Nice Tight Ash » Cigar Reviews

Paul Garmirian Gourmet Reserva Exclusiva corona extra

Ben — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:30:41 +0000

I was introduced to Paul Garmirian cigars by Shawn about a year ago, but I didn’t smoke one until recently. Shawn gave me a Gourmet robusto a while back that I put up for aging and, honestly, didn’t give it much thought. That was until I was a guest on the StogieGeeks.com show. We had a great time and one of the cigars they constant rave about are the PG cigars. I just had to try it, so I dug out the PG Shawn gave me and lit it up. It was lighter than I expected, but had great flavor. I’ve been trying to hunt more down, but they have been pretty hard to find. Tim from StogieGeeks graciously sent me a Reserva Exclusiva which has true 10 year old aged tobaccos in it. Wow, what amazing flavor. In short, it is one of the best cigars I’ve ever had. Instant box worthy. I will hunting these down every chance I get. Watch the video for the full review and thank again to Tim from StogieGeeks.com. Great site and bunch of guys. If you don’t subscribe to their podcast and visit their site, you are really missing out.

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Rocky Patel Vintage 2003 Cameroon

Ben — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:10:26 +0000

At last year’s IPCPR, Rocky Patel introduced his latest extension of the Vintage line. The Vintage 2003 uses a select Cameroon wrapper over binder and filler that have been aged for over 8 years. As a Cameroon fan, I was eager to try it. The cigar had a great burn and was a very smooth smoke. Mild to medium in body, the cigar had great sweet, creamy and spicy flavors. It pair amazingly well with coffee and is one of the best Cameroon cigars I’ve smoked on the market. Watch the video for the full review.

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Montecristo New York Connoisseur Edition

Ben — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:10:39 +0000

Montecristo released a special cigar last year just for the New York market. It is a specially blended large 6 x 60 boxed pressed toro that is as big as the New York City skyline itself. Available only in the state of New York, this cigar features a rich Ecaudorian Habano wrapper with the binder from Nicaragua and filler from the Dominican Republic. I don’t enjoy smoking large ring gauge cigars, but the box press on this cigar did make it more enjoyable. Its billed as a full bodied cigar, but I thought the cigar had a medium body at best. The cigar had very linear flavors and never seemed to change thoughout the cigar. With a price tag of $14, I was expecting more, but I know in NYC, that is cheap. Still, I felt the smoking experience from this cigar was lacking. For more detail, watch my video review.

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CAO La Traviata Maduro Luminoso

Chris — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:00:37 +0000

For today’s review I smoked the La Traviata Maduro Luminoso from CAO. The Luminoso was originally released as a new vitola in the La Traviata line. Now it’s being released in the Maduro line. The Luminoso is a petit robusto measuring 4.5” x 50 and features a Connecticut Maduro wrapper.

I’ve been a fan of the La Traviata line since it’s a debut a couple of years ago. To me this cigar always delivered great flavor at a reasonable price. So when General Cigar sent me three samples to smoke I’d have to say I was a little excited to try the cigar in one of my favorite sizes.

Name: La Traviata Maduro
Company: CAO
Wrapper: Connecticut Maduro
Binder: Cameroon
Filler: Nicaraguan and Dominican
Comes in: Box of 30
Price: $5.10/stick
Vitola: Luminoso (4 1/2″ x 50)

Pre-Light

This cigar comes wrapped in cellophane. Once the cellophane was removed a robust barnyard aroma, full of earth and manure, greeted my nose. The wrapper aroma was far stronger than the foot, which had more of a wood and hay aroma. The oily looking wrapper was a dark shade of brown and had a maze of veins. Surprisingly the wrapper felt drier than what the appearance lead me to believe.

Flavor & Burn

Once I fired up the La Traviata Maduro Luminoso I quickly noticed a strong taste of black pepper. The Spice was quickly accompanied by a strong tobacco flavor with hints of espresso. After smoking about a quarter of the cigar I began to notice a lingering nutty finish. Around the midway point the Luminoso developed a slight bitterness and increased spice through the retrohale. The cigar finished much they way it began. Overall I’d categorize this cigar and medium-bodied with low to moderate strength.

The Luminoso started off with a draw that was slightly tighter than a milkshake. After the first few puffs the draw loosened up to something slightly less resistant than a milkshake. The cigar burned slowly (well over an hour) and evenly beginning to end.

Final Thoughts

In short I think the La Traviata Maduro Luminoso is a good cigar that could benefit from 6-12 months of age. To me there was a lack of balance, mostly because of the bitterness, that limited my enjoyment of the cigar. Right now this cigar is something I’d fire up on the golf course. It’s good enough to smoke, but not so good that I feel like I have to give it all of my attention.

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Macanudo Maduro Gigante

Shawn — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:00:36 +0000

Everybody, wether new or seasoned cigar smoker have heard of Macanudo cigars. Probably many non-smokers have heard of them as well due to the many advertisements in Men’s magazines and so forth. I can remember seeing then in various magazines even before I started enjoying cigars. So, its easily to say that Macanudo Cigars (by General Cigars) have been around for a while.

Keeping up with the new larger 56 and above ring gauges, General has released the new Gigante (6×60) line in the Macanudo cigars; Natural and Maduro. This week I am going to review the maduro and in a few days, Ben will have a review up of the natural in a “dual review” with a fairly new cigar smoker, Joe. So be on the look out for that towards the end of this week.

Size: 6×60
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder: Mexican
Filler: Cuban Seed Dominican and Mexican
Country: Dominican Rebublic
Cigar Source: General Cigars
Cost: About $8.00 (plus local and state taxes)

First look: Everytime I usually see a 6×60 cigar, I usually turn my head and look over to the next size or line; I just haven’t had great luck with the 60rg cigars. They just doesn’t feal well and I get over it quickly. But, I am always on the look out for new cigars to try, and the Macanudo Maduro Gigante may be one of the few 60rg cigars I’ll put up with.
The dark Broadleaf wrapper is a nice and dark brown shade with a few small veins. The cigar has an overall firm and stiff, but not hard, feal to it. I used a Xikar cutter to cut the cap and highly recommend a good sharp cutter. This cigar is thick and has alot of tobacco; a cheap cutter could easily mangle it, so use a sharp reliable cutter. The draw is nice with a slight thickness to it, but its right on to my likings.

First Half: The first flavors I get is a slightly sweet, but wet hay tones to it. As I progress into the cigar, the hay note turns slightly tangy with an undertone of a slight sweetness to it. Periodic notes of honey show through here and there which is a nice change to have at times. A “Dirty White” ash that holds for about an inch and a half comes out of the slightly wavy burn line. The wavy burn can be an issue on some cigars, but this one never needs any touch-ups, so its not an issue. The draw is still thick, but a good thick; some refer to it as the “Milkshake draw (regualar thickness, not triple thick).

Second Half: Getting into the second half of the cigar, I get dark coco flavors that show up with the wet tangy hay flavors. The retrohale has a slight black pepper note to it. Like I said before, I don’t have much experience with 60rg cigars, but this one is producing a good amount of smoke with a nice room note thats not over powering at all. I really like how the hay taste is replaced by the semi-sweet coco notes with an undertone of caramel. Towards the end of the smoke, the taste to me reminds me of an oatmeal cookie with a few chocolate chips in it. The burn line does get a little off towards the end, but still never needed a touch-up or a relight. The retrohale at the end still has the black pepper notes to it with a mild finish to it.

After thoughts: The full body and flavor craze is as big as the 60rg cigar craze these days. The Macanudo Maduro Gigante is a good change of from that, in the fact of the mild body and a medium powered flavors. This cigar would be good paired with a light beer or maybe a Green Tea. This cigar has great construction to it, no re-lights, no harshness, great draw, and an ash that holds for well over an inch.

I can understand why Macanudo is haled as “America’s Best Selling Brand”. They are advertised in alot of places to a broad array of audiences. Their cigars are not over powering and anyone could like them. New or seasoned smokers, to people who just want “to smoke a fat dark cigar” could like this cigar. Its never over powering, or bitter, or any construction issues throughout.

The size is not my favorite, but seems to be the rage these days, why I haven’t figured that out yet! I can’t wait for the 2012 IPCPR Show and maybe a new corona or lancero craze will happen. Over all, I liked the cigar, not my favorite Macanudo (the 1968 still is), but I can see myself having one of these here and there at times or giving to a friend who wants to smoke with me at times. These should be on the shelves now, if not soon, so be on the look out for them and give one a try.

Look out in the next few day for another monthly NTA contest that I will be putting on to win some free stuff, so be on the look out for it soon.

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Ashton VSG Pegasus

Ben — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:52:28 +0000

If you’ve followed me on Twitter or friended me on Facebook, you have seen this cigar often. I also have this cigar on my Top Cigars of 2011 list. I haven’t put a review in yet for it and, honestly, it wasn’t scheduled for this week either, but last week we got word that Manny Ferrero, Senior VP for Ashton, passed away while on the dance floor with his beloved wife, Rose in Mexico. So as a tribute to Manny, I’ve decided to do the review of the Pegasus now in honor of Manny. Thanks to The Cigar Shop in Biloxi, MS for the cigars.

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Ortega Serie D. No .6 – CONTEST – Win a Ortega Serie D sampler!

Ben — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:50:28 +0000

Eddie Ortega was part of the duo of EO Brands that make the 601, Murcielago and Cubao cigar lines with partner Erik Espinosa. Late last year, Eddie left EO Brands to create his own cigar company with his first cigar line being the Serie D. Featuring a dark Mexican maduro wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and fillers, this cigar was created to be a high quality cigar at an affordable price. Soon as I could, I ordered a sampler of the cigars from Buckhead Cigars in Atlanta, GA. I immediately smoked each size in about 2 days to find which size I like the best. For me, that was the No. 6. The No. 6 is a petit robusto/rothschild that seemed to really concentrate the flavors and give great smoke volume. The cigar burned great and had flavors of cocoa, leather, raisin, cayanne and cedar with a full body. You can watch the video for a more full review. Also, don’t forget about the contest. You can win a sampler of these cigars (one of each size) by simply:

Commenting on this review on NiceTightAsh.com
Commenting on our Facebook page
Retweeting this message on Twitter:

“Check out the review of the new Ortega Serie D No. 6 at @NiceTightAsh ! http://tinyurl.com/7v9ph8h”

Do all there and you get 3 entries in the contest! Good luck!

UPDATE: For those that don’t know, Buckhead Cigars does ship. Their phone number is 404-844-0400, or on Twitter @buckheadcigar and their website: http://www.askthecigarguys.com/.

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Viaje Winter Classic

Ben — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:18:18 +0000

In the 5th installment of the White Label Project, Viaje introduces a cigar that is the smallest of the series so far. Called the Winter Classic, this cigar was made for colder months of the year, mainly in the northern states, where the weather shortens a person smoking time. Because of this, Andre Farkas, the owner of Viaje, wanted to make a cigar that wouldn’t take longer than an hour to smoke, but still be full in flavor. Here is what he had to say on the Winter Classic:

“I blended WC with the colder states in mind. I wanted something on the smaller side that delivered flavor without being overpowering.” – Andre Farkas

This cigar uses a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and filler. The strength of the cigar is medium-full and took me about 45 minutes to smoke.

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Viaje Super Shot 10 Gauge

Ben — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:38:01 +0000

Viaje recently released 3 new additions to their cigar lines: Winter Class (WLP), Friends and Family, Super Shot. The Super Shot is the cigar I’m reviewing today. Patterned after a shotgun shell (shotgun shells come in 3 sizes today: 2 3/4″, 3″ and 3 1/2″) and these cigars coming in at 3 1/2 x 54 ring gauge in boxes of 25 cigars. The boxes are patterned after Remington shotgun boxes from the 40s or 50s. A 12 gauge version will be released at the end of March that will be 3 1/2″ x 52. Viaje used all Nicaraguan tobacco for these cigars using the upper primings of the tobacco plant for the tobacco in the cigar. These get more sun so they are thicker and more oily. They also develop a richer flavor and more strength. Is this cigar a hit or a dud? Watch the video and find out.

Thanks for Mike Mando at The Cigar Shop in Biloxi, MS and Browning for their assistance in the review.

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EP Carrillo New Wave Connecticut Short Run 2012 Reinados

Ben — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:23:43 +0000

The New Wave Connecticut was released last year and garnered many accolades from us cigar bloggers. It was hard not to find it on many of our Top Cigars of the Year list, including mine. A very flavorful, medium bodied Connecticut, was a huge hit. Now, EP Carrillo released this years Short Run in the New Wave Connecticut. The Short Run 2012 uses the Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper of the New Wave Connecticut with a Connecticut Broadleaf binder along with Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers from the Core Line maduro. I’ve been a really big fan of the cigars that EP Carrillo has put out after the Inaugral Edition 2009, which I didn’t care for at all. This cigar was no different. Starting out with a mild body and later developing into a medium bodied cigar, the cigar had notes of wood, sweet spice, honey, cocoa and the great creaminess of the New Wave Connecticut. The smaller ring gauges had a more concentrated flavor and more fuller body, but the larger Reinados was smoother than the rest. Another great cigar from EP Carrillo.

Exquisitos: 4 7/8 x 50 – $6.35
Invictos 5 7/8 x 52 – $7.10
Reinados: 6 1/4 x 60 – $8.60

Thanks to EP Carrillo for sending me a sampler pack of these cigars for review.

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