Allow me to introduce La Flor de Jose Suarez Murias y Ca, or to be a little less formal, Flor de Murias. This is a long defunct Cuban label that Cigars by Santa Clara appropriated and is now using for a mild blend made in the Dominican Republic.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a thing about smoking the last cigar in a box. For some vague reason I always hesitate when it comes to smoking that last stick, as if it were the last of the tribe, which of course it isn’t. For this reason I tend to have a few finalists hanging around the humidor, so despite myself I always have a few aged sticks. This Sovereign was one of those.

Flor de Murias are available in natural (Connecticut Shade) and maduro (Connecticut Broadleaf) wrappers — the naturals come wrapped in white tissue paper, the maduros in black.

The very fine print on the band says: “Tabacos Superiores de las Mejores Vegas de Vuelta-Abajo Hechos Espresamente Para Personas de Gusto.” Presumably this is from the original Cuban lithography, but who knows. In any case, this particular cigar is certainly not from the Vuelta-Abajo; it is in fact from Santiago, made with a Mexican-Dominican blended filler, a Mexican binder, and a Connecticut Shade wrapper.

The Sovereign is a long corona measuring 6 3/4 by 45. Prelight, the wrapper smells slightly sweet, with a very mild spicy tang to it. I last reviewed this cigar in April 2005, when I said it was “a smooth and mild smoke with a good draw, subtle aroma, and decent price.” This particular cigar has been resting in my humidor for close to two years, so I was eager to see if I could detect any change in how it smoked, for better or worse.

The wrapper on this cigar is a fine example of Connecticut Shade — light spice and a pleasant floral aroma are in abundance. This is a very mild cigar with a grassy, somewhat papery flavor, and a touch of tannin. Very little aftertaste. I don’t think it has benefitted greatly from the humidor time; it performs pretty much the way I remember it did in late 2004, early 2005.

There were no construction flaws to speak of — a perfect draw and an even burn lasting a good 45 minutes. It forms a long ash and needs no special care. You could have your morning coffee and read the paper without a second thought while puffing away on this one.

Overall, this is a pretty decent morning or mid-day cigar. I can taste the Mexican leaf in this one, but it’s not overpowering. A nice blend, and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t care for Mexican cigars. One of the better sticks from Santa Clara.

Manuel Quesada’s Fonseca brand is known for mild to medium strength and quality construction. I’ve always liked the standard Fonseca as a mild cigar. The Connecticut shade wrapper on the standard Fonseca is a perfect example of that wrapper’s delicacy.

But these days I’m usually looking for a cigar with a little more body, as are many other veterans of the leaf. For this reason Quesada introduced the Fonseca Serie F. (F for Fuerte, of course.) It’s smoking characterics are similar to the standard line, but amped up a little. Not a lot, but a little.

So along comes the Habana Seleccion, with more Nicaraguan leaf and ligero than any of Quesada’s entries to date. The wrapper is Nicaraguan grown Habana Criollo 98; the binder is “Cuban Seed” Nicaraguan; and the filler is a blend of Dominican seco and ligero leaf that has been aged for five years.

The Fonseca Habana Seleccion is available exclusively from Cigars International (at 4 to 5 USD) or from its auction affiliate Cigarbid.

The sizes in this line are named after the classic Cuban vitolas from Fonseca: Cadetes, Cosacos, Delicias, etc. The Cosacos are presented in tissue wrappers, similar to the way the Honduran El Rey del Mundos are. The Cosaco is a slightly undersized robusto at 5 inches by 48.

The wrapper is a fairly oily colorado maduro, and in the Havana tradition the head is finished with a triple cap.

The construction on this stick is good, though the draw is not easy and does not loosen up at any point. It has the fullest body of any of the Fonsecas I have tried, though it still rates only a medium at it’s strongest point.

And while the Habana Seleccion is not a heavyweight by any means, it is indeed full flavored. A woody flavor serves as a base with some cinnamon hints and a touch of earth. The aftertaste is negligible.

All in all this is a very civilized cigar, suitable for a mid-day accompaniment to a cup of joe, or an afternoon stroll in the park. I picked up four of these in a Fonseca sampler pack from cigarbid at a very reasonable price and I’m not disappointed at all.

Vital Statistics:

Wrapper: Honduras (San Agustin)

Binder: CT Broadleaf

Filler: Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico

This toro is a tasty medium-bodied cigar that is notable for its delicious aroma. It’s an attractive stick: rough, somewhat dry, and a rich colorado maduro in color. The richness of the color goes beyond the visual when at first light the smoke envelopes you in a sweet, cinnamon-laced cloud.

San Agustin leaf is also used to great effect in the Bolivar 2005 blend and the Punch Gran Puro. I don’t know what they’re doing in the San Agustin valley, but whatever it is, it’s working. The wrappers they’re growing are among the best on the market, I think.

The Spanish Rosado Familia has a perfect draw and a fairly even burn — it never needs correction, though it does go a little off at times. It forms a very light gray ash that drops with great reluctance.

The flavor is somewhat woody — a very nice complement to the cinnamon and chocolate from the wrapper. There is only the slightest bite, a tingle really, on the tongue towards the middle of the smoke. The flavor gets a little muddier, a little deeper into the earth as the stick progresses to the mid-way point. But the aroma remains rich and lovely to the end.

I really enjoyed this cigar up to the two-thirds mark when the muddy tones began to overtake the aroma. The finish is fairly strong at this point and I had to send for a diplomatic envoy — Sierra Nevada Stout — to moderate the argument between my nose and my tongue. Ultimately an agreement was reached, and the cigar was amicably extinguished.

A very nice cigar, but I think I prefer the Punch Gran Puro, which has a similar flavor profile but is a little less earthy, if memory serves. It may not.

Just finished up this tin of Pequeños. The flavor is not as pronounced as what you get from the regular sized H. Upmann Vintage Cameroons, but it’s still present and quite nice for a short smoke.

They’re about 4 1/2 inches by a 38 ring gauge — a little bigger than the Rocky Patel 1990 Juniors I bought at the same time.

The pequeños are solid little sticks, packed tightly for a longer than expected burning time (about 20-25 minutes) but with a tough draw. Not plugged at all, but requiring a little effort.

Which prompts this question: why is it that cigars with smaller ring gauges typically have a tighter draw? Are they more difficult to roll? Is there less quality control?

Like the larger sizes in this line, these little guys bring a lot of earth and sweet cameroon spice to bear, along with a little bit of a bite at the back of the throat. They seem a little woodier than the Belicoso I reviewed some time back. This may be due to the fact that the Belicoso has so much more depth that the other flavors overpower the woody element.

This is a nice little quickie, but it’s a little bit thin in the flavor department. Factor in the price (about 12 bucks for the tin) and I think the RP 1990 Juniors with their bold flavor and lower price point were the better deal.

Cameroon wrapper is among the finest, sweetest, most aromatic tobacco grown in the world, so it’s no surprise that Cuban Crafters takes advantage of the Cameroon mystique to wax exotic in their description of this cigar:

In search of the perfect blend, various tribes in Cameroon, Africa were visited by our scouts. After years of searching an ultra premium Cameroon wrapper was located. It blended perfectly with the Cuban seed tobacco from Tabacalera Esteli. It is grown by a tribe in a small village on the western edge of Cameroon, close to an active volcano named Mount Cameroon. The country’s most fertile soils are in this region, and the tobacco is among the world’s most expensive.

Doctor Livingstone, I presume?

Not that I have anything against tribal contact in an effort to procure the finest tobaccos. I visit the Las Vegas Paiute Tribal Smokeshop on a regular basis in the furtherance of just this cause. No hypocrite am I.

But on to the cigar: This is a solidly rolled, stout torpedo — I might be tempted to call it a short pyramid instead — with a rough but attractive wrapper. I would not guess this to be Cameroon by sight. No tooth, and that’s the truth. The head on this one is finished, unlike the pig-tailed Cameroon torpedoes on their website, and the foot is unevenly cut.

The pre-light draw is very liberal, almost loose. I worried for a moment that this was an indication of poor construction, but this turned out not to be the case. It lit up like a charm and burned fairly even all the way to the band.

The filler and binder on this smoke are Nicaraguan, and true to form the base flavor is woody. It’s a little bit papery at times, but paper is still wood, right? On top of this floats the cameroon — not as sweet and spicy as many other cameroons, but aromatic just the same. The smoke is smooth and medium bodied from start to finish, with a decent kick at the end.

The aftertaste is a little bit bitter, slightly green and aspirin like. It’s the same sort of flavor I get from Indonesian wrapper and some Mexican smokes.

Overall this was a decent cigar, but not really my cuppa. Maybe a few months in the humidor would cure it of the rough spots.

If you like that Indo-Mexican tartness you might want to give this one a shot. Keep a few on hand just in case you happen to meet Stanley in darkest Cameroon.

In my review of the Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro I noted that the wrapper used for that cigar is the same as the one used for the Onyx Reserve (as well as the delightful Backwoods). At the time I expressed surprise because the Romeo tastes nothing like the Onyx. After trying this Onyx, which has been idling in my humidor for about a year, I think I will have to back off a little from that statement.

The Onyx Reserve, like the Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro, is made in La Romana, Dominican Republic, for Altadis USA. The wrapper is Connecticut broadleaf maduro. The binder is Nicaraguan, and the filler is a three country blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Peruvian leaf. Yes, it’s the same combination used in the R y J Reserve Maduro. Could they be made in the same factory, even? Perhaps.

The wrapper is a solid dry maduro with just a touch of dust. I’m not sure if this is plume or what, but it gives the cigar a very matte black look. The first taste is rich and earthy, similar to but not quite as bold as the Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro. (Keeping in mind the age of this sample, it may have mellowed a bit.) The earth blends in well with the sweetness of the maduro.

It gets woodier and takes on a little pepper at the half-way point. The funky overtones give way to bittersweet chocolate, and this flavor pretty much takes it to the finale. It’s a little salty on the tongue, and the aroma is very cedary and at times even floral. The only real drawback is a bitter aftertaste.

The construction on this stick was perfect. The draw is generous and the burn is even all the way. It forms a respectable dirty gray ash that has a yellowish tinge.

This is a great medium bodied cigar, in the same class as the Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro and K. Hansotia’s Signature 101, but better. Considering how close it is to the R y J in flavor and composition, and the fact that the Onyx sells for about a third less than the Romeo, I know which one gets my vote.

Each time we turn into The Sopranos we get to see Tony Soprano in his car, lighting up a cigar as the opening credits roll. So it is fitting that HBO should extend a meaty palm to CAO and license the Sopranos edition of cigars. In 2005 they did just that, and at the RTDA that year CAO unleashed three sizes of pricey Sopranos smokes.

This is the smallest of the three sizes, the Associate, a standard robusto at 5 x 52. Also available are the Soldier (toro) the Boss (double corona) and the just released “Tony Soprano Signature,” an extra-large toro with a 60 ring gauge.

The wrapper used for the Sopranos series is Brazilian mata fina. I was interested for this reason to see how it would compare to CAO’s Brazilia line, which uses a Brazilian arapiraca leaf rather than mata fina. The cigar is completed with a Honduran binder and an interesting combination of Nicaraguan, Dominican and Columbian filler. Columbian leaf is a rarity as well, but CAO has used it before in their CX2 double-cameroon sticks.

I was frankly quite surprised by the Associate. I was expecting something along the same lines as the Brazilia Gol! — something rich and spicy. Instead, the Associate turns out to be a sweetheart.

The wrapper on this cigar is an attractive shiny maduro, and the roll is flawless. It fired up without a hitch and burned straight all the way. It forms a solid white ash that wants to spend some time with you before hitting the ashtray.

The first flavor is a delicate sweetness, a smoky maple syrup. The smoke is surprisingly light and smooth, and at no point did it develop any kind of bite. There is a hint of licorice, but that’s it from the spice cabinet. The base flavor is earthy, but even this is fairly muted. Mostly this is just a very relaxing easy-going cigar. Toward the end it turns up the chocolate. After removing the band and nearly burning my fingertips I laid this one to rest.

The Sopranos “Associate” is a refined and relaxing cigar that took me by surprise. It’s not the powerhouse I expected, but considering the fact that my expectations were based on a fictional family of mobsters on television, perhaps I get what I deserve.

Unfortunately the price on this limited edition from CAO is a little bit prohibitive. But I would recommend it anyway as a special treat, especially for tough guys with a soft spot.