Origin : Dominican Republic Format : Canonazo Size : 5 7/8 x 52 Wrapper : Connecticut Broadleaf Grade A Dark Filler : Nicaraguan Binder : Ecuadorian Sumatra Hand-Made (factory: Tabacalera La Alianza S.A.) Price : $8.95 each
Crowned Heads Le Careme is a new release for 2016. They went with a culinary theme for this cigar, as the name pays tribute to Marie-Antoine Careme. He was a famous French chef who is well known for pioneering culinary arts like mother sauces and popularizing the soufflé in the 1800s.
Jon Huber blended the cigar, and the owner of the factory where this cigar is made, Ernesto Perez-Carillo, Jr., said, “This cigar tastes like chocolate soufflé blended this cigar.”
Personally, the blend profile is basically my dream combination. If I were to blend my own cigar, this would be one of my first ideas. So, that sounds AMAZING and let’s see what we get from Le Careme.
Please welcome Scott AKA The Bare Hand, our new author! He starts with a very detailed review of a boutique cigar, Caldwell The King is Dead. Enjoy!
The King is Dead by Caldwell Cigar Company, owned by Robert Caldwell, is their second blend. They make very small batch releases, so finding them can be somewhat tough, but this cigar has been a hit, and I’m excited to finally give it a go after resting in my humidor for about a year.
Interestingly, according to Robert Caldwell, this cigar was blended with the intention of smoking the related brother blend, Long Live the King (which is fantastic BTW), just before. Unfortunately, I did not have that opportunity, but this cigar was enjoyable nonetheless.
This blend utilizes some rare and underused Dominican tobaccos (just check the blend. What a mouthful!), so I’m preparing for a unique experience.
Origin : Dominican Republic Format : Short Robusto Size : 4 x 52 Wrapper : Connecticut Ecuador Filler : Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Peruvian Olancho Binder : Dominican Republic Hand-Made Price : ~$8 each
If you are an Avo fan, then you know that Avo Uvezian has his roots as a jazz pianist. Calling on that background, he has named this blend the Avo “Syncro” after the concept of musical synchronization. The goal with this cigar was to “synchronize” the experience of smoking Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos. The cigar also contains tobaccos from Ecuador and Peru. The Nicaraguan tobacco is of particular interest as it comes from a volcanic island in the center of Lake Nicaragua called Ometepe. Is the Avo Syncro Nicaragua truly a “synchronization” of tobacco flavors? I smoked the Short Robusto to find out.
A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Richard Galdieri about reviewing a cigar made by his company, Don Bernardo Cigars.
Don Bernardo is not a very well-known name in the cigar world yet, but Richard started in cigar manufacturing in 1989. You will not find a lot of information yet on this boutique line; El Caballero cigars come in three sizes: Montefino (52 x 6.5″), El Rey (57 x 6″), Robusto (50 x 5″). For this review, I tried out the Robusto.
Disclaimer: cigars for this review were provided free of charge.
The word “fine” has evolved in meaning through generations of English speaking people. “I feel fine” means you don’t have aches and pains, and the sarcastic “Fine!” means you’re done discussing a disagreeable subject and want to move on. But I like using the word “fine” in the more classical sense. To me, the word fine connotes something artisan; well made and of outstanding quality. Recently, I smoked a cigar that struck me as having all the elements that make for a truly fine cigar, the PDR A. Flores Gran Reserva Sun Grown Robusto.
Origin : Dominican Republic Format : Robusto Size : 5 x 50 Wrapper : Ecuador Habano Filler : Dominican & Nicaraguan Binder : Dominican Hand-Made Price : ~$11 each
This highly anticipated cigar is the result of collaboration between Arturo Fuente and Ashton. There were hitches in the development process which led to delays, including fires in the Arturo Fuente factory. This didn’t stop this dynamic duo from coming out with a popular and highly rated cigar—the first since 2006 to bear the Ashton name.
The Ashton Symmetry is available in five different sizes: Belicoso, Prestige (Churchill), Prism (Corona), Robusto and Sublime (Toro). For this review, I smoked the 5” x 50 Robusto.
By El Humo De Los Dioses in Macanudo on May 12th, 16
Origin : Dominican Republic Wrapper : Connecticut Broadleaf Filler : Nicaragua, Dom. Rep., Brazil Binder : Honduras Hand-Made Price : $65 for a box of 12
Recently I purchased an aged variety of cigar readily available in the US market to see if there other cigars out there that the average US aficionado could enjoy at reasonable prices. Macanudo has always been a popular smoke, and I went on Cigar.com’s website to make my choice. I give a tip of the cap to Sean O. and Andy D. at Cigar.com for their assistance in processing my order. Customer service was impeccable and these guys were immensely helpful in processing my requests. I purchased all three vitolas available — Perfecto, Toro and Robusto, and since they all were basically the same cigar, my comments are directed at all three configurations.
Today we are publishing a guest quick smoke review from our long-time reader, Beneluxor! Enjoy.
Dutch company Balmoral dates back to the 1890s, and is distinctive in Europe for having both very popular ranges of short-filler machine-made slightly upscale cigars – like their ‘Sumatra’ line using Indonesian Java – Sumatra, Brazilian & Havana Remedios tobaccos – but also 5 lines of hand-rolled premium cigars, including this Royal Selection Maduro, which has quite won me over as a great favourite, one of the most satisfying maduro cigars out there.
A long-filler cigar hand-rolled in the Dominican Republic (Balmoral is part of Agio now), the wrapper is sweet dark Arapiraca from Brazil, the binder Dominican Olor, and the filler from both Brazil & the Dominican Republic.
The Balmoral Royal Maduro Panatela here is a unique elegant vitola, 37 ring rauge (14.68mm), and 139mm (5 1/2 inches) long. A great virtue of slender cigars is that the flavour impact of the wrapper can be heightened dramatically, as happens in smoking these lovely sticks.
It’s an exciting cigar, rewarding with wonderful explosions of flavours suggesting dark chocolate & espresso, rich but not over-strong, and tends to be very tasty well into the final third. It draws easily and makes nice ash. The amount of flavour burst can vary during the smoke and cigar-to-cigar, but generally stays in the upper end of flavour richness for maduros. The Balmoral Royal is for me, the top maduro value.
A singularly stylish & good-looking cigar too with the wrapper, the well-balanced sizing & the striking green cigar band, it’s not too pricey (around € 6,50 in my neighbourhood). With tobacco from their former Indonesian realms, the Dutch became great masters of the cigar business, and with this stick it’s clear that they still organise the making of great cigars today.
