Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Toro Gordo
Size : 6 x 54
Wrapper : African Cameroon
Filler : Dominican Republic
Binder : Dominican Republic
Hand-Made
Price : ~$6 each

Named in honor of co-founder Joe Chiusano’s birth year, the 59′ Rare Cameroon utilizes a special African Cameroon wrapper not only wrapped around the cigar but also stuffed into the the blend of filler tobaccos. Prominently displayed upon entrance to my local shop, I’d been eyeing this 54 ringed beauty for the longest time and for the price, I can’t for the life of me figure out why up until today I hadn’t tried one. Something about this stick just screamed mediocrity and a flashy band with no flavor to back it up, galvanized by the fact that one of my smoking buddies had one a few months back and spent the next 6 hours with his head in the toilet… Would I be pleasantly surprised or would my intuitions be unfortunately confirmed?

Read the full review of Cusano 59′ Rare Cameroon…

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Toro
Size : 7 x 50
Wrapper : Ecuador
Filler : Dominican Republic
Binder : Mexico
Hand-Made
Price : $75.80 for a box of 20

This brand made its debut in 2004 and uses a sun-grown Corojo wrapper from the 1997 harvest; hence the name. It comes in four vitolas: a 7 x 50 Churchill; 5 x 50 Robusto; 6 x 52 Torpedo; and today’s featured smoke a 7 x 50 Toro. The Cusano brand (now owned by the Davidoff group) has been one of my favorites for a very long time. Recently, Michael Chiusano has parted ways with the Oettinger-Davidoff group and DomRey Cigars in pursuit of other interests, and we can only hope that the brand continues to be as good as it is without him.

Read the full review of Cusano Corojo 97…

Photo credit: The Adventures of Kristin and Adam

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Toro Gordo
Size : 6 x 54
Wrapper : Ecuadorian Sun Grown
Filler : Ecuador and Dominican
Binder : ?
Hand-Made
Price : ~$7-8 each

Agent 10– Transmission #019

This sneaky target has been up to no good for some time now, with a rap sheet as long as my arm. 4.5/5 stars in European Cgiar Journal; a 90 rating by Cigar Aficionado. We had to take this target in. After he found out we were on his trail, he went into hiding and underwent plastic surgery – he thought we had lost him; he was wrong. Joining me on this mission is my trusty partner in Spydom, Agent G. Together we tracked the target to an inconspicuous walk-in humidor in Monona, Wisconsin. There we apprehended the target and used our ancient methods of interrogation on him.

Read the full review of Cusano Cuvee Rouge…

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Churchill
Size : 7 x 50
Wrapper : Ecuadorian
Filler : Peruvian and Dominican
Binder : Dominican
Hand-Made
Price : ~$8 each

This particular target was a part of a larger group of individual targets that I decided to undertake all at once. The Cuvee Blanc Churchill was the first target out of the three in the group, and I have to say that I was impressed with this very pleasant cigar.

The construction of this particular is excellent. I found no imperfections or flaking on the surprisingly plain natural Connecticut wrapper. While the cigar band brings mild attention to the cigar with its blue and gold, it could be very easy to see this cigar in a store and pass it along because there really isn’t anything that makes it stand out.

Read the full review of Cusano Cuvee Blanc Churchill…

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Lonsdale
Size : 7.5 x 40
Wrapper : Ecuadorian
Filler : Honduras
Binder : Mexico
Hand-Made
Price : ~$7-8 each

I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, but I feel OK smoking it as Empire Cigars just received a couple of boxes!

This is one heck of a hard cigar to come by. It was made under a collaboration of Henke Kelner of Davidoff and Mike Chuisano of Cusano fame. They are hand-numbered and released only once a year.

This cigar has a silky texture, more silky than I have ever felt a leaf of tobacco! It is firm to the touch but draws like a dream.

The first few I tried were very dark, almost Maduro, but this one, I can only assume a new batch, is much lighter.

This cigar tastes like a Kelner blended cigar except it is very strong. This cigar is not spicy like a Camacho or LFD Ligero, it has an underlying strength you only pick up when you blow it out through your nose or try to stand up quickly.

The flavors are very rich, ripe with coffee, toast and wood. This is also a nicely complex cigar. The flavors listed above give way to anise and white chocolate. There is just a touch of cream on the finish.

The burn is dead even and I didn’t need to touch it up.

I enjoyed this thoroughly from beginning to end!

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Churchill
Size : 7 x 48
Wrapper : Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
Filler : ?
Binder : ?
Hand-Made
Price : ~$7-8 each

I found a few of these in the bottom of the humidor. They did not have a date label on them and I am working off of my memory when I say they are from 2000 or so…

Cusano Estate Reserve is definitely mild, it has a good draw and it is very woody and somewhat creamy. It does not have a lot of complexity, which most Cusanos do not have, but there was no harshness either after 8 years.

There is not much else to say about this cigar, and this is one of the drawbacks of aging a very mild cigar. After a while it’s just going to taste like a Macanudo.

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Perfecto
Size : 6 2/3 x 50
Wrapper : Habano Sun Grown
Filler : Dominican Republic
Binder : Dominican Republic
Hand-Made
Price : $7 each

From Cusano’s website it appears that they are referring to this blend as double-wrapped, with a Dominican Sun Grown binder (I assume). Why do they call a cigar double-wrapped when it is not visible on the outside? We call that binder. Anyway… I hear they now have their own factory, so if Kelner isn’t involved in either of these blends it could be trouble…

Cusano LXI Habano Sun Grown Preferido is a very nice looking perfecto, fat in the middle and very tapered at the ends, reminiscent of the La Aurora Preferidos series.

The pre-light draw was easy, but it took a while to light and started off canoeing, which is pretty hard to do for a perfecto. No surprise as this is what happens when Henke Kelner isn’t involved.

What is surprising is the taste. Holy Tobacco Leaf Batman! This cigar tastes awesome! Very strong black coffee flavors, wakes you up right from the get go. Not strong as in pepper/spice/ligero but strong in flavor.

This is a very rich cigar which also carried notes of leather and a touch of cream. I loved the flavor, but the construction was off. Maybe it was just super fresh, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for now…