Christmas time is quickly approaching and with recent advancements with the site I feel that it is only right that I share the wealth. Recently Corona Cigar Company decided I was doing well enough for them to sponsor this site. Since they were so kind to me, here it is.

Included in this contest:
Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 – 50 Years
Don Lino Duma
Don Lino Kuro
Don Pepin My Father Le Bijou 1922
Padilla 1948
Padilla Habano
Room 101 305

How to Enter:
I am looking for a guest reviewer or two for a permanent spot on this site. I am not going to be the one to make this decision though, I will leave this up to the viewers. I will accept any and all reviews as long as it is a cigar that I have not yet reviewed (need to add new content ya know!) – All the cigars I will be adding into this contest I will also be reviewing to I do request that you also not include them as a submission. For the next 2 weeks or so I will post the guest reviews – so get to it! The catch – This must be an original review done by YOU, and it must include photos taken by YOU – Respect your B&M’s and the manufacturers. E-mail the review and pictures to phacue101@gmail.com to officially enter!

How to Win:
This is all based upon the readers – they decide! If you like the review, comment on it! At the end of the contest I will pull the top 3 reviews and have everyone vote, the winner gets the package – that simple.

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory

Size: 6 x 56 (Torpedo)
Wrapper: Habano Sun Grown
Binder and Filler: Nicaraguan – Jalapa Valley Ligero
Strength: Medium to Full
Price: Roughly $6.75

Behind The Stick:

For many of those who are in the ‘world of cigars’ the name Oliva is a common word to hear, and for many of us relates to a number of cigars from this company that we have fallen for. For myself, it is the Serie V – but I’ll get into that later. For those who are not familiar with the history of the Oliva company, I highly suggest you check up on their documentation, very interesting story. To summarize and please correct me if I am leaving anything big out – Melanio Oliva grew tobacco in Cuba in the late 1860′s and fought in the war for independence in his homeland of Cuba and once returning to the farm, his children took over the business in the early 1920′s. With Communism taking over the country in the mid 1960′s, the Oliva family left Cuba in search of that distinct flavor that the Cuban soil provides. They found their closest match in Nicaragua and through the watchful eye of Gilberto Oliva are now the second largest producer of Cuban-seed tobacco.

Construction:

This is a beautiful cigar, simply put. The light chocolate colored wrapper had minimal but noticeable, darker colored veins running throughout. Lightly squeezing the cigar from head to foot, I was very impressed to feel minimal changes, but no hard or soft spots specific. I have to report here though, the wrapper felt ‘oily and rough’ at the same time, if that makes sense ha-ha. The wrapper, when lightly touched felt similar to a fine grade sandpaper but when I did a double take and pressed a little more firm with my index finger, the wrapper felt the exact opposite, utterly smooth and soft to the touch. I can’t explain it but when I tried two to three times after, it felt the same.

Flavor:

This is one of those cigars I recommend you eating before smoking, not a full, heavy meal but maybe a sandwich or something medium in size – although perhaps for some veterans – most of us will need a little padding to the stomach. Rich flavors of wood, spice and coco start off the cigar, not too full of smoke but the draw began to open providing large amounts of smoke. The cigar rounded off with a few switches from wood and spice to wood and coco. Although this was not a very complex cigar, the flavors did not change much, but the flavors I was able to detect were rich and flavorful. As I said before, my favorite Oliva cigar by far.

Overall:

I first heard about this cigar while I was walking through a B&M shop and an electrician commented ‘When they made cigars, they did this one right” so naturally I had to grab a pair. The guy was not kidding – This is by far my favorite cigar from the Oliva line. As I stated before, the cigar is not the most complex thing you will find in your local shop, but for me, that’s okay. The price is a little higher, I will totally agree with that but the flavors that this cigar produces as well as the hour and half smoke time, at least buy a pair and give them a shot.

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory

Size: 4 1/2 x 50
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder and Filler: Honduras
Strength: High Medium to Full
Price: Roughly $9.40 per stick

Behind The Stick:

Here comes the first Camacho cigar review for this site, and I gotta say, they did this one right. I had received this cigar from Dylan Austin (@dylanaustin on twitter) as a five pack for doing one of the many contests he runs through twitter. I am sure we have all heard about the Room 101 Cigar line, and if you check out this site often you have seen more than one time where I’ve mentioned how I can’t wait to try these, well I ended up putting up a post of Matt Booth’s new line, and presto – Here comes some Camacho Triple Maduro’s. Although the name implies three, there are actually five different blends of maduro leaves that are wrapped together to make this specific cigar.

Construction:

This is one of the first Camacho cigars I have ever had, and I can not deny the fact that they create some flawless smokes. Perfectly packed from head to foot, adorned with a large and bright silver main band an adorned with a matching foot band, the dark brown – almost black – oily wrapper reaches out to even the newest of smokers. I had no issues with the construction, and as well the ash held for roughly an inch.

Flavor:

This is one of those cigars that starts off with a defined flavor but slowly collects other notes that come and go. Once the flame began on the end of this smoke, strong flavors of coffee and wood coated my taste buds. Once the cigar had a chance to build up some heat the wood notes gave way to chocolate, there is no mistake in this. The body picked up from medium to full, large amount of smoke and a thick, cream type sensation to the release of smoke was intense to say the least. Mild pepper on the retrohale gave a good change of pace, but sweet, chocolate and coffee lead this smoke from middle to end.

Overall:

These were some good smokes, these burned well and had good, distinct flavor. I personally am not a huge sweets person, never have been. I thought more than once, this really tastes like a candy bar mixed with tobacco. It was not a bad sensation, but for just under $10.00 a stick I’m not going to lose sleep over not having one in my humidor. If I find one at the store for a reasonable price I will grab a pair without a doubt. If your a fan of a sweeter cigar, I think you will find this cigar to be spot on.

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory

Size: 6 x 50 (Toro)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder and Filler: Nicaragua
Strength: Medium to Full
Price: Available only in CRA Sampler Pack #1 – $90.00 cost

Behind The Stick:

The story behind this wonderful cigar has a double edged sword, but none the less has been very effective. Pete Johnson is the man behind the brand, and through the years of building his business he was able to create a cigar for his own person tastes, masterfully blended by the master himself, Pepin Garcia. This cigar, better known to us as the Tatuaje Black, has been produced but done such in very limited numbers and really has captured the scene. The most recent release, December 3rd 2009 at 11:30am est New Havana Cigars had reported boxes of 10 tubos and singles for sale with a maximum of 10 cigars per customer – That being said they sold out of ALL their cigars within 3 minutes. . .

Here comes my double edge sword – The man can sell some cigars, no doubt about it. Those who may disbelieve this, think about the Drac and Boris cigars around Halloween and how hard it was for most of us to acquire them. The Tatuaje Black is the same way in my thoughts, is it limited enough and has such a good amount of hype to where you ‘must’ find at least one or two. My main drawback to this, if I have to hunt for a cigar and then they are sold out faster than concert tickets, it almost makes me not want it as much as I want one – if that makes sense. If you want to make a cigar, make enough of them or distribute them to more than one retailer – I would LOVE to get some more of these cigars, but they just are not to be found. I got this cigar as a package deal from CRA and it has been sitting in my humidor for a few months just begging me to smoke it.

Construction:

Another flawless creation from Pete and the workers at the Tatuaje factories, evenly packed from head to foot with minimal veins. The dark, oily, chocolate colored wrapper was fitted with a perfectly placed triple cap, and the unfinished foot added a feeling of the exotic. Another thing I wanted to note was that through the length of the cigar I noticed small ‘hairs’ that gave just another feeling of the unfinished, rugged, Cuban feel to the stick.

Flavor:

As with almost all of the cigars blended by Don Pepin Garcia – The Tatuaje Black starts out with a kick of pepper, nice and hot but not very spicy. A nice sensation of leather beings to build after the initial burst, and remains throughout the entire cigar. Once the cigar builds up in heat, around the midway point, I started to notice that the pepper and leather started to die down and a wood like sensation began to build. This wood sensation I just couldn’t put my finger on a ‘cedar’ or ‘oak’ or ‘maple’ but it was very reminiscent to cut wood. Towards the end of the cigar, it easily fit into the lower full range, and began to pick up the original flavors of leather but had a bit of earth to add into the mix. Very complex and very good!

Overall:

I have to say, Pete, your a marketing genius and definitely have been able to produce a great cigar! I will keep these in mind when I go to B&M’s or when searching the internet, but with the limited quantities available, it has become one of those ‘If I get one I get one, if I don’t, then I don’t’ but I will say, if I ever find a retailer who has them, I’ll buy a good 5 to 10 of them. I am aware that this cigar is of a different size and therefore the flavor of the smaller ring gauge may be slightly different, but still a winner. If you can find some, do not hesitate, grab a few and try them for yourselves!

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory

Size: 5 1/4? x 54 (Clasico)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder and Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero and Dominican Piloto Cubano Ligero
Strength: Full
Price: Under $4.00 a stick

Behind the Stick:
This Partagas Black Label came into my possession a few months ago from a local B&M where I actually was handed this cigar as I entered the shop. It so happens that I entered this store in search for some new smokes on the same day that a Partagas Event decided to arrive. I am not sure about most of you, but I always feel rude if I purchase non-event cigars at such a time, so I bit and ended up with a handful of new Partagas smokes. I ended up going through the line and some were good and some were alright, but when I had my first Partagas Black – I knew right then I had to stash it in the humidor until I was ready to review it. Funny part, they had a drawing for those who bought 5 sticks or more and I ended up winning. . . a wine cooler.

For those who do not know the history of this smoke or the reason for the extra dark coloring, The Black Label was created by master cigar blender Daniel Nunez, who worked for over a decade to perfect the Medio Tempo technique for cigar wrappers. Within this technique, one would keep some of the leaves on the stalk longer than normal thus pushing more nutrients into the leaves and creating more flavor. Amazingly enough these wrappers are Connecticut Broadleaf but are much darker in color, thicker in feel and richer in flavor due to this extra time on the stalk and extra exposure to the sun. To build the base for this wrapper, they used Nicaraguan Ligero and Dominican Piloto Cubano Ligero for the binder and filler expounding on the deep flavors.

Construction:
It really is hard not to fall for these cigars, and to be honest that is one of the main reasons why I picked them up in the first place. I had never had a cigar this ‘black’ before, it almost looked like it had been painted but no, this is the natural coloring from their processes. Well packed from head to mid-section, the foot seemed to be a little more spongy but honestly nothing I would be worried about for it rebounded instantly. The burn started off a little off center, but within the first half inch corrected itself and never needed a touch up.

Flavor:
As one would expect from a smoke like this, the flavor profile was very dark to begin with but did surprise with just enough spice in the first 1/4 of an inch to ensure you don’t write it off too quick. Once the cigar has had a chance to warm up I started to notice that the wood and earth like flavor took the foreground. Towards the middle to last portion the cigar opens to coffee and chocolate undertones and finishes with the same overall wood and earth notes from before.

Overall:
If you are a fan of dark, full body cigars then I must say that this is right up your alley. The darkness had a nice offset with the chocolate and coffee notes, and although the complexity was not as deep as some other Partagas cigars – when it comes down to the price you can’t go wrong. I highly suggest you run out and at least pick up a pair and give them a shot!

Every Cigar Has A Story, Every Smoke A Memory