Viaje 50/50 No. 1
Viaje is a boutique brand of cigars that I’ve really fallen in love with over the past year. During my recent trip to New Orleans for IPCPR, I visited Crescent City Cigars in the French Quarter and talked to Armando, the owner, about one of his favorite cigars, the Viaje Platino lancero, which he gave me to try. I immediately fell in love with it and the love affair with Viaje began. With the announcement of a release of a new cigar coming out from them from IPCPR, I knew I had to get some. Two of my friend in my local police department, Heath Morris and Tom Spicer, went back a few weekends later (we live very close to New Orleans) and they picked me up a sampler of 50/50 from Crescent City. This is the cigar I’m smoking for the review. Its quite a unique concept for a cigar. They cigar is actually two different cigars in one. The first part of the cigar is supposed to smoke with rich flavor and medium body while somewhere in the middle, abruptly, it changes to a bold, full body cigar. The guys at Stogie Review interviewed Andre Farkas (which I mistakenly call Andrew in the video) who talks about the design process of the 50/50.
Andre Farkas interview at Stogie Review about the Viaje 50/50
Is the cigar a truly unique concept or is it just a gimmick? Watch the video and find out.
Fall Contest Winners
During the months of October and November we asked you submit guest reviews. And as a reward for your hard work we promised to pick out our four favorite reviews, and those folks would get a 10 pack of cigars from us. So we’ve taken a look at all of the submissions and have chosen the following reviews as our winners.
Charlie picked Mike’s AKA KnightRid’s review of the CAO Gold Vintage Cremant.
Chris picked a review you have already seen on the site. Brent from Ohio sent us a very amusing review of the Rocky Patel Winter Blend 2009.
Ben decided to go with Dustin’s review of the Viaje Fifty/Fifty.
Last but not least, Brian picked Jaime’s review of the Rocky Patel 1992 Petit Corona.
So be on the lookout for those reviews coming up in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone that participated and a big congratulations to the winners. We’ll be contacting you shortly to arrange shipment of your prizes.
Sunday Fiver – December 13, 2009
A video Sunday Fiver from Brian.
The views and opinions of this video are solely mine. Comments included do not necessarily reflect the views of Nice Tight Ash. Parental Discretion Advised.
Mederos Fifty 1
Today I’m smoking the new Mederos cigar. The Mederos, a joint venture from David Levy and Carlos Mederos, made it’s debut at the 2009 IPCPR Trade-show. The cigars are Nicaraguan puros and feature Corojo wrappesr that were grown in the Jalapa Valley. Since this is such a new cigar, and little Is known about it, I won’t bore you with any more text. It’s time to smoke one and figure out what I think.
Guest Review: Rocky Patel Winter Blend 2009
Today we have a guest review for you. This comes by way of Brent and Brett, and with the official start of winter just a mere week and a half away they have provided us with a review of the Rocky Patel Winter Blend 2009. Brent actually recorded this review long before his debut in the CAO Brazilia joint review that we did at Jungle Jim’s so let’s see how his first crack at cigar reviewing went.
Also, don’t forget about our cigar drive for the Troops. We have received a ton of cigars from some very generous people thus far and as a thank you for your generosity we will be giving away:
• Box of CAO La Traviata,
• 3 CAO 3 finger ashtrays,
• A boat load of CAO La Traviata Hats,
• A Xikar Xi2 Bloodstone Cutter, and
• A Lotus Vertigo Lighter.
There is still plenty of time to send in some sticks so check out the full story here, round up a few sticks and send them to the men and women who can’t be home this holiday because they are defending your rights and freedoms.
Padilla Dominus
Before the IPCPR trade show Ernesto Padilla started tweeting about the new Dominus that was to be released in the upcoming months. He mentioned a few times that this was going to be the most full-bodied cigar he had ever produced. At that point the Dominus was officially on my radar, so when I saw it in one of my local B&M’s a month or two ago was was instantly excited. This cigar is made up entirely of a 2006 Cuban-seen Nicaraguan Corojo tobacco and features a pretty wicked looking band. The wrapper is a beautiful dark shade of brown complemented by a slight oily sheen. Construction on these cigars were perfect, and with the exception of a couple water spots on once sample, these cigar looked absolutely flawless. But that’s enough for a written description, let’s get down the real business.
Readers’ Top 10 of 2009
It’s getting to be the end of the year, and along with that comes top ten lists. But we don’t want to have all the fun. We want you to get in on it too. Just leave a comment with your top 10 list of 2009. It’s not necessarily cigars that were released this year. Just whatever cigars you think smoked best in 2009. Feel free to tell us what criteria you used – price, flavor, construction, etc. Just give us your top 10 list by Monday, December 28th at midnight. We’ll compile the results and reveal the Nice Tight Ash Reader’s Top 10 for 2009 on New Year’s Day.
P.S. Need a little inspiration? Check out our list of cigar reviews!
Roberto Cigars Blend Selection: Samples 1-3
Here we are folks. The first episode of three that will take you through the tasting (and choosing) of a full bodied blend to complete the Roberto Cigars line of premium smokes. If you haven’t already, check out our reviews of Roberto’s Standard (Mild) Blend and his Robust (Medium) Blend.
Today we have for you samples 1-3. I am only providing opening and final impressions for each stick in an effort to keep the video time manageable. I am also doing a full written description for our use in blend selection which I write throughout the entire smoking experience. I will give you a bit of that information at the end of this post most notably a rating for body, fullness of flavor, and balance as well as overall impressions of the smoke. So let’s see how the first three blends do.
**Spoiler Alert**
If you would prefer to watch the video prior to seeing my results then watch now before you read on any further. If you are sick of my ugly mug, then you can just continue on with your reading.
Cigar Review – CAO Gold Vintage Cremant
Today I’m reviewing the CAO Gold Vintage Cremant. This 6 x 52 Toro was giving to me by Jon Huber at IPCPR in New Orleans this year. It features an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper from 2004, binder from Nicaragua and filler from Honduras and Nicaragua. The cigar is named after a sparkling wine in France usually in the Loire and Alsace regions. I know your thinking, “Isn’t that champagne?” Well, no, only sparkling wine GROWN in the Champagne region can be call champagne. Little wine knowledge in a cigar review. How do you like that? Got two of my favorite things in this review! Its billed as a mild-medium cigar, but loaded with flavor. Did the cigar live up to that? Watch the video and find out. Also, don’t forget to donate to our Cigars for Troops round up! Smoke for Our Heroes
Macanudo 1968
Today Brian and I are reviewing the Macanudo 1968. This cigar was introduced in 2008 as Macanudo’s first real attempt at producing a full-bodied cigar. To help get the word out about this cigar Macanudo hosted hundreds of events nationwide where free samples of the 1968 were given out free. According to my Perelman’s Pocket Cyclopedia of Cigars over 60,000 samples were handed out at these events. So let’s see what our take is on this cigar.
