Archive for the ‘mikesstogies’ Category

La Palina El Diario

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

Ed and I joined Mike, of Mikes Stogies and Stogie411, for a video cigar review. This time around, I tried recording our Skype call, as opposed to splicing together two video feeds. Because of this, the video is a little rough around the edges, but not bad at all. With any luck, in time, I can tweak things for a better end result.

DSC08062

In this video, we pick apart the La Palina El Diario. While it isn’t the most complex of cigars, it is by no means bad. It is clean on the palate, straight forward, and fairly consistent from beginning to end. Perhaps the pickiest of cigar smokers would get bored. As for the three of us, we enjoyed it. We covered all the pros and cons of this smoke.

Ed also talks a bit about his cigar tasting method. Being a tobacconist, Ed has schooled many, including Mike, and myself. In the review, I reference a video I made about this topic. You can check that out by clicking HERE.

Time for some shameless plugging:

Don’t forget to visit Mike’s Stogies, and Stogie 411. Mike’s Stogies is more of a traditional cigar blog. On the other hand, Stogie 411 has taken things up a notch. Aaand finally, if you’re ever in the St. Petersburg, FL area, you owe it to yourself to visit my pal Ed at St. Pete Cigar.

 

Video run time – 22 minutes.

MP3 Audio Only <—Right Click, Save As

Oja Oscuro

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Oja is a boutique blend available at a limited amount of cigar shops. More information can be found at their website. They also have a list of retailers if you are interested in getting some. I was sent a couple from Mike, aka Young Buck, over at MikesStogies.com. As always, I paired this cigar with water.

 

Wrapper: Brazilian Arapiraca Oscuro

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Size: Distinguido (Torpedo) 6 x 54

Price: Around $7.00 (I think)

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The dark wrapper had a nice velvety appearance, with no seams and small veins. The wrapper had a sweet smell, and the foot was more earthy. The cigar was well packed, with a couple of minor hard and soft spots here and there. The pre-light draw had slight resistance, and had a mild earthy flavor.

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

1 Oja_Oscuro cigars

Flavor:

The first third had dominant coffee flavor. Slight earthy notes were in the background. When passing smoke through the nose, there was a smooth sweetness. The smoke feel was silky smooth and easy to pass through the sinus.

2 Oja_Oscuro cigars

The second third didn’t change too much. Coffee remained the dominant flavor. The smoke became creamy with a tinge of sweetness. As I approached the end of this third, the sweetness increased. It was similar to coffee with sugar and cream added.

3 Oja_Oscuro cigars

Like before, the last third didn’t change up a whole lot. The main flavor was coffee with added sugar and creaminess. The sweetness increased in strength. The aftertaste left a tingle on the lips and had a mild spicy sweetness.

4 Oja_Oscuro cigars

Conclusion:

This was a good medium bodied cigar. The flavors were very simple, but refined with good delivery. I’d imagine my description of flavors sounds pretty boring. I could see some people not going for such a simple flavor profile. I still enjoyed it’s simplicity and I found it very relaxing. I think they are worth trying. Thanks to Mike for sending me a sample to review. Make sure to check out MikesStogies.com!

Stogie411 Episode 4 Guest Appearance

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

To many of you, this is old news. For the rest who may have missed out… On June 19th, 2011, Ed and I were guests on Stogie411.com. We discussed various topics that related to running a cigar shop, IPCPR, shoplifters, cigar blogger ego’s, and various topics.

The episode runs for about an hour. Make sure to go to Stogie411.com and check out what they have to offer. They are taking podcasts to a new level with some great content and guests.

Audio Only <-Right click, save as

Stogie411.com Episode 4 with Ed and Tom

Friday, June 10th, 2011

Ed and I paid a visit to Stogie411 on June 9th at 7PM. Click here and check it out!

Stogie_411

During this 60 minute episode, we discuss the cigar business, Ed talks about troublesome shop lifters, our review process, IPCPR, the cigar blogger ego, and various other topics. So tune in and enjoy!

Stogie411.com–Tune in Thursday 6-9-11

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

Tune in this Thursday June 9th, at 7:00PM EST to Stogie411.com.

rightsize-mic

Ed and I will be guests on the Stogie411 radiocast. So tune in live at their website. You can submit questions live while watching the broadcast. The show will be available for download afterwards if you can’t make it.

Mark your calendars now, and start thinking of questions!

Kristoff Maduro

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

After a short delay, Ed and I are back to review the Kristoff Maduro. This month we are joined by Mike from MikesStogies.com and Stogie411.com. This cigar doesn’t offer a lot of complexities, but it makes up for it with a nice refined flavor profile. I find myself smoking plenty of these lately.

In addition to picking apart the cigar, we talk about a new radiocast called Stogie 411. This is a new podcast ran by Mike from MikesStogies.com, and Mike from StogieReview.com. Matt from CigarPorn.com pulls it all together behind the scenes. This is how cigar sites are supposed to be ran. All of us working together to help out with no competition between us.

!Kristoff Maduro

And finally… We briefly cover how Ed likes to handle shoplifters in his shop. For the record, Ed would have went on with the review the day of “The Incident,” but I convinced him that it was best to reschedule. So blame me for the delay.

This video runs approximately 27 minutes. For those of you who demand to see us in Hi-Def, your wish has come true.

MP3 Audio Only <Right Click, Save               For Hi-Def-Press the “HD” Button on the player.

Stogie411.com first show this Saturday

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

I’m sure you all know Mike from StogieReview.com and Mike from MikesStogies.com. Both of them are starting up a podcast over at Stogie411.com. This project has been in the planning phase for quite some time, and it is finally ready to go live. The first show will be this Saturday, March 26th, at 1PM Est.

rightsize-mic

The show will be broadcast live at that time, so make sure to visit Stogie411.com for more information. The audio will be available for download afterwards. Make sure to tune in!

Rodrigo Toro

Friday, February 25th, 2011

Mike from MikesStogies.com sent me a few samples of this boutique cigar. I would like to tell you to look at the Rodrigo website to look up details about this cigar, but there isn’t a whole lot going on there for now. This is a boutique brand that is available in very limited markets. You can find them in Pittsburg PA, upstate NY, Warwick RI, and Houston TX.

I don’t know if there are any plans of expanding markets. I can only speculate that their website will eventually be updated with information at some point. So without wasting any time, I smoked up my samples, and paired this review with water.

1_Rodrigo_Toro_Cigar

Wrapper: Habano Ecuador

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Dominican

Size: Toro 6 x 50

Price: Around 7 – $8.00

 

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The wrapper had a slightly blotchy, rugged appearance with no flaws. The wrapper had almost no odor, perhaps a sweet tobacco. The foot had the same mild smell, with a slight spice. I found a couple hard and soft spots, but nothing I would call out of the ordinary. The pre-light draw was very free, and had a mild earthy spice.

The burn required a few corrections, and the ash held for about an inch.

2_Rodrigo_Toro_Cigar

Flavor:

The first third had dominant coffee and woody flavors. When passing smoke through the nose, there was a nice spice. It wasn’t punch you in the face pepper. In fact, there was no pepper at all. I’m not quite sure what spice I can compare it to. As this third came to an end, the spice mellowed out, and I think I started picking up on some fruity notes from time to time. A nice sweetness kicked in right at the end and closed out the first third.

3_Rodrigo_Toro_Cigar

The second third continued with dominant coffee and woody flavors. Up there with it was that sweetness I mentioned before. My palate is limited in flavor detection, and I had a hard time comparing the sweetness to a food. It was not mocha, but it wasn’t quite caramel either. There was a bit of a kick when passing through the sinus. The immense smoke volume created a somewhat thick, sweet, woody aftertaste. Far in the background, I picked up earthiness from time to time, along with elusive fruity notes.

4_Rodrigo_Toro_Cigar

The last third took turns switching the dominant flavor. Wood, coffee, sweetness. They all took their turns at the front of the profile. Sometimes they would mingle together in equal strength. At times the sweetness leaned towards bitter chocolate. With the flavors being so up front in this third, I didn’t pick up any nuances in the background like before. Through the nose, the spice wasn’t that intense. The aftertaste stuck to the mouth with a combination of sweetness, coffee, wood, and a cinnamon type of spice.

5_Rodrigo_Toro_Cigar

Conclusion:

This was a good medium to upper medium bodied cigar. I found it to be very relaxing, and the flavors switched up and kept my interest. From start to finish, the flavors were good, and I never had any harshness. I think this is a nice boutique cigar. Thanks again to MikesStogies.com for sending these to me to review. I think the Rodrigo is worth a shot.

Stogie Challenge #1–Phillies Blunt

Friday, January 28th, 2011

T Logo 3

This is the first, and hopefully last installment of The Stogie Challenge.

So take a few minutes out of your day and see how The Stogie Challenge, Episode 1 went. As I mentioned in the review, I owe the concept to Crap Cigar. Don’t forget to go to MikesStogies.com and curse him for letting me go though with this!

MP3 Audio Only

Tatuaje “The Face”

Monday, November 29th, 2010

As you’ve probably noticed, there has been a lack of new video cigar reviews around here lately. To fill that void, Mike and I planned on reviewing this cigar without Ed. Then suddenly, over a period of a couple days, Ed packed up his old shop and moved to his new place complete with a lounge. While it isn’t 100 percent completed, it is ready for use.

theface_01

This brings us to the cigar up for review today. The Tatuaje “The Face” is a limited Halloween release. Although it is hard to find, they are still out there. Some may think that the marketing is gimmicky and silly, but the cigar delivered and easily met it’s price point of $13.00. I’m glad we got to break in the new lounge reviewing a great smoke with Mike.

This video runs 25 minutes. So join Ed, Mike and I and see what we thought of the Tatueje “The Face.” And don’t forget to visit MikesStogies.com, who generously donated the cigars for review.

MP3 Audio

Looking for something?

Use the form below to search the site:

Still not finding what you're looking for? Drop a comment on a post or contact us so we can take care of it!