Wrapper: Honduras (Sun Grown “Havana Seed”)

Binder: Honduras

Filler: Honduras

Made in the HATSA factory in Cofradia, Honduras and introduced in 2004, the Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte is a Honduran puro, according to the manufacturer’s website. Other sites mention some Nicaraguan leaf in the filler. (If anyone has Estelo Padron’s cell number, give him a ring and ask him what’s up with the conflicting info. He’s the wizard of Villazon and the blender of this line.)

The Pamplona is a stubby square-pressed robusto at 4 1/2 inches long and a 50 ring gauge. It exhibits excellent construction throughout. A nice burn, an easy draw that elicits lots of smoke, and no worries at all.

It starts out with a nice woody bang and a pungent aroma, like being next to a camp fire. The flavor is slightly sweet and quite woody with very little aftertaste.

Gradually this little robusto descends into a smooth, mild mannered but somewhat boring cigar. The strength intensifies somewhat in the last third of the cigar, but the flavors stay strictly in the middle of the road.

“Extra Fuerte” must be a marketing tool — the flavors here are different than the standard line Sancho Panza, and it may be a touch stronger in the nicotine department, but fuerte is not a term I would associate with this cigar. I know others will differ — in fact, a glance at the ratings on Top25Cigars.com show that they do. But after the first third I just couldn’t find much flavor here, and my first impression of this cigar was similar about a year ago:

Spicy and strong at first light, but quickly mellows into a billowing smoke that is not particularly fuerte. (Extra Fuerte Madrid, Jan 6, 2006)

Starts out spicy and then mellows into a strong, but not overpowering smoke with woody elements. This could be the unruly younger brother of a Padron 1964 — not as sophisticated, not as smooth, but similar (and a helluva lot cheaper.) (Extra Fuerte Cordoba, Nov 18, 2005)

Obviously I thought more of the Cordoba size at that time; and as for the Padron 1964 comparison…my notes don’t include what I was drinking. But the woodsy flavor is probably what inspired that comment — the Padron is woody like the SP Extra, but it also has greater complexity and depth of flavor. Needless to say, it also digs deeper into your wallet.

At around 3 bucks a pop at the local stogie emporium, the Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte is definitely worth a look. A reliable everyday kind of smoke.

Oliva Cigars have seen some changes in the last few months — the “O” Classic has become the Serie O, the Grand Cameroon has become Serie G, and a couple of new blends are out as well: the Serie S (with a sungrown Ecuadorian wrapper) and this one, the third release in the Master Blends series. I’ve seen it dubbed “Master Blends 3 Liga Maestra” in a few places. It sounds nice, but since liga maestra means “master blend” in Spanish it’s also a little redundant.

I wonder sometimes if there could be a statistical correlation between the length of the name of a cigar and the price…

The Master Blends are small batch cigars using leaf that is grown in limited quantities. Often a tobacco grower will want to experiment with a new seed or a new soil and grow a small crop under untested circumstances to see what results. The crop isn’t large enough to create a full blown production line of cigars, but if the result is good it might wind up in a small batch cigar like this one.

So each release of Oliva’s Master Blends is an entirely different blend. I was lucky enough to sample the MB 2 last year and rendered my somewhat lukewarm opinion in a KOTF post at that time. The MB 3 is a totally different cigar.

Made by Tabacalera Oliva in Nicaragua with a binder and filler from Nicaragua and a sungrown Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, the robusto is pressed and presented in the classic 5 x 50 size. There is also a slightly fatter double robusto with a 54 ring gauge. In appearance the MB3 looks quite similar to its previous incarnation, except it is missing the laser etching below the band. (That was a classy touch, but maybe a little too much.)

The wrapper used here is a very even shade of brown with no prominent veins. It has a smooth velvety texture as opposed to the oily character I often find with high end cigars. The cap cuts cleanly and the draw proves just about perfect. It lights up easily and burns perfectly straight all the way: excellent construction in all respects.

The MB3 robusto starts out with a nice volume of smooth chocolatey smoke with a spicy but short finish. I was expecting a little more sweetness from the broadleaf wrapper, but it’s surprisingly vegetal. There is just a touch of sugar here, but not what I expect from broadleaf. (Admittedly, most broadleaf is fermented to a maduro state, which brings out more sugar. This is plainly a much less processed wrapper.)

It strikes me as medium bodied, but it’s played at full volume. With the assistance of superb construction this stick produces huge clouds of smooth smoke. The second third of the cigar slides into woody territory and becomes a bit rough on the tongue and the back of the throat. At the same time, the finish becomes unaccountably less spicy.

By the beginning of the third and last act I’m detecting coffee flavors and a slight return to the chocolate and cocoa that started this story. As the denouement unfolds, a few shreds of paper are littered about and the curtain falls with a slightly sourish wave goodbye.

Overall, I think this third “Liga Maestra” is superior to the second version. Its chocolate and coffee flavor profile reminds me a little of the Carlos Torano Signature line, but the Master Blends 3 has an edge in the complexity department. At a suggested retail price of 9.00 USD, however, I’m going to pass judgement in favor of the Signature. At this price, the MB3 is just a little out of my Liga.

CAO made news recently when it was acquired by the ST Cigar Group, a Dutch company and one of the largest cigar companies in Europe. Cigar companies live precarious lives, it seems. The big fish are always looking to swallow up the little ones, and the bigger fish are getting fatter all the time. We are lucky though that the competition remains the same, and overall quality in the cigar market remains very high. This CAO Black is no exception.

This is the original, the one and only CAO Black label, the first CAO to carry those initials. At first it was not a success for Cano Ozgener, founder of CAO. It fell by the wayside and the CAO Maduro became CAO’s first hit cigar. But the Black label was not entirely forgotten, and in 2002 it was reintroduced at the suggestion of Cigars International.

The wrapper is an Ecuadorian grown Connecticut seed leaf, accompanied by a Honduran binder, and filler from Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico. The Bengal is a toro sized 6 x 50. The Black label cigars are presented in cedar sheaths with black ribbon at the foot, very similar to the Arturo Fuente Sun Grown Chateaus.

The wrapper is an attractively even cafe color with a touch of leathery roughness. The cap is neatly applied and appears to be double wrapped. It cuts cleanly away and reveals a generous but firm draw.

The burn is uneven from the start, but the flavors are very nice — a slight bite of spice at first, followed by lots of cedar. After an inch the smoke becomes quite creamy. I’ve heard this cigar called mild, but my experience is that it’s more of a medium in body.

Then there’s some more cedar, followed by cedar with an earthy touch. Here and there is a dash of pepper thrown in as an accent to the solid flavor of cedar. I found the CAO Black to be a fine cigar, if somewhat one dimensional. With a price point around $4.oo a stick, I can see how this could be a goto everyday kind of cigar for a lot of people.

Did I mention the cedar?

From Estelo Padron, the master cigar maker of brands like El Rey del Mundo and Hoyo de Monterrey, comes this Honduran made Sancho Panza. The original was (and still is) a Havana label that began production in 1852. The Honduran Sancho Panza debuted in 2000 and since then has spawned acouple of extensions — the Double Maduro (in 2002) and the Extra Fuerte (in 2004.)

This is the original variety with a dark Connecticut Shade wrapper. I was surprised to learn that this is a shade wrapper because it isn’t the golden brown color that I would normally expect from this wrapper — it’s more of a colorado claro than a claro. The binder is more Connecticut, but this time broadleaf, and the filler is a blend of piloto cubano from the Dominican Republic and two other leaves from Honduras and Nicaragua.

Sancho Panza is of course Don Quixote’s sidekick in Cervantes’ story — the stout realist who comes to Quixote’s aid when the Don’s fantasies run away with him. Sancho is transformed in Don Quixote’s mind from a humble and obedient servant to a valiant squire. These delusions of grandeur must be the inspiration for the names of the cigars in this line: Glorioso, Primeroso, and this one, the Valiente, which at 5 1/4 x 50 is the line’s robusto model.

This robusto is slightly pressed and the wrapper is somewhat dry, with just a touch of oily sheen. The cap is applied well and cuts cleanly. I found no construction issues at all — nice draw, good even burn, and a solid ash from start to finish. It’s not a beeyooteefull cigar, but it performs well.

It starts up with a nice volume of mild bodied smoke that has a pleasant cocoa element. After a few minutes what is really striking here is the aroma — it’s quite sweet, almost candy-like, but not cloying like a flavored cigar. The finish is very short and there is almost no aftertaste. About half way through a smattering of pepper comes through on the palate and the taste becomes just a bit tannic, a little cardboard-y. And by the end what I’m getting is a mild-to-medium easygoing straightforward tobacco flavor.

The highlight of this smoke is the aroma — the dark shade grown wrapper leaf really shines through the mildness of this cigar. The standard line Sancho Panza would make a good mid-day or morning cigar, or a good change of pace for fans of mild bodied cigars — if you’re into Macanudo or Don Diego or any mild bodied cigar with a Connecticut Shade wrapper, this one is definitely worth a shot. You may find the Panza a little bit fuller in body than those, but certainly not heavy. At around 45 dollars a box, they’re also very affordable companions on your trek across La Mancha.

C. E. Beck y Compania was originally a Cuban label manufactured in the mid nineteenth century. Today the label has been co-opted by Cuban Crafters for one of their cameroon wrapped Nicaraguan cigars. I received a couple of Cuban Crafters samplers last summer (a great deal by the way) and have finally gotten around to this Beck selection, the toro sized “Buckaroo.”

Beck cigars are available in all the standard formats but run a bit on the large size — the churchill, robusto and toro all have a 52 ring gauge, and there is also a “super toro” with a 60 ring gauge. A bit much for me, but the super large format has its following. The Buckaroo included in the sampler is the standard toro size at 6 by 52.

This cigar has a Cameroon wrapper, of course, and a Nicaraguan binder and filler from Kiki Berger’s Tabacalera Esteli. Not to be undersold, the ad copy on the Cuban Crafters site describes the filler as “virgin sun grown Cuban-seed habano tobacco that was fermented 5 times.” Obviously a lot of time and care go into the making of these smokes.

The wrapper is dry and just slightly toothy. The prelight scent is very plain tobacco. Nothing to get too excited about.

But once lit this proves to be a solid medium bodied cigar. It starts out with a nice cocoa flavor over a subdued base of cedar. There’s a spicy tingle at the back of the throat and in the sinuses, but not enough to be called a bite exactly. The burn is even and trouble free and builds a solid ash. There is a hint of cameroon in the aroma — some mild kitchen spices, a smattering of cinammon in the cocoa maybe.

At about the middle of the cigar the subtle flavors lose prominence and are overpowered by the spicy aspects of the smoke. Still a good flavor at this point, but definitely spicier and less complex. Inching toward the last third and finale of this cigar is more of the same, until the last bit which turns slightly sour. I may have been smoking a little too fast, but I wasn’t getting anything at this point that warranted my slowing down. And besides, it was 25 degrees outside and my knuckles were starting to turn blue.

Overall I think the Beck Cameroon is a fine medium bodied cigar, especially the first half. It went a little downhill after that, but some cigars are just like that. Kind of like the friend who is interesting and fun to be around until he gets a few too many drinks in him and starts dwelling on his failed marriage…or something. Nice guy and all, but a little tiresome at the end of the evening.

These sell for around five bucks a stick, or you can pick up a sampler of all 6 sizes from Cuban Crafters for 20 bucks, which seems like a pretty good deal to me.

And if you figure out what these horses are doing, please let me know.

At 7 inches long and a 50 ring gauge, this churchill is actually a double corona. It’s a big feller alright, but it smokes well. The Costa Rican wrapper is oily and somewhat rough, and imparts a maple tinged sweetness to this medium bodied cigar. The construction of this stick is very good, burning evenly and leaving a nice gray ring with every draw, like a beautiful pint of draught Guinness. (Which now that I think of it would be a great companion to the Medalist.)

These are made in Danli, Honduras with a Connecticut broadleaf binder and filler from three regions: Jalapa, Nicaragua; Esteli, Nicaragua; and the Jamastran valley in Honduras. Those areas are all pretty close to each other geographically, but they produce distinct types of tobacco that great blenders use like painters use color. To my palate, the blend here is dominated by the wrapper and the binder to create a fine and mellow maduro cigar.

By the midway point the sweetness has ceded to light cedar and the body has grown from a fairly light to a solid medium in body. The finish is lengthy and pleasant with an aftertaste of anisette. The aroma is laced with floral elements, and the ash is a wavy light and dark gray on the outside with a dirty yellowish filling.

The Alec Bradley Medalists first appeared on the market in 2005 and are also available in a robusto format. The churchills smoke a little smoother, I think, but it’s not everyday that you can devote an hour to a double corona. But that great sweet Costa Rican flavor comes through quite well in the robusto size as well.

Famous Smoke has been running sales on these recently, so keep your eyes peeled. The churchills are packaged 10 to a box, and if you time it right you can snag these for under four bucks a stick. That’s a pretty good deal if you’re hankering for a well constructed and flavorful maduro to chomp on for an hour.