Padron 1964 Anniversary Torpedo Last month (June 2011), I put up on my monthly “battle of the cigars” (formerly “battle of the stogies). In that matchup, I pitted two Padron cigars that are considered classics in the industry – the Padron 1926 Maduro and the Padron 1964 Maduro. I admit, when the poll came back, […]
J&D Temptation Maduro Last month, I had the opportunity to sample a cigar that I consider to be one of the revelations of 2011 – J&D Cigars’ Temptation Habano Claro. This mild to medium bodied cigar brought something special to the table with its unique flavors and smooth smoke. This time around, I sample the […]
Illusione HL Maduro I’ll make a confession – I am not a lancero vitola fan. I know many serious cigar enthusiasts will say this is the best vitola to smoke, but I just cannot adjust to the small ring gauge. Plus to be honest, I’ve only found a handful of lanceros that I have found […]
Monte Pascoal – Robusto (All Brazilian Puro) I admit, when it comes to cigar blends, I tend to stick to what I am most familiar with – namely my Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran blends (with some Ecuadorian wrappers thrown in as well). However, recently I heard a discussion about how some soils of the Cuban […]
Casa Magna Domus Magnus – Optimus Vitola In 2008, Cigar Aficionado awarded its Cigar of the Year award to Manuel Quesada’s Casa Magna Colorado cigar. While we can all be critical of Cigar Aficionado, the award does carry a lot of weight – and its always good to be a retailer with a cigar with […]
Diamond Crown Julius Caeser A lot of times when I mention Diamond Crown cigars, I seem to get mixed reactions: “Super Premium Cigar”, “Too Expensive”, “Not full enough for me”. I’ve always found this line from J.C. Newman to be a very solid line. When last year, Newman announced that the “Julius Caeser” was going […]
La Aurora Escogidos Belicoso When I usually go into a humidor out of town, I usually try to find something different than I do not have access to on the homefront. To my surprise, when I walked into W.Curtis Draper in Bethesda, MD, I was surprised to see the La Aurora Escogidos Belicoso. I wasted […]
The Emilio Grimalkin Last month, I had one of the best revelations of the 2011 year – the AF1 by Emilio Cigars. The experience with the AF1 was phenomenal for me as I really enjoyed the cigar. In fact, I went as far as to give this cigar a “Memorable” in terms of an assessment. […]
Zino Platinum Z-Class Series by Davidoff Most cigar enthusiasts know the name Zino – it is a brand of cigars under Davidoff named after the man who founded the company – Zino Davidoff. What often gets forgotten is that the Zino Platinum line was established nearly eight years ago to go after the new, younger […]
Last year was a phenomenal year for Torano Family Cigars. There were three outstanding releases including the Brigade, Single Region, and the Master. With a lot of excitement around the new releases, it was also nice to see some attention made to the classic cigars in their line. In addition to the new cigars, last […]
