God of Fire Don Carlos 2008 (first impressions)

Sadly, smoking a cigar has become a relatively rare event for me lately, as everything at home and work has been so busy. Having finally found an opportunity to enjoy a nice, long, relaxing smoke, I sifted through my coolidor looking for something truly top-shelf. A while back, our friend Keith Park of Prometheus sent me a wonderful Limited Edition God of Fire 9-cigar Assortment. I’ve been spreading these out a bit, only smoking them on special occasions in …

Cigar Bunching Methods at Drew Estate with Willy Herrera and Nick Melillo

A lot of people know that a cigar is composed of a wrapper, binder and filler, but not many understand how it all comes together.  One of the most critical components in the cigar making processes is the bunching of the filler tobaccos to be rolled with a binder.  At Drew Estate, they used what they refer to as estrujado method or “lazy entubado” and entubado methods.  That is where they form a base of two tobacco leaves before using …

Vallejuelo Cigar

Wrapper : Ecuadorian Habano
Binder : Dominican
Filler : Nicaraguan and Dominican
Source : Gifted by Jeff O.

Welcome to this week’s cigar review of the Vallejuelo Cigar in the gran toro size (6×54). This cigar is available in four different sizes and MSRP is $4.50 to $6.50 depending on size. This cigar in the gran robusto size has won accolades so lets see how the gran toro does.

Pre-Light

Taking a look at this Vallejuelo Cigar and …

Perla del Mar

Wrapper : Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder : Nicaraguan
Filler : Nicaraguan
Source : Gifted by local sales rep Dan

Down and dirty first impressions review on the Perla del Mar (Pearl of the Sea) by J.C. Newman Cigars this week. I am smoking the M size (4.75×52) which our local sales rep, Dan, gifted me two of. All of the Perla del Mar cigars are box pressed.

Pre-Light

Wrapper of the Perla del Mar gives off a slight barnyard …

Herfin’ Heads: Drew Estate Liga Privada Unico Serie Velvet Rat

While down in Nicragua for Cigar Safari at Drew Estates, Brian and I were handed a bag of cigars which contained some rare releases and prototype blends made by Drew Estate.  One of those cigars was the Drew Estate Liga Privada Unico Serie Velvet Rat.  Described as a larger, smoother Dirty Rat, the Velvet Rat is in the pre-production stages with a limited release at Tesa Cigars in Chicago, IL late last year.  As Brian and I lit up the …