Archive for October, 2009

TomsCigars.com top referrer In October

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

Everyone knows that this site wouldn’t exist without the help of The Stogie Review. This is a given. This brings me to the topic at hand. What was the top referring site in October? Read on…

I was looking at tomscigars.com stats a minute ago, and couldn’t help but notice a lot of clicks came to my site via A Cigar Smokers Journal. This was my number one referral site in October, with over 70 of you finding me via acigarsmoker.com.

acigarsmoker

If you haven’t been there yet, I suggest you check it out now. Barry offers honest, straight forward reviews. He’s been a friend of this site for a long time now. Go check out A Cigar Smokers Journal now!

A quick site update… Monday a winner will be announced for the Xikar contest. Time is almost over, so enter now before it’s too late. The very next day, Tuesday, November’s giveaway will be posted. You won’t want to miss this one! Stay tuned.

Rocky Patel-The Edge Lite

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

While searching for a morning cigar in the humidor, I came across today’s review. This cigar has been buried in my humidor for at least two years. I haven’t smoked one of these in awhile, so I stuck with water instead of coffee for this mornings review of The Rocky Patel Edge Lite.

 

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua & Honduras

Size: Toro 6×52

Price: Around $5.00

1RPEdgeLite

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The golden Connecticut wrapper was a bit toothy (bumpy) and veiny, but still looked good. Squeezing the length of the cigar revealed no soft spots, just a consistent squish that bounced back after being pinched. Sniffing the wrapper and foot, I only noticed slight natural tobacco and woody odors. The pre-light draw was perfect, offering slight resistance and it had woody flavors.

The burn was perfect, requiring no touch-ups. The ash held for well over an inch. The cigar practically smoked itself, offering tons of pillowy smoke.

 

Flavor:

As soon as I lit up, I was greeted with a smoke feel that was ultra smooth. Silky smooth even. Definite woody flavors were noticed, mixed with with a very slight pepper. The flavor became buttery and creamy towards the end of the first third.

2RPEdgeLite

The second third maintained woody flavors with a little nuttiness. When passing the smoke through the nose, I found the pepper increased in strength slightly. The smoke feel remained thick, creamy and smooth. However, the flavors were crisp and toasty. All the while, subtle buttery notes lingered.

3RPEdgeLite

The last third became more creamy, buttery and toasty then the previous thirds. All the while, I still got peppery notes when retro-haling. The smoke became even more plentiful then before – thick and pillowy. Pepper remained but smoothed out even more. Very nice.

4RPEdgeLite

Conclusion:

This was a very good mild to medium cigar. It went well in the morning and would go great with coffee. The price isn’t too bad either. If you are into milder Connecticut wrapped cigars, this one is a must try.

A Senseless Ban

Thursday, October 29th, 2009
I'm still scratching my head over New York City's move to ban flavored tobacco products, including flavored cigars and even pipe tobacco. It just doesn't make sense. And even if you're not a fan of flavored tobacco (and I'm not) you should still find the news disturbing.

Xikar Contest-Time is running out!

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

For those of you who already entered the Xikar contest, ignore this post. For the rest of you, WHY haven’t you entered the contest yet? It’s easy enough. Just go HERE and leave a comment. You may want to check out our review of the Xikar HC Series Habano Colorado while you are there. Soon the contest will be over and I’ll pick two random winners.

HC Logo

I don’t know how long these raffles will continue, so take advantage while you can! Speaking of raffles… I am already working on the next giveaway. I’ll reveal the details in the near future. Just trust me when I say, it will be a great prize. Stay tuned!

Camacho Limited Harvest

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

I have no idea where or when I obtained the cigar for today’s review. All I know is, I put them in the “To be reviewed” humidor. The only hype I could find about the Limited Harvest relates to the wrapper. Apparently it is made from “A new strain of tobacco grown on the Eiroa’s farm in the Jamastran Valley of Honduras.” Hence the name “Limited Harvest.” I filled my cup of water and got to reviewing…

 

Wrapper: Honduras

Binder/Filler: Honduras

Size: Toro 5.75 x 52

Price: 6 – $8.00

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

2CamachoLimitedHarvestThe first thing I noticed is how lumpy the wrapper looked, and how light the cigar felt. It wasn’t ugly but I’ll say it was rugged looking. When I squeezed the cigar from head to foot, I found it to be very spongy. Sniffing the wrapper reminded me of grass with a tinge of poo. The foot had the opposite mixture, first up was poo, with grass right behind it. The pre-light draw was very free, and tasted like simple sweet earthy tobacco.

 

The burn required quite a few corrections, and I didn’t trust the ash when it would get to just under an inch. The loose roll caused the flakey ash.

1CamachoLimitedHarvest

 

Flavor:

The first third opened up with a simple, smooth earthy flavor. I found nice peppery notes when passing the smoke through the sinus. The smoke took on a somewhat creamy feel that coated the mouth.

3CamachoLimitedHarvest

The second third held that smooth earthiness with an addition of a woody component. The smoke kept that thick feel with an added sweetness. The pepper mellowed out, losing some of its punch. A slight nuttiness entered the picture, and mixed with the other flavors nicely. I felt parched and found myself drinking a lot of water.

4CamachoLimitedHarvest

I found myself drinking lots of water during this third as well. The smoke feel was dry yet thick with no creaminess. Woody and nutty flavors dominated the flavor profile. The earthy notes were still there, but fell back in intensity. There was a touch of sweetness mixed in as well, I just couldn’t pin a flavor with it.

5CamachoLimitedHarvest

Conclusion:

This was a decent medium bodied cigar. I wasn’t wowed by any means, but I wasn’t let down either. My only complaints were with in the construction department, although it wasn’t extremely bad. My final verdict… Give the Camacho Limited Harvest a try.

The Joy of Finishing Last

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
I could still taste the tangerine the next morning. Eighteen hours had passed since I'd first tasted Bowmore Gold and the last tasting note was just getting finished on my palate. There are arenas where it's best to come in last, and the world of hyperpremium Scotch whisky is one of them.

All Hail the World’s Most Inventive Marketers!

Monday, October 26th, 2009

nigerian419-scammer_www-txt2pic-comThe world economy is in disarray and industries of all kinds are hurting like never before. Construction, housing, the automakers, cigar manufacturers as well as a plethora of industries are reeling and desperately grabbing onto whatever they can to stay afloat. But I have noticed that one particular industry is stepping up it’s marketing like I have never seen before. This group has unleashed a full frontal assault on its prospective clientele, and it’s impressive to see such tenacity and a belief in good old fashioned  traditional marketing values. Of course I’m referring to: The Email Scammers.

Never have I received such a relentless barrage of Nigerian 419 letters, foreign lottery notifications, and phishing scams in all my life. Everyday I receive three to five different creatively written emails trying desperately to separate me from my hard earned money. It has become obvious that the world’s stifling economic conditions are hurting the email scammer industry and these gallant lads are doing their best to stay afloat.

The Nigerian letters are amazing – so well conceived and so sincere and believable that I almost want to give these bastards everything that they want, sight unseen. The stories are always uncanny – a steel magnate dies and somewhere along the way in life I must have crossed paths with this fine gent. His daughter Fatima needs to move his two-hundred million dollars from a financial institution in the Ivory Coast to an American Bank, and as fate would have it, gosh darn it, MY name came up at the top of the list! Wow, what a stroke of good fortune for little ol’ me! I also got one from Jipjad Dorhoni whose father (the owner of a Boron mine in Sri Lanka) has been wrongly imprisoned and he needs my help and will reward me handsomely! WOW! And then there’s Kim Chee, a Hong Kong finance officer who has a “very important” business proposition for me but can’t release the information in an email. Ooooooo, how deliciously clandestine!

nigeria_419_shirtThese people have balls that King Kong would be most jealous of. They ask for your name, address, name of bank, and often times your account numbers. And the most astonishing thing of all is that people willingly hand them the information, all in hopes of taking a ride down “easy street.” A favorite quote of mine is by football analyst, John Madden who said that, “The road to easy street goes through the sewer.” Not too long ago a woman from the somewhere in the U.S. northwest made the news as she was swindled of something like eight-hundred thousand dollars by these enterprising entrepreneurs. The key is that you need to give them a small sum of money to make the transaction happen. Then there’s a glitch and they need more money. Then a hold up in the international bank requires more money. You get the picture. This stupid-ass “greedy” broad said she got so caught up in receiving the millions that she was willing to do anything to make it happen. It wasn’t until her bank red-flagged her $400,000 wire transfer that things finally came to a halt. Yowzers.

And just call me the luckiest man on the face of the earth as I have won no less than 12 international and foreign lotteries in the past three weeks, totaling 200 million dollars! Praise Jesus! Would you believe that each and every one of them randomly picked me from a hundred million names! What are the odds?! What will I buy? What will I wear? Never has the heavens blessed such a good citizen as me! Cigars… that’s it, I must purchase lots and lots of cigars. Of course I’ll need a place to put them. Then I’ll need some pals to smoke ‘em with. Of course I’ll then need a big place to smoke them in. Wow, being the recipient of a most fortuitous situation sure can be complicated.

Last but not least, are the banks, credit card companies, and other noted financial merchants who need me to verify my banking or credit card information. Hey, it’ll only take a minute, right? Gotta have my financial information in order! I keep getting stuff from banks that I don’t have accounts with, but claim that I do, and that’s just so cool! I mean I have accounts with gobs of moolah in them that I wasn’t really aware of. I’ve even gotten a few from pay Pal. But the worst ever was several years ago. The email stated that they received my order for child pornography and wanted to verify shipping info. It said that if it was sent to me in error to send my credit card info so they could promptly cancel the order. Holy crap, that one scared the begeeiz outta me.

They are thieves, liars, scumbags, and major-league criminals, but you gotta give these bastards credit for working so diligently to make ends meet. Hey, business sucks all over the place, and scammers gotta eat, too…right? These dirtbags might be the most inventive and hard working marketers that I have ever seen. So I say hats off to the Nigerian scammers and their ilk. Now all we need is a Bud light “Real Men of Genius” commercial for them… “Today we salute you, Mr. Nigerian 419 email scamming son of a bitch.”

But let me be the first to say that every email you get from JR Cigars is the real deal, chock full of honest to goodness leafy splendor! What the hell, click the link to the site and check out the cigars. It’ll do ya some good!

Well, gotta go… my winnings in the Indonesian Electronic Sweeps awaits!

Later my peeps,

Tommy Z.

JR Cigars Blog With the Zman

Gurkha Red Dragon

Monday, October 26th, 2009

For those of you who have been asking where Ed is, your search is over. We are back for our monthly review at The Stogie Review. This time we take a look at the new Gurkha Red Dragon.

This cigar was enjoyable, with subtle and simple flavors. This is why the review is a little short at around 20 minutes. Enjoy…

MP3 Audio

Corona Cobras

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

While browsing the Corona Cigar Company in Orlando one day, I came across the cigar up for review today. It looks like it is exclusive to Corona. A standard culebra cigar is basically 3 cigars woven together. They are then taken apart and smoked individually. A quick story about culebra cigars… Apparently back in the day, cigar rollers were allowed to roll X amount of cigars for themselves during a shift. They started rolling 3 cigars into one in order to triple the amount of free sticks. Makes sense. Back to the Cobra…

The Corona Cobras has the standard three cigars woven together, but at the head they become one pre-clipped spot. I can only assume this means the cigar is to be smoked without disassembly. Without further ado, I paired up with the usual glass of water and got to the review.

1CoronaCobrasPics

Wrapper/Binder/Filler: ???

Size: 6 x 32

Price: $7.50

 

Pre-smoke & Construction:

Overall, the cigar(s) looked rugged. The double wrappers looked interesting. Obviously the cigars were a little spongy, but not too bad. When I sniffed the wrappers and feet, I picked up sweet honey. The pre-light draw was free, and had a sweet honey and earthy taste.

The burn required no corrections. All 3 cigars stayed even with each other. This was a quick burner, taking about an hour to smoke. All three ashes held strong for about an inch. Construction wasn’t bad at all.

2CoronaCobras

Flavor:

The first third began with a simple, somewhat mild earthy flavor. This developed into a mild sweetness that I couldn’t find a name for. It almost reminded me of the pre-light inspection. It had a strange honey-ish tinge to it, but not like in a flavored cigar.

3CoronaCobras

The second third again had dominant earthy notes. The sweetness picked up in terms of strength, but not very much. It still held that honey-ish tone. In essence, nothing really changed.

4CoronaCobras

The last third pretty much continued the exact same path as the previous two thirds. The only change was the body went into the lower medium range. Really, there is nothing more to add.

5CoronaCobras

Conclusion:

This is a novelty cigar for sure. If you want to be the guy at the party with the wacky cigar, this is for you. To me the flavor profile didn’t come close to what I like. Although the taste never got bad or harsh, it left me bored. If this wasn’t such a quick burner, I wouldn’t have finished it. On a positive note, I’d have to commend the construction.

Breaking through Customs in Havana

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Cuban customs really gets to me. It's not that the agents at Jose Martí Airport in La Habana are particularly unpleasant, or even aggressive, but they make me nervous. I begin getting edgy a few days before I have to leave the island, and by the time I get to the airport, my right eye is already twitching.

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