ROCKY PATEL PREMIUM CIGARS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF THE EDGE CANDELA
April 10, 2012 (Bonita Springs, Florida)
The Rocky Patel Premium Cigar
Company announced today the release of The Edge Candela.
The Edge Candela is a medium bodied cigar and the latest addition to
The Edge line. The candela wrapper gives the blend a truly unique flavor,
consisting of sweet spice and floral tea, ultimately lending a creamy finish.
The wrapper is a Habano Seed Candela, and the binder and fillers are a secret.
Says Rocky Patel of the new Edge Candela, “I blended the Limited Edition Edge
Candela for The Edge fans – it still holds the flavor profile that is so beloved by
Edge lovers every where, and the wrapper just gives it a distinctively spicy and
creamy twistâ€.
The Edge Candela is available in Toro size (6 x 52) and is sold in boxes of 20.
It is a limited edition product with only 1,000 boxes made by the El Paraiso
factory in Honduras. The cigar retails for $6.40. Just released, it is now available
at all fine retailers.
Located in Bonita Springs, Florida, the Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company
began producing high quality premium cigars in 1995, based on Rocky’s passion
for cigars, and his desire to share his unique cigar blends with cigar connoisseurs
around the world. Rocky is also very active in raising money for underprivileged
children in Honduras, with his RP Foundation. Current Rocky Patel cigar brands
include: Decade, Olde World Reserve, Edge, 15th Anniversary, the Vintage
Series, Thunder, Xen and “50â€. For more information visit their Website at
www.RockyPatel.com.
Montecristo New York Connoisseur Edition
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.
Rocky Patel announces the Edge Candela
This new Edge is shipping immedately so be on the look out. Price point is supposed to be less than $7.00 an available in toro only.
CAO La Traviata Maduro Luminoso
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.
Macanudo Maduro Gigante
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
CAO Last Stick Standing Promotion
Promotion Gives Fans a Chance to Choose New Blend
CAO’s senior brand manager Ed McKenna explains, “Rick Rodriguez has been developing blends with our team in Nicaragua and has come up with three which we think are all great. So we’re calling on CAO fans to help us pick the blend that will ultimately be launched as a new CAO collection, to be released late this year, or in early 2013.â€
A dedicated website (Last Stick Stanging CAO Cigars) will serve as a virtual voting booth, allowing cigar smokers to rate each cigar on certain criteria, such as flavor, body, construction and overall experience.
For every rating submitted, consumers will be entered to win a box of the winning CAO blend before it’s available for purchase, or the grand prize, an all-expense paid trip for the winner and a guest to the CAO factory in Nicaragua. Sharing entries on the Last Stick Standing Facebook page will provide consumers with multiple entries to win.
CAO cigars are produced by General Cigar Co. Inc., a division of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar’s skilled artisans produce Macanudo®, Cohiba®, La Gloria Cubana®, Punch®, CAO, Partagas®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur® and several other leading premium brands in the company’s Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan factories. In addition, the company cultivates proprietary tobacco which is used exclusively in its blends. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide and also exports select products to 62 countries. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com.
® Macanudo, Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Punch, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.
Ashton VSG Pegasus
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.
Ortega Serie D Sampler Contest Winner
We would to congratulate the winner of our contest for the Ortega Serie D Sampler courtesy of Buckhead Cigars…..and the winner is……
Rob Gianelli
Thanks to all that entered and keep looking out for our next contest which will happen soon.
Don’t forget to check out Buckhead Cigars for all your cigar needs.
Buckhead Cigars
404-844-0400, or on Twitter @buckheadcigar and their website:Â http://www.askthecigarguys.com/.
General Cigar Introduces the Partagas 1845
Richmond, VA—General Cigar is proud to introduce Partagas 1845, a new, four-cigar collection which embodies 167 years of heritage and expert cigar making. This exciting new take on the venerable brand is a departure from the traditional Cameroon-wrapped expressions of Partagas®, and is set to make its retail debut on April 9, 2012.
 
Puros Indios Siembra de Oro Short Maduro
Sunday, March 19, 2012 we lost a legend in the cigar industry. Rolando Reyes Sr passed away Sunday in Miami, FL of natural causes at the age of 89. Rolando had been in the cigar industry for 80 years. Yes, do the math, he has been involved in cigars since he was 9 years old! Rolando was very involved in his cigars. He worked mainly at night. “I start at 10 at night, and I’m done at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning,†he said in the Cigar Aficionado interview. “I am quality control. I like to work at night, because there’s no one to bother me, and I can concentrate better in detail on what’s wrong with a cigar…You have to concentrate. I like to inspect every cigar.â€
To pay my repspects to Mr Rolano Reyes Sr. I am going to have a look at the Puros Indios Siembre de Oro Short Maduro.
Read the rest of this entry »
