Archive for the ‘de’ Category

Hoyo De Monterry Reposado en Cedros

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

I picked up a couple of these cigars locally. What caught my eye was the nice presentation and decent price. This cigar uses a new “Immersion process,” which I have no idea what that means. Thee is a little more information over at the General Cigars web site. As always, I paired this review with water.

 

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra

Binder: Connecticut broadleaf

Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Dominican

Size: Marco – 6 1/4 x 54

Price: $6.15

 

Pre-smoke & Construction:

Peeling away the cedar liner revealed a nice looking brown wrapper. There were a couple good sized veins, but overall flaws were minimal. The smell coming off of the cigar was a mild earthiness and cedar. The cigar was packed with tobacco. Towards the head, there was literally no give when you squeezed. This, along with the restrictive nipple at the foot, led to a tight draw. Too tight for my liking. The pre-light draw had an earthy natural tobacco taste.

The burn required no corrections, and the ash held for around 1.5 inches. The draw stayed pretty tight, but loosened up a little as I got past the half way point.

1_Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros

Flavor:

The first third: There wasn’t a lot going on. Simple woody flavors along with natural tobacco. A slight tingle was left in the mouth after exhaling, and there was an ever so slight spice through the nose.

2_Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros

The second third had an increase in that cedary, woody flavor, and it dominated the flavor profile for the most part. Right along side it was a strange floral note. I can’t think of a better way to describe it. Earthiness lingered in the back ground. Through the nose, it still tasted woody with a dry mild pepper. Like before, the smoke left a tingle on the lips and tongue.

3_Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros

The last third had an interesting smoke feel. It was that fruitiness along with a tingling sensation. It was a little stronger then previous thirds. Through the nose, there was a distinct pepper that was medium in strength. Next up was that woodiness, which I mentioned before. Those elusive earthy notes were in the back ground like before.

4_Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros

Conclusion:

This mild to medium bodied cigar was all right. It struck me as nothing special though. On the positive side, the smoke feel combined with the simple flavors for a unique experience. I never got any bad flavors, and I could see this appealing to someone. In the end, to me it just seemed to fall a little short. It was aight…

Posted in Cedros, Cigar Reviews, Cigars, de, en, General, hoyo, Monterrey, Reposado | No Comments »

La Gloria Cubana Artesanos De Tabaqueros

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Once again the gracious people at the General Cigar Company sent me some samples of the cigar up for review today. I should mention that the last company I expected to want me to review their cigars was the General Cigar Company. To my surprise, they have been very generous to the bloggers out there, including myself. There is always a risk of a bad review, but they know that’s a risk worth taking.

You probably noticed something strange about the wrapper. The first third is wrapped with a Connecticut shade leaf, while the rest is covered in an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. As many of you know, I’m not big on the back-stories about cigars. My focus is – Did it taste good? How did it burn? What about the draw? How much money? Where can I get it? At the end of the day that is all I am concerned with. I’ll catch the back stories sooner or later, but honestly I don’t care. So without further ado, I filled up a glass of water and here is my review.

2La Gloria Cubana_ 

Wrapper: Connecticut Shade & Ecuador Sumatra

Binder/Filler: ???

Size: Toro 6 x 50

Price: $8.00

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

Both wrappers had a toothy appearance. The Sumatra wrapper had larger veins but overall everything looked decent. Each wrapper had a slightly different odor – The Sumatra portion had an earthy smell with a slight spice. The Connecticut wrapper had a mellower earthy smell. I couldn’t detect any aroma from the foot. The pre-light draw was a ever so slightly snug, but not to the point of being a problem. Overall the cigar was firmly packed, with a soft spot here and there. The pre-smoke draw had a dark natural tobacco taste.

The burn required a couple corrections in the first third, but evened itself out. The ash held for just under an inch.

1La Gloria Cubana_ 

Flavor:

The first third is the Connecticut wrapper portion of this cigar. It had a nice mellow spice accompanied by earthy notes. After about an inch into this third, the smoke feel became thicker and had a creamy sensation. To round things up, a nice nutty component came about and completed the first third. I’d say the body was in the medium range, and wasn’t bad at all.

3La Gloria Cubana_ 

The second third is where I got into the Sumatra wrapped portion of the cigar. A dual wrapped cigar like this can help you realize how much the wrapper can effect the flavor. As soon as I hit this third, nice sweet coffee flavors entered the picture. When exhaling through the nose there was a smooth pepper with a tinge of sweetness. The smoke feel was a little creamy. As progressed to the end of this third, I picked up some cocoa flavors. To round things out were pleasant earthy notes. The body remained in the medium range.

4La Gloria Cubana_ 

The last third went into the upper medium to lower full bodied range. The smoke feel became very smooth can creamy. The pepper really mellowed out but kept some of it’s zing. At times the dominant flavor was cocoa, and other times a spicy cinnamon-ish flavor would take over. All the while fairly strong black coffee flavors were present. Faint earthy and nutty notes were in the background as well.

5La Gloria Cubana_ 

Conclusion:

This was a good medium to full bodied cigar. I liked how it steadily ramped up in flavors and body. The flavors changed enough to hold my interest, and nothing was unpleasant. I think this is worth trying for yourself. I imagine they are available at some local shops, as well as online. I’d be curious of your experience differs from mine.

Posted in artesanos, cigar, Cigar Reviews, Cigars, cubana, de, General, gloria, la, tabaqueros | No Comments »

Flor De Oliva Natural

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Continuing with my exploration into value, or bundle cigars, I ran across Flor de Oliva. This is a bundle cigar offered by Oliva, the maker of many fine cigars. I took a chance and ordered a bundle recently, as I was looking for a cheap morning cigar. Let’s see if the Flor de Oliva natural does the trick…

 

Wrapper: Sumatra

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua & Dominican

Size: Toro 6 x 50

Price: Around $40.00 for a bundle of 20

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The natural wrapper looked nice, with no major flaws or veins. The cigar was moderately packed with tobacco. When I squeezed the entire length, I found a few soft spots, but nothing alarming. Sniffing the wrapper and foot revealed a simple natural tobacco odor. The pre-light draw was good, and had a sweet earthy flavor.

The burn required a couple corrections in the first third, and the ash held for just under an inch before falling off.

1FlorDeOlivaNatural 

Flavor:

As I got into the first third, I though to myself… “Is the cap sweetened on this thing?” I say this because of a distinct sweetness that was left on the lips. Anyway… when exhaling through the nose, there was that definite Nicaraguan pepper I so often speak of. It was on the mild side and combined with earthy notes for an overall good experience. The main flavor was basically a natural tobacco and earthy taste.

2FlorDeOlivaNatural 

The second third saw the addition of woody and cedar notes. The sweetness that was like a sweetened cap reduced in strength. Other then that, there wasn’t any more change. That peppery zing remained, as did the natural earthy tobacco taste.

3FlorDeOlivaNatural

The last third had minimal change. The smoke feel took on a thicker, somewhat creamy feel. The pepper remained but calmed and smoothed out. The sweetness basically went away, which left the basic woody, natural earthy tobacco flavors.

4FlorDeOlivaNatural 

Conclusion:

First things first… Does this have a sweetened cap? I could only find conflicting or vague information on the web. Anyway… This was a decent mild to medium bodied cigar. Basically you get what you pay for. It obviously isn’t the most complex or interesting smokes out there. But if you are looking for a yard gar, or something to smoke while sipping your morning coffee, I think this will fit the bill. Not a bad value cigar!

Posted in Cigar Reviews, Cigars, de, flor, natural, Oliva, Value Cigar | No Comments »

Hoyo De Monterrey Excalibur Maduro

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

I’ve really been digging deep into the bottom of my humidor lately. I didn’t even know I had the cigar up for review tonight. I’ve been holding on to this smoke for at least two years. There is a back story about where this cigar got the name “Excalibur.” But you didn’t come here to read that did you? Instead of researching all of that useless info, I grabbed a glass of water and got to the review.

 

Wrapper: Connecticut broadleaf maduro

Binder: Connecticut broadleaf

Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Dominican

Size: 6 3/4 x 47

Price: Around $5.00

 

Pre-light & Construction:

The first thing I noticed about this cigar was the oily wrapper. It looked great with minimal veins and only a few bumps here and there. The wrapper smelled cedary and earthy, while the foot had a slight peppery component. I found the cigar was pretty hard when squeezing the entire length. The pre-light draw was good, with a dark earthy taste. I let the ash go for about an inch, but I think it would have lasted two. The burn required no corrections. Construction was great.

1Excalibur 

Flavor:

The first third greeted me with a simple smooth earthy taste. About an inch in, a definite strong coffee or espresso kicked in. The coffee and earthy notes took turns being the dominant flavor. All the while, I found a very subtle peppery spice when passing the smoke through the nose.

2Excalibur

The second third opened up a little bit. Coffee notes mixed with earthy flavors that remained dominant. Next in line was a slight pepper, and a very subtle sweetness came into the flavor profile. As I got towards the end of this third, the sweetness developed into a mocha flavor.

3Excalibur

The last third was my favorite part of this cigar. The smoke turned to a thick and creamy feel. Strong coffee was the main flavor, and it caused the earthy flavors to go away. The peppery spice changed into a sweet spice that was very much like mocha and cinnamon.

4Excalibur

Conclusion:

This was a good medium to upper medium bodied cigar. A lot of the flavors were what I consider “Standard maduro.” But still, overall I enjoyed the entire cigar. I won’t be running out to find more, but I wouldn’t discourage anyone from at least giving the Excalibur a try.

Posted in Cigar Reviews, Cigars, de, excalibur, hoyo, maduro, monterry | No Comments »

A Quick Smoke With Ed and Tom – La Aroma De Cuba

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

This is a new segment called “A Quick Smoke with Ed and Tom.” This video runs about 15 minutes. The name explains it all. The idea is to review smaller ring gage and length cigars in a quick, to the point format. Ed and I figured a little extra content couldn’t hurt, so we did a quick review of the La Aroma De Cuba.

I am not sure how often we’ll do these, but we are shooting for one quick smoke in addition to a full length review each month. These segments will be featured here, and on St. Pete Pipe & Cigars. Let us know what you think. Is it a good or bad idea? Should the reviews be shorter or longer? All feedback is welcome, good or bad.

Posted in aroma, Cigar Video Reviews, Cigars, Cuba, de, ed, la, quick, smoke, stpetepipecigars, tom | No Comments »

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