Month: June 2009

2 Comments Posted on by cigarfan Bargain Cigars, Cigar Reviews

A. Fernandez Signature Maduro Lancero

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Abdel Fernandez has been hailed as a “rising star” in the cigar world, and judging by the number of established cigar makers who now trust him with their blends, it is safe to assume that his star is still on the upswing. Among a few of his partners are Rocky Patel (RP Signature, Triple Fusion, ITC 10th Anniversary), Ernesto Padilla (Padilla Habano) and Oliva (Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet.) If you pick up generally unrecognized brands from CI, there’s a good chance that you’ve smoked one of his cigars without knowing it — La Herencia Cubana, La Cuna, Man O’War, and the like. But name recognition is important for obvious reasons, so it’s no surprise that we are now seeing the name A. Fernandez on a cigar band.

Fernandez is based in Esteli, Nicaragua, and grows most of his own tobacco on farms near Esteli, Condega, and the Jalapa Valley. He is relatively new to Nicaragua, having arrived from Cuba only five years ago. Virtually everything ever written about Abdel mentions that he received an education in tobacco from the iconic Alejandro Robaina, so let me join the chorus and reiterate that fact once again.

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Construction Notes

The Fernandez Maduro is a mean looking stick. Maduro wrapper in its natural, unadulterated form is a thick, rustic leaf, so there’s not much to praise here in the way of aesthetics. The equally utilitarian cap is roughly applied, but shears well. The roll is solid. But of course the true test of a lancero with its narrow ring gauge is the draw, and the ones I have sampled have all been perfect in that regard.

The wrapper’s prelight scent is rich and earthy, straight from the barnyard, indicating fine fermentation. Lighting a lancero is easy, and this one fires up without a hitch. The burn wavers a little bit, as maduro leaf tends to do, but it corrects itself eventually. The ash tends to flake during this correction, but otherwise it’s solid and holds fairly well.

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Tasting Notes

The aroma from this maduro wrapper takes center stage immediately and doesn’t make an exit until the band is peeled and the butt laid to rest. The wrapper on a lancero is bound to operate in this fashion due to the proportions of the stick, but make it a sweet and rich smelling maduro leaf and it’s guaranteed to be the star of the show. Right up front are the typical flavors of chocolate and char. An inch in and it gets a little spicier. Like a lot of lanceros this one gets a little hot if rushed, but I found that my unfortunate tendency to draw too often was greatly reduced by the prodigious amount of smoke this stick produces.

After the first third the cigar never really transitions to new flavors. There are some lighter woody notes along the way, but the basic theme of chocolate and char continues to the end. The flavors intensify in the last section, but don’t change too much. The finish lengthens and a mild aftertaste of pepper concludes the cigar.

Conclusion

This cigar reminds me a lot of the Padron standard series, in terms of both appearance and taste. It’s not complex, but it’s satisfying: a tasty, straight forward, no-nonsense maduro. The A. Fernandez Signature maduro is a little smoother and doesn’t pack the same punch as a Padron, but for a couple dollars less I think it’s comparable.

I got lucky and picked up these Fernandez lanceros for less than 2 dollars each, but the MSRP is still only 50 USD for a bundle of 20. I believe these are a Cigars International exclusive, and at the moment they appear to be sold out in this size, but hopefully we’ll see them back on the board soon. The bottom line is that this is a quality bargain smoke.

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Final Score: 85


4 Comments Posted on by cigarfan Cigar Reviews

Zino Platinum Scepter “Low Rider”

ZinoPlat

Zino Davidoff was an acknowledged master of the cigar business in almost every way: he was a premier tobacconist, the author of The Connoisseur’s Book of the Cigar, and he is reportedly the inventor of the desktop humidor. For forty years he operated Davidoff of Geneva, nurturing the family business from a neighborhood shop to an international enterprise. He is credited with the success of the Hoyo de Monterrey Chateau series of Cuban cigars, as well as his own eponymous line of Cuban cigars. In 1989, disgusted with the low quality and shoddy workmanship of his Cuban suppliers, he publicly incinerated over one hundred thousand of his company’s cigars. From these ashes would rise a new, better Davidoff made in the Dominican Republic. As Lord Buckley might say, Zino stomped on the terra.

But before the famous conflagration was the Zino cigar. It was created in 1975 especially for Americans — due to the embargo, the Cuban Davidoff was of course not sold in the States. The original Zino was made in Honduras, and the Mouton-Cadet and Connoisseur blends were its well known lines. But when Davidoff broke off with Cubatabaco in 1989 the Dominican Davidoff White Label became the prototypical black tie cigar. Subsequently the Zino line stepped back into the shadows.

With all of its rich history and style, Davidoff has garnered a somewhat stodgy reputation. The company is understandably unwilling to part from its well earned reputation, but at the same time with Zino Platinum it wants to appeal to a younger set, to cater to the “modern urban pop culture of today.”

Zino Platinum is comprised of two distinct lines of regal cigars, the Crown and the Scepter. The Crown series is marketed as a super-premium in the 30 to 40 USD price range. (That’s the damage per stick, not box.) The Scepter is a more “affordable”  premium at around 9 to 14 USD. I guess nine bucks for a Davidoff is a cheap date, relatively speaking.

The marketing department evidently spared no expense. The cigars are packaged in 12 or 16 count cans that are elegantly decorated with dogs dressed up in period costume. The Low Rider can features a schnauzer in an Elizabethan collar — the lace kind, not the plastic post-surgery kind most dogs are familiar with.

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Seven sizes are in production:

  • Chubby – 4 15/16 x 54  (zeppelin perfecto)
  • Grand Master – 5 1/2 x 52  (robusto)
  • Stout – 7 x 52  (torpedo)
  • Low Rider – 6 x 43  (lonsdale)
  • Shorty – 4 1/2 x 43  (petite corona)
  • Bullet 4 x 48  (zeppelin perfecto)
  • XS  4 x 30  (demitasse)

The Zino Scepter blend starts out with Dominican piloto and two distinct San Vicente leaves, combined with a native Peruvian leaf for filler. That is surrounded by a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and then the whole shebang is wrapped in an Ecuadorian Connecticut leaf that has been matured for two years.

Construction Notes

The wrapper on this lonsdale is typical of good Connecticut shade leaf: a nice golden brown color with few inconsistencies. The roll is a little bit soft and the cap is not perfect, but good enough. With the classy silver band, this is a nice looking stick.

The draw is perfect, and very consistent from cigar to cigar. Once clipped and lit, it burns steadily though maybe a bit more rapidly than I expected. The burn is even and the ash is firm but it cracks enough that you’ll want to keep the ashtray handy.  Overall fine construction.

Tasting Notes

The Zino Scepter is a smooth, but still very flavorful smoke. It starts with an earthy introduction and a dry finish which is quickly joined by a light aftertaste of pepper. The texture is buttery smooth, and the aroma is quintessential Ecuadorian Connecticut: creamy, with notes of vanilla and oak.

The pepper downshifts in the middle section for smooth easy smoking. The flavors remain mellow and earthy, and it’s easy to sit back and coast on the rich aroma alone.

That pleasant sweet perfume laced with spice wraps things up in the last section.  The aftertaste stays clean up to the band, but soon after that the flavors start to turn a little papery.

Conclusion

The Zino Platinum Scepter series is a mild bodied cigar that is ultimately quite satisfying due to its complexity. You get what’s expected from a high quality Connecticut Shade wrapper, but beneath that there is a nice layer of pepper and oak that makes the experience a little more interesting than what you’d expect from a plain good cigar. The price is questionable, but you do get a nice can with pictures of dogs dressed up like Louis XIV prancing back to Versailles. If you don’t mind throwing away a few bucks on snazzy (or silly) advertising, you won’t be disappointed.

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Final Score: 88

4 Comments Posted on by cigarfan Cigar Reviews, Don Pepin Garcia

Ambos Mundos by Tatuaje

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There is no cigar cliché that gets under my skin more than the image of the fat cat lighting up his churchill with a hundred dollar bill. Aside from being moronic (rich people don’t get that way by burning money) it justifies in the minds of many non-smokers the marginalization of cigar enthusiasts and the taxing of cigars. The reality is that most of us checking out cigar reviews and eyeballing the auction sites are doing our best to manage a tight budget in a challenging economic environment.  It’s been a while since I saw any fat cats licking their paws around my neighborhood.

It wasn’t due to the stormy economy that Pete Johnson decided to blend a cigar with affordability in mind, but price control was definitely an objective in developing Ambos Mundos. Tatuaje has been a runaway success for “Tattoo” Pete, but like many Miami-rolled cigars, they’re pricey. By producing this cigar in Nicaragua with lower grade (but still high-quality) tobaccos, he is hoping to keep the price down and fill the bargain cigar niche for his label.

As Pete told Cigar Insider,

This value-priced cigar uses B and C – grade tobacco. In other words, it’s tobacco that was not used on Tatuaje, the premium brand,  which uses A – grade. It’s very good tobacco, but just needs more time to be processed and needs more fermentation, taking a little longer to get out all the impurities. These bales don’t cost as much, so it’s a way to pass on the savings using some really good tobacco.

Ambos Mundos differs a bit from Tatuaje’s other budget-priced cigar, the Tatuaje Serie P, in that the latter is a short filler cigar made from the scraps of the standard Tatuaje line. AmbosAdAmbos Mundos is a long filler cigar that uses tobacco that just didn’t make the cut for standard Tatuaje cigars.

Only two sizes are in production so far (a robusto and a toro) but they are available  in two different wrappers: Ecuadorian Sumatra (red label) and  Nicaraguan Habano (white label.)  They are rolled in Jaime Garcia’s Tabacalera Garcia factory in Esteli, Nicaragua.

Construction Notes

I smoked the Habano (white label) Ambos Mundos Toro first and found that it has just the quality construction you’d expect from Tatuaje and Tabacalera Cubana. A toothy wrapper tops off a solid roll, finished with Garcia’s trademark triple cap. Once lit, the Habano set to building a solid white ash. The burn was steady and even from start to finish. The draw was just a little bit firm, but that was the only demerit it received. Aside from that it was perfect.

The Sumatra (red label) version has a leathery looking wrapper, a little smoother and a little oilier than the Habano. The same good construction qualities were in evidence here, though the draw on these seemed to be a little better, while the burn was more erratic and required a couple touchups. The ash on the Sumatra was more variegated in color, but held just as well as the Habano.

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Tasting Notes

Both of these toro-sized cigars are lighter in body than the standard Tatuaje line, but the Sumatra seems a little bolder than the Habano version. Both cigars score well in terms of aroma — the Habano had a woody spiciness to it, while the Sumatra was a little meatier with notes of leather. Both versions have Pepin’s characteristic tartness, especially in the first inch or so, but also a sharpness and an irritating burn at the back of the throat, with the Sumatra being heavier, more peppery, and more aggressive in this regard. Some aging might temper this quality.

The white label Habano starts up with an earthy flavor and a good dose of tannin. The aroma is a pleasantly spicy, but for the first couple inches this is a simple and straightforward smoke. It transitions to aromas of hardwood with a touch of caramel and about an inch from the band picks up a good pinch of black pepper. The last third gets fairly sharp, but it’s smokeable. The Habano reminds me of some of Pepin’s milder offerings, but with less complexity.

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The red label Sumatra starts up where the white label leaves off — with lots of pepper. The difference between the two is immediately apparent. The Sumatra is a meaty and leathery smoke while the white label is woody. The tannins still make an appearance, but they seem to be overpowered by the wrapper’s rich flavor and aroma.  It’s slightly sweet with a dry finish. The last third increases in intensity until it unexpectly sours about a half inch from the band.

Conclusion

Both versions of the Ambos Mundos are good, but not great cigars. Personally I’d rather pony up the full price for an “A-grade” Tat than settle for a C-grade alternative that pales by comparison.  If this were a 2 dollar bundle stick I’d  be impressed, but it isn’t, and my opinion of this cigar suffers for it. For nearly the same price you could be smoking a DPG Black or an Illusione, better cigars that are similar in style as well as price.

Ambos Mundos is a long filler cigar set to retail around 5 USD per stick, or around $115 per box of 25. This stretches my definition of “bargain” a little bit, but it’s still a reasonable price for a premium cigar.  Just remember that there is a fair amount of competition in this price range.

Final Scores

Ambos Mundos White Label Habano: 85

Ambos Mundos Red Label Sumatra: 79

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Other Points of View

Her Humidor approves of Ambos Mundos as an everyday smoke.

The Great Torpedo thinks the Sumatra version is a decent smoke for its price.

Barry gives the Sumatra an edge over the Habano.

Resident Tatuaje expert Matt lets both wrappers have both barrels.

~cigarfan

2 Comments Posted on by cigarfan Cigar Reviews

National Nestor Miranda Cigar Day

NESTOR MIRANDA THIRD PR 004

It’s the 20th Anniversary of Miami Cigar and Co., and they’re celebrating by declaring Friday, June 12th National Nestor Miranda Cigar Day.

As we’ve noticed here previously, the Nestor Miranda Special Selection is one tasty smoke, and to honor Nestor Miranda as well as the cigar smoking community at large, Miami Cigar is making a gift of one Nestor Miranda Special Aniversario cigar (in the whopping 7 x 56 “Danno” size) to anyone who buys a cigar — any cigar, by any cigar maker — at one of the 500 Nestor Miranda Special Selection Authorized Dealers on Friday, June 12.

That’s right. Support your B&M by making a single purchase on Friday, June 12, and you get a Nestor Miranda Special Selection Aniversario as a gift. What a deal.

From the press release:

“All I ask,” said Nestor Miranda, “is that they smoke the ‘Danno’ that afternoon. Anyone who wishes to comment on the cigar, after smoking it, can e-mail me at Nestor@NestorMirandaCigars.com . I am very interested in hearing those comments.”

To locate your Authorized Dealer, go to http://www.nestormirandacigars.com and follow the instructions on the site.

6 Comments Posted on by cigarfan Cigar Reviews, Rocky Patel

Rocky Patel Decade Robusto

Decade

For a cigar maker as prolific as Rocky Patel, one anniversary celebration is simply not sufficient. Last week I looked the ITC Anniversary; this week I’m checking out the Decade, Rocky’s other Anniversary cigar. (And if that isn’t enough for you, Rocky just announced that he’s working on a blend for his fifteenth anniversary coming up in a year or two.)

Inside each box of Rocky Patel Decade cigars is printed a phrase that sums up the RP story: “Against All Odds.”  Of the hundreds of companies that started up during the cigar boom of the mid ’90’s, Rocky Patel’s is one of the few survivors. Hard work and a knack for creating tasty blends has paid off.

And it hasn’t hurt that he has friends like Nestor Plasencia. The Decade is made in Plasencia’s El Paraiso factory in Danli, Honduras, where they also make one of my other favorite cigars, the RP Sungrown.

As I explained (or tried to explain) in the ITC Anniversary post, the Decade blend is actually the blend originally created for the ITC. Rocky thought that blend was a little better than the one created for the Decade, so he switched labels.

The Decade has a dark Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and an undisclosed binder-filler blend (labeled “secret” on the Rocky Patel website) but in other places it is said to be Nicaraguan. Based on the flavor, I’d say Nicaraguan is a safe bet.

Four sizes are in production:

  • Robusto  5 x 50
  • Lonsdale  6 1/2 x 44
  • Toro  6 1/2 x 52
  • Torpedo  6 1/2 x 52
  • Emperor 6 x 60

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Construction Notes

The Decade robusto has a smooth dark wrapper that is best described as maduro in color. The cigar is square pressed and is packed well. The cap is nothing special to look at, but it’s applied well and takes a guillotine slicing without complaint.  Remove the bands and you have what might look like a Padron 1926.

The draw on both samples I smoked was spot on perfect. It burned steadily but not too quickly, creating a medium-gray ash that had the temerity to drop off just as I was about to snap a picture.  Overall very good construction.

Tasting Notes

The Decade robusto starts up with a maduro-like char and a prominent bite. There are some cherry notes mingling with the char, and a bittersweet chocolate aftertaste. At this point it is reminiscent of some other Placencia-made cigars — the Mayorga “High Octane” and even the cheapo Nestor Reserve Maduro, but the Decade by comparison becomes much bolder and grows much more complex.

The center section features an acidic tang that I always associate with Nicaraguan tobacco. At this point I’m starting to feel the potency of this cigar and have to slow down a little, but the chocolate and cocoa flavors remind me a lot of the Olde World Reserve. As the stick burns down, the body grows heavier but smoother at the same time. The aroma is sweet and woody.

The last third continues along the same trajectory, rich and rife with bean flavors: chocolate, cocoa, and coffee. The bands are easily removed to give this robusto a thorough nubbing, though the nub itself does get a bit mushy by the end. The cigar ends with a last gasp of earthy char and some of the bite with which it started.

Conclusion

I don’t know if I can say that this is a better cigar than the ITC 10th Anniversary — they’re so constitutionally different. The ITC is milder, but a little more sophisticated, at least in the Salomon size that I’ve tried. The Decade is a more robust, full-figured cigar, more easily compared to the Olde World Reserve than the ITC 10th (though I think the OWR Maduro would take the edge in a pitched battle.) The Decade robusto is an excellent smoke in any case.

Priced at around 9 USD per stick, the Decade is not going to bankrupt anyone, but it won’t be an everyday smoke for most of us. I think in this price range I’d opt for an Olde World Reserve instead.

Final Score: 89

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~cigarfan