Nice Tight Ash » Strong Ash

La Flor Dominicana Air Bender

Brian — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:45:54 +0000

La Flor introduced the Air Bender earlier this year and the hook is that they are intense, sophisticated, and powerful. Not sure there is all that much difference between intense and powerful but I digress…

The Air Bender comes in six sizes and today I have for you the 5″ x 50 Matatan. The blend is made up of a Habano seed wrapper with a Dominican Binder and Dominican fillers. Does the Air Bender live up to its name? Let’s find out…

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Joya De Nicaragua Antano Dark Corojo

Ben — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:53:46 +0000

This week I review the newest cigar from Joya De Nicaragua, the Antano Dark Corojo. This cigar was released at the 2009 IPCPR show and it made to be even more full bodied and powerful than their famed Antano 1970 line. Its made with 75% Ligero that is actually a special ligero that they make called Ligeron. Usually that much ligero means two things: 1. They are STRONG. 2. They usually don’t burn well as ligero is hard to burn. So, how did this cigar turn out? Watch the video and find out.

Also, don’t forgot about our contest we are running sponsered by Drew Estates for some Drew Estates swag and some Liga Privadas!
March Contest

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Tatuaje RC184

Ben — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:32:59 +0000

I got this cigar in a trade with Skip Martin (@chiefhava on Twitter) along with some other really great cigars. For me, it was the first time I’ve seen this cigar and, being a huge fan of Tatuaje cigars, I decided to save this for my birthday smoke. My birthday as some of you know was last Wednesday, July 29, and I couldn’t wait to fire this big boy up. This is a monster of a cigar. Its 7 1/4 x 54″ or 184mm long…RC184…..get it? Yea, ok. Anyway, the cigar has a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler. Each cigar is wrapped with silver foil covering the top half of the cigar with a red, white and blue band as the seam. Its a very well constructed diadema.

Let’s see how it smokes!

Appearance

This is probably the biggest cigar I’ve smoked yet. The cigar has a near flawless wrapper with no large veins or water spots. The cap was also wrapped very well. The cigar has no soft spots that I can feel, but feels much firmer at the tip than the rest of the cigar.

Pre-Light Aroma

The wrapper smells like….well, smells like cow shit. That’s it. Cow shit. On the draw, I pick up a lot of wood and earth. The foot has aroma of cow shit on an oak log….woody cow shit.

First Third

This cigar started out very mild and I couldn’t detect very many flavors, but as the cigar burned from the small tip to the large bulbous part of the cigar, it developed a woody spicy flavor that was very creamy. Not something I was expecting from a Tatuaje. It’s a very creamy right now. In fact, it’s quite pleasant. The cigar has a great burn with a strong ash. On the retrohale, the cigar is almost pure heavy cream. Since I really enjoy creaminess in cigars, I’m really enjoying this cigar so far.

Second Third

The second third hasn’t changed very much. The wood note is still there, but it’s taken a back seat to a nutty flavor, but the cigar still has a main undertone of creaminess. There is just the slightest hint of pepper on the back of the palette. On the retrohale, the pepper note is MUCH stronger and actually burns now. I have to exhale some of the smoke before I try to retrohale.

Final Third

The final third is exactly like the second third. No real change. I am having to relight the cigar quite often now which is a little annoying. I’m not sure if it’s the cigar or the very high humidity we have on the MS Gulf Coast right now.

Overall

I enjoyed this cigar. It was much strong than I expected though. It had quite a kick to it. The woody, nutty, creamy flavors with hint of pepper was a nice combonation, but getting quite typical nowadays though. It did take me about 3 hours to smoke this cigar, but I enjoyed the flavors so I didn’t mind that. I did have to relight quite often on the last third which was annoying and I had to purge the cigar. Still, for me, that’s to be expected on diadema shaped cigars. I think the cigar is of high quality and something that brothers and sisters of the leaf should definitely try, but I do think the price point is a little high. I think that about most of the new wonder cigars that seem to be coming out lately though. These are quite hard to find so if you see any, grab them up. Try one and tell me what you think.

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Man O’ War Ruination Belicoso

Nice Tight Ash — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:30:53 +0000

This review comes courtesy of our good friend Brian. We met Brian via Twitter, and found out he only lives about an hour away. We’ve had the opportunity to hang our a few times and enjoy some great cigars. So we were happy when he decided to give reviewing cigars a try, so without further ado, here is Brian’s Nice Tight Ash debut.

Not much information can be found on this stick. From what I can gather, AJ Fernandez developed this is a blend as a power house addition to his well received Man O’ War line. The line is rolled in the Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. I do know that the majority, if not all, of this stick is made up of ligero which lends credence to the powerhouse stigma. This line comes in 3 vitolas:

Belicoso – 5.7″ x 56

Robusto No. 1 – 5.5″ x 54

Robusto No. 2 – 6.0″ x 60

Today we are smoking the Belicoso. The vitals on this stick are:

Company: Tabacalera Fernandez
Made In: Esteli, Nicaragua
Made By: Tabacalera Fernandez
Size: 5.7″ x 56 Belicoso
Wrapper: Habano Ecuadorian Ligero
Filler: Mix of Cuban-seed Honduran and Nicaraguan long leaf ligeros
Binder: Unknown
MSRP: $11.00 as a single

Pre-light

The first thing I notice when I pull this stick from the humidor is its weight. This is a HEAVY stick. Fully packed with a large ring, this stick is firm from head to foot. There is a distinctive barnyard smell on the dark ligero wrapper leaf while a very nice sweetness comes at the foot. There are some prominent veins throughout but nothing out of the ordinary. This is a nice looking stick. Clipped only about ¼” off of the tapered head of this belicoso to reveal an absolutely perfect draw that had a slight sweet tobacco flavor.

First Third

The foot took the light well and immediately began emitting a TON of thick smoke. The sweet taste from the pre-light is no where to be found as a blast of black pepper spice hits hard right up front. It is absolutely awesome. Though it is a heavy spice, if your nasal cavity can handle it, I highly recommend a small percentage of retrohale. The smoke through the nose really brings that spice forward. The first few puffs yield earth and leather flavors behind the pepper spice. At about the 1” mark the spice mellows just a bit with leather becoming much richer and hints of wood begin to come through. The spice is definitely still there but not as prominent.

Second Third

As we enter the second third there is still tons of smoke coming off this cigar. As spicy and strong as this cigar is, the aroma of the resting smoke is quite pleasant, almost sweet. The flavors at this point are rich leather and earth. The spice continues to gradually fade but there is still plenty there at this point. The burn line is near perfect with a strong tight medium grey ash that has yet to come loose as we get to the half way point. The finish has developed an almost “sweet” wood flavor that is very interesting and pleasant. Just after the half way point, the burn went a little crazy on one side and required a minor touch up. After this touch up, the ash finally dropped at 2 ¼” and stayed completely intact in ashtray.

Last Third

As we enter the final third, the spice has really mellowed out. Flavors have changed a bit. They aren’t quite as rich as they were and the leather is not nearly as prevalent. The dominant flavor at his point is the earth with undertones of a toasty/charred wood and maybe some bitter coffee. It progressed this way until the end as the finish became “dry” (not unpleasant) and the spice completely fades out as the cigar comes to a close. No further touch ups were required and the burn line was even the rest of the way through.

Final Thoughts

The cigar is excellent. It is well worth the $8.00/stick box price and at $5.00 it is a steal. You get your moneys worth with the complexity of the stick as well as the amount of time you get to enjoy this thing. This vitola consistently lasts me right around 2 hours. Just to compare I am probably a slightly slower than average smoker. The flavors are great and changes in the flavors and the intensity of the spice keeps it interesting throughout. The construction of this stick is really impressive. Other than the minor touchup needed at the half way point, the stick was flawless. Great burn and perfect draw throughout. If you like full bodied, full flavored smokes with a good shot of spice, I highly recommend you pick up some of these sticks. This is definitely a box worthy stick for me which turned out to be a good thing since I bought a box blind at Cigarfest. Sometimes things work out.

Anyway, hope you get something out of this review as it is my first shot at it and remember what the guys always say…Nothing Beats a Nice Tight Ash.

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Fuente Opus X xXx Belicoso “Power Ranger”

Chris — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:30:05 +0000

Today I’m smoking the Fuente Opus X xXx Belicoso “Power Ranger” and sipping some Highland Park 12 year Single Malt Scotch. The Opus X line of cigars is consistently rated highly by many mainstream Cigar media publications and enjoyed by a wide variety of cigar enthusiasts. Now that I have smoked my samples you can watch the video for my verdict.

Company: Arturo Fuente
Made in: Dominican Republic
Made by: Arturo Fuente
Size: 5 5/8″ x 49 Belicoso
Wrapper: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Binder: Dominican Republic
MSRP: I paid $13.00 per stick, but these cigars are found in a wide rage of prices

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Strong Ash: Jesus Fuego 777

Chris — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:58:25 +0000

Welcome to the debut review in our Strong Ash series. Here we smoke full flavored cigars that might knock some folks back in their chair.

Jesus Fuego is a fifth generation cigar maker. Although portions of his career were spent blending and rolling cigars for other people, Jesus has spent the last couple of years developing his own line of cigars. One of his newest releases, the 777 or Triple Siete, is a Nicaraguan Puro.

Company: Jesus Fuego
Made In: Honduras
Made by: Jesus Fuego
Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Criollo Maduro
Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo and Corojo
Binder: Nicraguan Corojo
MSRP: $4.75 each or $99.70/box of 21

Pre-light

This Robusto was dressed in a dark brown, nearly black, Nicaraguan Criollo maduro wrapper. There were a couple veins showing on the oily wrapper, however the seams were not visible. These cigars were also firm and heavy in the hand, if cigars were bricks these 777s would be the model. A smooth, slightly crooked double cap sat upon the head. The simple white band had black writing stating the cigars name 777 (Triple Siete) and the maker Jesus Fuego. I easily snipped the end with my Palio cutter and took a few tight, but unobstructed pre-light draws.

First Third

Right off the bat this cigar hits your senses with a ton of flavor; nuts, barnyard, dark chocolate/espresso and pepper are the major components. The draw was still tight, but I had no issue getting a mouthful of smoke. A thick mascara line appeared on the burn line. The cigars did burn a little unevenly, possibly a byproduct of the tight draw. The ash is light to medium gray color and holds on very well as I made my way through the cigar.

Second Third

As I burned my way into the second third of this cigar I noticed the pepper flavors becoming more intense. I attempted to retrohale this cigar, and because of the pepper my eyes became very watery, however it was not unpleasant. I also picked up on some espresso flavors that seemed to come and go as I smoked my way through this cigar. The burn continued to be a little uneven, but I was able to control it with a few touch-ups with my Xikar Executive torch. The ash finally fell off after about 2 1/2 inches.

Last Third

Into the last third of the cigar the peppery components began to mellow out as a rich oaky flavor became more dominant and really balanced out the cigar. The draw did began to loosen as I puffed my way closer to the end, and in turn the burn began to correct itself. I should also mention that I got a serious nicotine rush out of a couple of these cigars. These cigars lasted anywhere between 45-60 minutes for me and provided abundant flavorful smoke.

Final Thoughts

Wow, the Jesus Fuego 777 is a real firecracker of a cigar. The flavors are intense and in your face. If you fire up one of these cigars expect lots of pepper, barnyard, oak and espresso flavors. I have experienced some burn issues with these cigars, however I’ve never had one burn so bad that it disrupted my enjoyment of the cigar. The ash is very strong, and I dare say is a Nice Tight Ash. I would absolutely recommend this cigar to anyone that enjoys a full-bodied cigar or to the cigar enthusiast that enjoys a good nicotine buzz, just please eat a heavy meal beforehand.

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