All of my recent posts these last few weeks have been late, but each time I’ve had a legitimate excuse (not that it really matters). This week was no different: my in-laws were visiting this past weekend, and I had to fly out to the Midwest on Monday for a family event. However, this trip to Chicago presented me with a great opportunity to record a video review with my good buddy Mike (aka @YoungBuckBOTL) from MikesStogies.com. Mike and I sat down at Casa De Montecristo, the first-rate B&M cigar shop located just outside Chicago at which where he works, and shot this video in the theater room of their impressive VIP lounge.

Casa recently hosted an event featuring industry stars Ernesto and Ernie Carrillo. Mike was lucky enough to get his hands on a few pre-release samples of the EP Carrillo Short Run 2012, which were passed out to customers who made box purchases at the event. There isn’t much information available about this cigar just yet, and we don’t even know what’s in the blend. In any case, this certainly didn’t stop us from lighting up and recording a first impressions video for you all to enjoy.

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(Video length: 11:39)

Soundtrack: “I dunno” by grapes (courtesy of ccMixter.org)

All in all, the EP Carrillo Short Run 2012 was quite enjoyable, and both Mike and myself are looking forward to smoking many more when they’re released sometime next year.

Thanks again to Mike for being my personal chauffeur in and around Chicago for 48 hours, and for recording this joint video with me. And a special thank you goes to Casa De Montecristo for hosting us, as well as to its wonderful VIP lounge members for their generosity and camaraderie.

About Charlie:
Charlie has been enjoying cigars since 2000 and generally prefers a medium-bodied, full-flavored smoke. A USAF vet, he is currently pursuing a PhD in computer science, focusing on artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. Originally from Connecticut and now residing in Delaware, Charlie is also a fan of football, science fiction, political philosophy, and single malt scotch. You can contact Charlie on Twitter @greenbacker

Ed and I got together last weekend to review the Gurkha Cellar Reserve. It boasts 15 year aged tobacco, Criollo 1998 wrapper, Dominican Olor binder and a 15 year old Criollo, Nicaraguan filler. I know a lot of people slam Gurkha as simply an overpriced brand. I’ve been guilty of it myself. But Ed and I have reviewed a few Gurkha’s in the past and had good results. So naturally I was more than happy to try this one when Ed suggested it. Let’s just say the Cellar Reserve was a roller coaster. It was just OK sometimes, other times it was great, and I’d even call it “Ho-hum” at some points.

Check out our 24 minute review and see if it meets the $12.00 price tag. We ran a little long with some off topic banter, so light up a smoke and enjoy our monthly Stogie Review guest spot.

-Tom

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This week we have our good friends Tom and Ed joining us on Stogie Review. The guys take a close look at the Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum. Before playing the video, read over a short message from Tom.

After a little break from video reviews, Ed and I finally got together again. Both of us tend to gravitate to fuller bodied cigars, but sometimes a mellow, relaxing smoke can fit the occasion. We think this cigar is easy enough for a novice, but has enough flavor to satisfy the most seasoned smokers as well. The key is to appreciate the subtleties of the flavor profile, since nothing is out there and in your face.

The Arturo Fuente Magnum R features a Rosado sun grown wrapper from the lower primings of Ecuadorian tobacco plants. It is claimed to be aged for nearly a decade. If memory serves me correctly, Stogie Review’s own Brian Hewitt reviewed this very same cigar last year. He may have smoked a different size though. It may be interesting to compare his thoughts to ours.

So without further ado, take 23 minutes and see how the Magnum R treated Ed and I. And remember, if the video has an “HD” button, you can watch in 720p hi-def.

Ed and I are back on The Stogie Review for our monthly guest spot. With his new shop capacity, he is able to carry more brands. This new expansion has created a flurry of activity as well. This kind of threw us off, and you’ll probably notice us getting distracted during the review and a couple mishaps here and there.

I’ve wanted Ed to carry Don Pepin cigars for awhile. He finally brought in the My Father series as well as other Pepin creations like the Series JJ. Jerry reviewed this cigar in a different size about a year ago, so I was curious what Ed’s take on it would be. While the flavor profile is pretty straight forward and simple, the delivery is excellent. Since there wasn’t a lot to cover with the flavor profile, I sent out a tweet to see if anyone had any questions for Ed. We got one reply, and Ed and I address it with some random banter about what we look for when buying cigars.

So sit back and see what Ed and I thought of the My Father Le Bijou 1922. The review is 23 minutes long.

This will be my first attempt at any type of review as I prefer to read others submissions. I tried to select a cigar from my humidor that had not been reviewed on stogiereview.com. If I overlooked an archived review I apologize for the oversight.

My sense of taste is not as refined as most reviewers so I don’t typically taste the wide array of pepper and spice that many detect in cigars. I selected a cigar that I’ve never detected a lot of spice in just to avoid a truly bland review. For the contest I am going to attempt to put down my thoughts on a Cuban that I enjoy and have had several of to somewhat qualify me to offer an opinion. As you will see in my Christmas card submission in a few days, I have a face for radio and only pictured the cigar in my photos and will not try to make a video. All my background info came from my mobile stogie phone app.

Cigar: Vegas Robaina Famosos
Origin: Cuba
Shape: Corona Extra
Length: 5.0
Ring Guage: 48
Price: $11.20

Pre-light: The wrapper was overall-smooth but you could see where the leaf was rolled as pictured. There were 2 visible veins in the leaf. The cigar was light brown, the color of cafe con leche.

This VR was spongy to touch with no real soft spots. It is a very light cigar in both weight and color. It was about 27 degrees when I clipped the cap with my Palio. Initially I lit the cigar with my xikar as pictured but the wind caused a little uneven burn on the foot which I touched up with a triple flame. The draw before lighting was unobstructed and free. I detect some leather but mainly an earthy tobacco aroma. There is a cocoa taste in the cold draw and upon first firing the foot.

The burn is very even and produces a light gray colored ash. The ash is compact and was tapped at a 1/2 inch. There is lots of thin yet creamy smoke. It is a milder cigar, almost sweet to the taste. It pairs very well with the hazelnut coffee I am pairing with it. Nothing like a cigar to enhance the flavor of your drink.

As the VR progresses it has some sweet flavors of roasted nuts, cocoa, and leather. The wisps of smoke between puffs are very pleasant. After the first third the smoke seems to thicken and retains the creamy flavor.

I would characterize the cigar as mild. It makes a very nice afternoon smoke with a cup of coffee but would be equally good in the evening with a hoppy beer or a bourbon or rum. I smoked the VR a little longer than the final submitted photo until just before the heat would present any harshness. It maintained the leather and cocoa notes throughout.

I would recommend this size of the Vegas Robaina line to anyone that comes across it. I know I will add more to my humidor if the opportunity presents itself.

Merry Christmas to all of you. I’ll now leave the reviewing to y’all and the reading/watching to me. I have a little more appreciation for the work you put in to making the site a success.

Cheers,

Michael Thorne

Looking through the latest cigar.com catalog last week, a new cigar that immediately caught my eye was the Ave Maria, apparently the latest creation by AJ Fernandez. Billed as a medium-bodied smoke, for some reason I felt compelled to purchase a box on the spot, despite never smoking one of these. I am a big fan of a lot of what AJ has produced, and my humidor was stocked with full-bodied sticks and mild connecticut-wrapped cigars, so I was in need of something to fill that void. With that said, here we go!

Cigar Stats:
Wrapper: Habano
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Vitola: Crusader (robusto)
Price: ~$113/box of 20
Beverage: Water
Smoke Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Pre-Smoke:

The band on the Ave Maria is impressive, taking up a third of the real estate on the cigar. The wrapper is a natural colored habano, with a few coarse veins throughput the length of the cigar. This cigar feel nicely compacted, with no noticeable soft spots. Wrapper and foot give off a rich natural tobacco smell. Pre-light draw is loose, with just a bit of resistance, and the taste is of a mild hay.

Construction:

The Ave Maria burned evenly throughout the entire length of the cigar, requiring touch ups near the tail end of the smoke, but only because I am finicky with the burnline. The first Ave Maria I smoked held an ash until it reached the band, but the other two seemed to have a looser ash that wanted to fall off after every inch or so. The draw remained perfect for all three of these that I have smoked, allowing me to fill the sun room up with plumes of aromatic smoke.

Flavor:

This is where this cigar really shines. Initial puffs reveal a very mild spice through the retrohale, with a finish of wood. This spice died out fairly quickly in the first cigar I smoked, but the other two it lingered on for about half the length of the stick. Along with the spice are nuts, wood, and some very prevalent leather towards the latter part of the stick. Mouthfeel was a nice woody quality that became “chewy” at about the halfway point. Body is medium and stays that way until the last inch of the cigar, where the leather qualities make it more of a full-bodied smoke. I find that by smoking this slowly (about 1 puff every minute), the complexity of this cigar really shines. I have yet to pair this with anything stronger than water, but imagine it would pair nicely with a medium-roast coffee or a nice bourbon.

Overall Impression:

While I haven’t smoked a ton of new offerings this year, I will say that the Ave Maria is one of my favorites from this past year. I don’t smoke a lot of medium-bodied sticks, but this really accomplished what I wanted out of this cigar and then some. I will likely make this cigar a regular rotation in my humidor, and will certainly buy more once my box runs out. I would highly recommend this cigar.

Note From Tom:

Ed and I are back and reviewing a cigar from a boutique cigar company called Augusto Reyes. The Signature is a nice medium to full bodied cigar that I never heard of until a couple of weeks ago. This cigar has a flavor profile with nice complexities and subtle nuances that are easy to miss.

The last segment of the video may seemed rushed, but I think we did the cigar justice. There were a few customers roaming the shop during that segment so we kept small talk to a minimum. Check out our 20 minute video review, and as always all comments (good or bad) are welcome.

Thanks,
-Tom