Category Archives: Quickie Reviews

Aging Room Quattro F55

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Quickie Reviews are snapshots of cigars. These reviews are a great reference if you just want a general feel for a cigar instead of an in-depth discussion of all its characteristics. Basically, they tell the CliffsNotes version of a cigar’s story.

F55

-Wrapper – 9 year aged Sumatra 2003
-Binder – Dominican
-Filler – Dominican
-Size – Maestro 6 x 52 (torpedo)
-Price – around $9

Takeaway
The wrapper on this cigar is pressed perfectly smooth with slight veining. The milk chocolate color has some mottling, and overall looks absolutely gorgeous. The cold draw is sweet with a little earthy taste. Box pressed torpedoes are one of my favorite vitolas, and these cigars have a little give to them when squeezed.

The first few puffs are chocolate bliss. The cigar then develops a woodsy core surrounded by light spice. The draw on this torpedo is just about perfect, not too loose and not too tight. For a cigar with rich flavors, the smoke is surprisingly light bodied. About an inch in a bright note starts to shine through that I haven’t noticed in the robusto size. It isn’t a citrus flavor, but more of a bright nuttiness.

By the second third the spice has dropped off considerably. The smoke is gradually gaining body and the flavors are getting deeper. A touch of harshness has developed, so I’m going to slow down my cadence. This could also be due to numerous touchups, which wasn’t necessary on the other F55s I’ve smoked.

A sweetness has crept back in at the start of the last third. Cocoa is present again, which is a nice way to finish as the second third was pretty static.

Flavor – Full
Strength – Medium
Body – Medium
Construction – Good

Rating 3.5 – Great cigar, but at close to $14 in the Montana market it might be a little overpriced.

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Over at the Half Ashed forums we have a little “cigar pass” going on. Each person involved sends two unbanded cigars to another person in the “Blind Review Pass.” For the next few weeks I’ll be posting (with permission) those blind reviews. If you have never smoked a cigar blind, or unbanded, I would highly recommend it. Get some friends together and trade cigars with the bands removed, or have your wife take some bands off a few sticks in the bottom of your humidor. You’ll be surprised at how much a band can affect your perception of a cigar.

Today’s review is Ken’s last one! He sent it while I was in England and then I didn’t check my messages…my bad!

Unbanded 6 x 46.

Smell of barnyard and raisin prelight.
Chocolate wrapper. Dry draw subtle.
First third. Very tight draw. Hard to get anything but earthy notes and spice through the retro. Feels nica. Not sure though. Tough to tell with the draw.

Second third. Still tight draw but notice leather and a cocoa. Having trouble still with the draw but definately thinking nica.

Final third. This is definately Nicaraguan and reminds me of a pepin made cigar. The draw opened up and finished pretty good.

The Reveal
Awesome guess, Ken! The first I sent was a Córdoba and Morales I think, and I said this one would be easier. By your description you shouldn’t be surprised to hear this was a Corona Viva!! Just weird that you had a crap draw from DE…Well done!

Drew Estate Undercrown Corona Viva

Drew Estate Undercrown Corona Viva

Blind Reviews Part 10

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Over at the Half Ashed forums we have a little “cigar pass” going on. Each person involved sends two unbanded cigars to another person in the “Blind Review Pass.” For the next few weeks I’ll be posting (with permission) those blind reviews. If you have never smoked a cigar blind, or unbanded, I would highly recommend it. Get some friends together and trade cigars with the bands removed, or have your wife take some bands off a few sticks in the bottom of your humidor. You’ll be surprised at how much a band can affect your perception of a cigar.

Today’s review is the infamous Zedman’s second blind review. Again, the review is very brief, must still be a Canadian thing…

Unbanded B

Zed's second

Zed’s second

5×50
Wrapper- very matte
Pre-light- very faint, not much there.
Draw- 4/10

1/3- Dominican like sweetness. Drying. Cedar. Mushrooms.
2/3- Same as above. Almost a rootbeer like aftertaste.
3/3- Same as above. Tobacco taste. Dusty coco. Drying on the palate.

Tat Tattoo maybe, or Torano Vault ?

The Reveal
A J.D Howard Reserve HR50 from Crowned Heads!
This cigar is made in the Dominican Republic with Nicaraguan filler, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, and Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper. This cigar also has a very cool story behind it centered on the famous outlaw, Jesse James. Check it out at crownedheads.com.

J.D. Howard Reserve

J.D. Howard Reserve

Blind Reviews Part 12

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Over at the Half Ashed forums we have a little “cigar pass” going on. Each person involved sends two unbanded cigars to another person in the “Blind Review Pass.” For the next few weeks I’ll be posting (with permission) those blind reviews. If you have never smoked a cigar blind, or unbanded, I would highly recommend it. Get some friends together and trade cigars with the bands removed, or have your wife take some bands off a few sticks in the bottom of your humidor. You’ll be surprised at how much a band can affect your perception of a cigar.

Today’s review is Quikstryke’s second blind review.

Perfecto!

Perfecto!

Cigar- 5 inches by 50ish perfecto. Color is medium dark leather and it looks like a football, and feels the same. The stick has a vein running the center like a football lace. Cold draw is clean tobacco and a touch or sweetness.

1st 1/2- This stick is very clean on the palate. It’s got some spice and sweetness on the front end and finishes with a bright metallic end…I like it. I also get a touch of cocoa, but its very subtle. Retrohale has more spice and even some vanilla, but way in the background.

2nd 1/2- The cigar ramps up with some wood and a bit more spice. The sweetness has increased a bit, but plays 3rd to the wood and red pepperspice. Overall, a very nice experience.

Thoughts- This stick was tasty.. I enjoyed it and I think its predominantly Nicaraguan and followed with some Dominican maybe… This stick is harder to nail down.. But boy was it fun to try. I want to say Romacraft..

The Reveal
Well my friend, I am glad you enjoyed the stick. It’s made by a good friend of mine and I think it’s very tasty.

You smoked a CT broadleaf wrapper over a Dominican habano binder with multi national Central American fillers. ( that’s all he will disclose). It’s made In the Dominican in the Debonaire factory with Phil Zhangi.

It was a J grotto Anniversary.

J Grotto Anniversary

J Grotto Anniversary

Blind Reviews part 11

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Over at the Half Ashed forums we have a little “cigar pass” going on. Each person involved sends two unbanded cigars to another person in the “Blind Review Pass.” For the next few weeks I’ll be posting (with permission) those blind reviews. If you have never smoked a cigar blind, or unbanded, I would highly recommend it. Get some friends together and trade cigars with the bands removed, or have your wife take some bands off a few sticks in the bottom of your humidor. You’ll be surprised at how much a band can affect your perception of a cigar.

Today’s review is from Quikstryke.

quik1

Cigar- 4 7/8 by 50ish with a very dark chocolate wrapper..

Cold smell is very sweet with no spice.

Cold draw is sweet with a bit of hay note

Initial light is milk chocolate and then moves to a baker’s chocolate, which is very drying on the back of the tongue.

1st 1/2 – The dry chocolate continues but is coating my whole mouth. No spice on the retro but a vegital flavor is in the background.. Smoke output coukd be more. I had to do a few touchups to keep it even..

2nd 1/2 – Exactly the same as the first with a little spice thrown in, especially on retrohale. The spice is mild on the exhale but in the retro it kicks up some, along with the sweetness.

Final thoughts.. Very consistant stick flavor-wise. I like a little more transitions, but it was still good. With the dryness I was thinking Honduran, then the sweetness and vegetal flavors made me think Dominican.. I’d be really suprised if it was a Nicaraguan puro. Flavor and appearance-wise I was thinking Torano..

The Reveal
Nice review quick. You nailed a lot of aspects of that stick. It’s a CT broadleaf wrapper over Dominican binder and filler. The stick is the La Aurora 100 anos maduro edician especial, released in 2012.

La Aurora 100 Anos

La Aurora 100 Anos

Blind Reviews Part 5

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Over at the Half Ashed forums we have a little “cigar pass” going on. Each person involved sends two unbanded cigars to another person in the “Blind Review Pass.” For the next few weeks I’ll be posting (with permission) those blind reviews. If you have never smoked a cigar blind, or unbanded, I would highly recommend it. Get some friends together and trade cigars with the bands removed, or have your wife take some bands off a few sticks in the bottom of your humidor. You’ll be surprised at how much a band can affect your perception of a cigar.

Today’s review is the second cigar from smokinsteve. Steve had the gumption to tackle a cigar that one of the hosts, Craig Schneider, sent him.

This is a torpedo type cigar (I didn’t measure it). This one is the 15 year old cigar. I am totally stumped. I have no idea how to describe this smoke. Its very good! Tons of tobacco sweetness balanced by a slight bitterness. The smoke is drying on my palate. Im picking up some really nice chocolate flavors. I have absolutely no idea what this cigar could be. I would be surprised if it was Nicaraguan. It tastes like Dominican tobacco to me. It could be Cuban as well. I have very little experience with Cuban cigars though. To be honest, I didn’t really focus on different flavors or anything like that. I was just enjoying smoking this cigar too much. The worst part about this cigar is, I can’t go out and buy more of them! I am dying to know what this was.

The Reveal

From Craig:
Well, now that my gig is up I can share the reasoning behind my provided cigars. I thought it would be fun to share two of the more interesting CoTW choices I provided in 2014. The first being the FdlA from My Father Cigars was the largest cigar I provided at a 6×60 and is my least favorite vitola in that line. Some people love them (actually many locally) but I always thought they were a bit watered down from the core blend. I was glad to hear that Steve enjoyed it and incredibly impressed that his review was so spot on with what was expected from the cigar. It shows me that my smoking style may not be suited to larger cigars, rather than thinking the cigars themselves might be sub-par examples of the blend. This was probably more enjoyable (not to mention educational) for me than it was for Steve.

Cuban Bolivar Belicosos Finos

Cuban Bolivar Belicosos Finos


Today’s cigar is another fun one from the show. A few months back Kip and I were ready to smoke this, only to find out that he did not have the same size vitola as I did. This cigar is a traditional belicoso and I sent him a traditional torpedo. Both cigars were unbanded in my humidor and I apparently just made a stupid error when packing Kip’s goodies. I sent Kip a Montecristo #2 when I intended to send this cigar, a Bolivar Belicoso Finos. This is a cabinet version from a few years prior to when bands started being applied to the cigars. It is one of my favorite Bolivars and always seems to deliver flavorful, well behaved companionship. The wrapper (often suspect on 1999-2001 vintage) tended to crack at the foot from time to time but never resisted combustion, as all to often was the case with other boxes. These sticks are decidedly full of “bolivar” flavors and are a great example of typical flavors from Cuba as well.

Short Smokes for Winter Part 2

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Part 2 – Illusione Rothchildes

“Winter is coming…”

…and with winter comes a time to enjoy all the smaller cigars in your humidor! If you live in the northern part of the USA and find yourself without an indoor lounge, it’s almost time to put those churchills and 6 x 60s away. Winter is a great time to get to know some petit coronas, small perfectos, and other cigars that don’t take quite so long to smoke. For the next few weeks I’ll be featuring some of my favorite short smokes for winter because, let’s face it, nobody wants to freeze their fingers off for two hours just to enjoy a good cigar.

Next up is a Quickie Review of the Illusione Rothchildes. This is a traditional rothchildes size that you can suck down in 30 minutes, or savor for about an hour. When all is said and done, this might be the best small cigar you will ever smoke.

Illusione Rothchildes

-Wrapper – Maduro
-Binder – Nicaragua
-Filler – Nicaragua
-Size – 4 1/2 x 50 Rothchildes
-Price – Around $4. Poor Richard’s may be getting these before winter hits, and will probably sell for about $6.

Takeaway

The Illusione Rothchildes starts off sweet and spicy, and the strength is apparent but not overwhelming. Coming into the second third, this cigar takes a sharp curve and turns into a leather bomb. Leather is a flavor I find in very few cigars, but just happens to be one of my favorites. After a while the leather backs off a bit and dark fruit flavors are noticeable in the background. I think of plums or raisins at this point in the cigar. This Rothchildes is “nub worthy.” You can expect to burn your fingers as you get every last puff off this bad boy as you can handle.

Flavor – Strong
Strength – Medium-plus
Body – Medium-Full
Construction – Excellent

Rating

I can’t recommend these enough. Probably the most complex cigar for its size.

4 out of 5

Short Smokes for Winter Part 1

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Part 1 – Arturo Fuente Exquisitos Natural

“Winter is coming…”

…and with winter comes a time to enjoy all the smaller cigars in your humidor! If you live in the northern part of the USA and find yourself without an indoor lounge, it’s almost time to put those churchills and 6 x 60s away. Winter is a great time to get to know some petit coronas, small perfectos, and other cigars that don’t take quite so long to smoke. For the next few weeks I’ll be featuring some of my favorite short smokes for winter because, let’s face it, nobody wants to freeze their fingers off for two hours just to enjoy a good cigar.

First off is a Quickie Review of the Arturo Fuente Exquisitos Natural. If you only smoke one type of small cigar all winter, smoke this one. It’s a 20-30 minute smoke that is full of flavor.

Arturo Fuente Exquisitos

Arturo Fuente Exquisitos

-Country – Dominican Republic
-Size – 4 1/2 x 33 cigarillo
-Price – $2.50, $4 local – Box of 50 $108

Takeaway
This tiny cigar won’t win any beauty pageants, but the fellas down at Arturo Fuente really bring the flavors with the Exquisitos. The wrapper covers the foot, and the “cap” is really just a small twist of the wrapper. On first light there is a subtle sweetness, and red pepper is detectable on the retro-hale. The core flavor profile is light wood, but the sweetness is present throughout the smoke. At times I pick up cinnamon and other baking spices, but these are fleeting at best and very light. These little guys usually come pretty wet, so don’t be too worried about leaving one out of your humidor for a few hours before smoking it. If you only smoke a few cigars a week, a box of 50 of these will last most of the winter.

Flavor – Medium-minus
Strength – Mild-plus
Body – Medium-minus
Construction – Gets the job done

Rating
You just can’t beat this little cigar from Arturo Fuente.
3 out of 5

E.P. Carrillo Core Line Maduro

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Quickie Reviews are snapshots of cigars. These reviews are a great reference if you just want a general feel for a cigar instead of an in-depth discussion of all its characteristics. Basically, they tell the CliffsNotes version of a cigar’s story.

E.P. Carrillo Core Line Maduro

E.P. Carrillo Core Line Maduro

-Wrapper – Connecticut Broadleaf
-Binder – Ecuadorian Sumatra
-Filler – Nicaraguan/Dominican
-Size – No.4 Corona 5 1/8 x 42
-Price – $6.50 (not available local)

Takeaway
The E.P. Carrillo Core Line Maduro offers a very rich experience in this small vitola. Full of dark and delicious flavors, I especially love the cinnamon and clove notes that come out in spades. About halfway through a sugary sweetness develops that is noticeable on the palate and the lips. This small cigar is one to savor, and can easily last an hour if you treat it right.

Flavor – Full-minus
Strength – Medium
Body – Medium-plus
Construction – Excellent

Rating
I can’t recommend this cigar enough. For everything it offers, I give the E.P. Carrillo Core Line Maduro a…

4 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

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