Review: 5 Vegas Gold Nugget

I mentioned in my previous post that I only managed to smoke a few different brands of cigars over the last few months. I often needed to smoke a cigar that I could finish in less than an hour with all of the craziness going on. So I ordered a box of a cigar that I used to enjoy quite a lot. The corona size, a.k.a. the Nugget, of the 5 Vegas Gold line is a 4.5″ cigar with a ring gauge of 44. I consider them to be a great cigar for their price- a box of 30 runs around $70. The cigar is made in Danli, Honduras for Meier & Dutch. It features a USA-grown Connecticut wrapper which is not usually found on lower-priced cigars. The binder and filler are Honduran.

5 Vegas Gold Nugget

On my example, there were some noticeable veins, but the cigar was wrapped very well and was finished with a perfect cap. I used my trusty Xikar to clip the head and used a butane torch lighter to get it lit. The cigar burned crooked for the first half-inch, but straightened out perfectly soon after. The ash was a little crumbly at the beginning. As the burn straightened, the ash began to get more firm and a lot less of it went on my shirt.

The cigar puts out a simple aroma of hay and black pepper. Not surprisingly, the flavors from the cigar mimic that of the aroma. But I often find a few more flavors on top of these. In this example, I picked up a nice creamy butter flavor, a dash of white pepper, and a grassy flavor that reminded me of clover. There was quite a lot going on in such a small cigar.

The cigar is medium-bodied in terms of the smoke. It is creamy and rich, but still not the thickest smoke I’ve ever encountered. The strength is mild and is best smoked in the early parts of the day. I frequently smoke these on my patio on Saturday mornings with a nice cup of coffee in hand. For any fan of Connecticut-wrapped cigars, I would recommend giving these a try.

After considering the burn and ash issues at the start and the large number of veins on the wrapper, I still am impressed with this cigar. I gave it a score of 88.

I’m alive and I need a good cigar

Been a long time since I have posted. For the most part, my job has regular hours and usually a low-stress environment. But once in a while, things get absolutely insane.

For the last four months, my team and I have been basically trying to make upper management’s dreams come true on a big project. On time, high-quality, on budget. As the joke goes, pick any two. We actually came close to getting all three, but there have been a lot of small issues that creeped up that involved late nights, missed vacations, occasional weekend phone calls.

Through all of that I’ve managed to make time for the family, kept my health, and held on to my last shred of sanity.

What has really suffered the most was my love of a good cigar and my blog. I managed to get a few in during the week during this hectic time, but I pretty much smoked the same few cigars repeatedly. I rarely had the time to write for the blog, and when I did I had nothing interesting to say. For the first time in many years, I’m actually out of touch with the goings on in the cigar industry.

I walked in to my local cigar shop today for the first time in four months and it was the most fun I’ve had in a while. There are a bunch of new cigars to try on the shelves. Looks like I might have something to write about again very soon.

El Primer Mundo Event at Selective Cigars

Another event is coming up at my local B&M, Selective Cigars. El Primer Mundo will have a tasting on Saturday, May 8th. The event starts at 1pm.

You can check out El Primer Mundo cigars at their web site- http://www.primermundocigars.com.

Checking in

Hi, everyone. Sorry for the lack of posting the last few weeks.

I spent the last few weeks trying to do my usual thing- smoke cigars every day. The problem? Everything tasted like crap. I knew it wasn’t the cigars. It was me. So I decided I needed to take a break from the cigars and give my palate a chance to get back into tasting shape. It just wouldn’t have been fair to post reviews when I knew my palate wasn’t up to the task.

I feel like I’m ready to start posting again, so I will get to work this weekend.

Review: Arturo Fuente 8-5-8 Flor Fina Candela

I started a tradition a few years ago. It involves smoking a candela wrapped cigar for St. Patrick’s Day. This was the first year that I had to order some instead of going to one of my local B&Ms. Candelas continue to decline in popularity in the Unites States. But I did finally track one down- the Arturo Fuente 8-5-8 Flor Fina Candela. Despite the week of crappy weather here in Atlanta, I went out to my garage last night to continue the tradition.

The 8-5-8 Flor Fina is 6 inch long cigar with a 47 ring gauge. The binder and fillers are from the Dominican Republic and the wrapper is a USA Connecticut. The wrapper had a couple of noticeable veins, but the cap was excellent and the cigar was firmly packed. I used my Xikar to make a straight cut and lit the cigar with a match.

The cigar immediately produced a grassy and herbal aroma. I picked out the same grassy component in the flavor along with green tea and black pepper. The flavors remained consistent over the length of the smoke, and there wasn’t a whole lot of complexity. Obviously, there is a limit to what the wrapper can do in this blend, but the fillers and binder were almost as equally boring in terms of flavor. I liked the flavors I got, but it just wasn’t an exciting cigar. There was room for more flavors to join the party.

The cigar created a firm white ash, and it burned razor sharp throughout- exactly what I expect from a Fuente cigar. The cigar was medium bodied and mild in strength. I still found it to be flavorful enough to enjoy it, but I would definitely reserve it for the first half of the day smoke when the palate is clean. I would also caution on pairing this with a beverage. Almost anything will dominate the flavor of this cigar. I would stick to water or a cup of green tea to complement this cigar.

Overall I thought it was an OK cigar. I would have expected an Candela wrapper to be smoother with fewer veins. And the blend needs a little oomph. I gave the cigar an 84.

Help, my fingers are frozen

Being in Atlanta, we usually have reasonably mild winters. This year it has been much colder. My usual two months of smoking in a cold garage is instead going on four this year. The worst part for me is my hands- I would frequently come back in the house with them mostly numb. And I refuse to wear traditional gloves because I smoke my cigars down to my fingers. As the cigar gets shorter, it gets too hard to smoke it, and I come close to setting the gloves on fire.

 

My wife, who is an occasional cigar smoker and avid knitter, set her mind to solving my problem. It isn’t a new idea, but I sure appreciate her effort. She even got a cigar in (two actually) while finishing them up:

Hard at work with a Cohiba

The finished project

I finally got to use the finished gloves this weekend and what a difference it made. So now maybe I can smoke (and review!) a little more often while I am eagerly awaiting spring.

Review: Cubao Maduro Rothchild

EO Brands debuted the maduro version of the Cubao at IPCPR in 2009. The rothchild is 4.8 inches long with a 50 ring gauge. These are produced in Nicaragua by Don Pepin Garcia. The wrapper is a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro grown in Ecuador. The cigar has a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. The stick price is between $7-8 and a box of 20 is $135. 

Cubao Maduro Rothchild

The presentation of this cigar was wonderful. The wrapper had a couple of very small veins and an excellent cap. The wrapper was a a very deep dark brown color. I used my Xikar cutter and a match to start this one up. The cigar produced a nice leather and wood aroma.

After the first few puffs, I found the cigar to be spicy with both red and black pepper flavors, especially when I retrohaled through my nose. I actually thought that the cigar was going to be way out of balance. After the first half inch though, the spiciness levelled out I began to get rich wood and leather flavors alongside the spice. The finish was also a little dry and chalky at first, but another flavor came to the rescue, this time a nice sweetness from the wrapper. By the time I reached the first inch, I was pretty pleased with the flavors. At the halfway point, the smoke becamea little creamier and I began getting a nutty cashew flavor too.

The cigar burned straight as a razor the entire time and produced a stunning white ash. I did manage make a small tear in the wrapper trying to remove the bands (looked like a little too much glue) but it didn’t impact the smoke. I found the cigar to medium-bodied and the cigar to fall just above medium in strength.

Overall, I really liked this one. I took off a few points for the wrapper tear and the questionable start to the cigar in terms of balance. But all worked out in the end, and I’m looking forward to smoking another. I rated this one an 89.

A rant of sorts

So, I have been debating posting this rant for several days. If you read a lot of cigar blogs, you may have noticed that there have been several rants of late- maybe we are all just tired of winter weather and are a little crabby. 😉 I finally decided to post mine. And my intention is to comment on something I heard last week without naming names and finger pointing. I just want to express my opinions about some comments that I heard from a recent interview.

A well-known brand owner who has had incredible success in the last few years was being interviewed by another party. Paraphrasing from the interview, he basically said that cigar reviewers, and especially bloggers, were far too nitpicky about cigars. He also went on to say that if we saw how much effort went into making our cigars by the farmhands, rollers, etc. we wouldn’t be so critical in our reviews of every little flaw we found.

At this point, I wasn’t happy with the comments, but I recognize there is some element of truth in what he said. I can speak for myself, and I do have a high standard for cigars. I have even said in a couple of my reviews that I was pointing out some “nitpicky” flaws. I don’t think this has anything to do with respecting the hard work that it takes to make great cigars. I really do find the entire process to be amazing, and I respect the talent, skill, and labor required. If that had been the end of the comments, I would have just shrugged it off.

He then said that it is no big deal for him if he has to touch up a cigar six or seven times or has a wrapper that comes loose while he smokes it. I was shocked to hear this. Since this person’s cigars sell between $10-$15, I was disappointed to hear such a nonchalant attitude about how a cigar should perform. For him, it was all about the experience of smoking a cigar in a social setting and having a good time. For some smokers, I can understand the attitude that having a smoke while having a good time is enough.

But there are smokers out there who actually research their cigars enough to read blogs or are passionate enough to become reviewers and publicly rate them. These are exactly the kind of people who do care about these “nitpicky” issues. I may never rate a cigar a 100 in my life, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy all of the smokes- I’m simply pointing out what would have made the experiences even better for me. For me, touching up a cigar six times while I smoke it is a big deal. It detracts from my smoking experience if I am fighting the cigar every step of the way.

So that being said, I was quite impressed today when John Brooke of Drew Estates commented on my Liga Privada T52 review from last week. If you read the review, you know I had a rough time with that cigar after the first half. I enjoyed the flavors, but the construction impeded me from really enjoying it. Now I’m no one in this industry. My blog is young, and I have a small reader base. And I stated in the review I was looking forward to giving the cigar another go. Drew Estates could have completely ignored what I said and nothing bad would have come from it.

Instead he apologized and wanted to replace the cigar. Anyone who is passionate about what they produce has this attitude- they sincerely want each and every customer to enjoy the product every time. And when the customer has a bad experience, the manufacturer strives to make up for it and tries to do it better next time. I turned down the offer to replace the cigar. I expect a handmade product to have issues once in a while. I have said from the beginning of this blog that you have to smoke several examples to get the whole story. I’ve had a lot of success with Drew Estates over the years, so I am happy to spend my own money on a couple more T52s to try out. But I greatly appreciated the gesture and it restored my faith a little knowing that there was someone out there that took their product quality seriously.

I would love to hear some comments about this from the readers on this.

Review: EPC Inaugural 2009 Encore

Ernesto Perez-Carrillo parted ways with General Cigar in March 2009 to establish a new company, and this cigar was the first produced from the new venture. It was first intoduced at the IPCPR show last August as a limited edition release of 150,000 sticks. A single cigar can be found for around $13-15, and boxes of 10 are $130. The cigar is made in a single vitola, the Encore. It is a 5 and 3/8 inch long stick with a 52 ring gauge. The cigar features a 3 year old Habano wrapper grown in Ecuador. It also has a double binder- a Nicaraguan and a Dominican. The filler tobaccos are Dominican and Nicaraguan.

EPC Inaugural 2009

The cigar was firmly packed and had a light golden brown wrapper. I clipped the perfect cap with my Xikar and lit the cigar with a match. The draw was just slightly resistant. I noticed cedar and a slight floral aroma as it burned.  The cigar produced a light grey ash as it burned.

I was pretty amazed by the sheer number of flavors I picked up in this stick. The cigar started with hay and wheaty flavors. After the first half inch, more flavors joined the party. A slightly sweet honey flavor and a nutty flavor appeared first and was quickly followed by a citrus flavor that reminded me of orange peel. A nice white pepper also appeared about an inch in, and all of the flavors melded wonderfully in perfect balance. The flavor profile reminded me somewhat of the San Martin I reviewed a few months back, but with even more layers of complexity. The finish was slightly dry.

The cigar burned perfectly through the first half. It did start burning a little crooked for about the next inch but I was able to get it back on track with a few touch ups. The cigar was medium-bodied and medium in strength. There was a slight increase in the strength over the last two inches.

I really enjoyed this one and will be buying more before they are gone for good. I think EP Carrillo has made a great start in building the new company’s cigar portfolio. I’m looking forward to the release of his regular line. I rated this cigar as a 94, docking points only for the burn issues halfway.

Review: Drew Estates Liga Privada T52 Toro

The Liga Privada T52 is a follow-up cigar to the popular No. 9 blend created by Steve Saka. The cigar features a stalk-cut American-grown Habano wrapper, a Brazilian Mata Fina binder, and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. These cigars vary anywhere from $10-15 at local B&Ms, and boxes of 24 are around $225. The toro measures 6 inches long with a 52 ring gauge. I finally tracked one of these down today and could not wait to light it up when I got back home.

Drew Estates Liga Privada T52 Toro

The wrapper had a few veins giving it a rustic look, and it was very oily with beautiful dark brown color. My example was firmly packed with an excellent cap. I used a straight cut with my Xikar and a single torch lighter to get this one going. I did have a little trouble getting it started. After a couple of extra touches with the lighter and a few extra puffs, the cigar finally started producing thick smoke. The draw was tight, and I had to puff several times in succession to get a full mouth of smoke.

The aroma off the cigar consisted of wood and coffee. I detected flavors of coffee, oak wood, leather, pine nuts, and white pepper. The flavors were complex and layered, and they changed slighty from puff to puff. I particularly enjoyed the finish where a nice sweetness joined the mix. The cigar was full-bodied and medium in strength.

The cigar burned slowly and produced a lfirm light grey ash. The burn line was slightly skewed but burned consistenly until I reached halfway. At this point, the cigar cracked an inch higher than the burn line near where the band had been. Luckily, it did not impede smoking then, but as it continued to burn, the wrapper continued to deteriorate. By the time I was at the last inch, I was left with the monstrosity shown below.

Not a good way to wrap up a smoke

Eventually I had to discard the wrapper to keep smoking, and after a few puffs decided it wasn’t worth the trouble any longer. Since I paid $14 for this cigar, I will say that I was quite disappointed. I always give cigars a second chance, and with the wonderful flavors I found in this cigar, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to smoke another one. But for this particular example, I have no choice but to deduct substantial points for draw and wrapper issues. I gave the cigar a score of 70. Hopefully, I will have better luck next time.