Nice Tight Ash » Cheap Ash

Sosa Classic Gran Wavell

Shawn — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:14:28 +0000

Size: 5 1/2 x 55
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Dominican Republic

Started at the turn of the century, Don Juan Sosa had a small tobacco farm in Cuba. By the 1920s, he had grown to one of the largest tobaco-producing haciendas in Cuba.But after political turmoil, Don Juan’s son Arturo and grandson Juan left the island searching for rich soil. After a few years of searching, they settled in the Santiago region of the Dominican Republic. Juan continues today with his wife and three sons to make cigars with Cuban tradition.

First Look: The first thing that stands out to me is the bright and complex band. I know a band means nothing about the smoke, but it is very pleasing to the eye with images a Cuba, Tobacco leaves, and the flags of Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The dark brown Ecaudorion wrapper has a few small veins, with a nice feal to it. The cigar itself smells of straw. The foot smells similar to the cigar itself, but if I think real hard, I smell a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. The Prelight draw is a little tight with Guillotine cut. The same straw smell is tasted in the prelight draw as well as the slight taste of the Reese’s Cup.

First Third: As soon as I toast the foot, it produces a good bit of smoke with a nice room note to it. The first few draws taste like a sweetened muted black pepper. I know there is no such thing as a sweetened black pepper, but you have to let your immagination do the work on that. I absolutely love an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapped cigar and, so far, the Classic is not dispointing me one bit. The sweetness proceeds into the cigar and reminds me of a candied peanut flavor. Its not overly sweet, but you can tell its there. The draw is still slightly tight, but manageable. A greyish ash comes out of a slightly “wavy” burn line. Towards the end of the first third, I am stating to taste a slight taste of cinnamon in the smoke. The ash hold for about an inch or so before I need to tap it off. Finishing off the first third, it seems like the flavors are flip flopping from sweetness to muted black pepper.

Second Third: Getting into the second portion of the cigar, the flavors are still pretty consistant of the first part. The sweetness with the muted undertones of black pepper are still there. I am really liking this smoke, its not too over bearing or underpowered. The sweetness shows no spice to it at all. The draw is still a little tight, but I am dealing with it due to the nice flavors and burn. The sweet black pepper I am tasting is right on the tip of my tongue. The ash seems to hold to about an inch and a half, which was more than the first ash held. The cinamon flavors are are more noticable now at the half way point of the cigar. I am getting a very faint taste of honey, its not a strong honey flavor. But it explains the sweet sense on the “sweet” region of my tongue (the center tip). The draw is still a little tight and the cigar is producing a nice tight ringed ash with no flakes.

Final Third: The sweetened pepper with honey undertones carry into the last part of the Classic Wavell. I start to taste a slight taste of nuts and a little earthiness to it. The Honduran binder influences are starting to show more and more as the cigar proceeds. The band pulls off nicely with no wrapper tear; thats a sign of good construciton as well, in my book. Finishing off the cigar a honey roasted nut flavor jumps out at me.

Final Thoughts: I tend to like a smaller ring gauged cigar. The Sosa Classic Gran Wavell ring gauge (55) is right at the maximum I care to smoke. It gives you a slightly longer smoke time than a robusto and possibly a little different flavors than as well. But, I think you loose a bit of the Ecuadorian wrapper flavors due to the larger ring gauge, but you can still taste them in the smoke. A medium bodied cigar with a sweetness that carries throughout the cigar with nutty, cinamon, honey flavors in it. Towards the end, the Honduran binder shows through with some nut & earth flavors.
I suggest smoking this cigar till the very end to get the full potential of the cigar. I’d love to try this cigar in a corona size to see if the wrapped would add more to the smoke. But over all a good medium bodied smoke thats affordable (about $6), flavorful and well constructed. An overall good smoke in my book.
More info: Sosa Cigars

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Bella Torres – BestCigarPrices.com

Ben — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:54:20 +0000

This week, I’m reviewing the second budget friend cigar sent to me by BestCigarPrices.com. This one is the Bella Torres by Havana Cuba who also make the Oliveros cigars. This cigar is the same vitola as the Medici, 4 1/2 x 60, robolo. This cigar hails from the Dominican Republic with the same ~$4.00 price point. How does this cigar compare to the Medici? Watch the video and find out.

Medici by Alec Bradley – BestCigarPrices.com This week I’m doing a budget friendly review of a...

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Medici by Alec Bradley – BestCigarPrices.com

Ben — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:52:38 +0000

This week I’m doing a budget friendly review of a cigar sold exclusively by BestCigarPrices.com called the Medici. BCP sent me two samples to try and review in their new size, the Robolo. The Robolo is a short, fat gordo size of a smoke that is priced around $4.00ish. I’m quite fond of Alec Bradley smokes and the name Medici, a ruling family of the duchy of Florance, Italy during the 15-18th century (patrons of Leonardo Di Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo), really intrigued me as I’m a HUGE history nut. The only information I have is that the tobaccos are from Honduras. So, does this budget smoke reign supreme or take a dagger to the back? Watch the video and find out.

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First Impressions: Nick’s Sticks

Chris — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:30:03 +0000

The other night Brian and I went to our local Tinderbox to pick up a few sticks and watch the U.S. Open. There were quite a few new cigars in the humidor, but one of the sticks that rally caught our eye was the latest offering from Perdomo, the Nick’s Sticks. Not only did these cigars look good but they also came in at under $4 for a robusto. I did a quick google search to find some infomation on these sticks and found out that Nick Perdomo produced Nick’s Sticks in his early years and only sold them in small part of Florida. The Nick’s Sticks are available with 3 differnt wrappers (Maduro, Sun Grown and Connecticut Shade) and 4 vitolas (Robusto, Toro, Torpedo and Chuchill). After we left the shop we decided to record this video and give you our first impression of this revived brand.

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Cheap Ash: Vista de Cuba by Oliveros

Chris — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:30:31 +0000

You can thank my wife for today’s review. I took her to the cigar shop on Saturday and asked her to pick out a cigar for me to review. I figure that would be a good way to possibly try something different without any of my subconscious biases. She didn’t disappoint, because she managed to pick out a cigar I probably never would have tried.

Name: Vista de Cuba
Company: Oliveros
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Shade
Binder: Dominican Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaraguan & Dominican Ligero
Price: $3.11 per stick
Comes in: Boxes of 20
Vitola: Churchill (7″ X 52)

To be perfectly honest the Vista de Cuba is not the most impressive looking cigar. The wrapper is extremely veiny and discolored and there are a number of hard/soft spots. This cigar can best be described as rustic. But I’m not one to write a cigar off before sampling, so I clipped the end a took a few pre-light draws. There was little resistance, and I didn’t pick up more than a tobacco flavor. Pre-light aroma was just like hay. So with a butane torch I got down to business with this cigar.

The Vista de Cuba started out mild with hints of sweetness and hay. It burned fairly straight, but produced a flaky ash that made a mess all over my shirt and pants. Oddly enough this cigar actually held a long ash. As I smoked further into the cigar I began to pick up notes of nuts along with the hay and sweetness. This was the extent of flavor changes. The cigar burned well all the way to the end, but didn’t excite my taste buds.

Overall this was an unimpressive cigar. There was no complexity to the cigar, and in a churchill that just becomes boring. However, I do think this cigar has a spot in my humidor as a “yard-gar.” Quite simply this cigar is in the perfect price range to be smoked while mowing the lawn.

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Cheap Ash: Punch Rare Corojo

Chris — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:00:12 +0000

A few weeks ago I asked you to tell me what cigars you’d like to see my review, and one of those suggestions actually surprised me. It was suggested that I review some of the older brands, such as Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey, etc. I really like this suggestion because I think the older brands, most of which are owned by a couple large companies, still hold a very important place in the cigar market. These cigars, at least to me, represent how many of us started smoking cigars. So with that said, I think I’m going to make an effort to review more of these cigars.

Name: Punch Rare Corojo
Company: General Cigar Company
Made in: Honduras American Tabaco S.A., Cofradia, Honduras
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaraguan, Honduran, Dominica Piloto Cubano
Price: $3.50 per stick
Comes in: Boxes of 25
Vitola: Elites (5 1/4″ X 45) (Corona Extra)

The Punch Rare Corojo was introduced in 2001 by General Cigar Company. This line in the Punch family comes box-pressed and features a Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. The wrapper is a medium shade of brown and has a leathery appearance. The wrapper is dry to the touch and the tiny veins in the wrapper are not detectable to the touch. I was unable to find and hard or soft spots in this cigar and after clipping the cigar I found a wonderful draw. Pre-light aroma was light and reminiscent of cedar.

After I put fire to the end of this cigar I was impressed with the amount of smoke it produced. The smoke delivered a nice mix of nutty and woody flavors. This cigar was pretty straight forward without any complexity, but in this case I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Because let’s face it, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Looking back on the construction of the cigar I’m really impressed with the draw and just how evenly the cigar burned. The mix of good flavors, solid construction and great price make the Punch Rare Corojo Elites a perfect everyday cigar that I’d recommend to anyone. If you’re in the market for a straight forward affordable smoke then this stick should do the trick.

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Tabacos Baez Serie SF

Chris — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:00:30 +0000

Welcome to my Black Friday review of a Cheap Ash cigar. The Tabacos Baez Serie SF is a new addition to Tabacos Baez line from Don Pepin Garcia. What makes this cigar different is the fact that it is made up of 70% long filler and 30% short filler. Because of the short filler this cigar is very inexpensive.I was able to acquire these sticks at a local B&M for $3.50, however they can be found even cheaper online. But that’s really no surprise.

I really enjoy these cigars. The flavors are enjoyable, and despite the use of short filler tobacco, these cigars hold up very well thought the entire smoking experience. I’d highly recommend these cigars to anyone looking or a cheap medium to full-bodied cigar. Because of the price, this cigar lends itself well to being enjoyed while mowing the lawn. However, this cigar could just as easily be enjoyed after a great meal and be paired with your favorite lager, ale or bourbon.

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Diesel Unholy Cocktail

Ben — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:38:31 +0000

The Diesel Unholy Cocktail is a new cigar from AJ Fernandez who makes the Man O’ War, Man O’ War Ruination, ITC 10th Anniversary, Rocky Patel Fusion, etc. This new cigar come in one size only: 5 x 56 Belicoso. It has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper with filler from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa in Nicaragua. It has a basic band at the foot and comes in a pretty plain box all for around $4 a stick. Does this cigar out torque the competition or just sit there idling? Watch the video and find out.

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Cheap Ash: Casa Fuego Toro

Brian — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:51:48 +0000

The Casa Fuego is a budget friendly stick from the maker of the well received J. Fuego Delirium, Grand Reserve Corojo No. 1, and the new 777 Corojo that Ben recently reviewed here. It is a Nicaraguan Puro rolled in Honduras. From what I can gather, this line is exclusive to Cigars International and they can be found all over CI’s auction site, CigarBid.com. You may wonder how this qualifies as a cheap ash review when retail at CI is just over $4/stick. Well, I put it in this category because these sticks are constantly available on cigarbid for under $40/box. With that being said, is this stick worth the patience it sometimes takes on cigarbid to get it at that low of a price? Let’s find out…

PS. Don’t forget to get over and enter our fall contest to win a 10 pack of cigars.

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Cheap Ash: Padron Londres Maduro

Brian — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:30:23 +0000

This week I have a wallet friendly smoke for you. The Padron Londres is part of the regular line from Padron. According to the Padron website:

“All tobacco in this line is sun-grown habano that is aged for a minimum of two-and-one-half years. Every cigar in this line is available in natural and maduro wrapper. This line offers exceptional quality and value.”

Today we are smoking the maduro version. Based on price, the Londres fits into that “exceptional value” claim made by Padron. Now let’s see about the quality portion.

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