San Cristobal De La Habana La Punta – LLN SET 2003
I’m posting this Tuesday, but I’m having this cigar on Saturday. My buddy and co-creator of Nice Tight Ash, Charlie, is getting married today in Florida. So to honor that day, I’m smoking one of my all time favorites since I can’t be there. That cigar is the San Cristobal De La Habana La Punta. San Cristobal De La Habana (SCDLH) is considered one of the best Cuban brands available right now. The cigar line was developed in 1999 to celebrate its name sake, Havana. San Cristobal De La Habana is the original name of the capital when it was under Spanish control. This cigar line is light to medium in body and uses tobaccos from the Vuelta Abejo region.
It’s currently offered in seven sizes:
- El Morro – 7 1/4″ x 49
- El Principe – 4 3/8″ x 42
- La Fuerza – 5 1/2″ x 50
- La Punta – 5 1/2″ x 52
- Mercaderes – 6 1/2″ x 48
- Muralla – 7 1/8″ x 54
- Officios – 5 1/4″ x 43
The cigar names come from fortress that defended the city from invaders. Also, the Mercaderes, Muralla and Officios are only offered from La Casa Del Habano. This particular cigar was gifted to me from a BOTL from CigarWeekly.com. The box code is LLN SET 2003 which means that it was made in the Jose Marti H. Upmann factory in September 2003. Let’s see how it smokes.
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Cuesta Rey Stanford’s Cameroon Reserve
This cigar, produced by Tabacalera A. Fuente was created to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Stanford Newman’s introduction of the Cameroon wrapper to Cuesta Rey cigars. With a limited production of 35,000 cigars, the Pyramid No. 9 is made of Dominican filler and binder, draped in a Dominican grown Cameroon wrapper.
Man O’ War Ruination Belicoso
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This review comes courtesy of our good friend Brian. Â We met Brian via Twitter, and found out he only lives about an hour away. Â We’ve had the opportunity to hang our a few times and enjoy some great cigars. Â 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 EstelÃ, 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 60Â
Today we are smoking the Belicoso. The vitals on this stick are:
A. Turrent Toro
This isn’t what I had originally scheduled for today’s review, but I just got back from eating Mexican food with my wife and cousin and thought this cigar would be fitting. Remembering I had a A. Turrent cigar from Mexico, I thought it would be a great time to try it out. I’ve never had one before but I’ve never been a fan of Mexican tobacco. Nevertheless, I’m going to give this one a try. A. Turrent is one of the oldest cigar families in the business. The A. Turrent cigars have a Mexican wrapper from San Andres, binder from Nicaraguan and a mix of Nicaraguan and Mexican filler. This blend was once only offered to special guest of the Turrent family, but is now made available to cigar smokers worldwide. The cigar comes in 5 sizes:
- Churchill 52 x 7
- Torpedo 52 x 6 1/8″
- Toro 50 x 6″
- Corona 44 x 5 1/2″
- Robusto 54 x 5″
Let’s see how it smokes.
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601 Oscuro
The 601 Oscuro is one of four blends from EO Brands 601 series. This 601 Oscuro is a Nicaraguan puro blended by Don Pepin Garcia in Esteli, Nicaragua. This cigar features a Nicaraguan grown Habano Oscuro wrapper.
There is still time to enter our May Contest. Â Please give us your best or worst cigar joke, for a chance to win a ten pack of cigars from Reyes Family.
La Riqueza No. 4
La Riqueza cigars came out in June 2008 and were created by Pete Johnson and Don Pepin Garcia in his Tabacalera Cubana S.A. factory. The cigar uses Connecticut broadleaf wrapper that was purchase from the Oliva family. The binder and filler are both from Nicaragua. It’s the first cigar with a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper for either Johnson or Garcia. This medium bodied smoke comes in 5 sizes:
- No. 1 6 ½ x 42
- No. 2 5 ½ x 52
- No. 3 5 5/8 x 46
- No. 4 5 x 48
- No. 5 4 3/8 x 42
Let’s see how it smokes
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Preliminary Thoughts: Viaje Oro
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Sunday Fiver- May 17, 2009
A fiver of cigar stories from around the Web.
Cigar Reviews
On Friday we released a video on the Rocky Patel Spring Collection.  If you would like another opinion check out the guest review at Stogie Review of the  (1) Rocky Patel Spring Collection.
Photo courtesy of Stogie Review.
Cigarfan over at the Keepers of the Flame took a look at a different kind of Drew Estates product the (2) Chateau Real Lord Tennyson.Â
Blake from Stogie Fresh smoked the (3) Zino Platinum Scepter. This cigar sat in the humidor for over 1 year and 3 months.  This review will be updated again in 3 months. Â
Lisa over at Her Humidor smoked the (4) Carlos Torano Virtuoso. Â The Virtuoso is touted as the most full-bodied cigar from Torano, and Lisa agrees. Â
Feature
Bruce  over at Stogie Fresh wrote an interesting article on (5) Cigar-Smoking Sleuths in Literature.Â
Padilla Obsidian
The Padilla Edicion Especial 2006, also known as the Obsidian, was originally a limited release from Padilla. However, the line experienced success and was therefor extended as an exclusive offering at Cigars International. Â These cigars only come in one vitola, a hefty belicoso, that is sold as a strong full-bodied cigar. Â As always, I have smoked my way through a handful of samples, and now report my side of the story.
La Aroma De Cuba Monarch
La Aroma De Cuba is an old Cuban brand that was a favorite of Sir Winston Churchill. The Cuban brand has been long gone, but thanks to Ashton Cigars, La Aroma De Cuba was reintroduced in 2002. No longer made in Cuba, this cigar is made in Honduras using Cuban-seed Honduran wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan/Honduran fillers.
The cigar comes in 9 sizes:
- Corona – 5.5 x 44
- Churchill – 6.75 x 48
- Monarch – 6 x 50
- Double Corona – 7.5 x 52
- Robusto – 5 x 54
- Cetro – 6.5 x 44
- Corona Minor- 4.5 x 44
- Pyramid – 6.125 x 50
- Marquis – 5.75 x 48
I got a fiver of these from Cigarbid.com after seeing these going for a steal. Let’s see how it is.
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