This is a little bit a different cigar preview, but one that I’ve opted to do for some completeness on the web-site.   Viaje Cigars has recently shipped the 2011 release of its Fifty Fifty Red and Fifty Fifty Black Cigars.   The Fifty Fifty series made its debut in 2009 and has been intended to be an annual release by Viaje.   Viaje has aso starting doing this with its Satori series.

With the Satori series, Viaje made a change to the blend from 2010 to 2011.  As typical with Viaje releases, there is little information disclosed about the blend of these cigars.  I’m not in a position to comment if the blend has changed from last year.

The Fifty Fifty series is somewhat a unique concept done by Andre Farkas and his team at Viaje Cigars.  The distinguishing factor of this series involves making two separate cigar blends and then taking those two blends and combining them into a single cigar.   This pretty much starts by using two different fillers in each half of the cigar.  The fillers are held together by a double binder and then a single wrapper covers the inside.  The Fifty Fifty series has two variations – the Red and the Black.  Basically the difference is the Black is considered a fuller smoke from a strength and body perspective.

As keeping with Viaje’s model, this annual release will be produced in extremely limited quantities.

Blend Profile

Viaje Fifty Fifty Red

Viaje Fifty Fifty Red 2011

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan (Double)
Filler: Nicaraguan (Two distinct)

*This is different than the Viaje White Label Project Fifty Fifty Red which used a Nicaraguan Criollo wrapper.

Viaje Fifty Fifty Black

Viaje Fifty Fifty Black 2011

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan (Double)
Filler: Nicaraguan (Two Distinct)

* Yes, this is a similar profile to the Red, but obviously some tweaking with the specifics of the blend to create a fuller smoke.

Vitolas Available

Both the Viaje Fifty Fifty Red and Viaje Fifty Fifty Black are available in the following vitolas.  These vitolas are the same as last year.   The vitolas have the same names and sizes for both Red and Black.

No. 1: 5 5 /8 x 46
No. 2: 6 x 50
No. 3: 7 x 47

I hopefully will have more information on the smoking experiences of these blends in the near future.