Archive for the ‘fuente’ Category

Pro Cigar Underway by Frank Seltzer

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

 

Pro Cigar 2013

Well the big cigar party in the Dominican Republic is underway.  It began over the weekend in La Romana where participants came in to begin the week long smoke event and today will tour Tabacalera de Garcia—Altadis USA’s huge factory that makes Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo and others.

The annual festival, now in its 6th year, is a chance for cigar smokers to visit the factories, fields and generally hang out with some of your favorite cigar makers.

Pro Cigar is the Dominican group that represents all the major cigar manufacturers on the island. It works to promote the Dominican Republic as Cigar Country making the finest cigars in the world, as well as working on issues that would affect the business. I say all because just a week ago it was announced that Litto Gomez and Ernesto Perez Carrillo have joined the organization.

This means that the trade group represents Altadis USA with its above named brands and factory, General Cigar (maker of Macanudo, Cohiba and La Gloria Cubana among others), La Aurora (maker of La Aurora, Leon Jimenes and Guillermo Leon), MATASA (maker of the Quesada lines and Fonseca), Tabadom Holdings (maker of Davidoff, Zino and Avo), Tabacalera  A. Fuente y Cia (Fuente, Opus X),Tabaquisa (Juan Clemente), Corporacion Cigar Export ( Augusto Reyes) and now La Flor Dominicana and EPC Cigars.

The fun in Santiago kicks off tonight and then continues to build until the big gala dinner on Friday.  We’ll bring you further reports on this.

Diplomatic Help

No doubt Pro Cigar was a big factor in letters that were sent to the FDA, State Department and White House from the ambassadors of the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua warning about the damage to their respective economies should the FDA begin to regulate cigars.

The letter says

“If history is any precedent, some of the regulations that could be imposed by the agency would prove disastrous to the centuries old cigar industry that provides more than 350,000 jobs among our three nations, and represents millions of dollars in export revenue. No regulatory measure should threaten such jobs, and hence raise the specter of political and economic consequences within our region.”

Whether anyone at the FDA can read is another matter.

FDA Will Rule

It was the present delivered to anti tobacco advocates right before Christmas…the administration’s Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan…it covered everything from workplace safety to you got it tobacco regulation.  On December 21, the FDA indicated it would issue rules by April subjecting additional tobacco products to its control.  According to Troutman Sanders law firm:

What is clear is that while the FDA has not issued a specific proposal to regulate cigars, pipe tobacco, electronic cigarettes or other tobacco products, it has indicated it intends to take some action. This proposed rule seems to lay the foundation for the FDA to take that action. What is also clear, is that the Obama Administration continues to place tobacco regulation as one of its priorities for the next four years.

And that could be a major problem for cigar makers.  Even Roll Call agrees that something is coming up soon.  But of course moronic democrats like California’s Henry Waxman are pushing the FDA hard on tobacco…including cigars because, you know, it is for the children.

 “I’m pleased to see the FDA has begun to enforce the law. I continue to call on them to take forceful action to protect the public health with the authority given to them,” Waxman said in a statement. “We need to take action to stop tobacco companies from exploiting loopholes and continuing to addict youth.”

Yeah like banning flavoring in tobacco except the most popular one…menthol cuz the President smokes that.  Right.  Hypocrite.

New Bill

IPCPR announced that on Friday the 15th, a new bill was introduced in Congress to protect premium cigars. There were 12 co-sponsors initially this time…

Reps. Bill Posey (R-FL) and Kathy Castor (D-FL) introduced H.R. 792, the ‘‘Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2013.” This legislation is a crucial step forward in protecting the premium cigar retail industry from undue regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aiming “[t]o amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify the Food and Drug Administration’s jurisdiction over certain tobacco products, and to protect jobs and small businesses involved in the sale, manufacturing and distribution of traditional and premium cigars”.

We had a lot of co-sponsors last time (221) but need more to get it through.  As Rocky Patel told me last weekend in Hawaii, after spending the week in Washington, because of some language changes, “I think we are going to get a lot of momentum.  We have not lost one congressman as sponsor from the last session and we are going to pick more up.  We are making a real push this year and want to get about 300 sponsors,  At that point we can attach to bill to a vehicle that will move through Congress.”

Let your voice be heard! Contact your legislator here and urge them to support H.R. 792!

Arturo Fuente Solaris (SI Exclusive)

Sunday, May 20th, 2012

Thanks to Smoke Inn for sending me a couple of these to review. This is another exclusive blend for them, and was completely created by Fuente. Carlos Fuente made a small batch of cigars over six years ago, and there they sat. Until now. I paired with water and got to smoking. Let’s see how it went.

 

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sun Grown

Binder & Filler: Unknown

Size: 6 x 49

Price: $89.50 for a 10 pack

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The wrapper had a smooth, oily appearance. There were no visible flaws, and the veins were small to medium. The smell of the wrapper was a mild cedar. The foot had almost no smell at all, perhaps a mild earthiness or hay. The cigar was well packed, with only minor hard and soft spots. The draw had slight resistance, and the pre-light draw had a sweet, almost honey flavor to it.

The burn required a couple corrections, and the ash held for about 1.5 inches.

1 Arturo_Fuente_Solaris cigars

Flavor:

The first third had a dominant flavor of cedar. Retrohaling revealed an easy pepper with a tinge of creaminess. There may have been a mild nutty component as well.

2 Arturo_Fuente_Solaris cigars

The second third was almost an even combination of cedar and nuttiness. Like before, the pepper was easy to swish around the mouth and sinus. I could only detect earthiness in the aftertaste.

3 Arturo_Fuente_Solaris cigars

The last third kept the same core flavors as before. The only difference was the smoke feel became creamy and sweet.

4 Arturo_Fuente_Solaris cigars

Conclusion:

This was a solid mild to lower medium bodied cigar. In typical Fuente fashion, it was consistent, easy to smoke, and construction was good. Unlike other Smoke Inn blends, this fits a different demographic than, let’s say, the Anarchy. For me, this is a breakfast or lunch smoke with coffee. If I had to complain, the price may be a little on the high end, for me at least.  I think they are worth a try if you appreciate mild to medium cigars.

Ashton Heritage Puro Sol

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Slacker… Yes, I am describing myself. Reviews have lacked recently due to life. Nothing bad, nothing good. Just some home projects and goofing off. So it’s time to get to it…

The Ashton Heritage Puro sol sports tobacco that is all sungrown. Yes, it’s grown in the sunlight instead of underneath cloth cover. This can increase flavor, strength, and body of the tobacco, especially towards the top of the plant (Ligero). Enough of this rambling… Go to Ashton’s website for the details. I picked up the Heritage simply because I have never reviewed it before, and it looked good. As always, I paired this cigar with filtered fine Florida tap water. Mmm…

 

Wrapper: Cameroon

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Dominican

Size: Belicoso 4.875 x 49

Price: $9.95

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The shiny chocolaty brown wrapper looked appealing, and only had minimal flaws not worth getting in to. The smell of the wrapper was sweet and earthy, and the foot had a slight spice. The cigar was pretty well packed, with minor inconsistencies. The pre-light draw has some resistance, but fell within my tolerance. As for the pre-light flavor, it was a simple earthiness and maybe a touch of wood.

The burn required no corrections, and the ash held for just over an inch.

 

1 Ashton_Heritage_Puro_Sol cigars

Flavor:

The first third started with a simple earthiness. An easy spice developed quickly. It was easy to pass through the sinus and swish around the mouth. It left a mild, tingly spicy sweet aftertaste. A rich bitter sweetness joined in with what I can only describe as leathery and earthy.

2 Ashton_Heritage_Puro_Sol cigars

The second third had an earthy, woody, spicy flavor with a tinge of bitter sweetness. I think the leathery flavor I got before was earthiness. My palate often get’s the two confused. The aftertaste was earthy and spicy. It really clung to the mouth for quite some time.

3 Ashton_Heritage_Puro_Sol cigars

The last third fell into the upper medium to lower full bodied range. I bring it up because that was the biggest change in the last third. Another change was the sweet spice. It increased in strength but didn’t punch me in the face. It stayed easy to smoke and swish around the mouth and sinus. It just left a nice tingly aftertaste.

4 Ashton_Heritage_Puro_Sol cigars

Conclusion:

This was a solid medium to lower full bodied cigar. The good… Construction and burn was flawless. The flavors were fairly complex and all good. Basically there is nothing bad to say. But… I can always find something. The price of almost ten dollars for such a small cigar is a bit much. Perhaps if there was more of a WOW factor, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Price aside, this was a good cigar. If it were cheaper, sure I’d smoke more. It is worth trying at least.

Play Ball, Not Politics, fer Crissakes!

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Florida’s Tampa/ St. Pete area is rich in baseball tradition, hosting great minor league teams over the decades, as well as the present day Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The current major league team has been celebrating their heritage by wearing throwback jerseys of those teams of the past that brought great joy to the Florida fans. The St. Petersburg Pelicans, St. Pete Saints, and the Tampa Tarpons have all been represented on throwback days, wearing replicas of their original jerseys.

Now this year’s throwback day game is coming up on July 2nd, as the Rays take on their National League rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. And the team of the past being celebrated is the The Tampa Smokers who played in the 1951 Class B Florida International League – a team whose outstanding season record of 90-50 took them all the way to a championship.

-1Everyone knows that cigar making has been the backbone of the Tampa/St. Pete area for well over a century, as the industry has employed many of central Florida’s population. And even in light of the cigar industry’s role in the area, smoking has become a horribly dirty word as many smoke-free groups, including the Devil Rays players have spoken out against tobacco use of any kind…. which leads me to this particular upcoming throwback day. There will be a noticeable change to the Tampa Smokers uniform, one that has baseball fans and historians pretty damned mad. You see, the jersey design for the July 2nd game will be minus the cigar that was emblazoned across the original 1951 team’s chest. Yes, people, political correctness has reared its hideous stench in the face of our national pastime.

Picture 3The team issued the following thoroughly asinine, bulls shit statement about the cigar omission:

“We have chosen to wear the Smokers jersey to celebrate the rich heritage and traditions surrounding baseball in Tampa Bay and this version of the logo is intended only to be a slightly more contemporary version of that wonderful history.”

South Florida history professor and co-director of the Florida Studies Program, Gary Mormino spoke openly about this politically correct hypocrisy. “It’s kind of embarrassing, I mean, embrace the past! Tampa’s love affair with the national pastime is equaled by its passion for making and smoking fine cigars.”

Right on, bro, you tell him!…

“Tampa still is known as Cigar City,” Mormino said. “Prior to the 1950s, dignitaries who came to Tampa got the key to the city along with a box of fine cigars, he said, and mayors always were out in public, chomping on foot-long cigars. If you were a banker, you didn’t smoke a machine-made cheroot,” he said. “Cigars were a mirror of one’s standing.”

1930s-El-LectorYou know, while these fear-mongering morons are taking things far beyond the norms of reality, I have to ask, why stop at changing the logo? Why not change the name of the team, all together? I mean, their name is the SMOKERS! Dear God, man, what if little Johnny turns to dad in the middle of his giant sugar laden sodie and nitrate loaded, fat infused hotdog and asks, “Hey pop, what’s a Smoker?” Can you imagine how dear ol’ dad will have to scramble thru the depths of his brain to think of a lie in order to suffice the obese child’s inquisition! They are called the smokers because Tampa has long been the cigar making capital of the United States and cigars are what everyone smoked! I personally believe that omitting the cigar from the team jersey is similar to the people who want any mention of racism stricken from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. What, are you gonna deny that it existed? It is a part of our history, no matter how it affects you emotionally. But the difference with the scenarios is that, yes, racism is an ugly, and horrible truth. Now some out there feel the same about smoking, while so many others relish in their daily taste of tobacco, and profess their love for premium handrolled cigars.

Removing the cigar from the Smoker’s team logo is nothing short of grotesquely hypocritical. They will keep the name of the team, but remove the image of the cigar to prevent children from streaming out of the stands and clamoring for the nearest smoke shop. The blatant idiocy is simply appalling and a sample of the direction the country’s politico suck-ups are taking us.

We will continue to fight the good fight, people – a constant battle where there is truly no end in sight.

God Bless Us, Everyone,

TZ.Sig.2

Tommy Z . JR Cigars Blog With the Zman


Arturo Fuente Flora Fina 8-5-8 Maduro

Monday, April 12th, 2010

Turns out I threw together a review last month and forgot about it. I spliced it together and here it is in all it’s glory.

For this episode of “A Quick Smoke With Tom,” I review the Arturo Fuente Flora Fina 8-5-8 Maduro. Like previous episodes, this is a pretty crude video that was filmed using a MacBook webcam.

This was a decent medium bodied cigar. The flavor profile was simple and consistent. Personally, I prefer the Hemingway line as far as Fuente cigars go, but this one was enjoyable too. Check out my thoughts in this 9 minute review.

MP3 Audio Only

God Of Fire By Don Carlos 2005

Friday, December 25th, 2009

First things first… I need to mention this is the only God of Fire I have smoked. I try to smoke at least two or three cigars before doing a review. The exception here is that considering the God of Fire lines are essentially from Fuente, I am confident that there is consistency between cigars. On top of that, this thing costs $19.00. TomsCigars.com is on a budget.  If I am off base call me out.

Apparently the God of Fire lines are released annually and in limited quantities. They come in 3 sizes and two blends. One is by Don Carlos, the other by Carlito Fuente. For whatever reason, I picked up the Don Carlos version awhile back and let it sit in my humidor for a few months. Let’s see what the God of Fire has to offer…

 

Wrapper: Ecuadorian

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Size: 5.2 x 50

Price: Around $19.00

 

Pre-smoke & Construction:

Overall the wrapper looked nice, with small veins and some discoloration. Under the band I noticed a small tear in the wrapper leaf, but it appeared to be only cosmetic. When I sniffed the wrapper and foot, I got a familiar earthy, barn type of odor. the pre-light draw was perfect, and had a sweet natural tobacco taste. The cigar was packed consistently with no hard or soft spots.

The ash held for a little over an inch, and the burn required no corrections.

1GodofFireDonCarlos2005

Flavor:

The first third didn’t really have a warm up time like many cigars do. I was immediately hit with peppery spice. It was smooth, but if you are a novice, it may be a little much. As for me, I enjoyed the peppery kick. It didn’t take long before a sweet woody flavor appeared and that summed up the first third.

2GodofFireDonCarlos2005

The sweet spice remained throughout the second third, but a lot of the punch went away. Woody/cedar flavors took the lead. Very slight nutty notes were way in the back ground. The smoke feel became thicker and coated the mouth. A creaminess enveloped the entire flavor profile as I progressed through this third. Although I can’t accurately describe the aftertaste, I can only say it was good and lingered for a minute or so.

3GodofFireDonCarlos2005

As the last third started, I noticed the volume of smoke increased. With that, earthy notes lingered behind woody flavors. The peppery spice picked up slightly in strength and the sweetness reduced a  bit. It remained very smooth but kept a good punch. Some draws were very creamy, others were not.

4GodofFireDonCarlos2005

 

Conclusion:

This was a damn good full bodied cigar. My only complaint is the price. I can’t justify spending $19.00 on a robusto. Price aside, the flavors were very good. The entire flavor profile was refined and smooth. If these were much cheaper, I would definitely smoke more. If you have the money to drop on the God of Fire, I say try it.

Arturo Fuente Hemmingway Short Story

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

Ed and I are back for another episode of “A Quick Smoke With Ed Tom.” An old standby, the Short Story usually does the trick for me when I want a good 30 minute smoke. This video runs for 13 minutes.

As mentioned in the review, stay tuned to the site. Duque will be giving away a box of cigars this month. Stay tuned!

MP3 Audio

Arturo Fuente King B

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

I’m not a big Fuente guy, but I do enjoy one from time to time. I can’t say I’ve ever had a bad one, except perhaps an overpowering Opus X or two. But overall, I think they offer good stuff. Tonight I grabbed a glass of water and sat down with the Arturo Fuente King B.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian sungrown rosado

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Dominican

Size: 6 x 55

Price: 8 – $9.00

1FuenteKingB

Pre-smoke & Construction:

One thing I can say about Fuente cigars… They are usually consistent with great construction. This was no exception, and overall the construction looked good. The tan wrapper had small veins with no visible flaws. When I squeezed the length of the cigar, I could find no soft or hard spots. Sniffing the wrapper and foot, I only detected slight cedary notes. The pre-light draw was good, with slight resistance. When taking a pre-light draw, I could only taste subtle, sweet cedary flavors.

After about an inch in, the draw tightened up. I attribute this from me pinching the cigar in my mouth. A massage of the tip loosened it right up. The burn required several corrections, and the ash held strong for over an inch.

2FuenteKingB

Flavor:

The first third went well, with deep woody flavors up front. Right behind that were smooth earthy notes combined with a simple tobacco taste. Smooth and easy…

3FuenteKingB

The second third… There isn’t a lot I can say. The woody and earthy base flavors pretty much stayed the same. A hint of unidentified spice made it’s was into the flavor profile. It wasn’t sweet, but it wasn’t quite peppery. It was so subtle that I never figured it out. The overall combined flavors were deep and enjoyable.

4FuenteKingB

The last third continued with that dominant woody flavor. The earthiness took a back seat, but it lurked. I noticed a slight bitterness, but it wasn’t strong or unpleasant. Overall, the body felt fuller or deeper. It was more of a texture or smoke feel. Those slight spicy notes still faded in and out, and I never did figure out exactly what they were. All in all, this third went well.

5FuenteKingB

Conclusion:

Every now and then I’ll light up a King B. They are simple and easy to smoke. My main complaint is the price. For a fairly high dollar smoke, I would expect more complexities. Price aside, this is a good medium bodied cigar for any time of the day. Definitely worth trying.

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