Origin : Nicaragua
Format : Robusto
Size : 5.25″ x 50
Wrapper : Dark Natural Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler : Nicaraguan
Binder : Nicaraguan
Hand-Made
Price : $10 each
More info about purchasing Cabaiguan cigars...

The Cabaiguan (kah-bei-gWAHN) is probably my absolute favorite Connecticut Shade cigar. Not really mild, it is more of a medium bodied smoke with light yet assertive flavors. I have been wanting to try the maduro version for a long while and I have finally got around to it. Sometimes with the sheer volume of different cigars out there it is hard to get to everything you want to try. Any way, from what I was able to find with some internet searches, it appears the Cabaiguan Maduro isn’t even really a maduro in the traditional sense. According to Tatuaje’s site and I saw it again on a retailer's site, the wrapper on this cigar is a naturally dark sun grown broadleaf wrapper. If that sounds familiar to you then you are probably familiar with the La Riqueza line of cigars from Tatuaje. The wrapper for that cigar is described the exact same way. So is it the same wrapper? I have no idea, but I wasn’t able to find a wealth of information on the Cabaiguan maduro and what I did find wasn’t necessarily authoritative.

Read the full review of Cabaiguan Maduro RX...

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Corona
Size : 5 x 42
Wrapper : USA / Connecticut Shade
Filler : Dominican Republic
Binder : Dominican Republic
Hand-Made
Price : ~$5-7 each
More info about purchasing Griffin's No. 500 cigars...

I decided to review another Griffin's. A long time ago, I had a look at the Griffin's Maduro Toro and if I were to sum up that review, I'd say something like "good for beginners, predictable maduro". Today, we'll be examining the Griffin's No. 500 and I can already tell you that the conclusion will be fairly similar, we'll just replace "maduro" by "connecticut".

Read the full review of Griffin’s No. 500...

Origin : Honduras
Format : Torpedo
Size : 6 x 54
Wrapper : Nicaragua
Filler : Honduras
Binder : Honduras
Hand-Made
Price : 4.30 € each
Global Rating :
Humidor's Rating :
Gabriel's Rating :
More info about purchasing Maria Mancini cigars...

Today's review comes from the leading Romanian cigar resource, Humidor.Ro. Bogdan (author and owner) was very kind to translate the review of the Maria Mancini Magic Mountain that was published on his website a little while ago.

Humidor: Almost one year ago, I was reading “The Spell of a Vice” on Lascaris’ blog. In his article, Lascaris refers to Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain”, where the main character, Hans Castrop abides by his habits, enjoying a cigar manufactured by Maria Mancini. As far as this cigar is concerned, reality and fiction mingle because the author uses the name of a real producer from Honduras - Maria Mancini, the only difference being that, in the novel, the cigar is located in Bremen. Maria Mancini settled the scores and, taking advantage of the novel’s success, created a cigar called Magic Mountain.

Read the full review of Guest Review: Maria Mancini Magic Mountain...

Origin : Nicaragua
Format : Short Robusto
Size : 4.75″ x 60
Wrapper : Nicaraguan
Filler : Nicaraguan
Binder : Nicaraguan
Hand-Made
Price : $7 each
More info about purchasing Casa Magna cigars...

Cigar Aficionado named the Casa Magna Colorado #1 on their Top 25 Cigars of 2008 (specifically the robusto). They did so with a very controversial explanation, stating that the price point of the cigar played a large role in its selection due to the state of the economy. That sparked off a ton of impassioned debate across the cigar smoker world about what should or should not factor into proclaiming a cigar as the #1 cigar of the year. Whereever you come down on that debate, the general consensus seems to be that the Casa Magna is a decent to very good cigar that carries a reasonable price tag. Somehow I have managed to fail to get around to trying the Casa Magna up til this point, but today I fired up the beefy Torito to see what I think of this much debated #1 cigar of 2008.

Read the full review of Casa Magna Colorado Torito...

Origin : Cuba
Format : Torpedo
Size : 140 x 20.64 mm (6.4 x 42)
Ring : 52
Weight : 12.45 g
Box code : TPG JUN 08
Hand-Made
Price : ~$210 for a box of 25
More info about purchasing Sancho Panza cigars...

These cigars were provided for review by CigarsdeCuba.com, a new shop with sales offices in Canada and guaranteed delivery worldwide.

Sancho Panza is not a very famous brand, despite of the fact that it has been one of the most sold in the middle of the 20th century. Created in 1848, it has been sold and re-sold at least five times to finally end up between the hands of El Rey del Mundo house in 1931. A couple of decades after that, the flagship vitolas like Belicosos and Molinos were among the most popular in Europe. Nowadays, for some reason (IMO - due to the Habanos SA marketing practices), these cigars are once again being forgotten.

Read the full review of Sancho Panza Belicosos...

Origin : Cuba
Factory Name : Petit Piramide
Size : 5'' (127 mm) x 50
Release : 2009
Country : France
Distributor : Coprova
Hand-Made
Price : ~9 € each
More info about purchasing El Rey del Mundo cigars...

Regional editions... I don't really know whether I love this marketing stunt by Habanos SA. On one hand, it allows me to try out a new cigar (and share my experience with you!) and - who knows - to be completely astonished by its quality. On the other hand, sometimes there's nothing special about a regional release. So far, it's fifty-fifty - some are top quality smokes, like the Bolivar Simones or Ramon Allones Eminencia whereas others are overpriced and almost disappointing. So it was with mixed feelings that I approached this French regional edition, El Rey del Mundo Petit Compania (is this the right spelling? Cupania? Cumpaña? the right spelling is "Compania") that I found in Ajaccio.

Read the full review of El Rey del Mundo Petit Compania (RE France)...

Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Robusto
Size : 4 1/2 x 50
Wrapper : Connecticut Shade
Filler : Dominican Republic + ?
Binder : Dominican Republic
Hand-Made
Price : ~$7 each
More info about purchasing Butera cigars...

I received a couple of these cigars in an anonymous cigar bomb (thank you whoever you are!). I've never heard of the brand and first thought that these were not worthy of further research. However, out of pure curiousity I loaded Google and searched for Butera. No official website. I only found that this is a boutique cigar made for Michael Butera, often referred to as America's greatest pipemaker. Hand-made in the Dominican Republic, the Butera Bravo Corto is wrapped in a Connecticut Shade leaf and uses 6 different tobaccos from 3 different countries. As hard as I tried, I could not find valid information on what these 3 countries are, I can only suppose that one of them is Dominican Republic.

Read the full review of Butera Royal Vintage Bravo Corto...

Origin : Danli, Honduras
Format : Perfecto
Size : 8 x 58
Wrapper : Brazil
Filler : Nicaragua
Binder : Nicaragua
Hand-Made
Price : $72.95 / box of 10
More info about purchasing CAO Brazilia cigars...

Last week I began my series of CAO reviews with the brand new CAO Gold Vintage Crémant. This week I review the CAO Brazilia Anaconda. The Brazilia line has been one of my longtime favorites from CAO. It doesn't seem to matter what the size is, I'm always pleased with my choice to pick one up and smoke it. The Brazilia Anaconda doesn't disappoint. Originally released as a limited edition in 2004, production of this vitola resumed in 2007. I have rarely seen these locally and in fact the ones I recently had came from a trade with my friend Scott.

Read the full review of CAO Brazilia Anaconda...