One viewer by the name of Jacob contacted me a few months back and really stepped up when it came to the infancy of this site. A lot of viewers first came here directly due to his kind words and assistance though other blogs, twitter and even a few different forums and for that I must say thank you. For some of the regular viewers you’ve noticed that I have tried to add a few more things aside from just a straight out cigar review, one of which was including guests to toss in a review or two.

Jacob, as before, stepped up and said that he had an email he wanted me to check out, and immediately I knew I wanted to have him do regular postings for this site. As before, please comment at the end of this post if you want us to keep this going.

I enjoyed doing my first guest review so much that I asked David to let me participate some more on his website. I thought we would change things up some and throw in an occasional review of cigar related businesses in our various communities. David and I happen to live on the opposite sides of Missouri. He is in St. Louis and I am in Kansas City. Many readers of this website are located throughout the country and have great places located by them. I want to show you what is in my back yard and I hope what follows will be cigar shop related reviews submitted by more guests and David. Of course the cigar reviews will continue on a regular basis. Perhaps this might lead to a contest in the near future! If you come through Kansas City during your travels in life I want you to know of our outstanding cigar community right here in the Midwest.

Name: d*luxe Lounge & Cigar Deck
Location: 160 South Main
Historic Downtown
Parkville, Missouri 64152
Telephone Number: 816-741-1400
Hours of Operation: Open daily 4pm – 1am
Sat 11am – 1am
Sun 4pm – 1am
Website: http://www.dluxelounge.com/

d*luxe Lounge & Cigar Deck is located next to the Missouri River in the beautiful historic downtown area of Parkville, Missouri. The historic downtown area of Parkville, Missouri is a fantastic mix of shops, boutiques, restaurants, spas, bed and breakfast, and other businesses. The area is a mix of 1800’s through 1900’s architecture and features cobblestone walkways. It is truly a one of a kind place in all of Kansas City.

d*luxe Lounge & Cigar Deck is an upscale business featuring food, drinks, and cigars. The building features a nice outdoor deck that surrounds 67 feet of the business. From the deck you have a wonderful view of the riverfront park, historic downtown Parkville, and the Missouri River. When you walk in the front door you first notice the warm and welcoming atmosphere. The bar sits in front of you and features every alcoholic beverage you could dream of on display. Tables and chairs surround the tiled bar area. No matter where you sit in this area you can see one of the three flat screen televisions and see out onto the cigar deck. The next thing you notice is the large humidor cabinet featuring exceptional cigars and accessories. Behind the humidor cabinet is the lounge area. Step up onto the carpet and you will find leather sofas covered in pillows. The lounge is very relaxing, inviting, and has an ambiance that makes you want to stay all night. Menus cover the food, drinks, and cigars that are available. You can order it all right from the comfort of your seat.

Food: The food created by their chef is something that I would expect to see in the fanciest restaurants of New York City, Miami, or San Francisco. Usually when you see food as fancy as this you think small portions and high prices. The portions here far exceed what you would expect for the price. They have subtle menu changes daily so you can expect some exciting variations.

Drinks: d*luxe has so many varieties I just can’t list them all and get into all the details without making a two page review. You can get a great idea from their website. Some highlights are they feature 40 varieties of Scotch. Chimay Beer created since 1862 by Cistercian Trappist monks of Chimay, Belgium is available and has such a unique origin.

Cigars: They have something for everyone and feature some great cigars. Stradivarius, Partagas Benji Master Series, Xikar, Punch, Cohiba, Oliva, Nub, and Rocky Patel to name a few. If you need to pick up a lighter or cutter they have a great accessory selection too.

d*luxe Lounge and Cigar Deck has been open for 8 weeks now and is being newly discovered by people everyday. Smoking is currently restricted to the outdoor deck area. They are working with the city on having an indoor cigar smoking lounge in the basement area. For private events cigar smoking is allowed inside the lounge. They are in the process of building their walk-in humidor in the basement area to provide customers with a larger cigar selection. The basement also features a small wine cellar that has a door from one of the banks robbed by Jesse James. They have a business center in the basement for entrepreneurs to use free of charge while visiting.

The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. They treat you like you own the place and provide an experience that you can’t find anywhere else. They will host your special events and feature a live DJ occasionally. Expect to watch a cigar roller create his own cigars every Friday night.

The lounge sofa area fills up quickly every night so make a reservation for that special occasion or celebration. This is a unique one of a kind gem in the Kansas City Metro area and is a place you must visit. When I first visited I thought this is a place I would expect to see in New York, Miami, New Orleans, or Las Vegas. Kansas City finally has an upscale cigar lounge that accepts you as you are and has prices for anyone’s budget.

Size: 4.5 x 50 (Petit Robusto)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro
Binder and Filler: Nicaragua
Strength: Full
Price: Just over $7.00 a piece (in a 5 pack)

Behind The Stick:

This stick is the creation of one of the soon to be cigar masters of our time, the son of the great Don Pepin Garcia, Jamie Garcia himself. Perhaps it was his childs imagination, ambition or simply the blood line gift but through many turns and events in life his son was able to create this cigar in honor of many of our favorite manufacturers name, his father. Using the term Le Bijou across the band meaning in French ‘The Jewel’ which I can only assume is an honored name within their family. He also added the year 1922 to the bottom band commemorating his fathers birth in, of course, 1922. For some who know about tobacco (I’m still learning, I had to research) the Golden Hair tobacco or Pelo de Oro has been known for being a very difficult plant to produce at all, yet alone in large numbers which is due to their high susceptibility to disease. By no stretch of the imagination, this is not an impossible feat to undertake for we see the Garcia family ahead of the pack with flying colors, but at the same time, to be produced in the quantity that they were as well as keeping some of the highest levels of quality and consistency, Jamie is really making a huge step forward in his tobacco career and I can not wait to see what he will create in the next few years to come.

Construction:

I am not sure if it is something that Don Pepin Garcia has instilled into his son, but this is yet again another cigar to come from their factory that has been created with near flawless quality. Evenly packed from head to foot with a surprisingly dark, slightly oily wrapper adorned by a set of dual bands with subtle peach and gold color causing the wrapper to pop and appear even darker than it normally is. This cigar really does scream ‘Smoke Me!’

My one complaint would be that most of my 5 pack seemed to be almost over packed, not as in bulges or blemishes but the stick itself just seemed to be very solid with little to no give except near the foot. Even with this concern of mine, I only had one stick that had even a minor burn issue which corrected itself and I blame that on myself during the lighting process.

Flavor:

The flavor profile within the Le Bijou was nice… not exceptional, but nice. Bitter and sweet flavors with a mild-mild spice slowly starts off the stick reminding me of earth or dirt mixed with mild spices. This wasn’t a bad flavor combination but as the stick began to warm up I noticed the cigar smoke was absorbing the moisture in my mouth and I went through a bit more water with each stick than I would consider normal. Again, this was not a bad factor for I could see this going very nice with a dark or slightly spicy beer and would easily cause one to enjoy both a bit more.

Once the cigar had a chance to warm up the spice from before seemed to step up a notch, reminding me more of what a Don Pepin stick is all about. The natural tobacco flavor began to shine as well, the bitter notes from before also deciding to leave my palate but were replaced with a mildly sweet and salty flavor that was refreshed each time I licked my lips. These sticks are fairly new to the shops (IPCPR I believe was their big debut) and mine have been sitting for only 2 months or so. I will return later for another review once I am able to let a few sit for 6 months or so.

Conclusion:

I was able to get this smoke from Corona Cigar Co in a 5 pack and I will admit although a great smoke, I think a 5 pack is more than sufficient, I could not see myself smoking these as my daily go to stick. The rich and full flavors as well as a good hour to an hour and a half burn with little to no issues makes this stick very appealing even to the beginner smoker. I will try to keep some in the humidor but as I said before, this was a stick I enjoyed smoking but not one I am going to put pennies aside so I can save for a box purchase.

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory

Size: 5 x 50 Robusto
Wrapper: Corojo
Binder and Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: High Medium to Full
Price: Around $6.00 a pop

Behind The Stick:

If you have not heard of this stick, please at least let me know that you have heard about the master himself, Don Pepin Garcia. If not, here is a quick history lesson behind a man we all call and regard as ‘master’. He was born in Cuba and like most Cubans was integrated into their amazing tobacco lifestyle which lead to him working at an uncles factory as a torcedero or cigar roller. He has held so many positions throughout his life but a few of the more notable would be his assistance in blending with the Cuban brands Cohiba, Partagas and Montecristo. He has been able to read a Class 8 – Master – and even won a Productivity Prize for rolling 320 Julietas (7×48 vitola) in four hours! That is rolling 1.3 cigars – Per minute. . .

Aside from that, he was approached by Pete Johnson from Tatuaje cigars to blend him a few different types and once Cigar Aficionado gave it high marks, the Don Pepin name became worth its weight in gold. If you look a little deeper, you’ll notice Don Pepin Garcia also produces cigars for other companies, to name a few Padilla and 5 Vegas (some blends of each). Their factory in Miami, Florida which employs only 12 cigar rollers (all class 8 masters) can produce around 800,000 cigars a year – although with this large number they realized they simply can not meet the demand and created another factory in Estil, Nicaragua so they can produce another 3 to 4 million, yes million, cigars a year.

Construction:

With the name of the master himself pressed across the black band, I knew I was in for a treat. Without a question the construction on every single one of these sticks was flawless. Perfectly packed from head to foot, no blemishes or discoloration of the wrapper. Triple cap was perfectly placed on each (one did lose a single cap, but perhaps from me cutting too deep) and I only had a minor burn issue on one that was corrected on its own. Also – this is a dual band so I was worried there may be more of a chance for the band to stick to the wrapper – nope! Both bands came off perfectly.

Flavor:

Spice! Oh wow does this one produce some spice although its just enough to be borderline ‘too much’ but fell within the tolerable range. I am not a huge fan of the spice or the burn in a retrohale although the other flavors kept me entertained. The smoke seemed to coat my mouth and definitely dried it out after only a few puffs although with that ‘coating’ the finish increased with each puff as well and left a nice aftertaste once I was at about the half way point. My one bitch on this stick was that towards the end of each one the flavor profile seemed to drop off and turned a bit bitter.

Overall:

If you are a fan of a more spicy smoke or perhaps seeking out something a little out of your comfort zone I highly suggest giving this one a shot. The price is not daunting and the profile itself is not a bad one, although when I repeat ’spicy cigar’ do not think this is an editorial mistake but rather emphasis about this fact. The construction was flawless, the draw near perfect on each one, no major burn issues with any so all in all I have to say this is a great smoke and I suggest, if nothing else, give it a shot on a single.

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory

This is one of those things I am starting to ‘test’ with this site – Please leave a comment either way, good or bad and depending upon how the majority votes, I may or may not keep up the ‘random rant’ posts.

I am noticing that a lot of cigar review sites have deviated from the cigar reviews and are starting to do beer reviews, random photos more of modeling rather than cigars or use their site as a political springboard. I guess when I started my own site the wild notion of ‘Hey, I am making a site for cigars, viewers are going to come here for cigars, so let me focus on cigars’ and perhaps I have gotten onto my own horse about that but if the word ‘cigar’ is in your url, focus on the damn cigars.

Now granted perhaps I am blowing hot hair because most of the sites I hinted towards are simply kicking my butt when it comes to monthly views and traffic, but then again I have only been online for under 6 months where most these sites have gotten a year or more under their belt although for some I am nipping at their heels (haha bitches). Again – I am not trying to burn any bridges so do not expect me to drop any names or point out anyone specific but if you are in certain portions of the cigar review world you may be able to pick up a story or two and perhaps for some, this is a nice way for you to easily dislodge your head from your ass.

One of the main reasons I am ranting at this time is that through twitter, I hear a few people who just bullshit with one another, a few who use twitter as a launching pad for advertisements or those individuals who always, always have to find something to bitch about. We all know these two to three guys and have even discussed their actions out in the open yet nothing has changed, oh well. This ‘rant’ is all in due to a conversation I saw stream by and although I did have a proper foothold to speak my opinion, I resisted for a bit. This conversation was in context of ‘Why do you review cigars? What is your process? What is your ultimate goal?’ and I must say, I never really sat down to think about the answers to these questions and as innocent of questions as these were, I don’t think I’ve seen that kind of nerd rage out-lash in my entire life – most of it made me laugh but part of it just pissed me off with how some of these characters need a good love tap upside their head so they could, perhaps, join us here in reality.

Why do you review cigars? – Awesome question and one that I think almost all fellow review sites have in common and that is we highly enjoy cigars, feel we have a decent enough palate to discern flavor profiles and have a bit of free time to devote into the page. Personally, that is exactly where I feel that I fit into the equation. I’m not a manufacturer producing a site and comparing other brands to my own, I’m not trying to make cash out of the site (although some does come in) nor am I trying to get free sticks which also happen to hit the porch rarely. The normal readers will know, if I get a good batch of cigars I’ll post a lot more reviews in a month, but if I get a few bad batches I’m not going to push out content just to have X number of posts a month – I feel that is wrong the company and the viewers but it seems to be common practice so what do I know.

Aside from that starting question, the conversation evolved and changed and it became more of a debate upon the etiquette around what should or should not be said and what topics should be touched when reviewing cigars and this is when I started to get ticked. My agreements to begin with – One person roughly remarked that we do not know if the manufacturer is aware of current ‘defective’ issues within a blend, IE the wrapper being overly brittle or the draw being tight. I 90% agree with this, unless you are there on the farm throughout the entire process (and even sometimes with these contingencies) you will not know what issues or compromises had to be addressed through the process. I’ve even heard from more than one manufacturer that ‘the farms lie, its not right but you have to get used to it’ so in that respect my hat goes off to them. With this being said, I started to think of this in terms of the auto world – Ford/Honda produces vehicles and has a very high quality control (as do premium cigar manufacturers) although there are still some ‘lemons’ that slip through which is a unfortunate but expected aspect of life, trust me, they know their % of duds vs good cars produced and the cigar manufacturers are no different. The catch with cigar production, you can’t send one back to the factory to be repaired, you just have people who stop buying your cigar because of those repeat issues. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ll only throw a 7 to 8 dollar stick out the window of my car so many times before I walk onto the next brand.

Now that I have my one agreement out of the way, onto the fun part. Within the conversation that seemed to steadily pick up steam and participants, I sat idly by reading the words across my screen nearly in shock at some people’s remarks. I have to say, I did not 100% disagree with anyone but that was only because I do try to give them the benefit of the doubt, but some seemed to turn their nose sky wards towards us in middle-class or lower-class America. One review site commented that they mostly review cigars that are sent to them from the manufacturer or shops and then complained about the amount of cigars they received! ‘Oh I was only able to get 2 of their cigars, I don’t know if I could really give them a good review’ – this is not a direct quote but a paraphrase of what two or three people had all agreed upon – Are you fucking kidding me?!

Yes I have received a few sticks from different locations, some times 1 or 2, sometimes a few more but nothing to write home about. It all depends on the company and the stick but if I ever smoked a pair and still was not impressed or the consistency was off I would save up and buy an extra pair for a second do over (which yes, I have already done) – I don’t have the cash to buy a box to ‘test’ and I don’t feel that most the viewers do either so why would I attempt to fluff myself up into something I’m not? I wish other sites would follow that rule as well.

Money, it is always about money. The up-nose turn came from another review site who, through no fault of their own (I guess) attempted to compare themselves towards the rest of America saying ‘If you run a site then go buy the cigars’ and left it at that. We all know of one site who got bashed for asking for some smokes to review, well everyone, I’m in the same boat – I’d love some free sticks to review and I guarantee if you send me some I’ll put your name up you sent them haha! I can see where the first site is coming from, but another ‘are you serious comes to mind’. Sure, some people are able to smoke 7 to 8 cigars a day or spend about 1000.00 a month on stogies but for a lot of us poor fucks out there spending 20.00 a week on cigars is a budgeted expense we don’t take for granted. Maybe, just maybe, those are the people who are reading your site for advice because on their limited budget they don’t want to spend two weeks filing through crap smokes only to find one they really like, but can’t smoke more for 2 weeks because they are broke. I’ve been there, more than once, and it sucks.

The last point that was thrown out there that got me erked to no other was ‘We have a responsibility, we can not do or say anything that could jeopardize the company or manufacturers well being’ – Fuck that noise, ever hear of the Ford Pinto? Ford made the GT-40, a simply amazing machine that is rivaled by few other vehicles although this company also made a car that was known to blow up from rear end collisions. Hmm – maybe they took the lemon principal stated above and decided ‘hey guys, maybe we need to re-do this one’. I think that is great for the manufacturer but even better for the consumer! If we do not speak up and say that a specific blend/wrapper is defective or that we do not like the flavor profile that is created (since none of our cigars get sent back to the factory) they have no idea on what needs to be addressed. I have never put out a review where I bashed an entire product line and I guarantee you I never will because I don’t think that any company out there makes 100% poor sticks but I can say that I have written to two different production companies and told them of the flaws I found (usually consistency and construction) and they each responded with kind words and hopes to change. THAT is how it should be.

So, now that I am losing steam, feeling a little bit better about the whole subject, its time for me to go smoke a cigar, drink a beer (maybe I’ll review a bud light tonight) and await for the next load to crap to stream across twitter. Till then

~David – The Cigar Nut

Please let me know if you would like to hear more of these rants, I’ll try to piss off as many people as I can at once, haha!