't award it points for this creativity.

The predominate non-tobacco flavor here, oddly enough, is honey, or maybe cognac. It's a very aromatic cigar, and this is definitely its strong point. It is a little too mild to score big on flavor, but it earns a passing grade here as well. Towards the band it picks up enough of a solid tobacco twang to satisfy my taste buds and leaves a slightly tannic aftertaste.

All told, the K. Hansotia Gold is a very good boutique brand. The Gurkha website does not list the brand, so it may no longer be in production. The retail price is a little outlandish, but for the moment it is available from CI and can still be found from time to time on Cbid at a reduced price.

Recommended, especially for fans of milder maduros and possibly for pipe smokers who are branching out to cigars.

I picked up this cigar in a downtown Las Vegas cigar shop — it was a pretty stick and I had some change jingling in my pocket, so I bit the lure. I had never heard of the Eureka brand, and I've come to learn that there's precious little information posted about it. What little I've been able to find is from cigarcylopedia.com

What caught my eye in the cigar shop was the pedigree posted on each individually signed box– it's a Costa Rican puro made in Puriscal. Having had some good experiences with Costa Rican maduro (the best maduro leaf in my opinion) I couldn't resist an encounter with a CR puro.

The roll on this cigar is solid, and the prelight scent is fairly mild. The draw is quite firm, but there might be a reason for this: the foot on this cigar is flagged and the flag is folded over the foot like so:

The flag burns up quickly and helps initiate an even burn that continues to the end. What strikes me first about this cigar is how mild it is. The dark oily wrapper is a ruse– this is an extremely mild smoke.

So mild, in fact, that is has little taste, and absolutely no aftertaste. On the other hand, it has a fantastic maduro aroma. What a curious cigar… What little taste I can detect is sweet, and slightly metallic. At one point I think it's almost like cotton candy, with a little licorice. All the while, the aroma is a rich and smoky coffee/cocoa combo I would expect from a good maduro. Fascinating: a super-light maduro.

The construction is very good: a uniformly even burn with a crumbly gray ash and a smooth easy draw. The cherry on this cigar forms a perfect pyramid shape with a sharp point. Everything about this stick is unusual.

The last few inches are a little bitter, but not unpleasantly so.

The Eureka, in this form at least, is too mild for my taste, but it's a well made cigar worth picking up just for an unusual experience. The rich maduro aroma coupled with its super mild body is totally bizarre. This is the "Silver" version, the mildest of their three blends. I might continue my experimentation with one of the bolder varieties if they can still be found.

With the World Cup underway and Brazil in the spotlight as usual, I thought this would be an opportune time to break out a CAO Brazilia Gol! As if I needed an excuse…

CAO makes many quality cigars, but the Brazilia line is probably my favorite. A dark Brazilian arapiraca wrapper provides a very distinctive aroma that nicely complements the Nicaraguan binder and filler. The Brazilias are made in the Toraño factory in Danli, Honduras. (I can’t seem to escape Toraño these days.)

The Gol! is a fat robusto at 5 x 56. The prelight smell is rich and somewhat leathery, and the roll is solid. The oily sun-grown wrapper is worth taking a moment to admire. After a quick cut of the cap I take a draw and I’m surprised at how easy it is because this cigar is packed like a rock. That’s quality craftsmanship.

It lights up with no fuss and starts an even burn. The initial flavor is heavy on the pepper, but this soon gives way to a woody flavor I have come to associate with good Nicaraguan cigars. What really makes this cigar special is the aroma– it’s a complex blend of wood, earth, a little sweetness, and sulfur. Sulfur might not be what one looks for first in a cigar, but it really works here for some reason. It’s all in the blend, I guess.

Toward the band it starts to burn a little hot, but the flavor doesn’t suffer for it. It gathers more strength at this point, but never becomes harsh or bitter.

The Brazilia Gol! is a medium to heavy bodied cigar with mountains of flavor and very good construction. It’s priced in the 5 USD range, and it’s worth it. If you like the Nicaraguan flavor profile and a heavier bodied smoke you should most definitely give this one a shot. It certainly has earned a place in my rotation.