Esencia 2008

Over the past couple of weeks I have been telling myself that I wanted to revisit the Esencia line of cigars. I would pick up a couple at Sir Stogies and wind up smoking them before I could get a chance to record the video. This cycle continued until I placed an Esencia into my travel humidor and forgot that it was there. While rooting around for something to review, I came across the cigar that I purchased about two …

Your Question, My Answers (YQMA) – Episode 46

If you have been a long time Stogie Review fan, you may be thinking that you are seeing things. An episode of Your Questions, My Answers (YQMA), is this right? Rest assured, this isn’t a hallucination and things have been set in motion to bring back YQMA as a regular part of the Stogie Review lineup. For the time being, we are going to say that YQMA will be a bi-weekly-ish show. Episodes 46 and 47 are complete and …

Gurkha Evil (First Impressions)

On Monday I was smoking an Illusione 888 and conversing on Twitter when a link came through from @LadyOfTheStick. The link was pointing to her weekly uStream cigar show entitled “Simply Smoke and Ashes“. Christine’s show generally goes live after I have walked away from the computer for the evening but with time to kill, I started watching some of her recorded shows.

I got into a grove with the shows and decided to hang out a …

La Floridita Gold

For the past couple of years I have been on some sort of blogger marketing list for Famous Smoke Shop. Every once in a while I receive a surprise package with a couple Famous exclusive cigars. This time around my package contained a five pack of La Floridita Gold.

Up until the package arrived, I wasn’t aware that the brand existed. Coming off a Connecticut kick as a result from the outstanding EP Carrillo New Wave, I …

La Aurora 100 Anos – Toro

Last night I stepped into my office, debating on what to review for today. I had been drawing a blank all day and wasn’t sure what route to take. I thought the best thing to do was to open up my humidor and see if anything called out to me. This was not the case and I wound up getting frustrated. It seemed like anything that I smoked over the past few weeks had already been covered.

Not sure what …

EP Carrillo New Wave – Connecticut

Last week I had the pleasure of reviewing the new EP Carrillo Elencos. This week, Jerry was slated to tackle the EP Carrillo New Wave Connecticut. Unfortunately, for him, Jerry ran into some video problems and had to scrap the review. Fortunately, for me, it meant that I was then able to smoke this fantastic new cigar and tell you all about it.

I realize that by saying this is a fantastic cigar, so early on in the …

EP Carrillo Elencos

Last week while working from home, I decided to take a break and step away from the computer to play with my daughter. As we hung out in the living room, I heard a bang out on my front porch. Two packages sat outside waiting for me, the first, a delivery of baby wipes, the other, a padded envelope from EP Carrillo. Like a kid on Christmas, I tore open the package to see what goodies were inside.

Armed …

Studio Tobac All Maduro Concept Blend – ST/DS-001

Up for review today is another cigar that can be found in the Studio Tobac Tour Sampler (Cain F Lancero, Cain FF, Nub San Andreas Maduro, Cain Daytona, and ST/DS-001), in the ST/DS-001. Like previos cigars in this series of reviews, I recieved these sticks as a member of the Studio Tobac Advisroy Board.

When I first opened my letter and began reading over the listed cigars, I was torn when it …

La Aurora 1495 – Brazil (Blind Tasting)

Several weeks ago I was sitting in Sir Stogies, shooting the breeze. A variety of topics were discussed, one of which was potentially holding another blind tasting. My first blind tasting held at this shop turned out well and all in attendance seemed to enjoy themselves, so I grabbed my phone and looked for an available date.

Around the end of February, I headed down to the shop to setup for the tasting. We wound up with fifteen participants …

Oliva Serie V No 4 (Liga Especial)

Last week I was going through my usual routine of hanging out at Kensington Tobacconist and enjoying a cigar. About fifteen minutes before I was going to head out the door, Dave Wagner, VP of Sales at Oliva, walked through the door. We got to talking and I wound up spending another couple of hours marinating in cigar smoke.

While there, Dave handed me a couple Oliva Serie V #4 cigars. Prior to my receiving these cigars, I …