I picked up a box of these for forty bucks during JR's "12 Days of Christmas" promo last year. I can find no description of an SLR Reserva Especial Cazadore anywhere, excepting the Cuban SLR, and the new version which I can find listed only on the JR Cigar website. I can safely trust that this is not Cuban, and the description of the new line differs from this one. So I honestly have no idea what the components of this stick are, but that will not stop me from guessing.

It's a churchill or double corona in size, at 7 x 48. The new SLR double corona is shorter and the churchill is fatter, so "Cazadore" is not an alternative frontmark for either of those. The review descriptions of the "new" SLR double corona are that is mild to medium in body, (though the company publicity says it is "full flavored"); this Cazadore is full bodied from the start.

The new version is a four country blend, while the old version was a Honduran puro. JR Cigars carries a new version of the cazadore that measures 6.75 x 48, and arrives in black semi-boite boxes. These came in a paper-covered flip top box. An enigma wrapped in a mystery… Based on the flavor profile, I'm going to guess this is the old blend.

There is a roundness to Honduran cigars that I really enjoy, and this one has that same quality. It's a woody, spicy smoke with a nice bite to it. The draw is good, and the ash is somewhat flaky. It's certainly a heavyweight cigar. I put it down after the 1/3 point and returned to it a few minutes later after attending to some things in the house and finding a suitable beverage to accompany the last few inches. Re-lit, it burned and tasted like I never put it down.

If you've been following these posts you know I'm a little bit compulsive about knowing the minute details of the cigars I enjoy. My research into the Cazadore has left me dangling. If only Sherlock Holmes were here.

"The writing on the wall was done with a man's forefinger dipped in blood. My glass allowed me to observe that the plaster was slightly scratched in doing it, which would not have been the case if the man's nail had been trimmed. I gathered up some scattered ash from the floor. It was dark in colour and flakey — such an ash as is only made by a Trichinopoly. I have made a special study of cigar ashes — in fact, I have written a monograph upon the subject. I flatter myself that I can distinguish at a glance the ash of any known brand, either of cigar or of tobacco. It is just in such details that the skilled detective differs from the Gregson and Lestrade type."

A Study in Scarlet

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is one of the most unusual shapes I've come across; it's sort of an inflated perfecto. At its largest point it measures nearly an inch in diameter — 60/64ths. The Champion was introduced in 2001, and was promoted by General Cigar with a "Heavyweight" competition judged by smokers who chose by a 58 to 42% margin that this blend was superior to an alternate competing blend.

The Champion is a member of the "original" Honduran Punch family, not to be confused with the Grand Cru, Gran Puro, or other lines. Made in Cofradia, Honduras in the HATSA factory with an Ecuadorian Sumatra seed wrapper, a Connecticut binder, and filler from the Dominican Republic (piloto cubano,) Honduras, and Nicaragua, this is a cigar that took a lot of thought and care in the production.

I picked this one up on an Indian reservation north of Las Vegas, and by the looks of things they weren't doing a whole lot of traffic in the cigar department. They seemed to be selling more fireworks and tourist trinkets than anything else. Plastic paperweights with scorpions in them. That sort of thing. But the cigars seemed to be in good shape, so I picked up a couple Champions because I found the shape intriguing. After about a month in the humidor I unwrapped one and noticed tiny crystals on the wrapper, just the beginning of bloom. Time to fire one up.

This is a tasty little smoke. At 4 1/2 inches it's gone in 30 minutes, but it's a half-hour well spent. It lights up easily and burns well with a solid gray ash. It tastes somewhat woody and has a sweet overtone, something close to cherry. Reminded me a little of the Rocky Patel Vintage 1990, but not quite as smooth.

But once over the hump the flavor declined, and it began to burn a bit hot. At that point my 30 minutes was just about up, and I had to go finish some chores anyway. This is a great short smoke, highly recommended as a medium bodied mid-day cigar.

Information about this line from Kaizad Hansotia is sparse and conflicting. Cigars International says it has a Costa Rican wrapper surrounding a blend of Honduran, Dominican and Jamaican filler. The Ghurka site says its a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, a Costa Rican binder, and Dominican filler. I guess I'll go with the manufacturer, because this wrapper neither looks nor tastes like the Costa Rican maduros I've sampled.

Hansotia is the maker of the Ghurka line of cigars. He bought the Ghurka brand name for 143 dollars in the late 80's from an obviously struggling company in Goa, India. The brand fought its way to the top through the boom years and today claims many fans who are willing to pay top dollar for Hansotia's boutique stogies.

The band says "A Century of Tradition" but it's not a century of cigar making. He comes from a tradition of watch making, which is perhaps why all the Hansotia cigars are packaged so elegantly. The boxes of some of the Gurkhas are works of art all on their own. Even the low to moderately priced cigars have very nicely designed bands that make the cigars appear far more dear than they are.

It isn't clear exactly who makes the Signature 101, but Toraño is a likely suspect. The blend is reportedly Hansotia's personal favorite, hence the "signature" moniker. But this is one of those mysterious cigars that refuses to be categorized, no matter how I try. Even the size is an enigma: at 6 x 50 it's a toro, but it calls itself a robusto. Trust in nothing but your own senses here. The truth is in the smokin'.

Prelight it smells like a well-tended old boot. It starts out with some harshness that lessens and evens out after an inch or so. This is a dry tasting maduro, lip smackingly tart. The wrapper burns unevenly and requires a touch up now and again. The draw is excellent with plenty of spicy smoke. The primary flavors are earth and char; a good smoke to clear a room with. I'd read this was a medium bodied stick, but once again the information is wrong– this is a full bodied cigar, akin to the Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro without the funkiness. The ash is flaky, and aside from the uneven burn the construction is good.

All in all, it's a good cigar. Not my favorite flavor profile, but a quality cigar nevertheless.

The Medal of Honor brand is an old brand that was resurrected in 2005 by Lew Rothman to celebrate the memories of men who helped JR Cigars become one of the largest, most successful cigar outlets in the U.S. (There was a “Medal of Honor” cigar made in the boom years that was pretty awful; it should have been called “Dishonorable Discharge”. This Medal of Honor is an entirely different animal.)

The Intellect honors Martin Herbst, and this paean is engraved on the inside top of the box:

A History teacher by trade, Martin married into the family that operated the Joseph Jonas cigar company on Nassau St. in New York City. Joseph Jonas & Co. was the largest mail order cigar dealer in the USA specializing in fine Havana cigars at the time of the Cuban Embargo.

In the mid-1960’s Martin formed his own company, International Cigar, and was the creator of the Maria Mancini and La Finca cigar brands. He pioneered many innovative mail order techniques that essentially changed premium cigars from a specialty item available in major metropolitan markets only, to a nationally marketed luxury product.

Medal of Honor cigars are made by master tobacco blender Estelo Padron in Cofradia, Honduras, in the Villazon factory. The Intellect is a five country blend, with an oily Ecuador Sumatran wrapper, a Connecticut broadleaf binder, and filler from Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. Measuring 6.25 x 45, it is billed as a “grand corona” or a “thick corona.”

Packed in heavy varnished boxes of 35, and priced along the same lines as other Villazon products– not cheap, but not out of reach either. I think I paid around 70 USD about six months ago when JR was running a special. Not bad for 35 sticks.

The Medal of Honor Intellect is a medium-bodied, easy going cigar with fantastic construction. Every single one has burned razor sharp, even in a brisk wind. It has a woody flavor, with a very mild aftertaste. It’s a refined cigar with a very pleasant aroma, but it isn’t terribly complex. There’s no transition; it starts out with a cedary opening and pretty much stays that way to the end. And that’s about the worst I can say about it, so it must be pretty good. I’ve gone through about 20 over the past few months, and I’ve enjoyed every one.

5 x 52

Wrapper: Honduras (San Agustin Valley)

Binder: Honduras

Filler: Honduras

The Gran Puro line was introduced in 2003, but this frontmark arrived only late last year. The Punch brand has been exported to the U.S. since 1969 by the Villazon company. The Gran Puro is manufactured in Cofradia by Honduras American Tabaco SA., but the band pays homage to the original Cuban product with little images of the eponymous puppet.

The Libertad is a cedar lined tubo with an oily sun grown wrapper. Both the wrapper and the binder are sun grown, actually. I had expected this to be a more powerful smoke for this reason, but it seemed to be mellower than the other sizes in the Gran Puro line.

It’s a well balanced cigar that tastes to me like a maduro. A shimmering sweetness floats above the expected Honduran body. It’s robust and meaty, with a woody finish. Never sharp, never biting, and very well constructed. A long white ash accumulates and falls at the two inch mark. Perfect draw and an even burn. At less than 4 USD per stick, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Except more.