Rocky Patel Event at Crescent City Cigars – 4/16/2010
This past weekend, Crescent City Cigars kicked off the annual Crescent City Cigar and Crawfish Crawl with a Rocky Patel event. Armando Ortiz, the owner of Crescent City Cigars, hosted a great event with some great deals on Rocky Patel cigars. Free food and drinks were available and the store was packed out. Its was a great event to kick of the weekend long CCCCC in New Orleans. This is a yearly event, so, if your interested, check out Crescent City Cigar and Crawfish Crawl .
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Brick House
The Brick House was first introduced in 1937 by J.C. Newman as a Havana Clear. Havana Clears were cigars rolled in the United States with Cuban tobacco. Fast forward to the present and J.C. Newman has reintroduced this line of cigars now using Nicaraguan tobacco. The new line was introduced at the 2009 IPCPR trade show and quickly hit shelves in the fall.
Name: Brick House
Company: J.C. Newman
Made in: Esteli, Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $4.75 per stick
Comes in: Boxes of 25
Vitola: Corona Larga (6 1/4″ X 46)
The Brick House has a fairly rustic looking wrapper with a nice oily sheen. The veins are recognizable to the touch, but are not hard. Construction appeared spot on as I could not detect and hard or soft spots in the cigar nor could I notice the turns in the wrapper leaf. Pre-light aroma was classic rich tobacco, with hints of cedar at the foot. After snipping the cap I found a perfect draw which had a deep tobacco flavor.
CAO La Traviata Favorito
Today we are revisiting a cigar that made our top ten list of last year. The La Traviata robusto was a site favorite and CAO has released two new sizes for the line. Jon Huber, Director of Lifestyle Marketing, was kind enough to send me a fiver of each size.
Animados: 5 5/6 x 46 (corona gorda)
Favorito: 5 1/2 x 52 (petit belicoso)
Today I’m visiting the Favoritos. This is from the CAO press release:
“CAO La Traviata Favorito
Hot on the heels of multiple ’93’ (“OUTSTANDING”) ratings, and the addition of the 5-5/8″ x 46 Animado,
comes this gorgeous 5-1/2″ x 52 Petit Belicoso. With a suggested retail price of $5.65, this is one cigar
you cannot afford to miss! La Traviata Favorito begins shipping May 1.”
CAO La Traviata Favorito
Vitola:Â Petit Belicoso
Size: 5 1/2 x 52
Wrapper: Colorado brown Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Cameroon
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaraguan (Pueblo Nuevo)
MSRP: $5.75
So, does a different size and shape make a difference in the flavor profile of a cigar? Watch the video and find out.
Cheap Ash: Vista de Cuba by Oliveros
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.
Gran Habano Azteca Prototype ver. 2.0
Today, I’m reviewing the potential new blend for the Gran Habano Azteca maduro cigar. I reviewed the original blend on March 10, 2010 and had some suggestions for tweaks I personally would like to see. Well, Gran Habano was listening! They made some tweaks and reblended the cigar and sent me some more samples to try out. I would like to thank Guillermo, George and especially Robert of Gran Habano Cigars for giving me this opportunity. So, how does this cigar compare with the first blend? Watch the video and find out.
Bugatti B-1 Lighter
One of my most obsessive quests in my cigar smoking journey is the quest to find a reliable lighter. How hard is that, you say? Very damn hard. I can’t tell you how many lighters I have. Everything from gas station specials to my beloved ST Dupont X-tend. The problem is that most rarely work and, if they do, rarely work after 6 months. If you get a year out of them, you need to get your ass to Vegas because Lady Luck is smiling on you. Its not uncommon of me to have 2-3 lighters on me so I can hopefully have one that works when I need one. I have numerous Colibris and not ONE has made it passed 6 months without an issue of some kind. I have started checking out Lotus and Vector brands, but I don’t have too much experience with them yet. I do have one Xikar Exective, but I have to keep the flame turned all the way up to get it to work. I really only have two lighters I truly count on: Blazer PB-207 and ST Dupont X-tend. These never fail me and spark up every time. The Blazer is great because it has a large fuel reservoir. Recently, though, I came across a new lighter from Bugatti, the famous hyper and extreme luxury car maker.
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March 2010 Contest: And the Winner Is…
On behalf of the Ash-holes, I’d like to thank everyone for participating in our March contest. We really enjoyed hearing from you all. We’d also like to thank Drew Estate for providing such a great prize.
Without further ado, out of 430 entries the winner is jimmyk26. Congrats jimmyk26! We welcome the comments and hope to see them continue.
Cheap Ash: Punch Rare Corojo
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.
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Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 50 Years
Today I’m gonna go old school by presenting you with a written review and without giving anything away, I really wish I had recorded a video for this one. The Exodus 1959 50 Years was released in the fall of 2009. It features a Brazilian Arapiraca Sun Grown wrapper and Nicaraguan filler from two different regions.
This cigar came wrapped in cellophane. If you’re familiar with the other Exodus cigars then you’ll recognize the band. The only change here is that it’s copper (instead of black or silver) and includes a secondary band that bares the 50 Years name. The wrapper is a dark shade of brown which shimmers in the light from the oils. The oils are also recognizable to the touch, as is a slightly rough texture. Construction on these sticks is excellent. Tons of tobacco is packed into this cigar which makes for a very solid feeling cigar. The aroma of the wrapper is nothing short of mouth watering. The combination of horse stables and wood really caught my attention.
Arturo Fuente Rosado Gran Reserva R52
Fuente released a new cigar line in December 2009 with a special rosado wrapper. This new wrapper comes from the second or third primings from the Oliva tobacco farm in Ecuador. These wrappers are then aged for 8 to 10 years before being rolled with a Dominican binder and filler and then set to age for another year. This gives the cigar a very flavorful medium body. The cigar is a limited release and only release to special Fuente accounts that also carry the Opus X and Anejo lines. This cigar comes in 3 sizes:
- R52 – 5 x 52 MSRP: $6.75
- R54 – 6 1/4 x 54 MSRP: $.7.60
- R56 – 5 5/8 x 56 MSRP: $7.25
How does this cigar hold up against its bigger, more famous brothers? Watch the video and find out.
PS – Remember, today is the last day of our contest!
