Monthly Archives: July 2014

Perla del Mar

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Perla del Mar

Perla del Mar

-Country – Nicaragua
-Wrapper – Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
-Binder – Nicaragua
-Filler – Nicaragua
-Size – Perla M 4 3/4 x 52
-Price – $4.65, $6.25 local

Appearance, Pre-light
This cigar is a long-filler, handmade, budget offering from the J.C. Newman company. Prelight, the Perla del Mar has a light cedar aroma to the wrapper. The foot smells of sweet tobacco and hay. The wrapper is a typical Connecticut color; a very light shade if brown. What isn’t typical is that this cigar is box pressed, which is not very common for a Connecticut-wrapped cigar. The cold draw didn’t reveal too much other than more of a light hay taste.

First 3rd
The first few puffs offer up cream and spice. They aren’t very noticeable until the retro-hale, but the creaminess makes for a wonderful mouth-feel and the spice (which I’ll call white pepper) is just enough to tingle my nose. The draw is very loose, but should be no problem as long as I keep my cadence on the slower side. I’m getting an interesting effect: the smoke is mild in body when it’s in my mouth, but jumps to an almost mouth-coating medium body when I push it out my nose. Delightful!

Nice Burn Line

Nice Burn Line


Second 3rd
This Perla del Mar is a cigar with excellent construction. I’m outside on a breezy day, and the burn line is as straight as can be without being “perfect.” The white pepper has subsided a bit in how much it bites, but the flavor remains. I’m also getting a naturally sweet tobacco taste that I first noticed pre-light to accompany the creaminess. At the halfway point the ash has finally fallen off, and the white pepper has started to transition into more of a baking spice, which I find in a lot of Nicaraguan cigars. The body, flavor, and strength have remained medium so far.

Almost There

Almost there


Last 3rd
In the last third a woodiness had appeared that is just what is needed at this point. The mellow transition from first light to final third has been an enjoyably slow creep into darker flavors. Some classic Connecticut hay flavors are showing up in the last two inches, and the finish is just now starting to get a little ashy. The cream returns at the very end with a touch of sweetness and makes for a great ending to a very good cigar.

Takeaway
I was pleasantly surprised with this wallet-friendly smoke! When you combine the price, flavors, transitions, and overall experience, it would be hard to find a better Connecticut cigar! I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys cigars, novice or aficionado.

A Good Smoke

A Good Smoke


Flavor – Medium
Strength – Medium
Body – Medium
Construction – Excellent

Rating
I’ve been smoking good stuff lately! This is two weeks in a row for a score of…

3 out of 5

La Reloba Selección Mexico

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La Reloba Selección Mexico

La Reloba Selección Mexico

-Country – Nicaragua
-Wrapper – Mexican San Andreas
-Binder – Nicaragua
-Filler – Nicaragua
-Size – Robusto 5 x 50
-Price – $7 local

Takeaway

The La Reloba Selección Mexico started off with a bit of grassiness, but turned woody and sweet with a little bit of pepper. The burn was slanted but straight, and required minimal touch ups. About halfway in the woodiness takes over, but the taste is very much like a light wood as opposed to a heavier flavor like oak. About halfway through the finish became a little ashy, but for the price it is still smoking and tasting good for me. A little sweetness came back at the end before returning to a wood (cedar) profile.

Flavor – Medium
Strength – Medium
Body – Medium
Construction – Great

Rating
The La Reloba Selección Mexico is a great cigar for the price. The blend is balanced to near perfection, and the experience is something both experts and novices can appreciate. A resounding…
3 out of 5

Humidor Humidity

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Humidor

  • Humidor Humidity

“I bought my hubby a 50ct capacity glass top humidor a few months back and we seasoned it according to the instructions. It has a small round humidifier in with the cigars but it has yet to hold ideal humidity for more than a day or two at most…do you have any ideas?”

Humidor humidity can be tricky to control. Ideal humidity is between 62% and 70% Rh. Analogue hygrometers are notoriously inaccurate, so spend the extra $25 and get a digital one. Most of these are calibrated at the factory but if you are type-A like me, google “hygrometer salt test” and calibrate it yourself. Now on to the question…

The first thing I would do is replace the green florist foam in the humidifier. At Poor Richard’s they have little tubes filled with propylene glycol and gel called DryMistat Tubes. All you do is add distilled water to them. Two would probably be enough for a 50 count humidor. They put out the humidity much better. You can also try a jar of Black Ice from Cigars International. I use the 4-ounce version of the Black Ice jar for my 120 count, so you would probably only need one or two of the pie pieces for a 50 count. It also helps if the humidor is at least half full, as the cigars add stability and take up space so there’s less air to humidify. I would also re-season the humidor. Because it’s so dry here in Montana, I re-season mine once around winter and again when summer starts.

Cigar beads are another route to go. A Google search will bring up sites that sell these. Also, there are countless forums on the web about how to use them, and for bigger humidors they really help keep the humidity stable.

  • Cigar Education
  • Humidor
  • Humidors

Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary

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Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary

-Country – Nicaragua
-Wrapper – Ecuadorian Habano
-Binder – Jalapa Nicaragua
-Filler – Nicaragua
-Size – Toro 6 1/2 x 52
-Price – $10.50 – Also available in gift packs at Poor Richard’s

Appearance, Pre-light
The Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary has a dark brown, toothy wrapper with minimal veins and loose seams. This box pressed cigar is firm from head to foot with no hard or soft spots. The foot and wrapper smell of coffee and hay, and the cold draw also has a hay flavor, as well as some nuttiness. I’m getting a little more resistance on the draw then I would like, but I don’t think it will be problematic.

First 3rd
The first few puffs are very sweet. There is also a coffee flavor, but those two flavors are separate from each other. The sweetness is almost fruity, while the coffee is rich and mellow. On the retro-hale I detect a little bit of leather, but it mostly accentuates the fruit flavor. The coffee notes linger on the palate, making for a nice medium-length finish. The ash is light grey, and if you participate in the Half Ashed chat room, you’ll be pleased to hear that it is speckled with “flavor nubbins.” So far I would call the flavor, strength, and body medium.

First 3rd

First 3rd

Second 3rd
The fruity sweetness has dissipated by this point, and an earthy woodiness has replaced it. Overall the flavor is a bit darker, and a subtle hint of leather is still present on the retro-hale. The draw is still on the tight side, and the finish is much shorter now. A little bit of pepper is creeping in, and at times I can pick out some baking spice. I’ve had to touch it up a few times, and it looks like that might continue. The strength is starting to pick up, but all in all this is a straightforward section without much complexity.

Second 3rd

Second 3rd

Last 3rd
A nice, dark baking spice is making itself known towards the end of this cigar. I think the strength has moved into “full” territory, while the body and flavor have remained “medium.” The pepper has moved up and is now a nice complimentary flavor. However, I really think the tight draw has affected the flavors of this stick. These last two thirds have be very indistinct and bland, which is not congruent with reports from other reviewers. That said, and accounting for the tight draw, the flavors in this third are better then the middle of the cigar. A dark fruit has appeared in the last couple inches, and the woody notes are still prevalent and enjoyable.

Takeaway
The tight draw definitely affected the Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary. Other reviewers have said good things about this cigar, and since I only had the one stick, I’m assuming the tightness is not a common problem. Numerous touch ups were a pain to handle, but these could also be attributed to the tight draw. I did enjoy the experience and the flavors, but it left me wanting something more out of it. I usually just toss a cigar with a tight draw, so the fact that I smoked this one down to an inch should give you some indication of how much I actually enjoyed it.

Finito

Finito

Flavor – Medium
Strength – Medium, then Full-minus
Body – Medium
Construction – Troublesome

Rating
This is tricky to rate since some construction issues were hampering the smoking experience. I would say as-is the Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary scores a 2.5 out of 5. Taking into consideration the factors mentioned above, I wouldn’t hesitate to score this a 3.5 or even a 4. To be fair, I’ll give this a…

3 out of 5

Drew Estate Undercrown Corona Viva

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Drew Estate Undercrown Corona Viva

Drew Estate Undercrown Corona Viva

-Country – Nicaragua
-Wrapper – San Andreas Otapan Negro Ultimo Corte
-Binder – T52 Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Habano
-Filler – Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Cuban Seed
-Size – 5 5/8 x 46
-Price – $7, $8 and change local

Appearance, Pre-light
The Drew Estate Undercrown Corona Viva has a lovely dark brown wrapper with a little bit of marbling. The veins are all small, but there is something unique about them. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try. Most of the time, if a cigar has prominant veins, they follow the direction of the wrapper from foot to head. With the Undercrown Corona Viva, the main vein curves in the opposite direction if the wrap. Very pleasing to the eyes. The wrapper and foot smell musty and oaky. The cigar is evenly firm along its length with hardly any give at all. The cold draw is very woodsy. As a side note, I think the band is exactly what Drew Estate is going for with their phrase, “The rebirth of cigars.” It is modern, but at the same time very classic looking. But since we don’t smoke the bands…

Undercrown band

Undercrown band

First 3rd
Some cigars take a few puffs to really come alive, but the Drew Estate Undercrown Corona Viva brings the flavors right away. The first puffs collide with my taste buds like Hobbes slamming into Calvin when he opens the door. I immediately pick up wood, earth, and an very slight espresso flavor. The retro-hale is leather in the extreme and has a tingle to it, but it is nice enough to allow me to push all the smoke out my nose. Something that sticks out about this cigar is the blinding white ash. I read once that ash color has more to do with phosphorus/calcium/magnesium levels in the soil than the actual quality of tobacco, but the effect is still quite cool. Also, this is a cigar that you can see little fibers sticking up close to the burn line, another thing I find visually appealing. Once into the cigar about an inch the intensity of flavors pulls back a little. It maintains a woodsy core with a complementary earthiness. The burn is wavy but even, with an occasional scalloping (thanks Kip!) that self corrects. The strength is a solid medium.

Corona Viva first 3rd

Second 3rd
The ash holds on for almost the entire first third and when it breaks off there is zero coning. The woodsy flavor stays dominant in this third, and a little bit of spice (not pepper) comes in along the edges. I love sweet drinks with earthy and/or woodsy cigars, and I have to admit the temptation was too great for me to not take the occasional sip of Coke to pair with this smoke. I would also suggest rum, or even a dark, fruity wine, but stay away from a smoky scotch as those flavors could cancel each other out rather than complement each other. The retro-hale smooths out at this point and is showing some wood along with the leather. Strength has moved up to medium-plus at this point, and I would call the flavor full. A great combination!

Second 3rd

Second 3rd

Last 3rd
At this point I’m regretting not eating a heftier lunch, but a couple spoonfuls of sugar balances out the nicotine and is setting me straight. Let me be clear, the Corona Viva isn’t overly strong, but you’ll want more that a small bowl of macaroni salad in your stomach! Like the first half, an oaky woodiness is still the main flavor. Some pepper is appearing now, and the retro-hale is quite prickly in my nostrils. The smoke is really smooth still, and a very subtle sweetness has appeared now and then in the last third. I can’t quite pinpoint the flavor, but it is dark and a little fruity. At this point I’m burning my fingers, so it’s time to say ‘bye to this great smoke from Drew Estate.

Nubbin'

Nubbin’

Takeaway
I don’t smoke the Undercrown Corona Viva every single day, but whenever I run out of them I immediately pick some more up. The flavors are amazing, even if they’re not what I reach for on a regular basis. I want to age them for a few years to see what happens, but I’m not disciplined enough to keep them around! I highly recommend them to any cigar smoker. Now if we all pitch in and bug the guys at Poor Richard’s enough, maybe they’ll start carrying them so we don’t have to go to the “other shop.” :)

Flavor – Full
Strength – Medium/Full
Body – Medium-plus
Construction – Good

Rating
When combining the uniqueness of this cigar’s flavors with its decent price, I have to say Drew Estate has a winner that deserves a…
3.5 out of 5