Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.5 X 50 Round Sample Size (4.5 x 50 Box Press – Regular Production Size)
Body: Full
Price: $8.75 by the box or Single

Today we take a look at the new “The Martino” by My Father Le Bijou 1922 (Anthony’s Cigar Emporium Exclusive)

BACKGROUND:
“The Martino” is a special box pressed version of the Le Bijou that My Father made exclusively for Anthony’s 20th Anniversary. Fresh off the line, imagine all of the intensity of the Toro, condensed into a smooth full strength and full body. This is the robusto other robustos aspire to be.

“My Father 1922 Le Bijou cigars are handmade in Nicaragua. While the original My Father was made secretly by Don Pepin’s son Jaime, Le Bijou is Don Pepin’s homage to his own father, born in 1922. French for the jewel, Le Bijou lives up to its billing! Notoriously difficult to grow, Pelo de Oro wrapper leaves (dubbed Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro) cloak a well-aged, full-bodied blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos. A sweet, creamy start gives way to some spice and bold tobacco flavor.

“LFD ACE 20th + The Martino (Box Pressed) Combo: Buy both boxes of the special 20th Anniversary Cigars made for Anthony’s Cigar Emporium, and you’ll receive SO many extras! 2 LFD Event Only Cigars + 1 LFD Cutter + 1 My Father Special S – 3 Pack! That’s 5 free cigars, and a cutter – and a combined cost lower than if you had bought them individually.”

DESCRIPTION:
This rode the rails when I got an order from A.C.E. We are told it is not the real look in terms of fancy shmancy cigar banding. And the size is different from the for sale cigar.
It has a simple orange cigar band and says: “The Martino.”
A very oily, smooth wrapper the color of the finest darkest coffee beans. Seams are tight. Lots of veins, both big and small. A lumpy triple cap. Solid. But with a soft spot just below the cigar band.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Comes in one size only in boxes of 15.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell strong floral notes, chocolate, coffee, spice, and wood.
From the clipped cap and foot, I smell dark cocoa, coffee, and spice.
The cold draw presents flavors of dark cocoa, cinnamon, coffee, spice, salt, and exotic fruit.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is a bit tight. I give it the special Katman massage.
Begins off with a big start: Chocolate, red pepper, sweetness, toffee, coffee, oak, mesquite, very rich tobacco notes, Worcestershire sauce, molasses, chocolate covered banana, and a meaty element.
Now that’s how you start a cigar.

The char line is a bit wonky so I give it a touch up before it gets out of hand.
So far, The Martino’s size doesn’t make a big change to the My Father Le Bijou 1922 flavor profile. It has all the perfect ear markings of the Pepin Garcia touch.

It just seems that Garcia thought the line needed a Rothschild size. There isn’t a Corona nor a normal sized Robusto. So The Martino slides in easily.
The char line is doing just fine now.
It’s a slow smoke. Strength is medium/full.

I watched 4 hours of the “Director’s Cut of Woodstock” last night. The show started with Richie Havens, who I once met on a Southwest plane from Santa Fe, NM to Phoenix. He was sitting with Ali McGraw. Gawd, she was gorgeous.

Anyway, they had no intention of starting with Havens but the first act got caught in the massive traffic jam so they asked Havens to go on stage and fake it. The regular movie just shows him singing “Freedom.” The Director’s Cut shows him playing other songs. But that one song made him a star in the late 60’s. And of course, it was great music.

Back to the “The Martino” by My Father Le Bijou 1922. The steak sauce is very strong along with orange blossom tea. It’s very sweet.
I just noticed something. The line already has this size in the form of a Petite Robusto. I reviewed it back in April, 2014. WTF? Why would you repeat a size? And the original Petite Robusto is $1.95 cheaper per stick. Now I’m really confused.

Meanwhile, I must be smoking a “Journey” stick. Cigars that are blended on the way to the finished product but rejected.,,Not good enough. Kendall likes to use that term and explained it to me. The “Journey” cigar. Cool. I like it.
There is a fresh rolled essence to this blend. Very flavorful but very similar to the original Petite Robusto My Father Le Bijou 1922. I check my old review. Bingo. Very similar.
I check Cigar Aficionado and it was only kind to one size: The Torpedo which got a 93. All other sizes got around an 87.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 23 minutes.
I like Garcia blends. Especially when he works with other blenders like Pete Johnson.
So I’m not going to find a lot wrong with this blend.

A sip of water and we are off to the races with orange juice, molasses, Worcestershire, strong chocolate and coffee, licorice, creaminess, cedar, and salty pretzel.
Strength is medium/full.

I guess that regular customers don’t get the chance to see what a difference size makes when they send them the wrong size. The “Journey” cigar. 5.5 x 50. Instead of 4.5 x 50.

So what the hell am I reviewing here? It’s not the box pressed correct size? Man, I should have thought this out. But then, lately, I don’t think things out very well. I am living in a constant cloud of confusion and feeling very alone. I’m having trouble operating my camera. At moments, it looks like something foreign and I don’t know what to do with it. Very scary because I know it’s happening.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 40 minutes.
The “The Martino” by My Father Le Bijou 1922 is a very good cigar. But if you’ve smoked any of the Le Bijou 1922 line, you already know that. Full of body, flavors, complexity and balance.

Here they are: Spice, chocolate, steak, steak sauce, creamy, coffee, caramel, licorice, orange juice, pretzel, cedar, earthy tobacco, and MALT.

Let’s see what malt flavors I taste: Aromatic Malt, Cara Vienna, Coffee Malt, and Flaked Rye. (See Malt Chart).
I’ve come to realize that the golden ticket in all great blends is the malt component. It doesn’t have to be strong. But it imparts quite the impact.

We’ve hit the Sweet Spot. A very long, chewy finish. And each sip of water causes a flavor explosion. A perfect balance. Very, very complex. The meatiness and steak sauce play a major influence.

You ever notice that when Cigar Aficionado describes a cigar, it used two adjectives at the most to describe it. How do they get away with that bullshit? Especially, when it is a flavor bomb?

This is how it describes the Petite Robusto: “It is mostly woody and leathery, with hints of anise and a floral finish.” Wow. Four adjectives. And it receives an 89.
The Toro: “After a while, the cigar shows significant coffee notes as well as some sweetness.” Which gets a 90.
And then in a flash, the dark chocolate and creaminess surge to the top of the list. Big time leaving everything behind.
The malt components are dragged with them.
Strength is full body.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is an hour.
An excellent cigar. I haven’t had a Le Bijou 1922 in a long time. Smoked a lot and then burned out a year or so ago.
The “The Martino” by My Father Le Bijou 1922 is outstanding. The last third is a real testament to the Garcia’s family talent and journeyman skills.

I can’t imagine the real The Martino tasting any better than this bastardized version.

There is no mention of any profits going to charity so I am still stumped by why they choose to produce a more expensive Petite Robusto. So you can have The Martino written on a foot band? Because that is the only change to the presentation.
Still, a free cigar is a free cigar. And to be honest, ACE says in the little card that this is just for our enjoyment.

Although, I’m sure that the big guy reviewers got the real deal for review. Probably boxes. Me? I’m the shlub who gets a single with a purchase of a box of Flor de las Antillas by My Father. They had a one day special and I got one, with the My Father red ashtray, for less than $100 including shipping. That was a deal and it came out of the rent money. LOL. I’m so fucking pathetic. Haha. Of course, I didn’t tell Charlotte. Every time I get some free cigars in the mail, I get the stink eye from her. I have to prove it came from a manufacturer or reader. This is no way to live.

My only criticism that will affect my rating is that there was a constant char line issue. Little touch ups were required throughout the smoke.
Other than that, it was a magnificent cigar.

This was a very smooth adventure. Full bodied but super complex and flavors in abundance. And no nicotine. I like that.
Final smoke time is an hour and 15 minutes.
OK. Time to rate it. I give it a 90. Would have been higher if not for the char line issues.

PRICE POINT:
I don’t understand providing the exact same size as one already in existence and a couple bucks more per cigar. What am I missing? Is it the name? Petite Robusto v. The Martino?

SUMMATION:
A super enjoyable cigar experience. The “The Martino” by My Father Le Bijou 1922 was a good time had by all. Er…I mean me.
If you are going to buy a My Father Le Bijou 1922, skip The Martino and purchase the Petite Robusto if that’s the size you like. Other sizes include: Churchill, Robusto, Toro, Torpedo, and Grand Robusto. Prices range from $9.00-$12.00 per stick in Single or Box format.

Wrapper: Brazilian Laranja
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.625 x 46 “Corona Gorda”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $9.90 MSRP (I paid $5.20 on Cbid)

Today we take a look at the Espinosa Laranja Reserva Corona Gorda.

BACKGROUND:
Produced at the La Zona Cigar Factory in Nicaragua.
It made its debut at the 2014 IPCPR Trade Show. Yeah, I know. I’m late.
The wrapper comes from the Recôncavo region of Brazil located in the Bahia State. Laranja is Portuguese for “orange” Why orange? Because the wrapper has an orange hue.
It is a regular production cigar.
Come in boxes of 20.

DESCRIPTION:
The cigar band is gold with heavy accents of orange. The footer is an orange ribbon. Both bring out the orange hue of the wrapper.
The wrapper is a slightly oily, slightly toothy, and medium brown in color. This is a very rustic looking stick with sloppy seams, loads of veins, and sloppy triple caps.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Corona Gorda: 5.625 x 46 $9.90 MSRP
Robusto Extra: 5.5 x 54 $10.50 MSRP
Toro: 6 x 52 $10.90 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
The shaft provides aromas of orange citrus, floral notes, earthiness, spice, cocoa, and coffee.
The clipped cap and foot provide aromas of strong orange juice, coffee, cocoa, spice, cinnamon, almonds, dried fruit, and cedar.
The cold draw presents flavors of: Cinnamon, strong spiciness, malt (TBD), chocolate, coffee, creamy, orange sauce, earthy tobacco.

FIRST THIRD:
We start off great with the cable TV radio cranked up playing Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way.”
The draw is better than perfect.

The flavors; Massive amounts of red pepper, chocolate, orange citrus, (I get frozen Orange Chicken from Trader Joe’s and tastes very similar), cedar, cedar, loads of black licorice, nuts, floral notes, and earthy tobacco.
Whew! Now that’s how you start a cigar. Kudos Erik!

Strength is medium/full.
The char line is spot on.

The chocolate is extremely creamy like a thick, thick milk shake. With a jalapeno on top.
The stick is soft in places; especially the bottom half. Nicht gut.
But I’m digging the trifecta: Spice, Chocolate, and Orange Sauce.
There is a freshly mowed grass element in the background. And a bucket full of sweetness.

The cable TV radio is a letdown this morning. Sometimes the playlist is killer and other times…well…it sucks.

Back in the day, I saw Led Zeppelin play 5-6 times when they hit L.A. And this was the all original group. Bonham was alive. I took my new girlfriend who had never been to a concert to see them. We had shit seats at the L.A. Forum about halfway back in the nose bleed section.

As they usually did, they started off with “Rock n Roll.” Bonham’s drum kit was clear. They put a light show inside his kick and toms. The arena went black and Bonham would start the show with a light show that made you see God. My girlfriend leaped up like a rocket screaming and stood the whole show. Which back then was a good 2-1/2 hours. I had the same feeling as when you see your little one eat an ice cream cone for the first time. I got off on seeing her so exhilarated.

Back to the Espinosa Laranja Reserva Corona Gorda.
I cannot believe how wonderful this blend tastes. It has a couple months of humi time. I won a 5 pack on Cbid for less than $25. Quite the savings. Actually, I had never heard of them. Either that or I couldn’t remember because I’m demented. LOL.

The blend is so rich that it is like the most decadent rich French dessert.
The orange flavor is incredible. With all the exciting flavors, it moves into first place. Even in front of the boat load of red pepper. The creamy chocolate right behind.

Ahhh…Rod Stewart and “Maggie May.” Remember playing that in the love of my life cover band from 1970-1972: “Homegrown.” We were hot and I haven’t played in a band that blessed me with so much fun since.
Lawdy, lawdy Mama. This cigar blend has gone past the sweet spot after the first minute and is now a major flavor bomb. Really.

I have one left. None tasted like this because they were usually in the after dinner smokes and not the first one of the day. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every cigar would taste like your first?

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 20 minutes.
I will tell you right now that the Espinosa Laranja Reserva Corona Gordas are box worthy.

Oh yes! Lou Reed and “Walk on the Wild Side.”
I’ve told you about this before but I have a shit load of new readers so here goes. When I recorded my Butch “Eddie Munster” Patrick record: “Whatever Happened to Eddie” in 1983, I had a girl’s chorus sing: “And the colored ghouls go do do do da do do do.” Rocshire Records were so dumb that they never even heard it because I know they would have objected. But to this day, only one person on the planet has told me they heard it and got the “Walk on the Wild Side” connection. Sigh…

This is why I love Corona Gordas. The intensity of flavors. No other size can replicate it.
I am definitely going to try and score a box when I get my social security next month. Behind Charlotte’s back of course.
Oh lord…Elton John. Oh lord. Drek.

Here they are: Orange sauce, red pepper, rich milk chocolate, coffee, Malt (Brown Malt, Chocolate Malt, Chocolate Rye Malt, Coffee Malt, Flaked Rye Malt, and Smoked Malt) [See Malt Chart].
That’s the most diverse combo yet.

I can’t think of another Espinosa blend I like this much.
Strength is medium/full.
Toffee, black walnuts, and marshmallow enter for the first time.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 45 minutes.
Killer blend of the highest order and Huzzah! A regular production cigar! Everyone sells it.
The char line has just a touch of wonkiness but no touch ups required.
Great way to start my day.

The damn cigar band has too much overlap and I have to cut it free. But no nicks in the wrapper. Whew.

Instead of different transitions, the Espinosa Laranja Reserva Corona Gorda has different levels of complexity. Same goes for the balance and long finish.
Strength hits full body. NICOTINE! Drat.
My vision goes blurry.

Now I’m thinking that the previous 3 cigars just weren’t ready to smoke yet. There is no way I couldn’t have tasted this flavor bomb.
I’m late to the party in reviewing it but better late than never.

I’ve had several questions asking about what cigars are ready to smoke in weeks rather than months. I can’t remember. So I told them all to punch in the words: New Breed in the Search Window and it will probably bring up those cigar blends. I’ve made it a point to differentiate between Old School and New Breed. Old School is CAO, Patel, Gurkha, etc. New Breed is most of the new boutique brands.

Every sip of water creates a flavor explosion. Now if someone could figure out how to transfer the intensity of a Corona Gorda to a much bigger cigar…well…they will have proven unknown quadratic theorems.
I’ve got the biggest smile on my puss.

I was terrible in math in high school. Except for geometry. I loved it. Later, when I first started in commercial construction, I was put on the board. It forced me to learn complicated problems using geometry, calculus, and trigonometry. In the end, I learned to love math. It wasn’t until years later that drafting was done by computer. By then, I had been promoted to project manager. I never learned computer drafting. I was a pencil and triangle dude.

The orange sauce and the red pepper are perfect companions. The chocolate makes it an orange truffle.
The Espinosa Laranja Reserva Corona Gorda is a freak of nature. No cigar should taste this good for $5.00. I know the retail is $10.00. I can’t think of a single $10 stick that is this good.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is an hour.
Fruit enters for the first time..if you don’t count the orange flavor.
I taste lots of summer fruit like nectarine, plum and peach. With a touch of strawberry. All in the background.

I’m amazed that there have been no lulls in the flavor profile. It’s pedal to the metal the whole time.
I don’t need to finish the last 1-1/2” to rate it. 94. It’s that good!

I rate it high due to the unique qualities, the complexity, big flavors from the get go, the balance, and the delicious lip smacking finish.

I saw The Doors in concert a couple of times. Both times at the L.A. Forum in Inglewood.
Once, they had Jerry Lee Lewis open. What a catastrophe. This was the period of Peace, Love, and Understanding. No one wanted to see Lewis.
To make things worse, Lewis had entered his Country phase. Big band and everyone wore the identical three piece business suits.
He played for 45 minutes. And every time he started a new song, the crowed heaved a heavy sigh.
When he announced his last song, the crowd applauded like crazy. He misunderstood.
“You want more?”
25,000 people, in unison, yelled “NO!!!”
Lewis was taken aback. He told us all to go to hell and stomped off the stage to thunderous applause.

Back to the Espinosa Laranja Reserva Corona Gorda.
I’m sad now. The end is near.
“This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end.”
That worked nicely.

Right to the end, there is no letup of big flavors.
I’m going to eat something as soon as I finish the review to get rid of the nicotine spins.
Full body to the end.
Great cigar.
I highly recommend it.

Writing reviews first thing in the morning is when I am my most lucid from Alzheimer’s. but even now, I’m fading fast. I’m having trouble figuring out how to work my camera. And my typing skills are just about gone. I really hate this. I feel like I’m losing myself. I feel like a ghost of my old self. It is so scary. Sometimes I wake up during the week and Charlotte is at work. But I can’t remember that and I freak out because I don’t know where she is. And worse, sometimes I can’t remember her name. And lastly, I begin to forget how to work my laptop.
I’m too fucking young for this shit.

PRICE POINT:
$10.00? I don’t know. Not when Cbid has them for $5.00. Right at this moment, they have a single 5 pack going for $31 and two days to go. Drat. Fingers crossed that when I’m ready to buy, a box is available. CI is almost completely backordered. Prices are a little lower than MSRP…but not like Cbid. The box price is $7.90 per stick. Not bad.
I think I’d pay as much as $7.00.

SUMMATION:
What a cigar experience. I don’t recommend this for newbies due to the strength and nicotine. But the experienced palate will love it.
I think this is Espinosa’s finest blend to date.
Erik has 11 blends under his belt. As much as I like the 601 blends, the Espinosa Laranja Reserva Corona Gorda is his best.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan Habano (Jalapa)
Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican
Size: 6 x 50 “Toro”
Body: Medium
Price: $7.49 MSRP ($6.75 at Famous Smoke)

Today we take a look at the new Therapy Habano by Nomad Cigar Company.

BACKGROUND:
Made its debut at the 2015 IPCPR trade show.
There are three blends in the Therapy line: Maduro, Habano, and Connecticut.
They come in only two sizes: 4.5 x 50 $6.95 and 6 x 50 $7.49.
Cigars are produced by AJ Fernandez at Tabacalera Fernandez S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The Connie leaf stats:
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Mexican San Andrés
Filler: Nicaraguan

The Maduro leaf stats:
Wrapper: Pennsylvanian Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan (Jalapa)
Filler: Nicaraguan

Initially to be rolled out to 100 retailers.
Distributed by House of Emilio.
My review of the Maduro Therapy is highlighted on the House of Emilio Face Book page.
This is a regular production cigar. All three blends.

DESCRIPTION:
Like the Therapy Maduro, this is a nice looking cigar. In fact, I think the wrapper is much prettier. And I am a monster Maduro fan.
The oily, caramel/medium brown wrapper has just a touch of tooth. Construction is gorgeous. Seams are tight. Very few veins which gives it a very sleek look. The triple cap is outstanding. Packed solid with the perfect amount of give when squeezed.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell spice, cinnamon, gingerbread, cedar, leather, sweetness, and cream.
From the clipped cap and the foot, I smell strong spice, ginger, cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, sweetness, and leather.
The cold draw presents flavors of spice, milk chocolate, malt, cream, butterscotch, cedar, and leather.

FIRST THIRD:
If you read my review of the Therapy Maduro, then you know how much I dug it. I digged it? I dugged it? What the hell.
So the Habano has a lot to prove.

The draw is spot on.
Big doses of black and red pepper assault the senses. And then there is the: Creaminess, baking spice, malt (TBD), chocolate, espresso, cinnamon, warm yeasty bread, earthiness, and cedar.
Just like its brother: Therapy Maduro, it starts with a big bang.

Malt begins to play a significant role: Aromatic Malt, Vienna Malt, Special B Malt, and Chocolate Rye Malt. (See Malt Chart).

Strength is a light medium body.
Flavors have a creative balance of a whirling dervish. The finish is on its way to becoming very intense.
The char line is nearly dead nuts. (A term used by ironworkers. Meaning a high strength bolt is calibrated to be tightened perfectly using a tension gun).

The Therapy Habano by Nomad Cigar Company is Über Smooth.
I’m 1-1/4” in and the complexity is just now beginning to build. It happened even sooner on the Therapy Maduro.
Warm and toasty. Nutty and creamy. Baking spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.

Now a lemon citrus element appears. It gives the very sweet profile some counterpoint.
I don’t know about you, but I love a lemon twist in my martinis. Olives and onions ruin the flavor of a good martini using superb vodka. Might as well buy the house vodka. The lemon twist brings out the best of all the flavors concerned.

“Angel” by Jimi is playing on the cable TV radio. Man, memories. What there are of them. Sometimes the playlist on that classic rock channel nails it. Today is one of those days so the sound bar is cranked.
Lawdy…and now Janis singing “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder).” Lawdy, mama.

With 4-1/2’ to go, we hit Sweet Spot 1.0.

Crosby, Stills & Nash singing “Suite Judy Blue Eyes.”
“”Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is a suite of short songs written by Stephen Stills and performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash. Do you know who Judy is?
Folk singer Judy Collins. Stills had a love affair and she broke it off and he was devastated.
Damn. Look at those blue eyes. Everyone from that era, including me, had a big crush on her. Lucky Stills got to share a bed with her.

Back to the Therapy Habano by Nomad Cigar Company.
It is really kicking up dirt now. The spiciness has moved to the front of the line. Followed by baking spice, chocolate, coffee, creaminess, lemon citrus, cedar, and rich tobacco.
Strength stays at medium body.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 30 minutes.
Damn. I love this little baby. As much as I do the Therapy Maduro. I want more. And oh yes, the Connecticut will be next. That will finish off the trifecta of blends from the Therapy line.

So far, this is a great blend for newbies and experienced smokers alike.
I am so glad that Fred Rewey sent me the Toro size. More cigar to gush over.

Once again, I believe that Fred has reached a new level of journeyman blendsmanship.
The Therapy line is like nothing else in his catalog. And I love everything in that catalog. I’ve reviewed all of his cigars: Nomad Connecticut Fuerte, Nomad C-276, Nomad Estelí Lot 8613, Nomad S-307, and Nomad Classic. Just punch the name into my Search Window to find the reviews.

Caramel shows itself. And brings with it a new malt flavor: Cara Munich.
Sweetness ups the anty. Flavors explode like a light switch was flipped.
Now it’s a flavor bomb only half an inch from the halfway point.
Spice, creaminess, and malt reign the day.

The chocolate reaches new heights and becomes a chocolate malt milk shake. We had a Thrifty’s Drug Store near my high school. They had a lunch counter like most drug stores did at the time. At lunch time, I would dash over there and get a chocolate malted. It was heaven on 8 wheels. Of course, I got a lot of brain freezes trying to gulp it down and get back to school.

Not a single flavor disappears. All there is perfect formation.
The spiciness wanes though. Moves to the middle of the pack.

And now “The Police” are playing. Old buddy Stew Copeland on drums. I have a great story about Sting and me but it is R rated due to drug use and not respectful to Fred to place it here. I will write about it in the next review where the cigar was on my dime.

My lord. The flavors are bold. Exciting. Never boring. Very complex. Perfect balance. And a long chewy finish.
I gave the Therapy Maduro a 94. This will be a close one.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 45 minutes.
The Therapy Habano by Nomad Cigar Company has been a helluva’ joy ride.
The caramel and creaminess and malt take first, second, and third place in line.
Chocolate interweaves amongst those flavors. So complex.

Ever since “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” the music has been crap. I need music to help me focus. Good music, that is.
We now have Flavor Bomb 2.0. Flavors are dripping down my leg.
I could probably add a couple more malt elements, but that would just confuse things.

So far, every good cigar I’ve reviewed has had superb malt components. They really make the flavor profile complete.
The Therapy line, I expect, will make my Top 25 Cigars of 2015. No shit.

Lots of new cigars coming out of IPCPR but so expensive. I can’t afford them with my medical bills. I will be left in the dust compared to the other reviewers.

I got things worked out for the big neuropsychological test on Sept. 10. This 6 hour test will tell my neurologists just how bad my Alzheimer’s is and how advanced it is. At that point, they can prescribe meds. And tell me how long I’ve got.
Good buddy turned me on to a remedy used for decades for this dreaded illness: Coconut oil. Every medical web site I found said the same thing. Take coconut oil every day and it should slow things down. Thank you Kevin Esser. What a pal. You’re in the will.

The char line is dead nuts. The construction is perfect. Just like the Maduro.
Strength is still medium body. But the flavors? I don’t want them to end. Unfortunately, the samples are it. But you never know.
If I had to choose, the Nomad Therapy line would be my desert island cigar. Just barely nudging out Ezra Zion.
I can’t wait to try the Connie.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is one hour 5 minutes.
If you haven’t tried either the Habano or Maduro Therapy, this is a must.

Just got a comment on the Espinosa Laranja review from Ben. He complains that he has never tasted a milk shake in his 20 years of smoking cigars. And that all of us reviewers sound the same. LOL.
If I have one single comment and that is that every palate is different. Some try and no matter how long they are cigar smokers never develop a sophisticated palate. I feel bad for those fellas. They are really missing out. And if all of us “Reviewers” all sound the same, what does that tell you? Poor Ben.

Back to the Therapy Habano by Nomad Cigar Company.
Strength hits medium/full. And Nicotine enters the arena. Mild, but there it is.
Not a single iota of change has occurred. Except that flavors are stronger and more intense.
Spiciness has returned in force moving its way up the flavor list.

I recommend sipping water with monster blends like the Therapy Habano by Nomad Cigar Company. It forces the wonderful flavors to wash over your palate and create a neutron bomb experience.

Look at the quantum leaps Fred Rewey has made since starting the Nomad line in 2011-2012. On the Nomad web site, Fred admits he has only been blending for three years. That, ladies and germs, is a savant.
Can you imagine what he will be putting out in the years to come?

With 1-1/2” to go, I’m ready to rate the Therapy Habano. I gave the Maduro a 94. The Habano deserves the same score: 94.
The Therapy Habano by Nomad Cigar Company finishes perfectly. Not a hint of harshness or heat. No bitterness. And smooth as my tushy.
Once again, my day is ruined. I don’t have a single cigar that can compete with the Therapy Habano.
Get some.

PRICE POINT:
The price range is absolutely absurd. While other manufacturers are charging an arm and a leg for their new blends, Fred went the way of wallet friendly. I can’t think of another blend in this price range as good as these blends.
I check and more and more online stores carry the Therapy blend. Cigar Federation now has it. Famous Smoke carries it. And at least 100 B & M’s carry the line.

This just in from Fred Rewey (8-20-2015):
“Cool Review Phil….always entertaining!”

Thank you Fred.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Brazilian Arapiraca
Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan
Size: 7.125 x 58 “Salomon”
Body: Medium
Price: $7.21 by the Box/$8.00 by the 5 Pack

Today we take a look at the Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company.

BACKGROUND:
“Arapiraca: Grown in Brazil, this seed sprouts a very strong, thick, and healthy plant in most tropical environments. The wrapper is exceptionally dark and sweet with leathery undertones.
Known as the “The Tobacco Capital of Brazil.”

Many thanks to Kendall Culbertson, owner, of The Outlaw Cigar Company for the samples.
I’ve currently reviewed: Gunslinger Perdition, Gunslinger High Plains (blended with the assistance of Jochy Blanco), Gunslinger Black Powder, WTF Maduro, and the Gunslinger Drifter.
I’ve written quite a bit about Kendall Culbertson so by now you know him as well as his dog, Shep. If you are reading an Outlaw Cigar review for the first time, go to the Search Window and punch in The Outlaw Cigar Company and you will find all 5 reviews and info about Kendall is there.

The blend comes in both Habano and Corojo blends.

DESCRIPTION:
Beautiful craftsmanship. Smooth as glass. The wrapper is multi-colored in that it is mottled both a light brown and a coffee bean brown. And it is solid but with a nice amount of give when squeezed.
A Salomon is difficult for any torcedor, but box pressing one on top of that is quite the feat. The only way to show you that the press is crisp is to clip the foot back just a bit.

Seams are tight. No veins. A perfectly formed triple pointy cap. The foot has a quarter inch opening.
The cigar band is Kelly green with the Outlaw Cigar cattle skull.

SIZES AND PRICING:
See chart below:

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell faint aromas of chocolate, spice, cedar, barnyard, and creaminess.
From the clipped cap and clipped foot, I smell mostly barnyard with faint aromas of chocolate and spice.
The cold draw presents flavors of coffee, chocolate, spice, cream, and earthiness.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is excellent.
A nice mix of flavors starts us off: Spice, creaminess, chocolate, cedar, sweetness, coffee, dried fruit, rich earthiness, and a touch of mint leaves. Must be the Kelly green cigar band.
The foot needs a minor tune up.

The thing about a Salomon is the length. It really isn’t over 7” when it comes time to divide it into thirds. I clipped the cap. I clipped the foot. Leaving about 6-1/2” Ordinarily, you don’t need to clip the foot but I couldn’t figure out how to show how gorgeous the box press is.

Just like the other Outlaw Cigar Co. blends, the Bad to the Bone starts the proceedings like gangbusters.
Big flavors only 5 minutes in. A perfect draw. And now the char line is back on course.

Man, oh, man. The cable TV radio is playing one dud after another. Where the hell is the inspiration? One day, an experienced play list manager puts together a kick ass playlist…and the next day, he has his cat do it.
Oh lord…”Dust in the Wind.” Argghhhhhh!
Okie doke…I’ll take some Pink Floyd. On the up slide now are we? That’s my Brit speak still left over from back in the day.

The Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company is delicious but this is the first blend that is more conventional than the others. Smacks of a Nic puro with the added sweetness of the Arapiraca binder.
Strength is medium body.
The photo below is a better representation of the true color of the wrapper. I’m a bit confused using my lighting gear. Sorry.

We have: Chocolate, cream, spice, coffee, sweetness, licorice, nuts, toastiness, cedar, mint (I love that), a bit of leather, and earthiness.

John Lennon. Yes. We are making the move to cool music. Do you remember where you were when he was murdered? Not that I am accusing you of being an accomplice..but where in space and time were you? I was sitting at home, with a bevy of girlfriends, in Long Beach. That was a devastating time for a true Beatle, and Lennon, fan. There was always hope that they would get back together and in one moment the whole idea was smashed to pieces. Not to mention the man himself being a massive loss.
I have a friend who is a radio DJ and did the voice overs on a 5 disk interview of the last John Lennon interview done two days before he was murdered. He made me copies on cassette and I have kept them pristine ever since. The editing is brilliant as it is a Lennon timeline with music of that time interspersed within the body of the interview. The only downer was that Yoko was there and every time she spoke, my skin crawled.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
Back to the Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company.

Such a delicious blend. What really amazes me is that you know how much I don’t like these giant cigars. Two reasons: They take too long to smoke and I get bored easily. And second, they don’t have the flavor intensity of a smaller cigar.

Kendall has managed to jump the shark on this issue. I have some smaller versions of all the blends he sent me and I’ve reviewed. And there is no difference in intensity. I cannot think of another manufacturer that pulls this off.
So, as a result, I never get bored and I get my fill of these extraordinary blends.

Major flavor bomb. I can’t help it. There is no other way to describe it. Flavors are explosive and intense; especially the spiciness, chocolate and creaminess.
The dried fruit becomes a trifecta of raisins, figs, and dates. The cedar is right behind.

Construction is terrific. No wrapper issues. The char line has behaved beautifully since that one minor touch up. And the draw is spot on.
Caramel enters. And so does malt. You must be getting so tired of this but here goes: Chocolate Malt, Biscuit Malt, Caramel Wheat, and Chocolate Rye Malt. (See Malt Chart).

As I near the halfway point, big explosion of flavor. Flavor Bomb 2.0. The malt is a great way to finally describe my “It” or “Wow” factor.
The mint is gone.

Kendall sent me a fiver of Perdition Toros in this very cool wood box with the Gunslinger logo on it. Although, at the moment, Bad to the Bone is not a part of the Gunslinger line, I wanted to show you the box. It was illustrated by a famous artist, Boris Vallejo, (“Boris Vallejo, born January 8, 1941, is a Peruvian painter. He immigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He frequently works with Julie Bell, his wife, painter, and model.”) From Wikipedia. Boris specializes in fantastic fantasy art work. You can buy his artwork at Julie Bell & Boris Bell web site. Such as this one below:

Strength is classic medium body. The web site says it is mild/medium but it started out right at medium.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 45 minutes.
The Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company is a delightful cigar. Big flavors. Smooth. Complex.
Spiciness is on the wane. Everything else is in place.

I kick back for a couple minutes to just enjoy the cigar and there is a fruity flavor I cannot identify.
New flavors approach: Ginger, cinnamon, and sort of a brie-like hint.
This mysterious fruit flavor is making me nuts. What the hell is it?
A touch of unsweetened blackberry and a hint of almonds. That’s what screwed me up. The addition of almond paste. It skewed the fruit flavor.

A strong pine flavor emerges. And with it, the return of a very strong red pepper.
The cigar band has too much glue and I have to cut it off nicking the wrapper. Fingers crossed I burn through it before it destroys the wrapper. Drat.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is one hour 10 minutes.
Wow. The spiciness is burning my moustache off and I don’t even have one.

The Brazilian Arapiraca binder is really doing a number on the sweetness of the blend. The Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company is like a candy bar.

One last time: Spice, malt, creaminess, coffee, chocolate, caramel, almonds, fruit, cedar, cinnamon, ginger, pine, dried fruit, earthy tobacco.
That’s a tall order.

I’ve got three blends to review: WTF Natural, Gunslinger Hangman, and Gunslinger Unforgiven. Should be done by Chanukkah.

I successfully burn through the nick in the wrapper.

This was an exceedingly good blend. But then all of the Outlaw Cigar blends were unique and great. I’m very impressed with what Kendall Culbertson has done. So many blends and yet all different. That must have been a real bitch.
I still have samples that Kendall sent me and each one gets better by the day.

This was my last Bad to the Bone. I’d love to try it in the Corona size. Though, Kendall’s version of a corona is 6.5 x 44. Still, I bet it is a barn burner.

The Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company was very gratifying. A nice easy going medium body. Loads of flavor. A good stick for newbies. The experienced palate will love picking out the flavors.

Finally. It’s been a rotten radio day. But now they are playing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” One of his most brilliant tunes.
Did you know my buddy drummer Stewart Copeland played on Gabriel’s 1986 “Sledge Hammer?” But Gabriel was only happy with Copeland’s snare drum set so he mixed the entire drum track out and left only the snare drum. Made Copeland furious.

Back to the Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company.
It has a nice finish of smoothness and big flavors.
I rate it a 90.

One last thing. The Outlaw Cigar Company made it to the cover of Smoke Shop Magazine focusing on Bad to the Bone.

Mag photo
The review finishes appropriately with listening to Lennon’s “Imagine.”
I remember my band Homegrown playing it in 1971. A very emotional song.
I highly recommend the Bad to the Bone by The Outlaw Cigar Company.

PRICE POINT:
The price range of $6.50-$8.00 is wholly justified and underpriced if you ask me. Actually, you’re not asking me. You’re a prisoner of the white lines on the freeway.
Culbertson could have easily asked for more dough.
Final smoke time is one hour 35 minutes.

SUMMATION:
I’m trying to think how I can summarize this blend. It has that Nic puro flavor profile with the addition of the extreme sweetness of the Arapiraca wrapper.
Transitions were interesting. It was very complex. The balance was good. And it had a nice long finish.
I’m still waiting on a clunker from Outlaw Cigar but I doubt that is going to happen. I’ve raved and gushed over every single blend.
Construction maintained its integrity throughout. The char line gave me no troubles.
Just one more great cigar from Kendall and The Outlaw Cigar Company.

NOTE: I want to take this moment to thank some reader by the name of Harper. That’s all I know about him. He sent me a nice care package of cigars. Thank you kind sir.

Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero
Size: 6 x 50 “Toro”
Body: Medium
Price: $6.00 in 10 Packs/$7.00 in 5 Packs

Today we take a look at the new Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars.

BACKGROUND:
From the Blessed Leaf web site:
“The 1611 is the second Blessed Leaf cigar release and the follow up to the 93 Rated KAIROS.

“Draped in a San Andrea (sic) maduro wrapper, the Blessed Leaf 1611 is sweet, creamy, and decadent. Medium in strength, the 1611 delights the palate with candied fig, cashew, cocoa, and oak. Notes of white pepper, coffee bean, and vanilla compliment the core flavors throughout.

“A smooth and balanced blend created from extra fermentation of the tobaccos.
“Total Production: 1000 Cigars.”

The name “1611” refers to the date that the King James Bible was first published.
The cigar comes in one size: 6 x 50 Toro.
You can purchase the cigars directly from the Ezra Zion web site or Cigar Federation.
Ten-packs are $59.95 and 5-packs are $34.95.

The cigars were produced at the Noel Rojas’ Aroma de Esteli Factory in Nicaragua. Rojas developed Guayacan, Project 7 for Cigar Federation, Tarazona Revolution 305, and All my Ex’s for Ezra Zion.
Blessed Leaf refers to a Christian ministry founded by Ezra Zion owners Kyle Hoover and Chris Kelly. Help is given to tobacco producing countries.

DESCRIPTION:
This is a gorgeous cigar. Solid and covered in an oily, mottled, coffee bean brown wrapper. Seams are tight. Few veins. A flawless triple cap. And only a black ribbon used as a cigar band.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
The shaft smells of black walnuts, chocolate, spice, cedar, oak, rich cappuccino, and earthy tobacco.
The clipped cap and foot smell of barnyard, spice, cocoa, and wood.
The cold draw presents flavors of cinnamon, baking spice, nuts, chocolate, clove, and earthy tobacco.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is a tad bit tight. The cigar is packed solid so I do the ol’ Katman massage and that helps loosen things up.
Right away, flavors emerge. And they are as exotic as the All My Ex’s.

Here we go: Spice, coffee, chocolate, white chocolate, oak, creamy, strong vanilla, roasted nuts, cinnamon, and dried fruit with a hint of leather.

The flavor profile is extremely intense. This is going to be a helluva’ roller coaster ride.

Kyle and Chris must have had both All My Ex’s and 1611 in their brains at the same time during their blending sessions. Except for the wrapper, the binder and filler are similar. Similar in terms of what they allow us to know.

The clove and baking spices surge. They aren’t advertised but they are as strong as can be. Their interaction with the other flavors makes for a complex blend.
The Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars is a slow roll. The draw is spot on now.

There are elements and components whose only comparison is that of a complex wrist watch innards. Lots of moving parts and lots of stationary parts. All integral to make the thing work.
That is exactly how complex the Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars is.

Strength has been medium body from the start.

And then it happens. The light switch is flicked on and we have a major development in flavors and complexity.
I don’t know if it is possible, but the Blessed Leaf 1611 may be even more complex than the All My Ex’s.

Here we go feeble mind: Spice, molasses, chocolate candy with the raspberry jelly inside, baking spice, coffee, creaminess, malt (Special B Malt, Peated Malt, Pale 2- Row Malt, Honey Malt, Chocolate Rye Malt, and Aromatic Malt [See Malt Chart]), strong oak elements, vanilla bean, clove, and earthy, earthy tobacco.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
Normally, I ignore the flavors that a manufacturer suggests the consumer can taste. Why? Because they need to make the cigar accessible to everyone. If they get too complex in their description, they will get laughed out of Esteli. But you have to hand it to the folks at EZ for going all in.

I can taste candied fig. Of course, the art of the subconscious plays an important part.

Truth be told, I taste something candied and it might be fig, but I can’t pick it up that definitively. I taste dried fruit. And I taste a caramelized topping. The cappuccino is spot on. But what they didn’t add in their description is the baking spice galore…Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, anise seed, sesame seed, and allspice. This is the one of the first times I’ve gotten this kind of spread.

The char line is dead nuts.
The spiciness is on the wane.

The chocolate, malt, and coffee work together beautifully. There is something else on the tip of my palate I’m having difficulty with.

It’s HERBS! Celery flakes and partial Herbs de Provence (chervil, dill, fennel, lavender, rosemary, sage, and thyme). Now mind you, these are very faint elements. My daughter has a friend who has a very large company that makes herbs and supplies them to restaurants all over the world. She gave me a bag of the herbs a couple days ago and I’ve used them. This explains a lot of what I was missing in my review.

REMEMBER: My palate is different than yours. I’ve had comments telling me they couldn’t taste 75% of what I taste. Make sure the reviewed cigar is your first of the day. And really focus. Make your eyes squint. Take sips of water after a puff. Learn to train your palate. I’ve said this a million times but I have been a serious cigar smoker for 47 years. So keep at it. Big smile.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 50 minutes.
The spiciness returns.

I cannot believe I am saying this but I do believe that the Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars is even more complex than the All My Ex’s. And that’s not to say I am diminishing the All My Ex’s. But this is the craziest, most complex cigar I’ve smoked. I never thought I would say that again after the All My Ex’s.

Kyle Hoover and Chris Kelly are really Wizards whose specialty is alchemy. They must also be Druids, Mystics, Shamans, and Thaumaturgists. Their adeptness at bringing about a cigar of this magnitude is unearthly. They could be aliens from the planet Sun Cured. Travel to the Cigar Galaxy and make a sharp left. (There really is a galaxy called Cigar Galaxy). Also known as Messier 82 or NGC 3034. You probably just call it, WTF?

There is a very perfumey aroma, and flavor, to the blend now. I can smell the lavender.

The main difference in this cigar is that there are no major transitions. It creeps up on you with a bit of this and a bit of that. All very subtle and nuance. Smooth does not begin to describe it. Velvety, tranquil, unruffled, waveless, fluid, and sophisticated.

I am not sure if I should mention this flavor as it really dominated the All My Ex’s. But I can taste a steak sauce element. In the background and mostly tasting of molasses, cumin, and Worcestshire.

I know what you are all thinking. I’m demented. Yes, that’s true. But the early morning is my most lucid group of hours. When I’m finished with the review, I fall back into not knowing what day or year it is. I wish I could continue reviewing but budgetary costs due to health care bills are putting a halt to it.

Just prior to the start of the last third, the Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars becomes a bona fide flavor bomb. No longer subtle and nuanced. Now we have bold and audacious!
Here they are: Creamy, spice, nuts, dried fruit, vanilla, coffee, baking spice, steak sauce, oak, herbs, earthiness, and the lovely malt concoction.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is one hour 10 minutes.
This was not a total surprise but still; I wasn’t ready for the boldness and intricacies of this blend.

I’ve reviewed some great cigars lately but nothing close to the Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars. Nothing. I wonder how many blends Hoover and Kelly went through before settling on this one?

If you can’t snag some of these cigars, then I feel very bad. If you can afford them, get as many as you can. I just checked. Cigar Federation still has 5 packs. The Ezra Zion Blessed Leaf web site is sold out. I can’t find another online store that might carry them.
HURRY to CF!!!
Tell them the Katman sent you!

The Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars is so complex right now that I am completely blown away.
Thanks to Kyle and Chris, they sent me two samples. I shall guard the second one with my life.

The list of flavors is like a mile long conga line. The sweetness. The savory elements. The spiciness. The exotic nature of the blend. The herbal notes. Friggin’ unbelievable.
As you will read below, this will be my last review for some time. A great cigar to go out on.

Strength is a solid medium body. No nicotine. No harshness. No heat. No bitterness.
Final smoke time is a bit over one hour 30 minutes.

Time to rate it. I give the Blessed Leaf 1611 by Ezra Zion Cigars a 97. Yeah, it’s that good. Head and shoulders above anything I can remember reviewing except for the All My Ex’s.

The true definition of a cigar experience. I’m tempted to light up the other stick. But as I won’t be reviewing tomorrow, I just might make it my first cigar of the day. The blend deserves your fresh palate.

PRICE POINT:
This is what a $20 cigar should taste like. But it’s not. It’s $6.00-$7.00 each.
Not an Opus X. Not a fancy shmancy Padron, etc. Not a single expensive cigar is anything like this.
This proves my constant rant and rave that the overblown pricing of every cigar coming out of the 2015 IPCPR trade show is a joke. I get all those online store emails and the cigars go for $75-$90 for a 5 pack. LMAO! How absurd. Thank goodness for Ezra Zion.
The only problem I see is that only 1000 cigars were released. They may be all gone by now. I don’t know. Check the Ezra Zion site and Cigar Federation. And your local B & M.

SUMMATION:
What a wonderful cigar. I cannot begin to do it justice with my limited vocabulary.
I wish they had made more. But kudos to Ezra Zion for making a limited edition cigar and not charging an arm and a leg. That’s class.
Flavors are some of the most unique combinations of any cigar I’ve smoked. The complexity nearly began at the start of the cigar and gained impact with every puff.
If you can, buy this cigar.

From Kyle Hoover of Ezra Zion Cigars:
Phil,
Wow! I don’t even have the words, my friend! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the 97 rating. It means so much for someone to appreciate the hard work that goes into making the best cigars we can.
You are in our thoughts and prayers about your health and treatment. Hope that things will work out and we will hear a good report soon!!!!
Thank you,
Kyle Hoover

Wrapper: Undisclosed
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Undisclosed
Size: 5 x 50 “Robusto”
Body: Full
Price: $7.00

Today we take a look at the new La Aurora Untamed Extreme.

I want to thank some really great people who allowed me to make my September medical payment. You can go to GoFundMe to contribute as little or as much as you can afford. The battle has just begun for me. And every bit of help from you makes a huge difference. Thanks Christopher P., Laurence M., Gary E., Brad, Darryl M., David W., Blake H., Lin H., Bobby W., John M., Charles L., and Rodney K.

I would like to thank Miami Cigar & Co. for sending me samples of not only this cigar but the Viva Republica Advanced Warfare.

BACKGROUND:
No release date has been set yet.
From the La Aurora press release:
“La Aurora, known for producing perfectly balanced cigars successfully created the aggressive full-bodied Untamed while delicately keeping their signature balance, between flavor and strength. La Aurora’s Master Blender, Manuel Inoa, is now looking to push palates even further, with the Untamed Extreme.

“Guillermo León, president of La Aurora stated: “Our team created an incredible cigar. With Untamed, we went beyond our traditional products. Now with Untamed Extreme, we look forward to solidifying our position as a company, which can offer products to please those looking, for a more extreme smoking experience.”

DESCRIPTION:
This wrapper is a gorgeous deep, dark chocolate with a reddish tinge. It is also very oily and slightly toothy. It is dark and foreboding outside with rain clouds and a steady drizzle.
It was really too hot and humid last night for this California boy. Woke up constantly soaked to the bone. The point is on my first day back, no sun for photos. I have only one stick for review and doubt waiting for the sun to come out will happen during my window of convenience. Well, that was friggin boring, weren’t it, lads?

Construction is excellent with tight seams, few veins, a perfect triple cap, and very firm in the hand. Like me.
This small cigar is covered about 50% with cigar bands. The main band is that bold La Aurora lion in bright gold. It says “La Aurora” and “Untamed.”
The footer is a bright red with the singular word: “Extreme.”

SIZES AND PRICING:
The cigar comes in only three sizes (Not disclosed in the Press Release):
Robusto, Toro, and the 7 x 60 Behemoth. Price range is $7.00-$11.00. I’m spit ballin’ here but I would say the Robusto is $7.00, the Toro is $9.00, and the Behemoth is $11.00.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
Both cherries and dark cocoa drive the bus. Joining those aromas are barnyard, earthy tobacco, a bit of coffee, toffee, and some leather.
The clipped cap and foot give off aromas of dark cocoa, barnyard, toffee, raisins, and earthiness.
The cold draw presents flavors of earthy tobacco, cocoa, spice, a touch of leather, and a bit of raisin.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is pretty good. I’ve had the samples for nearly a month and the second of three sent to me was smoked a few days ago and seemed to be rarin’ to go.

The thing about La Aurora is that the blends, generally, need a lot of humidor time. But I wanted to return with a new cigar blend as opposed to something you’ve already smoked a 100 times. I do not believe they have been released yet.
Strength is pretty mild for a cigar described as full body. I may have screwed up by dry boxing the cigar in 88% humidity. It would have been better off in my 68% humidor. I wasn’t thinking. The cigar feels moist.

I’m a quarter inch in and to be quite honest, no flavors. A touch of spice and earthiness but that’s all folks.

I take a sip of water and a few flavors rush on by: Chocolate, sweetness, cherries, raisins, and coffee. So far, tastes like a Nic puro. I have no idea why they didn’t disclose the leaf stats. They released them with the first “Untamed” blend. Here they are: Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf, Binder: Dominican Corojo, and Filler: Dominican & Nicaraguan.

The La Aurora Untamed Extreme finally breaks on through to the other side: Red pepper, creaminess, cocoa, coffee, raisins, Bing cherries, malt (Biscuit Malt, Caramel Wheat) See Malt Chart, sweetness, leather, and very earthy notes.
Strength is medium body.

This is a very slow smoke. I don’t know if it is due to it being packed solid or the moistness.
Now the first stage of the Sweet Spot has kicked in. Spice, cocoa, cherries, and creaminess lead the pack of lemmings…or gazelles. In my present state, I can’t remember which is which. LOL.
Right now it tastes like a $6-$7 cigar. It’s OK but nothing special.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 20 minutes.
The earthiness of the tobacco is really the show at this point. The strength is just approaching medium/full. Flavors have diminished some. I no longer can identify a sweet spot. It vanished into the haze.

This might be why there are no other reviews, as of this day, of this cigar. All the Big Guys got their samples. But then they are so overloaded with free samples for review that their list must be a mile long. Me? I’m a shlub who begs for cigars.

The cigar goes out on me. Yeah, moist.
I reviewed the Untamed back in March. And I just read it again. I gave that puppy a huge rave review. This follow up is nothing like that blend. Unfortunately, not for the better.

The original Untamed was chock full of flavors and a real flavor bomb. The La Aurora Untamed Extreme is the little engine that could. It is trying so hard to be a really good cigar but it just ain’t getting there. For chrissakes, by this point, it should be blaring wonderful flavor. I generally review cigars after a month or less of humidor time. So this is no different than the review of the original Untamed.

This blend was supposed to put the Untamed to shame…sort of…well, you get my gist.
Strength is now a strong medium/full. I expected it to be a dynamite stick by now giving me the spins. It is just cruising on some nice flavors and an easy going profile.
Caramel joins the list of flavors. And once again, the flavor profile ramps up.

The malt conglomerate takes on the bedrock of the flavor profile. It pulls all the other flavors together.
New flavors and some old flavors: Creaminess, Malt, chocolate, caramel, nuts, toasty, peanuts (Same as the original Untamed), raisins, (the cherries are gone), sweetness, summer fruit, earthiness, leather, and cedar.

It’s as if the pupae became a butterfly. About time. I don’t think I will be on the Miami Cigar & Co. reviewer’s list after this review. That’s OK. I won’t remember why. LOL.

Side note: Charlotte got a new job. The last part time job was killing her. She had to clean apartments at an expensive retirement home in Brookfield. Very upscale. But the work was tearing her down.

She now works at Buddy Squirrel at Milwaukee Airport. She will sell candy and nuts. And give tours of the factory. The money is shit but she doesn’t need to get up at the crack of dawn any longer or go to bed at 9pm. I am so happy for her. They really took advantage of her good nature at the last place. She starts in two weeks. I’ve always bemoaned the fact that a woman with a Master’s in psychology from Goethe Universitat in Frankfurt never got the chance to use those skills to make some good dough.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 40 minutes.
Since this ain’t a rave review, I might as well post a rock n roll story that I don’t believe I’ve ever told you.
Some nicotine shows up just as the La Aurora Untamed Extreme becomes full bodied.

No change to the flavors except for the caramel is making a big showing.
And right after typing the last sentence, the flavors really blossom. Big and bold. Like me.

The caramel and malt are screaming laughter adding Chocolate Rye Malt and Crystal/Caramel Malt.
This is what the La Aurora Untamed Extreme should have tasted like in the first 5 minutes. I don’t think my rating is going to be that great.

Jimi is on the cable TV radio and I’ve got the walls shaking.

The peanut element turns into peanut butter just like the original Untamed. The fruit is defined now as some kind of berry. So now we have a PB&J sandwich.

At this time, I would rather have a box of the original Untamed rather than a box of the La Aurora Untamed Extreme.

Ever wonder why I use the name of the cigar in its totality a lot? Google algorithms. By repeating the name as much as possible helps get me to the top of the review list on all of the search engines. The rest of the equation for getting me on at least the first page, if not the top 5, is still a secret and took me two days of research to get there.
Algorithms are tricky.

Turns out that the cigar is not that moist. The stick is pretty solid.
The La Aurora Untamed Extreme is very flavorful. A very nice cigar. But $7.00 is right on the money.
My good buddy, Darryl, sent me a bunch of cigars whose average humidor age is 4 years. I smoked a few that I’ve already reviewed yesterday and I don’t get it. Why do people think that long aging time improves the cigar?

All the great cigars seem to lose their oomph and zestiness. Virtually no spiciness left.

Spiciness comes from the fermentation time. So it makes sense that an extremely aged cigar will lose that component; which it did in the care package cigars I smoked. Don’t get me wrong. They were very tasty but much milder than they should have been.

Tomorrow, I will review the Tatuaje Brown Label Unicos Torpedo that Darryl sent me. It has 4-1/2 to 5 years of humidor time. And since the cigar is still available, I see no reason not to review it.

Back to the La Aurora Untamed Extreme.
If the cigar tasted like this earlier on, I would give it a very nice rating.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is 60 minutes.
The flavor profile has been pretty predictable. Not a big change over the original Untamed.
This is what I said in that review: “Right off the bat, the flavor profile is not messing around and the cigar takes off like the supersonic Concorde.”
The La Aurora Untamed Extreme takes off like a Cessna 183.

The cigar goes out again.
Despite the moistness, the char line has done a good job.

The final list of flavors: Chocolate, peanuts, caramel, malt, creaminess, toasty, sweetness, cedar, fruit, raisins, leather, and earthy tobacco. All in all, not a bad cigar. But it just doesn’t have that big “It” factor that the original Untamed had.

The strength is piling it on. I’m swooning from the nicotine.

I check Cbid and there are three units of the original Untamed up for auction. A box of Corona Gorda, that ends tonight, is going for $43 for 24 sticks. And the others are equally inexpensive at around $3.00 per stick. I’d jump on the box if I had the dough. And I’m pretty sure that’s where the La Aurora Untamed Extreme will end up a couple months after its release.

Let’s face it. La Aurora is not the greatest of brands out there. I found 20 blends on the Miami Cigar & Co. web site. There are a few really good blends there but overall, not so much.

“Urgent” by Foreigner is playing now. The best part of the song is the great sax solo by famed reed player Junior Walker. It came out in 1981. And I remember finding out that Junior Walker was not happy. They made him drop in his part every two bars. The solo sounds continuous but it was chopped up and inserted bit by bit. Really pissed Walker off. You can check out the song on YouTube.

As the end is near, this has been somewhat of an uneventful smoke.
After the wonderful experience with the Untamed, I expected more. The PR overplayed their hand on this blend. Instead of a quantum leap, it took a couple baby steps.

OK. Time to rate. I give it an 86. It is a pleasant cigar but nothing special.
No need to hold your breath until the La Aurora Untamed Extreme is released.
Final smoke time was 80 minutes.

PRICE POINT:
$7.00. I’m sure once it is on the shelves, you can probably score it for $5-$6 on Cbid.
But $9 for the Toro and $11 for the Behemoth? Ahh…I don’t think the cigar is worth that many shekels. And of course, the robusto that I am reviewing, will be the most flavorful of the bunch.

SUMMATION:
It feels good to be in front of my laptop. In spite of my meandering, I had a gratifying experience this morning. Now if only the cigar I reviewed met my expectations, things would have been much better.
If you do try it, wait til the price falls.
Please go to GoFundMe and donate all you can. PayPal works too. Thanks dear readers.

And now for something completely different:
A fan of Curved Air wrote to me and told me this story that I had completely forgotten.
Our first stop in Europe for a 6 week tour was Amsterdam. It was 1974.

We went into a sex shop and Sonja bought a tiny vibrator that one can turn on and just slide the whole damn thing right into the quedgie.
Stew came up with the idea of buying a giant rubber penis and he would tape it to his pants while playing drums.
The moment arrived and he chickened out.

The last song of the night, before encores of course, was Darryl’s theme song “Vivaldi.”
In the middle, Darryl would take off on a violin psychedelic tour of the universe using all the electronic pedals available back in 1974. The audience was stoned, or drunk, or both.
We would run off stage and light up a bowl and wait for the horrible 10 minutes to be over. Then we would run back on stage as Darryl began playing the “Sailor’s Horn Pipe.”

Stew refused to put the rubber penis on so I took the responsibility of dazzling the audience.
I always took my bass off stage with me during Darryl’s solos.

Roadie, Beric Wickens, nearly used an entire roll of duct tape to get that thing on me. And doing it so it wouldn’t be that obvious. I stood there in the wings with my pants dropped. I wore suede leather pants. And it took an act of God to get them on each gig. I could barely breathe by the time he was done.

I ran out on stage with my bass hanging from my shoulders. The rubber penis was hidden by the bass.
Sonja was at the mic thanking the audience. (I just typed “office” and had to go back and type “audience.” ??)

We did our first encore number called “Stretch.” How appropriate. It was my only bass solo the entire gig.
Right in the middle of my solo, I flipped my bass up towards my chest exposing the rubber penis. The lighting guy was cued to put a pin sized spot light on my crotch.

The audience went nuts.
And then I got arrested.

It wasn’t uncommon for Bobbies to be in attendance of any concert.
They didn’t even wait for us to finish. These two idiots walked on to the stage and grabbed each of my arms.
I then pulled what I call my Marx Bros. move. I did a Captain Spalding running around the front of the stage dragging the Bobbies along with me. The applause was deafening.

The managing director of BTM was not happy when he got the call from the Nottingham police. He drove up from London in the middle of the night and got me out.

He started to yell at me once we were in his big fancy Jaguar. And then he just started to laugh uncontrollably.
I got home and as I undressed, I went into deep depression as I stared at my Jewish weenie; undersized and so white that it reflected light. I would have become a really big rock star if my penis were really as big as the rubber one.

I was called on the carpet in Miles Copeland’s office. I stood there and was warned. Dire consequences were promised.
I behaved appropriately and promised I would never do that again.
So, I didn’t.
Ahh…youth!

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Pennsylvanian, Dominican, Nicaraguan
Size: 5.25 x 43 “Corona”
Body: Full
Price: $6.00 MSRP

Today we take a look at the brand new Viva Republica Advanced Warfare.

NOTE: Please do not forget about me when you have a $10 bill in your wallet and please donate to my Katman’s Medical Fund at Go Fund Me. No donation is too small. I need dough to pay my medical bills to treat my Alzheimer’s. Thanks.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: E. León Jimenes Tabacalera, Santiago, Dominican Republic.
I want to thank Miami Cigar & Co. for sending me samples of this cigar. They are the distributor for the line.
The Advanced Warfare is a follow up to the 2013 Guerrilla Warfare line.
This cigar made its debut at the 2015 IPCPR trade show this summer.
Owner, Jason Holly, decided not to use a different wrapper for the Advanced Warfare. It is the same exact wrapper as the Guerrilla Warfare. The rest of the cigar is totally different. The binder is Connie Broadleaf instead of a mix of DR, Nic, and PA.
And just like with Guerrilla Warfare, the packaging is in boxes of 50.

DESCRIPTION:
Kind of a gnarly looking twig of a cigar. Very rough around the edges. Seams aren’t tight. Lots of big veins for such a small cigar. It’s lumpy and bumpy. Like me. The cap has an unintended pig tail lying on its side as if it had just been slaughtered. All in all, it’s pretty sloppy. (Oops, there goes Viva Republica as a sponsor).
The wrapper is a chocolate graham cracker color with a bit of tooth.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Petit Corona: 4 x 41 $5.00 MSRP
Corona: 5.25 x 43 $6.00 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell faint aromas of cocoa, sweetness, spice, and fruit.
From the clipped cap and foot, I smell strong baker’s cocoa, spice, licorice, earthiness, and coffee.
The cold draw presents flavors of chocolate, spice, cream, and earthy tobacco.

FIRST HALF:
No need to do this in triplicate so halves works just fine.
The draw is spot on.

There is some fresh orange citrus upfront accompanied by a spice element, rich chocolate, coffee, leather, earthiness, malt, creaminess, and a touch of dried fruit.
Now that’s how a cigar should start off…unlike what happened yesterday with the La Aurora Untamed Extreme review. Had to nearly wait for the halfway point before it kicked in. Not this baby. It is in 3rd gear from the get go.

Strength is immediately medium/full.
The cigar is packed nicely and just the right amount of give making it a slow smoke.

The flavor profile cruises just above the horizon line. The flavors have become subtle and nuanced.
I’ve had the Viva Republica Advanced Warfare for about a month.

The creaminess, spice, chocolate, and malt are really simpatico. A perfect Superfecta. Been to the track lately?
A bit of complexity enters at the 8 minute mark. The malt is a combo of Flaked Rye Malt and Honey Malt. (See Malt Chart).
There is a definitive honey component now. Even my lips feel sticky. Floral notes appear.

The photo below is the first one I got with true color of the cigar’s wrapper. When there is no sun, lighting gear is not my forte. And, often, I get confused by the camera and its settings. Go figure.

The char line has been a bit wonky this whole time requiring minor tune ups here and there.
On its own, the flavor profile is a bit numbing. Take a sip of water and the flavors are freshened and complex. This is so typical of a lot of blends. A constant car wash of the palate is needed to really taste the blender’s intent.

Did you get your latest Cigar Aficionado? An article about Kaizad Hansotia was interesting. When posed the question of why are there so many smokers who don’t like your blends and that you tend to cater to the rich with those super expensive blends….he replied….”all those people can go to hell and if he didn’t know what he was doing, he wouldn’t still be in business.” That was actually a paraphrase. I laughed when I read it. He even admitted to the fact that he makes good cigars for B & M’s and drek for online stores. This is a fact I’ve been touting for years. A Gurkha Crest at Cbid can be had for $4. At a B & M, it’s over $25 (That was in 2008) and most probably a completely different blend.
It’s bait and switch.

The Viva Republica Advanced Warfare kicks into high gear with a little over 3” to go.
Big and bold. Very spicy. Very, very full bodied. Lots of nicotine. And a boat load of flavor without the help of sipping water needed. Now we’re talking.

The cable TV radio really sucks this morning.

Man, it’s like a light switch was turned on. The Viva Republica Advanced Warfare is now a monster blend. I read some other reviews and about half of them gave the stick a so so rating. I don’t get that. Timing? Who knows?
The constant doctoring of the char line is a real pain in the ass and will affect my rating.

Here are the flavors: Spice, creaminess, chocolate, coffee, malt, honey, floral notes, sweetness, fruit, leather, earthiness, a bit of cinnamon graham cracker, and raisins.
Wow. A dynamite cigar blend. You can’t beat a Corona for giving its all to the flavor profile. Even a robusto can’t match that intensity.

SECOND HALF:
Smoke time is 40 minutes. I didn’t think it would smoke this slow. Fucking great. I figured it wouldn’t go past 45 minutes for the entire cigar. I’m impressed.

My favorite photo so far.

I’m very glad I chose to review this cigar today.
I was sent some Alec Bradley Enclaves and Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitadas. Those will be my last two reviews for a while.

Manny Mota and Jesus Alou! Man this cigar experience is a knee knocker. Huge flavor profile. Full body to the max. For some reason, I didn’t review the Guerrilla Warfare line. Probably broke…no money. But I did review the Rapture which I found to be a great blend. If I can, I would like to get a hold of the Guerrilla Warfare and review it.

I’m listening to The Doors doing “Gloria.” I don’t remember that on any of their albums.
Oh lord! Now they are playing “Dazed and Confused” by Zep. One of my all-time faves. When I played in my band, Homegrown, back in the early 70’s, we did a shit load of Zep covers. We were lucky to have a singer that could mimic anyone. He did a crack up job doing Robert Plant. So we did an album’s worth of Zep’s music in four sets.
I used to get goose bumps when I would start the song with that famous bass line.

OK. Back to the Viva Republica Advanced Warfare.
Some bitterness shows up. Not good.
Bitterness usually shows as a result of huffing and puffing the cigar too vigorously which I haven’t done. Hopefully, it is a temporary setback.

The Viva Republica Advanced Warfare is super complex. Some flavors have moved to the back of the line.
Here is the list one last time: Spice, chocolate, malt, sweetness, fruit, leather, earthiness, raisins, coffee, creaminess, coffee, and bitterness.

And then just like that, the bitterness dissipates dramatically. Good.
I’m swooning for your love. Or maybe it is just the large dose of nicotine.
This is one strong little firecracker. Full+ body.

The big boldness has dissipated some. The zenith was apparently before the end of the first half. Still a very good cigar but not as exciting anymore.

The char line has behaved during the entire second half.
The Viva Republica Advanced Warfare comes to an end after an hour and 10 minutes.
The bitterness finally disappeared in the last 10 minutes.
This allowed the flavor profile to blossom a bit.

My score would be higher if not for the char line issues and that late bitterness.
I rate it at 90.

PRICE POINT:
Yeah, it is a small cigar but it packs plenty of punch. And the hour and 10 minutes of cigar experience make it worth more than the $6 asking price. Nice to see that Viva Republica isn’t greedy like so many other manufacturers. I wouldn’t try and find it cheaper. This price is good to go.

SUMMARY:
This cigar experience was a real surprise. First, its length of smoke time. And second, the big bowl of flavors.
Construction was very good. No wrapper issues. Just the recurring minor burn line problems.

Right to the end, this was a flavor heavy blend. I imagine that the petit corona must be a real fire cracker. But, generally, I don’t smoke cigars that small. They are good for running errands but that’s about it.

I highly recommend this cigar. The price is right. And you get more than your money’s worth. And there are plenty of online stores carrying both sizes.
I couldn’t find info on its production but based on none of the cigar news services not mentioning this, I have to assume it is a regular production cigar.

And now for something completely different:
(I’ve posted this story a couple times but I have a lot of new readers)

More on Hall of Fame drummer, Hal Blaine. I was doing a session in L.A. that Hal set up for me. We had been playing together for a year now and I had a pretty good handle on nuance. This is a man I idolized from a young teen. And now I was his partner in crime on recordings.

It was a national Chevy commercial. And it was bass heavy. When you do a 60 second commercial, you just don’t play 60 seconds of music. Sometimes, it can last for several minutes. It allows the powers to be to nip and tuck it anyway they want.

The other regular session players were used to seeing me with Hal. And it got me some serious street cred. Carol Kaye, the legendary bassist, came in to say hi because she was in the next studio recording another commercial. She was my bass teacher when I was 19. 13 years earlier. But after some prodding, I got her to remember me.

We were rehearsing and on a break, Carol gave me some wonderful pointers. But she was a pick player and I was a fingers player. So it was a little hard to translate.
Drove me crazy with her lessons using the pick method. I played with a pick early on but she made you focus on the up or down stroke of the pick for each note. You have no idea how hard that is. Play this note with an up stroke..the next two notes with down strokes, etc.

The three of us were huddled together in a corner of this massive studio that housed a 24 piece band plus strings. It was like Abbey Road, or EMI Studios.
Since this was a union gig, we had ordained breaks and this one had ended (Hal got me into the union). I got back into position and in walked Neil Diamond. He made a beeline to Hal as Hal played on most of Diamond’s early stuff. I was awe struck. Back then, Diamond hadn’t gone all Elvis in Vegas yet. And he was pumping out hits one after the other. He was a really big deal.

Hal, always the gentleman, introduced me to Neil. And Neil was very gracious taking the time to kibitz with me for a couple minutes. I was a pig rolling in my own excrement. Neil sat next to us on a stool while we went back to playing. And I kept seeing him out of the corner of my eye as he watched me play. And then I hit a clam. Oh shit. The band leader stopped everyone and gave me a stern lecture. I was so embarrassed. But the cool players knew I was enamored with Diamond and that’s why I wasn’t concentrating.

Diamond sat there until our next break. He said his good byes and split. I was glad. He made me nervous. Hal gave me some suggestions on a certain part of the tune. Think of Joe Osborne he told me. I nodded with a big smile. Joe played on all the Simon & Garfunkel tunes, including “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Along with Hal. Joe was an expressive bassist and often stole the spotlight.

We got back into the tune and I changed my style a bit and vamped on some of the transitions. I was afraid to look at the band leader but when I did, he smiled at me. Whew.

The session lasted four hours. When we were done, I was soaked in sweat. I was playing commercial rock and roll and this was not my forte.

Hal had a cartage company pack his drums. It only took me 5 minutes to pack my gear. The band leader came over and told me that he was worried when he saw I played fretless but there were no worries or mistakes and I got a pat on the back…and a wink.

We were about to leave when he handed me a piece of paper. It was Neil Diamond’s phone number and I was told to call it. I was floored and, at first, thought it was a joke.

I called a couple times and spoke to a secretary. Neil never called me back. But that’s OK. That studio experience was thrilling for me and I figured I’d have a nervous breakdown if he asked me to play with him.

I got a nice message from Carol yesterday:
“I’m sorry for your illness Phillip, good that you’ve had a good career.
Take care,
Carol Kaye”

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican Olor
Filler: Piloto Cubano (Aged 7 Years), Nicaraguan (Jalapa)
Size: 6 x 54 “Grand Toro”
Body: Medium
Price: $10.00 MSRP

Today we take a look at the Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: Tamboril, Dominican Republic
From the PDR web site:
“Our factory has been in motion now for 10 wonderful years. Our goal for this blend was to create something different to salute all the hard work that everyone at PDR Cigars has put forward. This is a mild to medium body blend that we are proud of, as we move right into the next 10 years!”

DESCRIPTION:
This is a big stout stick. Reminds me of the Casa Fernandez Miami Reserva in color. A light/medium brown with hints of honey color in the sunlight.
Seams are tight. Not too many veins. Solid. Smooth as silk. Perfect triple cap. And the double cigar bands. The green on white background is gorgeous. Although it has an uncanny resemblance to the Drew Estate Herrera Esteli Norteño.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Robusto 5 x 52 $9.00 MSRP
Grand Toro 6 x 54 $10.00 MSRP
Wide Churchill 5.125 x 58 $11.00 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
The shaft gives off aromas of spice, orange zest, earthy tobacco, wood, baking spices.
The clipped cap and foot give off aromas of dark cocoa, strong spice, herbal notes, earthiness, wood, clove, and cedar.
The cold draw presents flavors of chocolate, spice and citrus.

FIRST THIRD:
I read a few reviews and there is a common thread running amongst them. What is that thread? That the cigar is a disappointment. Almost every review said they wanted to like the cigar but it just didn’t perform as expected. Since I have only one other cigar review that I will do tomorrow, I chose to do the “supposed let-down” blend first; and then the winner last. Go out on a high note.

Let’s light ‘er up.
Good draw for such a packed cigar.

Very heavy and difficult to balance on my lips and not my teeth. I’ve kicked the chomping habit for good.
Strength starts at medium body. There is a touch of red pepper. A bit of creaminess and chocolate. And a well-rounded earthiness along with some cedar and molasses.

The char line is spot on.

I would like to thank the generous reader that sent me a 5 pack of the Flores y Rodriguez 10 Anniversary Reserva Limitada and a 5 pack of AJ Fernandez Enclave. It was totally anonymous with the return address an online cigar I shall not mention. No packing slip. Thanks, mate. Cheers!

The flavor profile has sort of stopped in its tracks. I’m not a fan of PDR cigars. Abe Flores has put out a few good blends but on the whole, he aims at the bundle buying market with substandard blending techniques. I can’t blame him. He found his niche. But the experienced palate is not what he aims for. I liked the AFR-75, the Flores y Rodriguez, and the Serie Privada line. But that’s it. His PDR blends just don’t have a sophisticated flavor profile. But if you go to the PDR web site, you will see a whole list of highly rated blends. So who am I to judge?

And this fancy shmancy cigar that is gorgeous in presentation and cigar bands is beginning to taste like any other PDR blend. Blah.

And then, like the schmuck I am, flavors begin to bloom. Other reviewers go back and remove their stupid comments. Not me. I want you to know how stupid I am. Good for the soul to keep me humble. Plus I do it in real time which maybe only 25% of reviewers follow suit in.

I’m getting a mild steak sauce flavor. I can’t tell if it is A-1, Worcestershire, or Heinz 57.
Plus, the flavors begin to find some complexity. Wow. Wasn’t expecting that as this is my second cigar. I smoked a week after receipt.

The char line continues on its path of righteousness.
Here they are: Spice, creaminess, cocoa, cedar, earthiness, toffee, and steak sauce (tomato, raisin, malt, apple, orange, herbs, and a touch of balsamic vinegar).

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 30 minutes.
The Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada is turning out to be better than I had expected.
Strength is medium/full.

It is flavorful. Much more so than the reviews I read. But then I review first thing in the morning when it is my first cigar of the day. Plus, I’ve had the cigar in my humidor for a month. So many reviewers want to be the first on the block with a review and therefore smoke the cigar green.

Sweet Spot 1.0 kicks in. Beautiful. A warm, cozy blend of subtle and nuanced flavors with just about a touch of everything in the kitchen sink.

Complexity has fully kicked in. It is definitely steak sauce. I went years without tasting steak sauce in a cigar. Yet, in the last year, I’ve tasted numerous cigar blends with this flavor profile. How interesting. Maybe I’m just hungry. But then I never use steak sauce on a good steak. Might as well put ketchup on a Chicago hot dog.

Phooey on all those reviewers who are used to only smoking the finest cigars around because either they can afford to buy them or because they are in the pocket of the manufacturers…which I would like to be, of course. But not at the price they force you to pay: A rave review every time.

So some reviewers just get used to being cigar snobs. I’m one. I cannot stand the $2-$3 bundle brands. Might as well smoke hay. But then I don’t have to smoke expensive cigars. There are plenty of good inexpensive smokes out there as “The Katman’s List of 143 Great Cigars in the $5.00-$6.50 Range” shows you. As well as “The Katman’s Best 187 Boutique Brands/Blends in the $6-$9.50+ Range’ does too.

The Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada is a lovely cigar.
It makes a quantum leap in the flavor profile department by blossoming even more and becoming more complex. The blend is super creamy and delicate.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is an hour.
Strength remains at medium/full body.

I’m digging this cigar. The malt becomes more definitive: Biscuit Malt, Caramel Wheat Malt, and Mild Ale Malt. (See Malt Chart).
Here they are: Creaminess, coffee, caramel, nuts, toasty, spice, chocolate, steak sauce, cedar, and a rich earthy tobacco element.

I expected this blend to be stronger. It wavers between medium and medium/full.

Once again, the construction has performed beautifully. Only one minor burn line touch up and that was more for a nice photo than actually necessary.

Sweet Spot 2.0. I love the transitions that the Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada makes. Like a ball rolling in the grass, it swerves and bounces, the flavors do the same by making unexpected turns that delight the palate.
But to be honest, it is very similar to the PDR A. Flores 1975 Serie Privada Natural. This is a great cigar that I would love to have in my rotation. And not surprisingly, the same price range. Is the Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada a better blend? Not too sure. They are so similar. I’ve smoked both the Natural and Maduro versions of the Serie Privada but only reviewed the maduro so I can’t go back and read my thoughts on a cigar I didn’t review. My bad.

It is amazing how different our palates are from one another. Other reviewers gave it a so so rating while a few really dug the cigar as I do. The ones that liked it were the smaller guys like me. I take a gander at Google and it turns out very few reviewers wrote about this cigar. Hmmm…wonder why? It hasn’t been out that long after its debut at IPCPR this summer. But still…

Bam! The cigar hits full body like a 2 x 4 to the head.
The steak sauce element takes over the flavor profile.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is one hour 30 minutes.
Nicotine kicks like a mule.

I have enough trouble focusing. And for chrissakes, go to Go Fund Me and stop being such Scrooges. I need help. You like reading my reviews? Consider this a PBS drive. I can’t make the medical payments on my own. I need you help lift the load. Just $10 from everyone will make a huge difference in my life. I’ve got $185 towards my August 1 payment of $800 and at this rate, I won’t make it.
Thanks to the readers that have donated. They understand compassion. By the way, your contribution is tax deductible. Does that help?

OK. Back to the Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada.
Swimmingly good cigar blend.

I have no idea what the other reviewers were smoking..the ones that were disappointed.
I smoked one a week after I got them and it tasted like what they reported. Case closed.

I’ve had to really slow down between puffs. Nicotine.

Charlotte and I are very excited. She starts her new job at Buddy Squirrel on September 21. She will work 10-4 M-F. This means no more going to bed at 8 or 9 pm. No more getting up at 4:30. And no more back breaking strenuous cleaning.
AND…she gets 40% off of anything they sell. Their sugar free chocolates go for $32 per lb. Ouch. But I can finally get to eat really good chocolate instead of the cheap crap. You should take a look at the Buddy Squirrel web site. They are family owned and only in the Milwaukee area.

Back to business.
The chocolate is gone. So have the coffee, citrus, and the caramel. Leaving: Nuts, toasty, steak sauce, malt, cedar, earthy tobacco, and spice. The steak sauce and malt are doing the heavy lifting.

I found a post (October, 2012) about my time as Eddie Munster’s manager back in the early 80’s. It’s pretty long and I will prepare it for tomorrow. Good story. Lots of dirt and the inside track of what it is like to do a rock video in several locations.

The last 1-1/2” is just cruising. Transitions are minimal. Flavors have dropped out.
But still, a good cigar.

OK. Here is my score. I rate it an 89.

The Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada finishes very full bodied with a boat load of nicotine.
It’s not harsh or bitter or hot.
Final smoke time is just shy of two hours.

PRICE POINT:
The Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada is a good cigar. No doubt. Lots of complexity. Loads of flavor. But $10.00? Hmmm…I don’t know. I guess a commemorative cigar blend will be expensive. But these days, $10 is not out of the ordinary. I took a look at Cbid and they are going for about half the MSRP. So yes, this cigar is definitely worth $5-$6.

SUMMATION:
I came into this review fearing the worst after reading other reviews. Timing is everything. Sometimes a few days of humi time can make all the difference in the world.
The cigar started out bland but came to its senses fairly quickly.
Then it was a barrage of great flavors and intensity. A nice complexity. Good balance. And a long finish.
Would I buy it for $10? Probably not. I would definitely consider it on Cbid for half the price. Clearly, the street cred for this cigar ain’t so hot or it wouldn’t be going for half the price.
I am going to review the AJ Fernandez Enclave tomorrow. It is a $6-$7 cigar and going for as much as $9 on Cbid. Idiots can really screw things up for the rest of us.
If you can score a 5 pack for $25, do it.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado
Binder: African Cameroon
Filler: AJ Fernandez Select Nicaraguan, AJ Fernandez Nicaraguan Piloto Cubano
Size: 6 x 52 “Toro”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $6.32 MSRP (Note: Prices are going nuts on Cbid with people bidding $9.00 or more for the Toro or just about every other size. So beware)

Today we take a look at the new Enclave by A.J. Fernandez.

BACKGROUND:
Debuted at the 2015 IPCPR trade show.
Factory: Tabacalera Fernandez
From the A.J. Fernandez web site:
“The spirit of the Enclave cigar lays within the special brotherhood created by those who enjoy a great cigar. Rich Habano Rosado Wrapper from Ecuador compliments the decadent Cameroon Binder.
The AJF Piloto Cubano and AJF Select Nicaraguan Fillers greets the cigar aficionado with notes of pepper, spice, cedar, and cinnamon.”

DESCRIPTION:
A stout looking stick packed solid and the color of milk chocolate with an oily, silky wrapper. Invisible seams, minimal veins, impeccable triple cap, and a beautiful main cigar band.
The band is literally a mural of the old west with American Indians riding like the wind. Also, but puzzling, are a series of silver coins with symbols on them too small to see. Maybe a reader can help me out with this.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Robusto: 5 x 52 $6.44 MSRP
Toro: 6 x 52 $6.32 MSRP
Figuardo: 6.5 x 52 $6.51 MSRP
Churchill: 7 x 52 $6.38 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I get aromas of chocolate, coffee, cedar, spice, and roasted nuts.
From the clipped cap and foot (It has a closed foot and I clip it as I clipped the cap), I can smell strong cocoa, strong espresso, and strong pepper.
The cold draw presents a mix of chocolate nuttiness (Read: Candy bar), a touch of creaminess, and cedar.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is a bit tight. I give it the Katman Rub and Tug massage therapy and it loosens up but not enough. So I grab my cigar awl and discover that at the cigar band level, there is a plug that I do away with. Now we are hunky dory.

But it is a very heavy cigar and two things I predict: First, a long slow roll. And second, a real bitch trying to hold it between my lips while typing.

I smoked one of these and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This being my second one a week later, I have high hopes.
The start of the cigar expresses spiciness, chocolate, roasted nuts, cedar, a bit of creaminess, cinnamon, nutmeg, earthiness, and leather.

Good start. But it took about 3 minutes before it really kicked in. I was worried for a moment but then I tend to forget what I am worried about. LOL. Really. I ran an errand yesterday to pick up my daughter’s car and when I got home, I couldn’t figure out how to unlock the door. How humiliating. But I got it after just a minute or two. It’s sort of like taking acid without all the fun.

The creaminess takes on a cream cheese element that is just delicious. Almost like New York cheesecake.
The char line is doing fine. So am I.
Strength is a solid medium body.

This is a value priced cigar coming from the brain of AJ. And as such, shows the signs and symptoms of a bit of old school blending. I’ve had the samples sent to me by the folks at AJ Fernandez for a while now. Normally, an AJ stick would be pumping out big and bold flavors. Now? Meh… It’s OK. But methinks I must wait til the end of the first third before life is pumped into the blend. “It’s Alive! It’s Alive!”

I’m having some minor touch up issues. But dry boxing is tricky as it has been very hot and humid here; even with the A/C running 24/7. I’ve run hot since I was a skinny kid. Charlotte runs cold, the skinny bitch, and wears two layers of clothing and a bathrobe while lounging at home. Me? I wear skimpy shorts and a T shirt. The T shirt doesn’t cover my belly and I have a really hairy belly button. How is that for a photo that you will never get out of your brain pan?

Absolutely no change in the flavor profile almost 1-1/2” in.
It might possibly be that the Enclave by A.J. Fernandez needs a few months to blossom. BTW- The Fernandez folk call the cigar Enclave by AJ Fernandez not AJ Fernandez Enclave. Petty, but accurate.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
Well, here I am and the blend finally makes its move. A full third of blah-ness. Now we are on the fast track to a really good blend.

So here they are ladies and germs: Chocolate, spice, creaminess, roasted nuts, malt, cinnamon, raisin, nutmeg, cedar, caramel, sweetness, earthiness, peat, and espresso.

So far, this is not a complex blend. The balance is so so. And the finish is short.
I swear that the stick I smoked a week ago was better than this one…AND it was part of a long day of cigar smoking. Go figure, Bubbelah.

Strength seems to want to make that Grand Canyon jump from medium body to medium/full any moment.
Flavors are much bolder now. Complexity has settled in for the long haul. The balance is much better and now has a long, chewy finish.

Graham cracker enters stage right completing the cheesecake component.

Now what about the malt? We have Special B Malt, Peated Malt, and Flaked Oats Malt. (See Malt Chart). I still can’t believe I’ve smoked cigars this long without understanding how important the malt element is. Whenever I discussed the elusive “It” factor, I was talking about malts.

Back to the Enclave by AJ Fernandez.
Just before the end of the first third, the sun came out really highlighting the oily wrapper. I love the sun. Here in Milwaukee, we are only 7 weeks away from deadly cold and no sun. Last winter was pretty mild. Fingers crossed for the same this year.
The Enclave by AJ Fernandez is screaming laughter now. Great big flavors.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is an hour.
The Enclave by AJ Fernandez is cruising now. Medium/Full bodied. With the desire to hit full body. Big, bountiful flavor list.

We have finally hit the Sweet Spot. Man, a killer blend. I suppose with more humidor time that I allowed, this would have happened in the first third.
Nicotine rises from the dead.

I want to take this moment to thank Miguel Castro for his donation to the Katman’s Medical Fund. I need more readers to be kind and generous.

Minor touch ups no longer are needed. Perfect construction. No wrapper issues.

A sip of water and a long puff on the Enclave by AJ Fernandez and we are at Disneyland on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
Growing up only 20 minutes from the park made visiting there a frequent event. It was inexpensive. And back in the day, you bought ticket books you used for the rides. They were notated by letters: A,B,C,D, and E. A being the cheapest ride. And E for the big exciting rides or attractions. If you ran out, there were ticket booths strewn across the park so you could buy more tickets for an arm and a leg. But still, it was all financially feasible.
You save your A ticket for the Abe Lincoln exhibit. Great way to take a nap.

Here they are: Spice, Malts, creaminess, cinnamon, raisin, roasted nuts, cedar, coffee, caramel, sweetness, earthiness, and peat.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is 90 minutes.
Sweet Spot 2.0
The Enclave by AJ Fernandez is really full bodied now. With loads of nicotine. Whoa.
This last two minutes is going to be a doozy.

Leave it to AJ not to be greedy. But apparently, this cigar is so popular that people bidding on Cbid have lost their minds and common sense. They are over paying so much that they could have bought them anywhere at retail prices and paid less.

The Enclave by AJ Fernandez is a Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride all unto itself.

This was a fun cigar to review. When I’m done, I am going to make myself some frozen waffles and get rid of the wooziness from the nicotine. I never eat before a review so as not to affect my palate. And of course, I pay the price for that.
I like that the spiciness has remained strong throughout the cigar experience. I’m a spice junkie.

Kendall Culbertson, owner of The Outlaw Cigar Co., told me he had a lot of trouble convincing his mentors that he wanted spice in his cigars. They told him that spice is a product of unfinished fermentation and has no business being in a good cigar. He convinced them that the general public loved spicy cigars. Eventually, they relented.

If you want to experience a fantastic, spicy cigar, you have to try the Black Powder by The Outlaw Cigar Co. I still have a few left from the samples that Kendall sent me and they are killers.

I use a free software program online to place my watermark on my photos. I hate Sundays. It seems that everyone and his brother are using the service and just overloads their server so I had to use a different watermark service today.

The Enclave by AJ Fernandez continues to get stronger and stronger with each puff. The spiciness is really strong as well. My lips are burning. A little too much of a good thing.
Yet, remarkably, the flavors are all intact.

Cinnamon moves up the line right behind the spiciness doubling the effect.
The nicotine has calmed down a bit. I can focus now. The laptop screen is no longer a sea of swarming simbas.
Transitions were really in force with the Enclave by AJ Fernandez at the start of the second third. Constant change. And deep complexity.

I haven’t read any other reviews. In fact, I could only find a couple of them. Cigar Coop gave the cigar a 92. And I’m probably in agreement. Yet, he and I had a completely different experience with our assessments.

It is always a good idea to check around with as many reviews as possible before purchasing a cigar. Every palate is different. Try to find a reviewer who has a similar palate to yours.

I got some baby back ribs on sale at Walmart yesterday. Haven’t had ribs in a long time. I don’t have a BBQ set up so I do it my way. I slow bake the ribs with a dry rub on 210° for about 8-10 hours.
I remove the ribs and let them cool a bit. I cut them in half and use my ridged cast iron pan to then fry them a bit with sauce. It gives the ribs some char streaks and embeds the sauce. Good to go. The meat just falls off the bone.

Back to the Enclave by AJ Fernandez.
It finishes nicely. No harshness, no heat, no bitterness.
I concur with Cigar Coop. The Enclave by AJ Fernandez deserves a 92.
I highly recommend this cigar. Absolutely worth buying a box or two.
Final smoke time is two hours 5 minutes.

PRICE POINT:
You can easily make this a regular rotation cigar. At these prices, there are no barriers. Except for availability.
If AJ were greedy, coming out of the 2015 IPCPR trade show, he could have charged double for this blend. But he didn’t. Kudos AJ.
Don’t fuck around with Cbid. The other bidders will scalp you. No pun intended. Soon, you should see the Enclave by AJ Fernandez on the online stores that allow a 10% discount.

SUMMATION:
I had the Enclave by AJ Fernandez for a few weeks before today’s review. It needs a little more time for the Toro. The robusto may age a little quicker. I recommend two months humidor time.
For my palate, it was wonderful. Very tasty. Lots of transitions. Complex.
But the Enclave by AJ Fernandez ain’t for newbies. Too strong. The experienced palate will love it.
The price is right. If I had the dough, I would buy two boxes.
It’s a regular production cigar so everyone online has them. I imagine the same goes for B & M’s.

Well, dear readers…this was my last cigar. So…..

And now for something completely different:
1983
The Hardship of Filming an Eddie Munster Music Video- “Whatever Happened to Eddie?”

PINE KONE LOGO (The name of my production company)

We had both songs of the 45 single recorded and the master passed on to the record company for pressing and distribution. We did the promo photos ourselves with the assistance of a real pro.
Now we needed a “rock video”

Mind you, this was 1983. God help us… the crap that was out there…and we were going to add to it. The following was the top 10 songs of the 1980’s.
1.Love Shack – B-52s
2. What I Like About You – Romantics
3. Dancing With Myself – Billy Idol
4. Rock The Casbah (Mustapha Dance) – the Clash
5. Antmusic – Adam and the Ants
6. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
7. Train In Vain (Stand By Me) – the Clash
8. Just Like Heaven – The Cure
9. Situation – Yaz (Yazoo)
10. Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel

Butch was parking cars for his dad at a casino in Gardena, CA. He was certainly down on his luck…and prime for molding. I had a studio… and a mutual friend. It became a project.

The film crew was led by famous cinematographer, Marvin Rush. He filmed most of the Star Trek series and movies….as well as TV shows: “Bob Newhart” and “TAXI.” He went on to film some of the Star Trek movies. And he was mine for free because he was intrigued about the project. At this time, Butch wasn’t doing promotional overkill with signing conventions, and the such, like he does today. He had just disappeared.

We were a day away from filming at mortuary and I hadn’t written the shooting script yet. There was no story. So, at some point in the evening, I did a line of coke and sat on the recording studio couch with a legal pad and pen. In 25 minutes, the script was done. I tweaked it a bit, but it pretty much was canonized.

I catered the shoot at the mortuary. The mortuary was the biggest chain in Southern California and the kid that worked there gave us permission to shoot later in the evening. Except, as it turned out, he didn’t have the authorization to allow us to do so.

Marvin, his crew, and film truck, showed up on time. I had arranged to have about 50 extras sitting in the chapel, with a coffin with Butch in it, for our first shot. We had already scoped out the place and I jotted down notes for the angles, etc.

MARVIN RUSH TODAY

As Howard sat up a nice Kosher buffet, the extras rolled in. It was a full-on Jewish deli. Everyone was excited. So was I. Until I noticed that children were coming in. I blew my lid. I screamed at the crowd, “Who brought children into this mortuary?”

Hands raised. I took them aside and asked them if they were fucking crazy? I told them to leave…and they did, unhappily. We had the first shot set up, the extras in the pews, the smell of brisket and corned beef wafting in the air and the “Monsters” in full make up.

Just before I yelled, “Action,” a bunch of goons stormed the mortuary, with baseball bats, threatening to beat the hell out of me and everyone else if we didn’t get our asses out immediately. I grabbed the kid who gave us approval and he admitted that he didn’t ask his betters if it would be OK? So, instead, he bragged about it at the mortuary to his co-workers and they formed a scheme to bush whack us.

One of the goons asked who was in charge? I stepped forward and as I did, I felt something hard trying to crush the back of my skull. A fight broke out. The goons were outnumbered. so they called the cops. We managed to get everyone out, the film crew packed up and burned rubber and we were all gone before the cops showed. Harvey was the only one still there, trying to pack up his delicious food, and miscellaneous shit. The cops tried to arrest him but he talked his way out of it, made them brisket sandwiches, and he split.

We were in big trouble. I ended up at the E.R, and got some stitches. All the while.., trying to figure an alternate plan. I assured Marvin we would get this right and please don’t bail on me. He was a great guy and said he would follow me to San Quentin, if necessary, to get this done.

THIS IS OUR CINEMATOGRAPHER GETTING ANGLES FOR THE SHOOT.

The next day, I took a ride to the Princess Louise, docked at San Pedro Harbor. It was an old, 3 deck private yacht, that had been transformed into a tourist attraction. Two restaurants and a chapel on top. I met with the chaplain and negotiated a fee of $200. It was a lock. We shook hands and moved to the next step. The filming on the boat would take place about 4 days later. I used that time to do another dangerous shot.

HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL

There is a line in the song that Eddie sings that says, “I got up and split from school.” So we headed to Hollywood High on Sunset Blvd. Butch managed to borrow John Travolta’s Trans Am that George Barris was doing some customization on. The only way we could have the car was if George provided the driver. No problem.

We had no permit for filming. No permit. Let me say that again: NO PERMIT!!

I did this shot without extras. But still, my crew was large….maybe 25 people. 4 of us had walkie-talkies and were positioned strategically around the shoot. It was 7PM. Night school was in session.

The shot was to have Butch run down the steps of this ancient school wearing a graduation gown and cap and jump into the Trans Am. He then peeled rubber, did a couple of fish tails, and headed down Hollywood Blvd. Cut.

The steps were at the front of the main entrance. It was lighted nicely. A huge class was going on just above on the second floor. 75 people had moved to the windows to see what was happening. The streets started to flood with onlookers.
I was the director. I was in charge. Huge klieg lights lit the area to be shot.
“ACTION!!”

We did several takes. And then one of the guys, on a walkie talkie, called me and said cops were driving up to check things out. I put a temp hold on production while I watched 3 squad cars slowly drive to where I stood in the middle of Hollywood Blvd.

They got out of their cruisers and stood beside their cars. Not a word. Obviously, they assumed we had a permit because no one would have the balls to shut down this heavily trafficked area.

I said “Action” for the last time…the shot went without a hitch, and then I yelled “Cut and… Print!!”
Everything went perfectly. We quickly packed up. Applause came from everywhere. It was deafening. Even the cops were clapping.

We got into our vehicles and headed over to the Brown Derby where I treated everyone for dinner.
We would be ready for the Princess Louise…..I just needed to make a visit to Cassandra the Casket Queen.

I got the L.A. Yellow Pages out and searched. There she was. Casandra the Casket Queen. Butch and I took a ride to her beat-up Hollywood home. No furniture except for a bedroom. The place was laden with real caskets but painted in psychedelic colors. Wild. Crazy. Nuts! Cool! Perfect!

We negotiated a rate for renting 5 of them for one night. Butch called George Barris, the car customizer to the Stars, and asked to borrow 2 hearses. We managed to shove all of the caskets inside.

We parked it at my house in Long Beach. The shoot at the Princess Louise in San Pedro was set for that night. Everything was lined up. People were paid off…either in cash or coke. Marvin Rush, the cinematographer, was set to meet us there at 6PM. Our makeup artist would be there on time, or so she promised.

Even my financial backer would be there. He was an ex-San Quentin con that was a big dealer of cocaine. He and I became good friends because I wasn’t a mooch. Everyone around him constantly hung on the hope of hand-outs. I never asked. And for the most part, I turned his offers of a toot down. One little snort and I was good for hours…whereas, his hangers on needed a toot every 20 minutes. And I just didn’t like the shakes it gave you if you did too much. I was the only one in his life like that. And more importantly, we liked each other. Rick was a big bear of a man who you wanted on your side. Never betrayed his trust. Another story there.
• * * *
We stood outside the boat waiting for everyone to assemble. Rick had driven his Rolls Royce. So that was our focal point for assembly.

THE EXTRAS

Once everyone was there, around 100 people including extras, I went up to the chapel to finalize and make sure we were set….I met with the chaplain and he was sweating bullets. He was dressed in his captain’s clothes. Looked very cool.
Standing next to him was a dapper man that I had never seen. He OWNED the boat and told me we could not use it because the chaplain had no authority.

Fuck! Shit! Piss! Cunt! Cock! Screw! Motherfucker! Motherfucker!
NOT AGAIN!!

He told me to calm down and told me that for $4000 we could use his chapel for filming.

$4000. If I fucked this up, Marvin would bail on me and the whole project would go up in smoke. I ran down to Rick and told him. Rick, at first, offered to tune this guy up. I told him no. I asked Rick for $2000 in cash. I would go home and get my $2000. Rick did not like this one bit but got into his Rolls and headed for Torrance to get his dough. I headed to Long Beach.

An hour later, Rick and I handed the guy his $4000. Then…..he said, “I’ve changed my mind. I want $6000. And in a blur of fists, the owner of the Princess Louise lay on the floor moaning, bleeding, and probably wondering what happened to him?
Rick had no truck for cheats. A person’s word is everything and this guy was a hustler. He tried to hustle us so Rick spanked him. We all helped the owner up to a chair and Rick whispered in his ear. I could not hear what he said… And Rick never told me what he whispered to the owner. I think it was better that way.

We started loading the equipment up a ramp and 3 decks to the top of the boat and into the chapel.
The last thing we took upstairs was the outrageous caskets..

This had to be the funniest thing I had ever seen…worthy of a Mel Brooks movie…..The second deck had a swanky restaurant on it and the only stairs to the chapel was inside the eatery. We held 5 caskets like pall bearers through a crowded restaurant…”Oh..excuse me….sorry…may I get through there please?”, etc. You could hear utensils drop to the plates. You could hear 50 people inhaling but not exhaling. No one blinked. I wish I had filmed, or at least taken photos, of that. It was priceless.

I handed Marvin the latest shooting script. One of his guys looked at it and said, “No way. 31 scenes???” Marvin immediately chastised him for questioning the director, me.

Our song was exactly 2 minutes long. We had already filmed the high school which accounted for 2 edits that lasted 2 seconds each. In all, the script had 33 scenes. That was an average of 4 seconds per edit.
And I had to do it that night. I would not have Marvin again because of his schedule.

We started filming around 8PM and finished at 6AM. I got every scene I wanted and got them in no more than two takes. I improvised on the fly as situations presented themselves. The out-takes are hysterical.

The last scene has Butch sitting by a lagoon with the moon reflecting on the water. We had only minutes before the sun rose. We ran down to the shore by the boat mooring. Butch sat next to a small body of sea water…pebbles and rocks. There was no moon that night but the Cosmic Muffin smiled on me that night. There was a light standard on the boat dock and the light from it was reflected in the water looking exactly like the moon.
“Action!” Cut!” “Print!”

We were done. Marvin took me aside…the man that went on to become the cinematographer of the many Star Trek series and some of the movies…..and told me that he thought that it would be impossible to get all the shots I had written down, but we did it and he patted me on the back and hugged me. I broke down. The stress of this shoot had finally hit home.
My adrenaline was running high. The night started with a hundred people. At 6AM, there was maybe 15 left. I offered breakfast but we were so tired that we just wanted to sleep.

Oh no. I had to take the caskets back. So we loaded them into the 2 hearses and I drove it to Cassandra’s with a few guys. We unloaded them, I dropped people off, and headed home. The hearse stayed parked in my driveway all day while I slept with a smile.

The next part will be the torturous editing of the video, the fight with Rocshire Records, and the illegal bribing of radio stations and distributors. Then the fall of Rocshire Records to the F.B.I.

BUTCH SLAPPING ME WITH A LEMON MERINGUE PIE FOR A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO TO BE SHOWN AT THE HOLLYWOOD PALACE ON HALLOWEEN.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Sun Grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 6 x 54 “Toro-Box Pressed”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $13.33 by the box of 12/$15.00 by the 4 Pack (See Cbid Pricing Below)

I can’t give this up. I tried. But this makes me happy. With the generous help of a few readers, I have enough cigars to review for a while.
Thanks to Miguel Castro for today’s cigar.

Today we take a look at the Ave Maria Divinia.

BACKGROUND:
Ave Maria is the brain child of my hero AJ Fernandez. The man has almost never let me down. His blends fit my palate like a glove. And this cigar is no different.

The cigar comes in individual coffins. The Ave Maria brand is only available from the CI Conglomerate.
The Ave Maria Divinia is so new that it is not included on the Ave Maria web site.

This is all I could find on the Cigar.com web site:
“In typical Ave Maria fashion, Divinia starts off with an elegant presentation. Quite the display, each cigar is housed in individual coffins and extravagant wood boxes of 12. As for the blend, well-aged Cuban-seed Nicaraguan long-fillers are topped with an oily Nicaraguan Sun-Grown wrapper and box-pressed to perfection, resulting in a perfect draw and slow, even burn. A very Cubanesque and highly complex blend, Ave Maria Divinia begins with a refined character then takes your senses on an incredible ride between the contrasting highly aromatic flavor profile and mellow balance not typically seen in a medium to full-bodied platform. The strength slowly builds as you enjoy the cigar and rich, savory notes of earth, coffee, cocoa, and nuts intermingle throughout the entire experience.”

For some reason, there are only a few reviews of this cigar. It’s cost? Maybe.

DESCRIPTION:
This is one of the most beautiful cigars I’ve seen. It has a flawless box press. Invisible seams. Very few veins. The wrapper is a semi-oily medium russet brown. Smooth as silk. The only detractor is a sloppy triple cap. Solid, baby, solid stick.
The double cigar bands are gorgeous. The main band reminds me of the old Gurkha billboards they used on their cigars. There is so much going on that it would take me 15 minutes to describe what I see. Hopefully, a good photo will take care of that for me.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell sweetness, citrus, cedar, earthiness, coffee, and nuts.
From the clipped cap and foot, I smell strong coffee, sweetness, citrus, earthiness, and spice.
The cold draw presents flavors of fruit, sweetness, cedar, coffee, and earthiness.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is spot on. I’m enshrouded in a cloud of smoke like a Wisconsin rain storm.

First flavors up: Red pepper, chocolate, coffee, roasted nuts, cedar, and earthy tobacco. I think Miguel told me samples he sent me had a month of humi time and I’ve had them about 10 days. Can’t remember for sure. But then most AJ Fernandez cigars mature quickly. No waiting for 4+ months like so many other brands.

Ahhh….perfect way to come back to the laptop. SRV playing “Cold Shot” on the cable TV radio. I get up and crank it.
Creaminess appears next. The Ave Maria Divinia is already very complex. Very smooth. Strength is medium+ body. This is exactly what I expect from a $15 cigar. Get to it and do it fast. Don’t waste my time or you will have the Wrath of Khan….er..I mean Kohn.

The char line is doing very nicely, thank you.
A nice multi-tasking sweetness joins the fray: summer fruit, dried fruit, and Crystal/Caramel malt.

The earthiness shares its position with a touch of peat. The Ave Maria Divinia became so complex so quickly that flavors are on a rotating ferris wheel. This is a truly enjoyable cigar blend.

I have enough cigars to last 3 weeks of reviews with more cigars coming from the same wonderful fellas. And I have one devoted reader that lives here in Milwaukee: Bruce Cholka. He dropped some sticks off the other day. We are going to try and get together this Sunday. I can’t wait. Oh…human contact. LOL!

Speaking of which, we finally have a vehicle after several months of being without. My son in law sold us his 2003 Chevy Silverado Z71 4×4 Extended cab with the giant V-8 in it. Perfect shape and condition. It’s like driving a tank. But this is good news for Charlotte. She is scared to death driving in the snow and we get a lot of it here. So now she only has to hit the 4×4 button and she is good to go.

The Ave Maria Divinia is a slow roll. Taking its time. 1-1/2” has taken 20 minutes.
Sweet Spot 1.0. Big, bold, beautiful flavor profile. Yet very simple. So far, it is not a kitchen sink blend. Clearly, it reeks of high premium cigar blend. I’ve tried the Reconquista but I like the Divinia better.

While I mean no disrespect to a faction of reviewers that are able to describe a complete third of a cigar in two sentences, I have no idea how they do that. How do they compress a virtual cigar experience into 25 words? I don’t have the discipline for that.

SECOND THIRD:
And we start the second third with Led Zep’s “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” Doesn’t get better than that.
Smoke time is 35 minutes.

Strength is so smooth that it is difficult to determine strength. Probably touching the hem of medium/full.
A couple new malt influences appear: Aromatic Malt and Brown Malt. Very nice. And they solidify the other flavors by pulling them together in a tight bow.

Now it’s George Thorogood. My long time buddy, Doug Page loved this guy. Mainly because both were from Wilmington, Delaware. Unfortunately, Doug thought he could keep on living the excesses of our youth of champagne and cocaine into his 50’s and it killed him. What a sad loss. He was my friend that most exemplified the Big Lebowski. When he visited, he always had a tumbler of fine Scotch, on the rocks, in his hands. He was our “Dude.”

Here they are: Chocolate, coffee, creaminess, roasted nuts, malt, spice, sweetness, dried fruit, summer fruit, cedar, peat, caramel, and a very earthy tobacco flavor. This is the type of blend where the flavor of the tobacco leaves is strong and very pleasant.

Then the light switch is turned on and we have a strong medium/full body.
This has to be one of the smoothest cigars I’ve smoked. Such a pleasure.
Construction has been on point. No issues whatsoever.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 65 minutes.
Sweet Spot 2.0. Now the flavor profile is flying high. So intense and powerful.

Four main ingredients really lead the pack: Coffee, creaminess, roasted nuts, and malt.
AJ has really outdone himself with the Ave Maria Divinia. Pure manna from the gods.
There is a super long, chewy finish.

I get a lot of emails each day. And this cracks me up. Almost all of them say they tire of hearing a reviewer say that the cigar tastes of earthiness and leather. And that’s it.

Another thing I hear from my readers…Is that they squint to taste the flavors trying to match what I taste. LOL. I do the same thing while I am reviewing a cigar. I’ve got squint lines around my eyes the size of the Grand Canyon. It takes a lot of serious focus to dissect the flavors of a good cigar. And somehow, squinting is a part of that.
I really love that there is a fairly high level of spiciness since the start of the cigar.

LAST THIRD:
The Police are playing and I have the perfect story for the end of the review.
The Ave Maria Divinia moves to full bodied.

And the dreaded Vitamin N follows suit. Oh lord…I still have 2” to go. Crash helmet at the ready.
Flavors are super complex and best described in the photo below.

There is no change in the flavor profile. All accounted for. Except the only difference is that they are so bold, that my yarmulke is spinning on my head.

Yesterday, I got home from being dropped off after I left the kid’s truck at the repair shop. It needed some minor repairs. And God bless those kids, they paid for the whole thing. They even spent $170 to get the truck detailed. This is actually a dream come true. I’ve always wanted a big truck. And now, as I near the point where I can no longer drive, I’ve got one. Murphy’s Law.

But here is where my meandering was going. I stood in front of the door and couldn’t figure out how to open it with my key. I spent 5 minutes trying to open it. It’s a bitch when you are losing your mind.
My dear wife, Charlotte, is a technophobe. And this truck is decked out in every interior gadget known to man. I expect lots of panic attacks from her.

Back to the Ave Maria Divinia.
This is a great cigar. I can’t thank Miguel enough.
The nicotine has leveled out.

It is here that the fruit defines itself: A bit of pineapple, a touch of black grapes, and a smattering of dried mango.
The roasted nuts are raw cashew, almond paste, and Spanish peanuts.

Ever have a Tin Roof sundae? My father got me hooked on them when I was a little guy. Just a scoop of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and covered with Spanish peanuts.
The Ave Maria Divinia finishes in grand style.
Smooth is the Ave Maria Divinia’s theme song. In B Flat Major.
Experienced palates will love it. Newbies will have trouble with the strength.

RATING: 94

PRICE POINT:
I did some checking around and since it is only sold by CI companies, there is no variation on the price. EXCEPT for Cbid. You can get this expensive cigar for around $5.00. That’s a deal.
Is it worth $15? Of course not.

SUMMATION:
I absolutely loved this outing from AJ Fernandez. I’ve liked all the Ave Maria blends but this blend takes the cake.
I think the presentation of individual coffins is a needless affectation. It certainly doesn’t help the price point. I’ve never understood fancy shmancy presentations whether it is the cigar coffin or the fancy cigar box. You just end up throwing them away. I mean, really, how many uses can you find for a cigar coffin?
But strip away all that fol de rol and you find a great cigar beneath it all.

More Rock n Roll:
The Police Chronicles…1983

It was the Hollywood party to celebrate the album “Zenyatta Mondata” going platinum.
I tried to get a hold of Stew, and his brother Miles, but they didn’t take my calls. This was the tip off; but I ignored it.

I had a couple good buddies that were big time L.A. radio disk jockeys. To be honest, they were more my friends because I had to use coke to grease the wheels to get my Eddie Munster single played. But they did their best to appear sincere.
Anyway, Marshall the DJ, asked if I wanted to go the party that I couldn’t get in to. He had a pair of tickets and I gladly went. He would rather take a source for drugs than take his woman.

There must have been 700 people at this party right on the Sunset Strip. I finally found Stew and asked him to come with me and let’s kibitz. He looked like a wild man and said he would be right back. His eyes were dilated to the size of dinner plates.

What I didn’t know at that particular moment was that he was nearly overdosing on cocaine. He had those weird sensations of you must keep moving. One cannot even carry on a conversation whey you are that high. He ran through the party, continuously, like a video game. He kept blowing me off. I got pissed. Marshall told me to calm down.

I found Sting who was wandering around the party. He had some force field around him because no one dared to approach him. I did.
I re-introduced myself and he remembered me. He was kind and generous and we spoke for a few minutes.

Then I found Andy Summers and he remembered me too. Curved Air was a big deal. These guys grew up with the band. He and I talked for a good 20 minutes and found ourselves laughing our asses off. Andy was the most down to earth fella of the band. I gave him a single of “Hound Dog” and he took it. A couple months later, I got a letter from Andy telling me how much he enjoyed talking with me and saying how much he enjoyed the song.

After a couple hours of feeding our faces and drinking for free, I sought out Stew to say good-bye.
He stood still long enough for me to tell him that my record of “Hound Dog” had hit the Top 40.
“Well, let me be the first to congratulate you!”
I told him thanks but he was just about the last person to congratulate me. “See ya chump.”
On the way out, I ran into Miles Copeland. I stopped and he was all smiles. I let him have it and the whole time me poking my index finger in his chest.

Marshall had to pull me off of him.
I left that party fuming.

Hollywood types. All a bunch of phonies. I shared a cheap, tiny flat with Stew in Curved Air and we ate together almost every night. Just him and me. I was the bassist and he was the drummer. We were best friends for over two years.
I was mortified that he outgrew me. How can you treat someone that was at one time so close?

When “Hound Dog” hit the Top 10, I called Stew after he was back in London to tell him. It was the middle of the night for him and I woke him. He mumbled congrats and some other unintelligible things and I said good-bye.
He changed his phone number after that.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habana
Binder: Piloto Cubano
Filler: Piloto Cubano, Criollo 92, Nicaragua Condega Ligero
Size: 6 x 48 “Lord Byron”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $12.00 MSRP

Today we take a look at the new Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015.
I received a 5 pack from an anonymous source. Thank you, sir.

BACKGROUND:
The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 debuted at the 2015 IPCPR trade show.
From the Felipe Gregorio web site:
“A blend of 7 year old tobaccos, aged in cedar trunks. Dense lush smoke that layers the palate with strong earthy tones and a touch of cashew and salty caramel on the finish.”
And:
“Founded in 1990 Felipe Gregorio Cigars, is the true boutique cigar maker, we have stayed small investing in quality and dedication to the cigars we produce. We specialize in limited batch cigars using vintage tobaccos, each blend is unique in its character.”
From owner Philip Wynne:
“As a cigar maker for over 25 years my respect for the origins of the tobacco and genetically pure seeds has led me to pay special attention to the raw material we use.
“What makes a cigar exceptional is the tobacco used in the blend” Like a great wine the leaves used to make a cigar needs to have the identity of its birthplace and the earth it sprung from. The soil brings out the original characteristics of the blend.”

I’ve reviewed the FG Silencio and the FG Refusion but missed out on the 2014 version of this line.

DESCRIPTION:
This is a beautifully mottled cigar. Almost translucent. The wrapper changes colors from a subtle caramel to a coffee bean brown. It is oily and slightly toothy.
Seams are tight. Lots of veins. And a perfectly applied triple cap. The cigar is packed solid without a single soft spot.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Goliath 7.5 x 60 $16.00 MSRP
Caesar 5 x 55 $14.00 MSRP
Lord Byron 6 x 48 $12.00 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell sweet caramel, chocolate, cedar, spice, and lime citrus.
From the clipped cap and foot, I can smell strong baking cinnamon, walnuts, spice, sweetness, and nutmeg. Just like a luscious cinnamon roll.
The cold draw presents flavors of very strong coconut oil, cedar, spice, cinnamon, and earthy notes.

FIRST THIRD:
I smoked one a couple nights ago and was surprised at how intense the flavor of coconut oil was. I’m anxious to see if it repeats.
The draw is super perfect as smoke just pours from the cigar.

First out of the gate is some potent red pepper. Then following the spice is: coffee, sweetness, red pepper, coconut oil, chocolate malt (See Malt Chart), and cedar.
Strength begins at medium/full.

For $12, I expect this blend to come out screaming laughter from the get go. And so far, so good.
Lots of woodiness and nuttiness. Like me. Minus the wood. I’m 65. Any idea how long it’s been since I woke up with a little, or big, pup tent? Don’t ask.

The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 is a very slow roll. I like that.

It also has a very Cuban-esque flavor profile. Maybe further down the line, I can describe it better in terms of which Cuban I’m referring to.

The char line is behaving itself nicely with just a touch of being out of whack.

I found this great, cheap lighter on Amazon. I didn’t read the description thinking it was a small lighter but the little bugger is 4-1/2” tall and comes filled with butane. I’ve had it for two weeks and not a single problem. Single torch flame. No blow torch. Perfect. And the price? $6.95 + free shipping. I bought it for my wife but I liked it so much I popped for one for myself. Here is the link: GStar® TorchZilla Series Windproof Jet Flames Butane Torch Lighter. (Just a simple public service announcement.)

Back to the Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015.
I’ve burned 1” and it took 15 minutes. (The ash gently disengages from the mother ship while sitting in the ashtray.)
Finally, the cable TV radio Classic Rock station is playing its first good song this morning: “8 Miles High” by The Byrds. I love the opening bass line. Learned it as soon as the single came out in the 60’s.

Creaminess makes a bold appearance. And all of the flavors are lifted a couple steps higher in the food chain: Spice, chocolate, creaminess, nuts, coconut oil, sweetness, Chocolate Malt, Coffee Malt, cedar, cinnamon, and earth notes.
Clearly, the Ligero is doing its job nicely.

The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 is now super complex. Nice balance. And a lovely, chewy, long finish.
You know what chewy means don’t you? It is the feeling that the flavors are sticking to your teeth. Strange, huh?
The sun has come out. Lovely.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
It’s been a great 2”. Actually, I believe my wife said that to me on our honeymoon in Palm Springs.

I’ve never been a big Felipe Gregorio fan. The reason? Most of his blends are for online stores and in the bundle racks. Inexpensive cigars for smokers that can’t afford the good stuff or for newbies.
Yet, the Refusion and Silencio were both good cigars.

This Art of Power line is something relatively new. I couldn’t find out if only one cigar per year will be produced or if the FG folks will spread their wings and increase their output?

This is easily the best FG cigar I’ve smoked. Gregorio is showing the smoking world that he can do every bit as well as any blender out there. Kudos Felipe. (Charlotte calls me Felipe Gonzalez-Gonzalez all the time. I’m now immune to it.)
The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 is a grand cigar. There is a touch of RASS in it.

Flavors have mixed their order: Chocolate, coffee, creaminess, spice, coconut oil, sweetness, cinnamon, nuts, Chocolate Malt, Caramel Malt, earth notes, cedar, wood, and raisins.
That is quite the impressive flavor profile. And yes, I did squint my eyes to find those flavors.

The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 needs its first minor char line touch up.
Strength is medium/full+. Any second now, it will hit full body.

A sip of water and the chocolate, creaminess, coffee, malt, and nuts hit my palate like a sea of swarming simbas. This is a cigar blend that is enjoyable with each and every puff. And one you don’t want to end.
This is an expensive cigar but it is actually behaving like one.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 50 minutes.
What surprises me is that this ain’t your normal FG Old School Blend. It is definitely a New Breed concoction. It has two weeks of humi time at the most.

Did you watch the Republican Debates on CNN last night? I watched the JV team in its entirety. But after 90 minutes of the 11 front runners, I got so disgusted that I changed channels. Can you even imagine an idiot like Trump getting the nomination? It would be the worst land slide slaughter since the 1964 election of Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson.

Where was I?
The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 is cruising so to speak. An ever moving roulette wheel of flavors and complexity.
And I love the size. While only 3 sizes were chosen for this blend, I do believe that FG nailed it. Something for everyone. There is something about a 6 x 48 size that really delivers all the cigar has to give.

Construction has been flawless. You can feel, see, and taste the love and focus put into this cigar’s production.
And now we have full body. And a touch of nicotine follows.

This is a glorious cigar. I wish I knew who sent me the 5 pack. I would put him in my will. He must have tried them before picking them for me.
You can see in the photo below how gorgeous this wrapper is.

Here they are: Caramel, chocolate, spice, creaminess, malt, coffee, nuts, sweetness, cinnamon, coconut oil, cedar, wood, raisins, bourbon, vanilla bean, and those wonderful earthy notes.

Charlotte starts her new job at Buddy Squirrel this Monday. Our new (2003) truck is fixed, registered, and ready to go. Today is the first day in 9 weeks that she didn’t have to borrow our daughter’s car to get to work. And the new place is less than half the distance. Since this crew cab truck has the big Z-71 Vortec 6 Liter V-8 engine, it should be a gas hog. But then, we never go anywhere.

The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 is running on all 8 cylinders. (How’s that for the perfect transition?)
The nicotine is being held at bay. Thank goodness.

The cigars came in a box from Small Batch Cigar. I checked and, of course, it is less than everyone is selling them for. Instead of $12.00, it is $10.40. Take away your 10% with your coupon code and it is $9.36. But they have only two sizes: Caesar 5 x 55 and the Lord Byron 6 x 48. But both in 5 packs and boxes and they don’t have very many left. I would stop reading this and snag some. Make sure you tell SBC that the Katman sent you.

A small amount of bitterness shows up. Not good. Fingers crossed it disappears soon.
Otherwise, the Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 is still boom large flavors and complexity. No change to the flavor profile.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is 90 minutes.
I didn’t expect the cigar to last this long.
The red pepper surges. My tongue burns.

The bitterness has totally dissipated. Good thing. Would have affected my rating.
I’m excited because this is only my second cigar from the 5 pack. I have 3 to go. (Happy Dance!)

I got some cigars from a reader but there was no note and I don’t know who sent them. If it was you, email me.

Anyway, there were three blends of Durango Cigars. They are made with pipe tobacco. And run from $7-$10 a pop. There are no definitive markings on the cigar bands so I have no idea which blends I have. Never smoked a pipe tobacco cigar before.

The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 is a very smooth full bodied cigar. I think this would be a great blend for newbies to try out their resistance. And experienced smokers will love it.

The cable TV radio station is playing nothing but duds this morning. For chrissakes…Billy Joel? I really liked his first song, “Piano Man” and then that was all I needed from the man.

The Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 can now be categorized as a spectacular cigar.
Other than a surge of nicotine in the last 1-1/2”, I have no criticisms.

If you haven’t tried it yet, I strongly suggest you do. You will send flowers to your Uncle Katman.
Final smoke time is just over 2 hours.

RATING: 93

PRICE POINT:
These are expensive sticks. Two things affect this pricing. The first is that this is a 15th anniversary cigar commemorating how long FG cigars have been in business so it will be a special cigar. These are limited run sticks but I couldn’t find out how many were produced.
Would I spend $12? Maybe. They are certainly worth it as far as double digit pricing goes. But $9.36 at Small Batch is a steal. I checked Cigar Federation and they don’t carry the cigars.

SUMMATION:
I believe I’ve said it all. Great flavor profile. Complex from the start. Nice balance and wonderful finish.
Even if SBC runs out, there is no shame in paying $12 for the Lord Byron. I’m hesitant to recommend the other two sizes at $14 and $16. That’s a lot of dough. Because it is a limited edition, you won’t find it on Cbid. In fact, I couldn’t find it on any other online store other than SBC. I suppose that select B & M’s might carry them.
But if you get them at a B & M, you will pay retail or more…depending on the states’ taxes.
If I had the dough, I’d snag a box of Felipe Gregorio Art of Power 2015 and hold on to them for dear life.

And now for something completely different (Short but pungent):
This is strictly for you oldsters out there.

1969 or 1970. Can’t remember.
My father’s new bitch of a wife had a friend with connections to CBS Television.

She got us a slew of tickets to TV shows at the time: Smother’s Brothers, Carol Burnett, and many others.
But this story is about the day we visited “Laugh In.”

I took two buddies with me. We had to be there at 2pm. We found the entrance but it was locked and no one else in line.
After 20 minutes, a CBS employee passed by and I stopped him. “Where is the line for Laugh In?
“You’re it.”
We were shocked. About 15 minutes later, they let us in. And not a single other soul.
Big auditorium. We sat in the middle about three rows back.

And there was that famous stage full of props and sets.
The actors were meandering around talking, rehearsing their lines, looking for their marks.

The lights were on in the auditorium and they all saw us and waved and said hello. We waved back and said hello.
“Laugh In” was taped over two days. Apparently, each day was at least 12 hours long.

Taping began. All the things you remember about the show happened right before our eyes.
But they did the bits over and over and over. The actors kept cracking jokes out of character. It took forever to do a 30 second sketch.

One of the actors was JoAnne Worley. A big woman with a huge Ethel Merman voice. Very funny lady.
An hour in, she came up to where we were and sat next to us kibitzing.

The director was in a booth hidden away above us. We could only hear his voice, never saw him.
He kept yelling for Worley to get on stage. She yelled back profanities.

Finally, she got up, kissed us all on the cheek, and got on stage.

I had to pee. I went to the front of the stage and asked where the bathroom was? I was told it was backstage. So I climbed the stairs to the stage and walked through the hallway where the dressing rooms were and found the head. I ran into Dan Rowan who said hello. He said to me, “I’m Fred Farkas.” I had no idea what he was talking about. Turns out that a couple of weeks later, the Farkas family would be a running sketch.

After 3 hours, we were toast. It was fun for a while but now it was boring so we left.

At the Carol Burnett show, she came out before taping began and let the audience ask questions. I raised my arm but was never chosen. Thank God. I was going to ask her if her parents had any children that lived?

OMG! What was I thinking? Can you imagine what would have happened if she chose me? They would have burned me at the stake.
The Smothers Brothers show was a gas. Very organized and no fucking around. We had great seats. And that night, Richard Pryor was on and did his famous stunt where he came out totally naked. They digitally pixelated his privates but the audience went nuts. I think that CBS went to war with the Smothers over this and they were quickly cancelled.

I can’t remember the other shows. But I will get a hold of one of those friends that went with me and ask him. Back atcha’.

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Nicaraguan – Features 4 ligero leaves (two of Jalapa – two of Estelí)
Size: 5 x 52 “Cut-Box Pressed”
Body: Full
Price: $10.25 MSRP

Today we take a look at The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars.
A gift sent to me from an anonymous reader. Thank you, sir.

BACKGROUND:
Of course, the factory is Erik Espinosa’s La Zona in Esteli. As are all of the MoyaRuiz blends are produced.
This blend marks the third regular production cigar for Danny and Nelson.

They have another novelty item that hit the shelves recently: Chinese Finger Trap. Their other novelty cigar was the NunChuck. Seems Danny and Nelson are falling into the crazy presentation trap. I received a 5 pack in the mail and have smoked two of the cigars. This review will take me off the MoyaRuiz Christmas list.

From the MoyaRuiz web site:
“The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars continues where La Jugada left off, incorporating a “game-inspired” backstory. For this release, the cigar focuses on a “backroom poker” atmosphere; going so far as to turn the cigar’s packaging into a fully-functional rake box, complete with slots for poker chips and cash on the box’s lid.

“But the packaging is just for starters, the real action is inside the box! The Rake cigars have been crafted at the burgeoning La Zona factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. The Rake uses a thick Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers, including not 1, but 4 ligero leaves! This is where the blend really takes on a unique identity, incorporating 2 Jalapa ligero leaves, which are sweet in nature, and 2 Estelí ligero leaves, which are full and powerful. From this unique blend, the cigars take on a rich complexity, full in flavor, with a steady evolution that keeps you engaged at each turn!”

DESCRIPTION:
The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars is a very rustic cigar. Blotching, discoloration, sloppy seams, lots of veins, sloppy triple caps, and some giant tree trunk veins that would make Frankenstein’s monster happy.
The wrapper is a dark coffee bean color with a bit of oiliness. The wrapper is very smooth to the touch.
The packing of the tobacco is inconsistent. I find several soft spots.

SIZES AND PRICING:

“Fix” Corona 5.625 × 46 Box Press $9.50 MSRP
“Cut” Robusto 5 × 52 Box Press $10.25 MSRP
“Take” Toro 6 × 52 $10.95 MSRP
“Vig” Gordo 6 × 60 $11.75 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
The shaft smells of dark chocolate, spice, earth notes, and cedar.
The clipped cap and foot presents aromas of unsweetened baking cocoa, spice, sweetness, fruit, cedar, and black raisins.
The cold draw presents flavors of spice, allspice, chocolate, and strong cedar.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is a bit tight but a little massage should cure that.
First up is some potent red pepper. Followed by coffee and cocoa. The raisin aroma translates to a flavor. As well as an elusive fruity touch. Like me.

Right away, I’m having a char line issue and quickly correct it. I had the same issue with the two previous Rakes I smoked.
Strength is immediately medium/full body.

Creaminess enters the picture; accentuating the coffee element. Some herbal notes appear. And all of this is happening in the first half inch.

So far, so good. I was plagued by the cigar getting very hot and unsmokeable in my last two ventures with The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars. Maybe this being the first cigar of the day, my luck will change.
The burn issue seems to be under control.

Here they are: Chocolate, spice, creaminess, coffee, fruit, raisin, cedar, herbal notes, and earthy notes. And the newly added roasted cashew flavor.

The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars is a slow roll. Taking its time. I expect that from a double digit priced cigar.
$7.00-$8.00 was the pinnacle for good cigars a while back. Now, $10.00 seems to be the norm for a decent cigar. And after that, they just get crazy insane.

With only 1” smoked, The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars is a nice cigar but nothing special. I was very impressed with the La Jugada Habano. Which remains my favorite blend from MoyaRuiz. The Nunchuck came out and was quickly designated a very strong cigar. Well, with the public demanding stronger and stronger cigars, the Nunchuck seemed to fall back into the medium/full category compared to the new stuff.

BTW- I’ve had these cigars in my humidor for nearly 3 weeks. So they should be good to go for a review. The New Breed have that touch that makes a cigar blossom much quicker than the Old School brands like CAO, Patel, Gurkha, etc.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 18 minutes.
I’m not that impressed with The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars. It’s OK. But it isn’t bowling me over. Every other reviewer seems to fawn over it and I don’t get it. Did they get a different batch than I did?

This cigar blend can be matched by dozens of cigars from “The Katman’s List of 147 Great Cigars in the $5.00-$6.50 Range.”

In fact, as I write this some of the flavors diminish. There is no complexity yet. The balance is fairly good. But the finish is short. But at least, the cigar is not getting hot on me like the other two did.
Flavors perk up a bit at the 25 minute mark. The most prominent flavors are spice, creaminess, chocolate, and coffee. The rest of the list has diminished considerably.

There is a slight bitterness in the background.

I think that The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars is a backwards step for Danny and Nelson. The Nunchuck was better. And both La Jugada blends were better. They all much more character. I think they settled when making a decision if the cigar blend was what they wanted.

Now, I’m anxious to try the Chinese Finger Trap. I only have one so I haven’t tried it yet. I may review it tomorrow.
There is a small flavor burst. But it is from the same four flavors. The creaminess seems to rule the day.

I suppose that the two previous excursions with this blend may have been too early for the cigar. Don’t know.

Today is Charlotte’s last day at her current job. Everyone at the Brookfield Senior Facility all love her because Charlotte always goes above and beyond. She told me there were a lot of tears yesterday. And today, they are throwing her a little going away party. I’m so happy she is getting away from that place. It was killing her physically. I wish her nothing but good things at Buddy Squirrel.

Back to The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars.
I’m disappointed that there is no complexity. The balance is off kilter. And the finish remains only so-so. And the burn issues return.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
I had a very close relationship with Danny and Nelson. I could have either skewed the review and fawned over it. Or I could tell the truth. Even with the consequences of losing a couple of friends. My duty is to you, dear readers.

Spiciness now leads the pack with creaminess, cocoa, coffee, nuts, and raisins following up.
I hope that more humidor time will bring about some complexity and a better flavor profile.
Strength remains at medium/full.

The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars is actually becoming boring. Flavors are timid, pale, and unadventurous. And I am constantly adjusting the burn line so it doesn’t go on a rampage.

This review is a bummer. I had hoped for better. I’m a big fan of MoyaRuiz Cigars.
I’m still waiting for flavors to become bold and exciting.
A new flavor: Beef jerky. Nice.
The spiciness still leads the pack.

Nicotine rears its ugly head. And The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars hits full body.
I love to fawn over a cigar even if it makes me look ridiculous. I don’t like reviewing a cigar that lets me down.
I reviewed the new Alec Bradley Sanctum back in June before it hit the shelves. A fantastic cigar for only $7.25. I will get to the price point in a bit.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is 50 minutes.
The upside is that this stick didn’t follow suit with the two previous cigars and doesn’t become too hot to smoke.
The spiciness is on the wane. Now the main ingredient is nicotine.

One of the major things missing is malt. Malt has a major influence on cigar blends. Its presence accentuates the other flavors.
Nearly all the flavors have become so mild that the only thing left is a resurgence of spice and the beef jerky flavors. There is a tiny bit of creaminess left.

Now I’m very wary of the Chinese Finger Trap. I’m reticent about reviewing it tomorrow because I don’t want to do two negative reviews in a row.

A bit of salty pretzel appears.
I’m running out of things to say about The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars.
The cigar finishes without a flourish. No complexity. And the balance and finish leave me unimpressed.
Final smoke time is one hour 5 minutes.

RATING: 82

PRICE POINT:
$10.00-$12.00 for this blend is way out of touch. Giving it the benefit of the doubt and allowing it more humi time still doesn’t justify this price. At best, this should be a $7.00 stick.
Every online store carries them. I check Small Batch Cigars and they don’t carry them. But Cigar Federation carries them but sells them at retail pricing. But if you are a member, you can get that 10% discount. Making it a $9.45 stick. Still too much.

SUMMATION:
I went into this review thinking I would end up putting it down early based on my earlier experience with two cigars that I smoked.
Instead, there was no heat but I discovered that the flavor profile was sorely in need of some oomph and zestiness.
The constant need for burn line touch ups was a constant struggle.
The Rake by MoyaRuiz Cigars is definitely a backwards step for MoyaRuiz. I read the other reviews and I am confused. Actually, I’m confused all the time.
I expected a lot more from Danny and Nelson.
I just can’t recommend this cigar.

And now for something completely different:
Able Steel….The two scariest words in the English language.

We moved to Phoenix in 1991 when the California recession caused everyone in construction to lose their jobs. Charlotte has family there. And I got an offer from a company that I had worked with on a joint venture.

We had a 5 year old daughter and we decided that Charlotte would stay home the first 5 years so Katie always had a mother at home. Of course, it killed us financially regardless of how well I was paid. So lounging about was not a consideration. I needed a job immediately. So off to Arizona we went. We left all of our friends and had to start fresh.

I got a gig as a senior project manager at Able Steel in Mesa, AZ.
Horrible, horrible place. The politics of dancing ran amok.

I had been there almost a year when they hired an assistant for us 4 PM’s. A nice looking 32 year old slut. A married slut.
She made it her sworn duty to undermine me and take my job. Even though she knew nothing about structural steel fabrication and erection.

One day, she told me she wanted to become a PM. I suppressed a snigger and asked how she was going to do that knowing nothing about steel?
I asked what she would do if asked to go out to the field because there was a problem that needed to be solved? And fix it so the ironworkers could go back to work instead of just standing there picking their noses.

She told me that she would write the problem down and then tell the general contractor she would get back to him.
Then..I laughed out loud.
“You can’t do that. You have to solve the problem right there and then. Which may require you to use your geometry and trigonometry skills. Which you have none of.”
She walked away without answering.

We had a Nazi general manager. He hated Jews. My wife cleaned his expensive house in Scottsdale and reported back that his library was full of pro-Nazi books.

Well..this chick started blowing this guy. She swayed him into ditching me and she succeeded in replacing me.
I was given some bullshit reason for being removed and that he was putting me in the drafting department. I was a steel detailer when I started in the business so this was no problem. But he also took some money away. That hurt.

What was I going to do? I had a non-working wife and a child to support in a strange land in which I knew no one and had no connections. It was so humiliating. And of course, I was treated like a pariah by my work compadres. The GM had them convinced I was doing a bad job when just the opposite was the truth.
So, tail tucked between my legs, I moved to drafting.

I did this for 6 months. I was very good at my job. Drafting, the old way with a board and a pencil, was very relaxing. I loved detailing and I love math. And the other 6 draftsmen were good guys. No politics there.

But this chick? She was a fucking disaster. Everything she touched; she fucked up. It got worse and worse. She knew jack shit but she was sucking the knob of the GM.
Finally, there were so many complaints that the GM had to fire her.

She didn’t get it. She thought she was doing fine while costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in mistakes. One fuck up was that she sent 50 tons of steel to the jobsite in L.A. before the field was ready for it. And there was only a tiny lay down area due to the location of the site. They had to bring it all back to the shop.

She had zero math skills. And one thing a PM had to do when a problem occurred was do the math to figure out how to fix it…meaning if something didn’t fit. She was lost when this happened.

She organized a going away party for herself at a nearby bar. One guy showed up. An iron worker who thought the drinks were on the house. No one else showed up.

Then I was taken out to lunch by my Nazi GM who fed me more bullshit and asked me to come back to project managing.
He never apologized but he complimented me on not making a fuss over my demotion.
My boss in drafting was beside himself because he was losing me. And he got into a big argument with the GM. He lost. And I think I won.

This is why I never liked the construction industry. Every job I went to had a high level of nasty assholes who finger pointed, spread rumors, blamed, etc. All to make themselves look good and others look bad. I just don’t understand that mind set.

I was a very easy going guy and never engaged in that behavior. It is a waste of energy and time. And if you start lying, you begin to forget your lies.
Respect is everything in any business.

I could write a small book about the injustices I was dealt. Especially, anti-Semitism. Not too many Jews in construction.
So when I was forced out of my last, and final, job in 2009, I was happy to some degree. I was 59 and the recession had dealt me another bad hand.

No one wanted me because I made too much dough and I was too old. So they hired 25 year olds who would work for $25K per year and then cost the company several hundred thousands of dollars in mistakes.

Once I gave in and realized I was done, I was really relieved. No more office bullshit.

And that last job I had? I had caught the Operations Manager in a huge lie and he had caused a big job to go south before I even started there. I was the 5th project manager on that project in Sacramento.
When I was told to dig to find the root of the problems, I found his emails that put the entire blame on him. I made the mistake of telling him this. The next week, I was gone.

I’m sure many of you have gone through the same bullshit. Working in an office is the worst. So many terrible and evil people.
The funny thing is that I regularly get emails from head hunters who say they have the perfect job for me. I guess the thousands of resumes I sent out are still floating around.

Wrapper: Cuban-seed Nicaraguan Sun Grown (Jalapa)
Binder: Nicaraguan (Condega)
Filler: Cuban-seed Nicaraguan (Esteli)
Size: 5.5 x 54 “Robusto”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $7.00 MSRP

Today we take a look at the Perdomo Craft Series Amber. A gift from a generous reader.

Out of the chaos of dementia and utter confusion that brings about the frustrating search for words and a memory quickly slipping away; becoming shockingly absent, I’ve discovered a singular way to harness the utter confusion.
I have learned, or re-learned, how to smoke a cigar to achieve ultimate efficiency and absolute mechanics.
I began having troubles with remembering how to light a cigar properly. I was left with runs in the cigar that burgeoned with every cigar I smoked. This caused extreme frustration…and a lot of cursing.

And then in a nano second of lucidity, my solution became clear. That moment of clarity meant I don’t light the cigar by rotating the stick and holding it away from the lighter while creating a cherry in the middle of the foot and then expanding to evenly light the foot.

Instead of that failed process, I rotate the cigar, while still an inch or so away from the single torch flame, but I light the outside edge (About 1/16″) with a laser sharp focus instead of lighting the bottom of the foot. I do this several times and blow on the glistening redness of the edges. I finish when I reach a ring that is 1/8″ wide.) You need a real steady hand.
Instead of puffing, I first blow out to discard any leftover butane that may have clung to the cigar.
Once I’ve done that, I can gently smoke a few puffs. I then put the cigar down and let it rest for 2-3 minutes stabilizing the burn.

I only take a few puffs every couple of minutes. Thereby, allowing the foot to cool.
This does two things. The first being that flavors are more intense from the start and not influenced by extreme heat. And second, I create a perfect, razor sharp char line.

If, by chance, the cigar begins to canoe due to lousy rolling, I put it down and let it cool before re-lighting it in the same fashion as I did at the start of the cigar…lightly torch the outer edge of the foot but not letting the flame touch the foot as a whole. This way, the cigar burns inward instead of outward. If the cigar is very poorly rolled, then I ditch it.

So, it appears, that I have solitary moments of absolute clarity and lucidity. Then the next moment, I can’t remember what part of the country I live in; or my wife’s name.

I find that my ability to be lucid comes from the physical act of typing and smoking a cigar simultaneously. It is the only anchor I possess. Unfortunately, it takes me almost 3 hours to write a review and after the first hour or so, I become tired and the search for words begins again.

Once a review is finished, it’s all gone until I light my next cigar…which I find relaxing and calmative. The attention given to the way the cigar burns becomes a focal point in which my brain can slide down a funnel and come out the other end in a stable, and slightly inert, fashion; even if it is only for a few moments. Sometimes, I feel totally inert.
After reading the above, you must realize that I am teaching you how to speak Dementia.

Here is a photo that approximates what I can now do with my lighter:

Note: I use a right angle lighter like the one below for better accuracy. It is a single torch flame.

Great lighter I got on Amazon for $6.95 + free shipping.

On with the review.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: Tabacalera Perdomo in Nicaragua.
The Series is being offered in two other wrappers:
Connecticut Shade: Called the Pilsner,
Maduro: Called the Stout
The Amber has a hoppy finish you find in ambers, pale ales, lagers, IPA’s, Oktoberfests, and Double IPA’s.

DESCRIPTION:
It is impossible to view the cigar due to the massive billboard cigar band. This had to affect the price. This is going to be a bitch to photograph.
After my photos, I carefully remove the cigar band but too much glue on it and it leaves some unsightly white spots. Drat.
Underneath that billboard is a nice looking stick. It is very solid but not packed too tightly. You know those clear glass ashtrays with the tobacco leaf superimposed on the bottom? I have one. That is the color of this cigar…a medium brown/caramel color. With a light mottling.

The stick is lumpy and bumpy in places. Seams are tight. Very few veins but a couple big honkers. The wrapper is silky smooth. And the triple cap is near flawless. (Remember when a triple cap was a rarity amongst regular production cigars?)
I always measure a cigar to see if it is accurate to the manufacturer’s description. Sometimes there are huge variations. On my Perdomo Craft Series Amber, it is supposed to be 5-1/2”. It measures out at 5-7/16”. Good job boys.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Robusto 5.5 x 54 $7.00 MSRP
Epicure 6.5 x 54 $7.50 MSRP
Churchill 7 x 54 $7.99 MSRP
Gordo 6 x 60 $8.50 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell floral notes, malt, and spice.
From the clipped cap and foot, I smell strong hops, spice, malt, molasses, and earthy notes.
The cold draw presents flavors of hops, spice, and floral notes.

FIRST THIRD:
I immediately fuck up and light the cap instead of the foot. Totally confused this morning. Luckily, I stopped it with only a tiny amount burned which easily came off with a cutter.

To add to the confusion, I can’t remember how to light my cigar after my beautiful speech at the top of the page.
There is an immediate creaminess, hops, malt…lots of malt, smokiness, floral notes, sweetness, spice, espresso, meaty, and earthy notes.

There is an Aromatic Malt, Cara Munich Malt, Coffee Malt, Flaked Rye Malt, Honey Malt, Smoked Malt, and Vienna Malt. (See Malt Chart).
Strength is mild/medium. But full flavored. The Perdomo Craft Series Amber wastes no time becoming impressive with a boat load of flavor.

Once lit, I do what I recommended above and get a perfect, razor sharp burn line. Letting it cool while I type helps immensely.
The Perdomo Craft Series Amber ain’t like no other Perdomo I’ve smoked.

The cigar is a very slow smoke. I like that. This is my favorite part of the day. This is why I won’t review a really small cigar. It’s over too quickly. Cigarrus Interruptus.

The honey sweetness, malt, and hops rule the flavor profile. Taking a sip of water makes the whole list of flavors give me a rush. They jump out at me. And it ends up tasting more beer-like.
I don’t know if Perdomo had this project ruminating in their brains for years or were egged on when they saw Drew Estate do it. Or Dram Cigars. I don’t count the crappy beer flavored infused cigars.

Strangely, the Perdomo Craft Series Amber is barely medium bodied. Perdomo says it is a medium/full blend. Yet I find a couple online stores that mark the blend as medium bodied.
I screwed up the cap by cutting it too much to rid it of the burned portion. It is unraveling so I’ve now glued it back together.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is around 30 minutes.
This is a pleasant cigar but there is no complexity present. I received one cigar from a reader almost 3 weeks ago. I stashed it away and by now should be showing off.

Strength remains at barely medium body. Am I reviewing the right cigar? I double check and I didn’t fuck up. This is the Amber. In addition to the strength portion of the cigar lacking substance, the spiciness is at the back of the list of flavors. A nice punch of spicy pepper would have helped this blend immensely.

I can only guess at this point, since this is my first stab at the cigar blend, that the second half may show some promise.
Sweetness is a big deal for this blend. And it works well with the hoppy flavor. A sip of water really emphasizes the hops flavor. The honey changes to caramel. And the honey disappears.

I have slight tremors this morning and I am having trouble holding the lighter still. The wrapper wants to run.
The Perdomo Craft Series Amber feels very light in the hand now. Like holding a toothpick.

With a little over 3” to go, the strength begins to climb. It is now a strong medium body. And flavors are beginning to blossom. From my perspective, this should have happened as soon as I lit the cigar.
But then again, this is not an expensive cigar. I don’t consider it a true premium blend. It is kitschy and a touch sophomoric. The Dram cigars were very good. Strong body and flavors.

I didn’t care for the Drew Estate Smoking Monk. And I believe a lot of smokers felt the way I do as it isn’t selling well. CI even had a discounted special to kick start it only last week. They dropped the prices to around $99 for a box. Plus, they have already dropped the price once before that discount.

I disliked the Smoking Monk so much that I didn’t bother reviewing them.
The Perdomo Craft Series Amber isn’t rolled very well. The char line needs constant attention.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 45 minutes.
While the Perdomo Craft Series Amber has some nice flavors going for it, this is nothing more than a gimmicky cigar blend.
The strength moves back to mild/medium body. There is no oomph or zestiness.

Here they are: Sweetness, hops, malts, floral notes, caramel, smokiness, meaty, and earthy notes.
Except for the sweetness and hoppiness, the other flavors are nearly subliminal.

I check Cbid and the entire line is going for half price. I predict that this cigar will hit the Clearance racks in 6 months.

If the Perdomo Craft Series Amber is rated at medium/full but is really mild/medium bodied…what does that say for the Pilsner? The Pilsner is noted as a medium body blend.

Perdomo has put out some very good cigars but all of them were limited edition blends. The rest of the Perdomo line is no friend to me. I don’t know what it is but, like Torano, they are co-kings of the $6 cigar. There is no passion. Smoke any good boutique cigar in the same price range and it is worlds apart in comparison.

Bums me out when I write a so-so review.

The cigar is too airy now. The draw is too open. The Perdomo Craft Series Amber has become very soft. I really had high hopes for this cigar but something should have tipped me off….almost no reviews of this cigar. That should have raised a red flag. I only found 6 reviews. Six reviews for three blends. Whoa Nelly.

The airiness of the draw is really ruining the cigar. Flavors are quite muted now. It is quickly becoming a real dog turd.
I didn’t bother to read other reviews. And I have no impetus to read them now.
The Perdomo Craft Series Amber is a total mess now. The burn line is the shits due to lousy rolling. The wrapper is coming undone. Would you want to smoke this cigar:

The cigar goes out on me. Do I light it and continue? Sure, why not.
Murphy’s Law kicks in.
Flavors blossom. The strength moves to a strong medium body. Natch.
Maybe I should just stuff it into one of my pipes and smoke it that way.
The airiness lightens up a bit.
Flavors are very good now: Spice, sweetness, hops, malts, smokiness, meaty, caramel, and nutty.
I’m tempted to say that maybe a couple months of humidor time is needed but I don’t think that will help. This is a poorly constructed cigar and extensive home aging can’t remedy that.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is an hour.
I am now, for the first time, enjoying the Perdomo Craft Series Amber. I glued the errant wrapper. I put the char line in its place.
Nicotine shows up.
I feel like I’m taking a bullet for you readers that haven’t tried this cigar.
Funny. I’ve never asked or begged Perdomo to get on their reviewer’s list. Never thought that the cigars were my cup of tea. And one negative review would get me banned from that list.
The Perdomo Craft Series Amber is now getting too hot to smoke.
I’m done.

RATING: 78
The Perdomo Craft Series Amber is only getting a number this high because of the last third.

PRICE POINT:
You get what you pay for. But that’s really not true. I have a giant list of great cigars at the same price point as the Perdomo Craft Series Amber.

SUMMATION:
Dog turd.

And now for something completely different:
1984

It was all gone. Everything…the recording studio, the production company, my house, and they were looking for my car.
Rocshire Records’ owner’s wife embezzled $15 million from Hughes Aircraft to keep the record company going.
I had a production deal with the record company which meant I did all the work and paid for everything and then handed them a finished product. All they had to do was manufacture the record, distribute, and promote.

I produced the single. (Remember 45’s?) I wrote, produced and directed the music video. I oversaw the photography of the single’s cover. I had all the promo 8 x 10’s made. So, I got 25 cents back from each single sold from the very start of sales.

The first quarter it was released it sold 3600 copies. I got something like $900. The next quarter it sold a bit over 200,000 singles. Which meant I had $50K coming to me.

Days before that was to happen, the FBI swooped in on Rocshire and shut them down. I got zip, nada, nothing…you get the idea. I was flat broke.

I pleaded with Universal Studios to take the project over since they owned the rights to the Munsters anyway. They said no and then went behind my back and produced a few TV shows based on my concept of Eddie and the Monsters starring Butch Patrick. Well..that’s another story for another time.

My house went into foreclosure, I lost the studio and then I met up with an old friend while in a club. His name was Eric Almeroth. He had a four piece band based out of Lake Tahoe, Ca. But they were down in Long Beach visiting and playing out a bit.
These guys were really good. They excelled at doing the tough “The Who” songs. Eric played guitar and violin. There was a drummer, bassist, and keys. And they all sang harmonies wonderfully.

They had a guy who did their sound and humped their gear. He was terrible at the sound and I told Eric, who I went to high school with, that he should let me do the sound one night and show them what could be done. He allowed it.

Well, I had just spent an eon behind the mixing board of a studio. So that night, I made them sound like rock stars. They had a regular coterie of fans that followed them everywhere…even to Tahoe. Everyone was shocked at how good they now sounded.

They made me a deal to manage them, and needing something to occupy my blistering mind, I accepted. We spent a couple months in Long Beach and then it was back to Tahoe.

I kept my 1981 Datsun station wagon..top of the line and gorgeous. Tahoe in Spring is beautiful. The band started playing gigs immediately. We all lived in Eric’s house with his wife, Terry, and young daughter, Lilly. The whole band lived there like a commune. I slept on the floor in a sleeping bag. I was officially homeless.

For the few months prior to hitting Tahoe, I bounced around to friends’ homes to sleep at night and spent more than a few nights sleeping in my car. Thank goodness it was Southern Cal and the weather was mild.

Rojo’s was the club to play on the South Shore. It was a dive but had a basement full of boulder walls. A nice bandstand and room for 150 people.
We had just finished our first sound check when she walked in. I had been hearing about this for days. The band had a friend in Tahoe that they wanted to set me up with. She was German, though. Real German. Her name was Charlotte von Reichardt. Yikes.
I was apprehensive.

The band was sitting in a half circle booth when the brown haired beauty walked in. She was tall and thin and not from Ipanema. She sat down. We were introduced and we shook hands. She shook hands like a man and I wasn’t sure I’d have any feeling in it any time soon.

She spoke. And all I heard was a fugue of profanities: “)(^@%)_*%###&()))&%$#@#%_+++_)*%#!!@$%”
Holy shit! This broad was worse than a drunken sailor. What a potty mouth. Every other word was “fuck. But she was funny too. And very likable.
The spark had been lit.

She got tired of waiting for me to ask her out so she asked me to dinner. I accepted and then had to cancel the next day as the band was going into the recording studio.

So we finally managed to go out and to a fine Swiss restaurant. Charlotte drank like a fish…wine. I don’t drink. Never have. Runs in the family. Two glasses of anything and I just want to lie down and go to sleep.

But I didn’t want to look the wuss so I got stinkin’ drunk. After dinner, we went to a casino and saw the black membered rock band, “The Bus Boys.” I knew them. They recorded in the same small studio as The Attitude did and we hung out a lot. They played on our tunes and we on theirs.

The Bus Boys are best known for their appearance in the 1982 film 48 Hrs., in which they performed their songs “New Shoes” and “The Boys Are Back in Town” A follow-up song, “Cleanin’ Up the Town,” written for the soundtrack to the 1984 film “Ghostbusters,” was a minor hit for the group, reaching #68 on Billboard.

So I bragged to Charlotte about this. After their first set, I told her I’d introduce her to the leader of the band. I walked on stage and said hi and this guy didn’t know me from Adam. I had to remind him…over and over about the bands and the studio and the producer and he finally got it. He was less than overwhelmed. I felt two feet tall.
Charlotte drove us to her home and I don’t remember a damn thing after that….

Charlotte turns 65 on Oct. 30. To me, she is still the most beautiful woman in the world.

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.5 x 52 “Robusto Extra”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $9.00 MSRP

Today we take a look at a very hard to get cigar: Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads.
Many thanks to Justus Benjamin for the gift.
I’m definitely the last guy to review this cigar.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: My Father Cigar S.A.
Date Released: September, 2014
Cigars Released: (5,000 Total Cigars) 250 Boxes of 20 Cigars

Does anything look familiar? No band but the footer ribbon. Just like the one on the My Father 1922 Le Bijou. Pepin Garcia gave away his hold card with this.
Originally, these cigars could only be purchased in Tennessee. A lot of stink was caused by Crowned Heads fans. Later, online stores began selling them.

I found one online store still selling them: UPtown’s Smoke Shop in Nashville.

From the Crowned Heads web site:
“It was the song that was playing in the dance hall when my maternal Grandfather met my Grandmother. I vividly recall him whistling that tune throughout my childhood. It’s a song that was made popular in 1950 by Patti Page, and has been recorded by everyone from Sam Cooke to Otis Redding to Norah Jones.

“The state of Tennessee is also near and dear to my heart. I met my wife here, my family is here, and of course, Crowned Heads is headquartered here in Nashville. “Crowned Heads owes a great deal to the people of Tennessee for their support from the very beginning. And so it is with a sincere spirit of gratitude that we present “Tennessee Waltz.”

“Tennessee Waltz is manufactured by My Father Cigars S.A. in Esteli, Nicaragua, and is the first Crowned Heads cigar to utilize a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. This unique medium-to-full bodied cigar is available exclusively in our great state of Tennessee. We hope you will enjoy this cigar that means so much to all of us here at Crowned Heads–and we thank you for your support which allows us to ‘Carve Our Own Path.’
-Jon Huber
Crowned Heads”

I’m not a big fan of Crowned Heads cigars. I found the Las Calaveras to be very good and I liked the Jericho Hill and La Imperiosa. The others were OK. I had a run in with the second owner of Crowned Heads. At least I think he is part owner. I remember his name as Wes and that’s it. He didn’t like my review of the Mason Dixon Project and wrote a not very nice comment at the bottom of the review. Another reader had a run in with the other owner, Jon Huber, and discusses his encounter. Good reading.

DESCRIPTION:
I love the wrapper color but otherwise it is a very rustic looking stick. The wrapper is a mottled coffee bean/baking cocoa oily brown. Seams are fairly tight. Lots of small and big veins. The triple cap application is sloppy on both samples that I received.
And the wrapper feels both smooth and toothy depending on the place where you stroke your stogie. The cigar is jam packed. Hard but the proper give when depressed. (Can a cigar get depressed? Do they have Prozac for cigars? Just a thought.)

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell sweetness, spice, and citrus. The early reviews of this cigar complained about the over abundant smell of barnyard. As this cigar is nearly a year old, that barnyard element is completely gone.
From the clipped cap and foot, I smell spice, molasses, mint, citrus, earthy notes, and a bit of coffee.
The cold draw presents flavors of Chocolate, creaminess, spice, malt, coffee, and earthy tobacco.

FIRST THIRD:
I use my new method of lighting a cigar by lighting it from the outside edges and not touching the base of the foot at all. It seems to have worked out nicely.
This review won’t be like the other gazillion reviews that came out just as the cigar came out a year ago. A year’s worth of humidor time will make this a very different flavor profile.

We start off with a nice billowy creaminess, black pepper, chocolate, coffee, sweetness, citrus, and malt.

Right away, this group of flavors is nothing like the other reviewer’s impressions. I’m not being judgmental; but sometimes extensive home aging does wonders for a cigar blend. And sometimes, it ruins the cigar. The lengthy aging seems to have genuinely improved the Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads.

Strength is a solid medium body. The chocolate quality is very strong now. And so is the malt conglomerate of: Chocolate Malt, Chocolate Wheat Malt, and Coffee Malt. (See Malt Chart).

The creaminess begins to morph into cream cheese, Suzy. And a nice graham cracker sweetness appears along with the creaminess transition. Now we’re baking.
The fresh mint element, and the citrus, are wonderful components that hang in the back of the list giving the Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads some zest and oomph.

The malt flavors are potent. Fingers crossed that the cigar maintains a transitional character right to the end with lots of complexity, balance and long finish.

I had my doubts about reviewing a cigar a year old. I’ve been given some very nice care packages with blends right up my alley. But some of the cigars are 4-5 years old and the life of the party has disappeared completely. The flavors have been zapped away. A shame really. And I’ve found that to be a consistent issue with extensive aging.

The ash is really hanging tough. And my char line is dead nuts. See yesterday’s review of the Perdomo Craft Series Amber to read what I discovered about lighting a cigar and ridding the possibility of runs forever.

By now, there should be some complexity. There isn’t. Flavors are nice but no real serious transitions and I’ve burned 1-1/2”.
Some smoky BBQ beef shows up. There is a strong aromatic wood flavor like hickory or pecan wood. There is a nuttiness that accompanied the introduction of the smokiness meaty flavor.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
Here they are: Smokiness, hickory, orange citrus, malts, chocolate, creaminess, spice, sweetness, coffee, pecan, beef, graham cracker, and earthy notes.

I’m not sure if the lack of complexity is just the way the cigar was blended or if a year of humidor time stole it away. The balance is just so-so. The finish is short.
Strength is medium/full.

The char line is spot on. It’s needed a couple minor corrections but I used my new method of just burning 1/16” around the outside edge of the wrapper and it is miraculously fixed. It self corrects. Plus, any start of a run is stopped in its tracks if I just allow the cigar to sit in the ashtray for a few minutes to allow it to cool off and stop the forward motion of the run. Yes, I’m very pleased with myself.

The oomph is gone. The zestiness is gone. The flavors are mere shadows of themselves. What happened?
It is not a question of it being green. Could it be that this Crowned Heads blend doesn’t stand up to the test of time? I don’t know.

I still like the Las Calaveras the best from the Crowned Heads’ stable of blends. I also liked the La Imperiosa.
So far, the Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads falls into the Jericho Hill, or Headley Grange, level of quality.
The Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads isn’t building its prowess. It has become stagnant. Flavors are falling of the list faster than a lightning strike.

All that is left is: Malt, sweetness, nuttiness, coffee, creaminess, meaty, and a touch of cocoa.
Clearly, I am disappointed. I looked forward to this review. And now I have two consecutive so-so reviews. I have to pick carefully from my care packages for tomorrow’s review.

Strength has fallen back to medium body. The spiciness is nearly gone now.

The fact that an online store still has boxes of Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads for sale should have raised a red flag. After all, only 250 boxes were produced a year ago and there are some left? I don’t keep up with the chat rooms so I don’t know what street cred this blend got from the masses.

I have a feeling that this cigar blend tasted a whole lot better when it had only a couple months of humidor time.
I’m not going to waste a good after-review story on this cigar.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 40 minutes.
The Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads is on a downward spiral. What a shame. What a disappointment.

I check some reviews that were published right after the cigar was released and they were smoking a different cigar. Some cigars hold up very nicely to extensive aging. And others…well..they become blah and uninteresting. The Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads is the latter.

I can’t taste chocolate, coffee, citrus, creaminess, or much malt. Instead, it is mostly just the earthiness of the tobacco…with a touch of nuttiness. The wonderful BBQ context flew away.

Now the review is becoming a burden. If the Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads is to be redeemed, it will be in the last third. Fingers crossed.
I’m sipping nothing but water. And even a sip, which usually brings a rush of flavor, is missing.

If you had a different experience with this cigar, I’d love to hear about it.

One of my dear readers lives in the Milwaukee area. His name is Bruce Cholka. He is coming over to watch football and smoke some cigars with me today. He has been one of my generous care package delivery systems. I’m in his debt.
Charlotte starts her new job tomorrow. I’m so happy for her that she has put behind her that 9 months of physical horror.
And this Thursday, I finally get the results of months of grueling tests. My daughter, Katie, is going with me. I shall report back to you.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is less than an hour.
Lawdy, lawdy, lawdy Miss Clawdy. The Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads is showing some heart.

Flavors have re-emerged. We’ve got spice up front. And the following flavors have returned: Malts, creaminess, citrus, chocolate, coffee, smokiness, nuts, graham cracker, and earthy tobacco.

And the Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads finally finds its complexity and balance. It now has a nice long finish.
The strength goes from medium to full body.

The rating will be based on this last third and the great construction.
The Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads has finally made the grade.

Very complex. And a dose of nicotine.
The strong red pepper puts a smile on my puss.

The cigar finishes very full bodied. Lots of nicotine. And very flavorful.
I’m conflicted about recommending this cigar. I never got a chance to taste it when it was in its prime. And a year of humidor is clearly too much for this blend.

Since some are still available, it’s up to you to make your own decision.

RATING: 87

PRICE POINT:
I have no issues with the price of this cigar. It was a very small limited edition and Crowned Heads didn’t gouge the public due to that.
And Uptown’s Smoke Shop is not gouging the public either by selling a 20 count box of the Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads for $186.00. Who knows how many boxes they have so if you are interested, I suggest you don’t dawdle.
Make sure you tell them the Katman sent you.

SUMMATION:
This wasn’t a bad cigar. But for me, it falls into the category of Four Kicks or Headley Grange.
But if you do buy some, I highly recommend you don’t let it rest more than a couple months.
I want to thank Justus Benjamin for sending not just the Tennessee Waltz by Crowned Heads but a nice little care package to boot.

Wrapper: Undisclosed
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Undisclosed
Size: 6 x 50 “Toro”
Body: Full
Price: $10.00

Today we take a look at The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars. A gift from an anonymous reader.

I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday with a lovely reader, Bruce Cholka, that happens to live in Milwaukee. First time I’ve met a reader. Alert the media! Bruce is all right in my book. We had a ton of things in common. I hope to see more of him. Great guy. If all my readers are like Bruce, I want all of you to come to my house this Sunday.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: Erik Espinosa’s La Zona in Esteli, Nicaragua.
The cigar is adorned by a fake Chinese finger trap. Those things, that as kids, drove us crazy. Remember the first time you got stuck in one and went into a panic attack?

From the MoyaRuiz web site:
“MoyaRuiz Cigars is proud to announce our 2015 limited edition release – The Chinese Finger Trap. Production on this project will be limited to only 1,000 boxes. Each box will feature 10 cigars in a 6×50 Toro size.

“Danny Moya, co-founder of MoyaRuiz Cigars explained the concept behind the Chinese Finger Trap: “We had such a blast making last year’s limited edition release, the Nunchuck, so we knew that this year we had to once again think outside the box. Although this release also has an oriental theme, its packaging is inspired mainly by vintage novelty/game boards the Chinese finger traps came in.

“The blend is an ancient Chinese secret. Thus, no further information about the blend will ever be released.” says Moya. The cigars are made in Erik Espinosa’s factory La Zona in Estelí, Nicaragua.”

DESCRIPTION:
The finger trap looks pretty good. Fooled me. I thought it was for real.
Underneath, is a very nice looking stick. Very solid. No soft spots. Nearly invisible seams. Few veins. But there are some wrinkles in the wrapper.

The wrapper has a tinge of Colorado in it and is a light russet brown in color. The wrapper is oily and has a bit of tooth here and there but is mostly very smooth. The triple cap is just OK. I’m glad that Danny and Nelson decided to put a secondary, or main, cigar band on the cigar instead of just being an unbanded cigar once the finger trap display disappeared.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
The shaft smells of sweetness in a couple forms: caramel, fruit, spice, and sugar cane.
The clipped cap and foot smell of caramel, sweetness, fruit, sweet cream butter, spice, and dried fruit.
The cold draw presents flavors of gooey caramel, sweetness, spice, earthy tobacco, dried fruit, and powdered sugar.

FIRST THIRD:
I use my new tried and true method of lighting a cigar. Lighting 1/16” of the outer edge of the wrapper allowing the cigar to burn inwards instead of outward. Thereby, eliminating any problems of small, or big, runs.
And if you see a little V run starting, just lay it down in the ashtray to allow the char line to cool and you can now better control the burn of the foot.

OK. Let’s get to it.
The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars starts off with a big bang of red hot pepper. Followed by some chocolate, caramel, earthy notes, and French vanilla ice cream.

Smoke just pours from the foot. Haven’t had one of those in a while.
Creaminess is bold and so is the spiciness. A nice floral note appears about ¾” into the cigar.

The spiciness makes a partnership between red pepper and spicy cinnamon. Ha Cha Cha.
I recently reviewed The Rake and was less than thrilled with it. Especially, the construction issues and the char line needing constant touch ups.

This is beginning to happen on The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars. This review will take forever leaving the cigar to cool constantly so that I don’t have to keep torching it.

For me, The Rake was a backwards step in the MoyaRuiz catalog. The La Jugada Habano is still my favorite blend. Behind that is the La Jugada Prieto.

I really do hope this is not another backwards step. I really like Danny and Nelson but I have to report the truth. First rule of the 10 Commandments of Dementia.

I give it this…this is a slow smoke so far. An inch in has taken almost 15 minutes.

As I near the second third, I’m finding that this blend is not reaching out to me. It’s not bad but not what I expected. Hopefully, it will pick up in the second third.
Strength is a potent medium body.

The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars feels like it is going to break on through to the other side any moment. I’ve only allowed this cigar 3 weeks rest. Maybe that’s not enough. But I’ve found with all the MoyaRuiz blends that they are ready and rarin’ to go after only 3 weeks.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
Be careful what you wish for. The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars just took off like a rocket.

Strong spice, cinnamon, vanilla, floral notes, caramel, creaminess, powdered sugar, earthy notes, and a touch of cocoa.
But constantly touching up the char line is getting annoying.

Strength is a bold medium/full now.

A small ½” long crack has appeared in the wrapper about 1” away from the foot. It is in the same humidor as my other “review” cigars and I haven’t had this problem with any of them. The crack is on the backside of where I am taking photos. Hopefully, it doesn’t spread. So to control it, I use some of my cigar glue to weld it.

Flavors are doing just fine. This is a flavor profile steeped more in nuance and subtlety than big, bold bright flavors. It will probably end up being a full body stick with a medium/full flavor profile.

The cigar goes out on me. I had the exact same problems with The Rake.
My welding the crack had no effect and the crack is expanding.

Whoa Nelly! A flavor explosion. All sorts of things are happening now.
There is some rich complexity. A spot on balance. And a nice long, chewy finish.
Here they are in order of boldness: Creaminess, floral notes, vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, spice, cocoa, earthy notes, and a touch of espresso.

The crack in the wrapper is now over 1” long. I’m wondering if I will be able to finish the cigar. I’m only a few minutes from being able to burn right through the crack. Fingers crossed.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 40 minutes.
Strength is nearly full bodied.
The char line aggravation seems to be letting up.
Finally. Sweet Spot 1.0.

This is what I expected The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars to taste like from the start. Better now, than never…I guess.
As I burn through the crack, it is causing the wrapper to flower around the foot. Looks terrible. But I can correct it in a couple of minutes. Correcting the char line seems to be my main function in life at the moment.

I’m purposely not showing you the crack. No point.
Flavors are very interesting and gratifying for the first time.

I’m pretty sure that between my review of The Rake and The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars, neither will make “The Katman’s Best 195 Boutique Brands/Blends in the $6-$9.50+ Range.”
Chocolate is now a very bold flavor supplanting the vanilla, caramel, and floral notes.

Creaminess really accentuates the chocolate. It tastes like a nice hot cup of cocoa with tiny marshmallows floating on top.
The crack keeps expanding and I doubt the burn line will catch up.

But the flavors are wonderful. The spiciness is an integral part of the flavor profile and with it, the cinnamon.
The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars remains very complex.
Strength is now a strong full body. Not a cigar for newbies.
Nicotine. Drat.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is one hour.
It’s hard to enjoy a cigar when there are constant construction issues. Nothing pisses me off more than having to correct the char line over and over. And the crack should never have happened.

I keep my humidor set at 67% humidity. Any higher and there are possibilities of bloating the cigar with humidity. And making it soft.
I’m enjoying the flavors.

I don’t get it. Danny Moya and Nelson Ruiz are exceptionally good blenders. Plus they rely heavily on Erik Espinosa for input. What went wrong with The Rake and The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars?

It’s like they took two giant steps backwards. One thing I like about the MoyaRuiz blends is the passion inherent in every cigar they produce. Both of these cigars seem to lack that passion and instead, they settled.

The Nunchuck was gimmicky but an excellent cigar. The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars is a gimmicky cigar but lacks the quality one expects from this duo.

The char line is a complete mess.
The ash looks terrible due to all the touch ups and burning through that nasty crack.
How do you balance a rating when there is a conflict between construction and flavor profile?

I hope that the next blend that comes from the MoyaRuiz shop is not gimmicky and great amounts of imagination and passion are the main focal points.

The final smoke time is an hour and 15 minutes.

The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars finishes with a cool nub and no harshness. The nicotine is milder. The flavors are still bold and interesting.
But transitions are out of whack.
At $10.00, I just can’t recommend this cigar.

RATING: 86

PRICE POINT:
$10.00. Hmmm…I don’t think so. I realize it is a limited run and limited runs always cost more; it’s a way of jacking the price as far as I’m concerned. And cause a feeding frenzy from the smoking public. But so far, I find it being sold on just about every online store so those thousand boxes are going a long way.

The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars was released in late June. So now it’s almost 3 months later and there are plenty of these cigars to go around. I’m guessing word of mouth caused a delay in selling out.

Every online store is selling the sticks for more than MSRP. If you buy a single or a 5 pack, they are charging $11.00. Only when you buy a 10 count box do you get the cigar for $10.00. And Cbid is not selling them. So no discounts.
Cigar Federation and Small Batch do not carry them. So, again, no discounts.

I would put this stick at a price point of $7.00. And I don’t think it compares to any cigar in “The Katman’s Best 195 Boutique Brands/Blends in the $6-$9.50+ Range.”

SUMMATION:
I really had high hopes. Up til now, MoyaRuiz has never let me down. I love the early cigar blends.
They are stout, complex cigars with perfect construction. You know you are smoking a high premium. And they average $7.50 per cigar.
I think giving The Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars was more about the flavor profile in the second half.

NOTE: 3 hours later…I’m smoking a MoyaRuiz La Jugada Habano and it’s night and day compared to the Finger Trap. The Habano tastes full of passion and intense flavor. This is a high premium cigar. The Finger Trap doesn’t come close to being as good as the Habano.

And now for something completely different:
Warning: This is a hard core story about drugs.

During the Eddie Munster project in 1983-1984, I had a friend who was an ex-con. A really big linebacker looking fella. His name is Rick. He did some serious time for stealing cars. And dealing drugs.
But Rick was a gentle giant. The perfect friend who had a code of honor. If you were loyal, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for you. If you cheated him, God help you.

Because of the corruption in the music biz, and especially what went on at radio stations, I always had to have some coke ready to distribute to DJ’s and program directors as we toured the country. Rick was my connection.

Now I did hardly any of the stuff as it was a distraction and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. Nervous and paranoid. Much worse than pot.

And he dealt coke in what I considered large quantities. I would go over to his place in Manhattan Beach and just chill. I might do a line, I might not. And Rick loved me for that. While he was surrounded by fake friends with their noses sticking out, I would more often than not, decline his generosity. He got the biggest kick that I turned him down and strangely, that was what our friendship was built on. I was his only friend that wasn’t a coke whore.

Rick didn’t drink and he loved to make his own lemonade. So I’d go over to see him when the project, and running the recording studio, was running me into the ground.
We would sit and drink lemonade and talk about life. We laughed a lot.

One day, he took me up to his walk in closet that had a huge lock on it. Inside, he had a 4 drawer chest that he rested his digital coke scale on along with his other paraphernalia.

Rick was smart. He would take ordinary coke and process it so it had that opalescent look to it. All shiny and light reflective.
He also sold the purest coke I had ever done. Although, I didn’t do much so I don’t know if my statement is correct. Back in the 60’s, all my friends did Hippie drugs: weed and occasionally hallucinogenics. But never the stuff we thought would kill your soul. Which included cocaine.

So this one particular day, he wanted to show off how he processed his coke. I was interested and thought why not?
I sat next to him as he showed me the steps required. He had this huge mirror with about 3 ounces of cocaine on it. That is the equivalent of over 90 gram bottles. (Had to use a metric converter to figure that out.)

Right in the middle of a sentence, he elbowed the mirror and it all went into the air. Some of the drawers were open and it fell into them and all over the carpet.
I started to hyperventilate.

Rick never lost a beat as he continued to explain his process. I finally choked out the words, “Rick. Your coke is everywhere!!”
He told me not to worry. He had a special hand vacuum that would pick up 95% of it.
Three ounces of coke is a lot of coke. It covered my jeans and my shoes.
Didn’t bother Rick a bit.

Rick tried to talk me into dealing for him but I told him I had too much at stake to do that.

I got a call from my press agent (The skank) and I was instructed to bring $2000 with me to his Hollywood office. He had the program director from KROQ in his office and the guy would put our Eddie Munster record in regular rotation. That’s right. Payola was still in force.

I grabbed Rick and told him to bring some money.
We got there and did the transaction. Weeks passed and not once did we hear the song on KROQ.
Rick was furious.

He told me we had to go talk to my press agent so I made the call and went there the next day. I knew what was going to transpire.
Rick told him we wanted our money back. The press agent made a bunch of lousy excuses. And showed no respect for my behemoth friend.

Rick got up from his chair. He pulled open his jacket and showed the guy a huge stainless steel .357 Magnum pistol in his waist band.
Rick then pulled the pistol out and cold cocked the press agent so hard that he fell backwards in his chair.
Rick then went around the desk and hit him once more with his fist.
“Get our money!!”

He got it right away. He stumbled to his feet, bleeding from the head, and ran into another office. He came back with more money than we gave him. He never bothered to count it. He was in deathly fear for his life.

Rick left his with these words: “You ever try to cheat us again and I’m going to bury you in Yucca Valley, in the middle of the desert, with your dick and balls stuffed into your mouth!!”

I had never seen that side of Rick. It scared the living hell out of me. When we walked out of the building, Rick started laughing uncontrollably. Me? I was waiting for a fleet of cop cars to roll up. The press agent never called the cops.
Obviously, we never had a problem again with this guy.

I lost touch with Rick over the years. He called me about 10 years later and asked if he could borrow $500. I told him I would. We met and had a great time reminiscing.
I have no idea where he is now. I hope not prison. Or dead.

Wrapper: Cuban Seed Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5 x 52 “Robusto”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $6.50 MSRP ($4.25 online stores)

Today we take a look at the new CAO Pilón. A dear friend who prefers to remain anonymous sent me a 5 pack.

BACKGROUND:
The CAO Pilón debuted at 2015 IPCPR trade show.
Release Date: August 2015 and is a regular production blend.
Factory: STG Estelí

The CAO Pilón draws from the common name for large piles of tobacco undergoing fermentation, and while modern day pilónes can reach 20-feet long, 10 feet wide and four to six feet high, pilónes of yesteryear were much smaller, and in this case, round.

From Cigar Aficionado web site:
“Rick Rodriguez and Agustin Garcia [tobacco operations manager at General Cigar] developed Pilón together. Rick developed Steel Horse on his own,” Victoria McKee of General Cigar told Cigar Aficionado.

“The CAO Pilón honors Cuban cigar tradition by featuring wrapper leaf that was fermented in a round pilón—a circular stack of carefully arranged tobacco leaf. The company says this particular technique dates back to the 19th century.

“We have experimented with pilón fermentation for several years.” Rodriguez said in a press release. “It’s a very labor intensive process and we took our time perfecting it. We thought it was the right time to create a line around this classic technique because it does such incredible things to the tobacco.

“CAO Pilón is composed of a Cuban-seed Ecuadoran wrapper with filler and binder tobaccos from Nicaragua.”

The CAO Pilón is part of the CAO Classic Series.

DESCRIPTION:
This is a beautiful cigar. A gorgeous, oily coffee bean colored wrapper. Invisible seams. A moderate amount of veins. Very solid. A nearly invisible triple cap. And very smooth to the touch.
The cigar band is quite complex with the size written on it. On top of the band, it says: LOTÉ PEQUENO, or small lot.
Rick Rodriguez’s name is front and center. At the bottom of the cigar band, it tells you the leaf stats.
On the back, it shows you what a round pilon looks like. Here is a photo of a round pilon:

SIZES AND PRICING:
Churchill 7 x 48 $7.25 MSRP
Robusto 5 x 52 $6.50 MSRP
Corona 5.5 x 44 $6.00 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I can smell strong dark chocolate, cedar, sweetness, and spice.
From the clipped cap and foot, I can smell herbal notes, cocoa, spice, barnyard, and fresh fruit.
The cold draw presents flavors of chocolate, sweetness, earthy notes, cedar, and spice.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is excellent and big bold flavors start us off with: Chocolate, earthy notes, creaminess, red pepper, cedar, and a well-rounded bushel of roasted mixed nuts.
The balance is pretty good. Better than I expected. The finish is long, as well. And the CAO Pilón is finding some complexity.

The char line is spot on. I used my newly figured out method of lighting the outer edge (1/16”) of the foot’s wrapper and allowing the cigar light inward instead of outward thereby not creating a petri dish for runs.
The boldness dissipates and the flavors seem to be hiding in a cave as they morph into some complexity. Like a hibernating bear. Or a pupae.

Chocolate, creaminess, and spice rule the day so far.
Strength is a potent medium body with only 1” burned.

I read Halfwheel’s review and, boy, he did not like this cigar. But he also had construction issues like the ones I had with the MoyaRuiz Chinese Finger Trap yesterday. That really ruins the cigar experience. Plus he found inconsistencies in the three cigars he smoked. I smoked one prior to review and found it very good and surprisingly tasty.

We have Sweet Spot 1.0. The complexity is at full bore now…bringing out the flavors of a very strong spiciness along with cocoa, creaminess, nuts, malt, and raisins.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 20 minutes.
The earthy tobacco leaves a lasting impression. The CAO Pilón is one of those cigars so deeply steeped in the soil of the tobacco plant that you can taste it. This doesn’t happen very often for me.

Strength is medium/full. No nicotine yet.

Charlotte started her new job yesterday and now doesn’t have to go in until either 9am or 10am. This has ruined my impressions of the music being played on the cable TV radio stations. Instead, she sits there, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, while watching CNN. I’m fucked.

The char line is dead nuts perfect.

I’m trying to think of a good analogy to describe the flavor profile of the CAO Pilón. It definitely has a candy bar essence to it.
I’ve got it! The Chunky candy bar. Loved these as a kid.

SONY DSC

Malt shows up as: Chocolate Malt, Vienna Malt, and Special B Malt. (See Malt Chart).
Coffee makes an appearance.

I really like this cigar. The CAO Pilón is the first CAO blend I’ve liked in ages. CAO is old school. All of their blends take months and months of home humidor aging before they are ready to smoke. Plus, I feel that their blends are outdated. They seem to be making a half ass attempt to get down and Jam up and Jelly Tight with their new blends but this is the first one I liked.

The CAO Pilón is very complex now. Great balance. With a long, chewy finish.

Finally, after days of writing negative reviews about the cigars, I get one from left field.
The ball and chain had an early start for her job and just left. The radio is cranked. And ZZ Top is on playing “Gimme All Your Lovin’.” Good start.

For such an inexpensive cigar, this is definitely a big happy surprise. I’ve only had the 5 pack for 2-3 weeks so I was fully charged to accept that it was too early to review. I was wrong. Good for you CAO.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
The raisins and nuts are screaming laughter now. I can taste the Chunky candy bar like an old memory come to life. The only issue I had with the Chunky was that it was so big; it was hard to bite into it the first time. You felt like a beaver chomping into a log the first time.

All three malts are contributing in a big way.
Big Sweet Spot. Friggin’ delicious.
Oh, something I remembered. That’s a nice change for once.

From the emails I get, a certain question is always asked. Yes, I squint my eyes when I am trying to discern subtle flavors. And while squinting my eyes shut, I roll my tongue inside my mouth with smacking my chops. This is how I really am able to taste the flavors others say they cannot taste.

I think the choice of sizes that CAO chose was spot on. I’d love to try the Churchill and the Corona. While I love this Robusto, it leaves me wanting more.
Damn fine cigar.

Cbid doesn’t have it yet but it will. I guess I’m a day short on this review as CI had this cigar as a Weekend Special. The only review I found was Halfwheel and he didn’t like it. If smokers read my review, there would have been better sales. I think that Halfwheel just got a bad batch. I’m having none of the problems he did. And the flavor profile is different from my perspective.

LAST THIRD:
Well, I’m impressed. Haven’t said that about a CAO blend in ages.
It is certainly better than The Rake and the Chinese Finger Trap by MoyaRuiz Cigars. Or the Perdomo Craft Series Amber.
I’m so happy I have three CAO Pilón’s left.

Strength is medium/full.
I don’t want this to end.

The CAO Pilón is super smooth, complex with a nice balance and finish.

Here they are one last time: Chocolate, raisins, creaminess, malts, coffee, earthy tobacco notes, cedar, spice, and roasted nuts.

The CAO Pilón finishes perfectly. The spiciness returns and takes first place in line of the flavor profile.
No harshness. No heat. No bitterness. No nicotine.
I highly recommend the CAO Pilón.

RATING: 89

PRICE POINT:
No one is selling the line for the MSRP. At just over $4.00, this is a steal.
I wouldn’t bother with Cbid to save, maybe a dollar, before trying these cigars.
Once again, the proof is in the pudding. An inexpensive cigar can be excellent. The CAO Pilón will definitely go into “The Katman’s List of 147 Great Cigars in the $5.00-$6.50 Range.”

SUMMATION:
I had no troubles with construction. It behaved like a champ.
Wonderful flavors. Not a kitchen sink list of flavors, but it did marvelous things with what it had.
I’m going to eat some breakfast. Take a shower. And light up another one.
At this price, a box going for only $78-$95 depending on size is something I would love to buy.

And now for something completely different:
Into the Way Back Machine.

Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I was an everyday pot smoker.
I was surprised after moving to Europe and then England in the mid 70’s. Hashish was a treat and a luxury. And usually stale. But it was a big deal when a friend came over with the stuff.

We got to Europe and that’s all there was. Hash. Weed was harder to smuggle due to its size. It was even worse in England. It was an island. And of course, the quality of hash was a 1000% better.

The only time we got to buy weed was at the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam. And at a premium price for an ounce.
The hash was so much better there than it was here in the States. Europe was a shorter route for the smugglers. It was fresh and there were varieties. Lots of them. In the States, there were maybe 2 or 3 types.

What I never got used to was the way they smoked hash. Breaking up a cigarette and rolling into a long joint (Using two rolling papers overlapping each other) while sprinkling bits of hash into it. Made me sick as a dog. To this day, I haven’t smoked a single cigarette so the nicotine was a killer for me and Skip.

It didn’t take long before we found a pipe shop and bought the perfect sized pipe to smoke our hash. We made sure that when we socialized, we had our own pipes and stash. We always declined the joint full of cigarette tobacco. When we offered a Brit some hash from a pipe, they always declined. “We get too high blokes.” Wussy wankers.

Our tours of the continent of Europe would always bring us back to Amsterdam as our last gig of the tour.
My 1967 Fender Precision bass had a face plate and a hollowed out area underneath for the electronics. I bought as much hash as would fit in that hollowed out section.

When we traveled, I had no choice. My bass had to go with the roadies in the big trucks.
So, in essence, the roadies smuggled my hash over to England for me. The trucks were always inspected by Custom Inspectors but I was never caught.
I never told the roadies I was doing this.

But one day, as we landed at Dover, I asked for my bass from the truck. The roadies sighed as they tried to find my bass in a couple trucks full of gear.

Right there in front of them, I took out my jeweler’s screwdriver and removed the cover plate of my bass and removed the hash. Why? We had run out and this was our only source for the ride home to London which was a couple hours away.
We had to have something to smoke on the ride home; especially after that miserable boat ride across the English Channel.
Well, the roadies exploded when they saw I was using them as my mules.

I was the roadies’ favorite member of the band because I was the only one who wasn’t a prima donna. But on this day, they ripped me a new asshole.

I promised to never do it again. And they promised that they would check my bass before they drove it on to the ferry.
Well, I kept on doing it and lying to them that I no longer was smuggling an ounce of hash in my bass. Thankfully, they just didn’t have the time to take my bass out and disassemble it.

So for the next two years this is how I smuggled hash into England. I never sold any. It was my personal stash.
When I got home, my girlfriend gave me a big hug and a kiss and then asked, “Where is the hash?”

Wrapper: Dominican ’98 Criollo (4-5 years of aging) [La Canela Farm]
Binder: Mexican San Andrés
Filler: Dominican ’98 Criollo, Dominican Piloto Cubano (Double Primings), Nicaraguan (Esteli)
Size: 5.75 x 42 “Sessrúmnir- Corona Larga”
Body: Medium
Price: $7.00 MSRP

Today we take a look at the new Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco.
Many thanks to Miguel Castro for sending me these cigars. He also made it possible so that I may review two other brands/blends: Quesada Oktoberfest 2015 and Senorial Maduro by Jose Blanco.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: Tabacalera Palma
Release Date: August, 2015
Debuted at the 2015 IPCPR trade show and this is the second line released by Las Cumbres Tobacco.

Las Cumbres Tabaco is the company owned and operated by José Blanco and wife, Emma Viktorsson.

The back story: There was a Viking goddess named Freya. She was the goddess of fertility and beauty. And chief of the Valkyrie.
The blend was developed by Emma Viktorsson and Geraldito Perez.

There is just a shit load of information about this new line but as I read the other news sources and reviews, it is a mind fuck overload of info. And I really doubt you are that interested in a Viking mythology class 101. So I hit the high points. If you want to read about all the nitty gritty of this, go to Halfwheel or Cigar Coop. They have everything you ever wanted to know about how this product came to be.

DESCRIPTION:
Kind of a funky looking cigar with bumps and lumps. Some huge tree trunk veins. Fairly tight seams. A light/medium brown wrapper with a touch of oil and slightly toothy.
The cigar feels light in the hand so I expect a quick smoke. But there are no soft spots.

SIZES AND PRICING:
All based on Viking mythology.
Sessrúmnir (Corona Larga) 5.75 x 42 $7.00 MSRP
Valhalla (Robusto) 5.5 x 50 $7.85 MSRP
Thor’s Toro 6 x 54 $9.00 MSRP
Valkyrie Pyramid 6.5 x 52 $10.00 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I can smell sweetness, molasses, spice, maple, smokiness, meat, and some floral notes.
From the clipped cap and foot, I smell more molasses, spice, toffee, smokiness, floral notes, and maple.
The cold draw presents flavors of nuts, strong toffee, sweetness, spice, smoked meat, and floral notes.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is very tight. So, I grab my cigar awl and all (no pun intended) is well.

First flavors waste no time: Chocolate, spice, coffee, sweetness, cedar, lots of malt (Cara Munich Malt, Chocolate Malt, Chocolate Wheat Malt, Coffee Malt, and Flaked Rye Malt). (See Malt Chart).

Strength is medium/full right out of the gate. But then this is a great size for immediate gratification.
6 x 42 is quickly becoming my favorite size…as of late. Mostly while I am crazy in the brain. LOL.

The Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco (Boy, that’s a long name for a cigar) is finding its complexity with only half an inch burned. So my stupid prediction about the time this cigar will take to smoke is wrong…of course. It is a slow roll.

And it tastes just like I like it. I’m impressed. Now one of two things will happen. Either the flavor profile will continue to build and transition or it will peter out in the second half. Fingers crossed.

The maltiness is really pushing hard.
There was a song in the late 60’s by The Seeds. It was called “Pushing Too Hard.” They were one hit wonders. But my friends and I got a kick every time it played on the radio because the keys player played a huge clam in the middle of his solo. His fingers literally tripped over themselves and we would yell “Loser!” Can you imagine? They could have dropped in as many takes as they wanted and this was the best solo that the keys player could manage? LOL. Maybe that’s why they were called The Seeds. Should have been buried in the dirt and then waited for something good to blossom..like a tomato. Clearly, weed was smoked during the recording session.

Creaminess makes its first appearance an inch in. Jewish rye bread. The Flaked Rye Malt nails it. It’s spicy and redolent of good rye and caraway seeds. (“You’re pushing too hard, you’re pushing on me.”)
The Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco is doing just fine. Lots of complex flavors, nice even balance, and a long finish.

And one more incident of proof that everything coming out of the 2015 IPCPR trade show need not cost $16.00. Kudos to Las Cumbres Tobacco for thinking first of the consumer and profit margin, second.
Here they are as they are changing position in line: Spice, malts, toffee, coffee, rye, caraway, chocolate, nutty, molasses, floral notes, and smoky meat.
The cigar goes out. Bummer.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 25 minutes. Much longer than I expected.
And ahhh…the sun came out. Good for photos.
A bitter lemon citrus element appears. Tastes like lemon zest.

And then transitions occur. The toffee element becomes much stronger while the malts falter a bit. The spiciness has moved back a couple of notches but the coffee and chocolate are strong. The nuttiness is in the middle. The rye is front and center. Creaminess has moved to the back of the line.

The lemon zest has disappeared.
Strength is still medium/full.

Each sip of water causes a rush to my palate. Flavor explosion with the red pepper burning my tongue and lips.
The Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco is quite different from anything that the Blancos have produced. Kudos to Emma. She has the golden touch.

I hope that this new line continues and doesn’t stop here. Just like the two daughters of Pepin Garcia who produced the La Duena but was really blended by Pete Johnson. They got their 15 minutes and then disappeared into the back office.
I like the Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco because of the constant transitions. Surprises with every puff.

The lemon zest returns.
But the creaminess has returned in a big way.
And then nicotine kicks in as the cigar hits full body.

Oh lawdy. I’ve still got more than half the cigar to go and we have nicotine. I don my crash helmet and place the dog next to me to break my fall when I pass out.

This is, most definitely, not a cigar for newbies. And good only for the experience smoker that owns a crash helmet and an understanding dog.

Did you see “60 Minutes” this last Sunday. They did a thing about how smart dogs are. And what made a big impact was the declaration that when a dog looks you right in the eyes, they are hugging you with their eyes. I found that wonderful. So whenever my boxer stares at me, I kiss her on the lips. And only occasionally use my tongue.

Know what the name of the song with the longest title is? I will give you a hint: The Beatles.
It is “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey.” 10 words.
It was a Lennon song, of course.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
I’m swooning from the nicotine.

A big jump in the flavor profile hits. Sweet Spot 1.0.

The malts have taken over. But the rye is the most potent I’ve tasted in a cigar. Once again, the spice is schizophrenic by moving to the middle of the pack.
The cigar is so smooth now. The complexity very deep and rich. The lemon zest disappears once again.

The spiciness really is Schizo. Now it is way up front. I think therapy is in order.
The nuttiness is defined by becoming almonds, hazelnuts, and Brazil nuts.

Coffee becomes a potent cup of espresso. I love espresso. I can lift a car after a cup or two but I still love it. Bought a Krups coffee maker and cappuccino maker about 17 years ago and I’m very good at making espresso and milky foam. I made the mistake of taking it to work one day and I spent all morning taking orders from the other employees. Learned my lesson. Got nothing accomplished. People actually stood in line outside of my office. Now I know what it’s like to work at Starbucks.

The Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco is a wonderful blend.
The creaminess, espresso, chocolate, and malts are super smooth now.
Sweet Spot 2.0.
This is an incredible blend. I can’t find the words to tell you how good it is. Transitions occur with every puff.

LAST THIRD:
The molasses sweetness is gone now. But a dab of raisins takes its place giving it a dried fruit sweetness. It re-emphasizes the chocolate and creaminess.

There are new flavors that are elusive. I can’t nail them down. There is some dark tea.
A crack forms just above the foot.

A sip of water and a huge rush of chocolate and creaminess bang into my palate.
The last third makes the Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco a real winner in my book.
The lemon zest is gone again.
And all the malt elements are strong and potent.

I’m conflicted about the rating. I think that with a couple months of humidor time, this blend will be a monster. It is a min-monster now. But I can easily predict the future of this blend with a couple months of aging.

Oh lord. Man, this is a good cigar. I cannot believe it is only $7.00. I found no information on whether it is a limited run or a regular production cigar. This is a box worthy cigar.

I’m perfectly happy with this size. I might be tempted to go with the Robusto (5.5 x 50) but since the Corona is going to be a cigar experience that takes over an hour, I’m happy.

The Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco is now super full bodied.
Thankfully, the nicotine has not gotten stronger.
I’ve burned right through the crack. All is well.
Cinnamon shows up. Like Red Hots.

This blend just keeps getting better with every puff.
I’m no longer conflicted. This is a bona fide high premium cigar blend.

I found two reviews and Halfwheel and Cigar Authority liked the cigar but not as much as I do. Different palates. A naturally occurring phenomenon. They both gave the cigar a rating of 89. I think it is much better than that.
I highly recommend this cigar.
Final smoke time is one hour 15 minutes.

RATING: 95

PRICE POINT:
Instead of starting at $10.00 for the smallest size, it ends with $10.00 for the largest size. Unheard of in a new boutique blend.
This blend can stand up to most of the cigars I can think of.
Obviously, you won’t see this on Cbid. Miguel bought them at the Cigar Federation store. So he got his 10% off making it a $6.30 stick. Small Batch doesn’t carry them and I could find no other online store that carries them.

SUMMATION:
This was a true cigar experience. Experienced palates will love the blend. Remember to squint your eyes and smack your lips. LOL. It is how I am able to really taste the hard to find flavors.
The Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco is only half gimmicky. The cigar itself is not. But the back story is something you will find on Wikipedia.

Transitions, complexity, balance and finish are all perfect. Fits my palate to a tee.
It’s nice to find something new and discover just how great it is. I’m tired of writing negative reviews about lousy cigars. So this was a breath of fresh air.

And now for something completely different:
My downfall as the fixer….

The band had finished its second album, at the famous Island Studio in London…and since Miles Copeland was a cheap bastard, he picked an untried producer to ride herd on the biggest egos on the planet. Now, the guy had a distinguished career as an engineer, but nothing as a producer. And the band ran all over him.. Once, he was almost brought to tears because Darryl Way, the band leader, violinist and keys player yelled at him….because Darryl wasn’t getting his way.

The old Island Studios

I was the mediator of the group and we all know what happens to that guy. And it did.

Two camps sprung up…Mick, the guitarist, and Darryl. Then there was Sonja, the singer, and Stewart Copeland, the drummer. I was in between trying to make the peace. Both camps were constantly at odds with each other. I was looking out for myself. I finally hit the big time and I didn’t want to see it get flushed down the toilet over band squabbles.

Stew was a very good drummer but had no constraints. He was like Keith Moon and just soloed away during every song. On stage, this was torture, because while Darryl and Mick were upfront trading lead riffs, Stewart was on some other planet soloing in all sorts of weird time signatures causing the boys up front to lose where “1” was.

That forced me hit quarter notes hard and heavy so they would know where they were. Quarter notes means 1-2-3-4. The backbone of rock n roll. It made me crazy to be an accomplished bassist playing quarter notes while Stew behaved like he was the star of the band. And this band was a progressive one with lots of intricate chordal changes. Not a 1-4-5 blues band. Darryl was a trained classical musician and our music reflected his training and love.

During the close of recording of the album, Jose Feliciano showed up for a couple nights and added his own style to our English progressive recordings. The only one it sounded good on was my tune: “I Broke My Leg in Yucca Valley, but My Heart Lies in Palm Springs.” Really, no bullshit. That was the name of the tune and of course, it was bass oriented. I got to show off. The band hated it. It was so intricate that they couldn’t figure it out. It was very American jazz fusion..the exact reason they hired me. So they went to the booth and sulked. My tune became a bass solo with Feliciano playing guitar and famous Brazilian percussionist, Paulhino De Costa playing every percussion instrument he had in his kit bag. And Stew was right on point. I tried teaching Sonja the two sentence lyrics but she didn’t have the range or the ability to hit the strange time signature…so we had our only instrumental on the album.

Top: Jose Feliciano enjoying a doob, Me with fro, Jose recording in studio, and the lead roadies enjoying my hospitality in my hotel room.

RCA had a big “Listening Party” debuting the release of the album called “Midnight Wire.”
It was a scene right out of “Spinal Tap.” So the record was played on a continual loop throughout the party and each time Yucca Valley played, I could hear mutterings of, “What the fuck is that?”

My heart sank. Feliciano liked it so much that he bought licensing rights…but I waited and it never showed up on any of his albums.
RCA’s reaction to our album was a disaster. And not just because of “Yucca Valley.”

Behind closed doors, Copeland and his henchmen figured out a new plan. They brought in two American hot shot producer brothers that had just finished producing Clapton’s latest album.

In Amsterdam, they came to watch us perform and we got word that we better go meet them at their hotel one afternoon. I went by myself because no one was interested. I felt it was very important but the band had no interest.
So I sat in their hotel room and listened to these two fuck heads tear the album apart…just ripped it.

Darryl Way and me.

And to my face, they told me my bass playing sucked. They said the vocals sucked. They said the arrangements sucked. They said the violin playing sucked. They said the guitar playing was out of place. Holy Bat Shit!

I raced back to our hotel and with my eyes as big as saucers, I told the band we are in big trouble. They just laughed at me while drinking and smoking dope.

The plan was to re-record the album but something needed to be fixed. The two camps were called for a meeting. I was not invited. They blamed each other for the album failure. And guess what? Yep. I got the phone call. I was gone. The album problems were laid right at the foot of the bassist. LOL.
Bastardos!

They hired a session bassist to fill in the tracks. But when I listened to the finished album, I heard my bass playing on 75% of the tracks. So I wasn’t the problem. And I’ve never been paid royalties as, to this day, the refuse to admit they used my tracks.

The new album had no soul and was listless and sterile. No excitement, no verve. It was considered by the critics as the end of the band. And this band had a long life time. I believe they put out 14 albums. I was on 4.

There I was, stranded in England without a gig. It was so humiliating when the musical mags and rags started reporting that I had left the band because of differences inside the band. But I called these rags and told them the truth and they printed it. The band came down hard on me for doing this. I didn’t care. They fired me without any severance and I was dead broke 6000 miles from home with my girlfriend and her little girl.

The roadies took pity on me and delivered half of the equipment stored in the management’s warehouse so I could sell it and have money. Management made no stink over this. These were their best roadies and the roadies got in the face of Miles Copeland and shamed him for doing what he did to me. So I sold everything and finally had some money in the bank.

I spent another 6 months playing with several well-known English bands but it just didn’t click with me and I decided to go home with my tail between my legs.
The upside? I still get player royalties. Woo Hoo. Fuckers!

Me and little Jennifer critiquing a Curved Air album.

Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Dominican Piloto Cubano
Filler: Dominican Piloto Cubano, Dominican Criollo ’98
Size: 5.5 x 50 “Robusto Digno”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $8.50 MSRP

Today we take a look at the new Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco.
I want to thank a very kind and generous man, Miguel Castro, for purchasing these for me from Cigar Federation.

BACKGROUND:
Las Cumbres Tabaco is the new cigar manufacturer headed by Jose Blanco.
Factory: Tabacalera Palma
Debuted at the 2015 IPCPR trade show.
This is the third regular production blend.
There is zero information online. Even the Blanco web site has not included this cigar in its lineup. My usual sources for news on cigars have very little information.

DESCRIPTION:
A very rustic looking cigar that is very oily with a nice bit of toothiness. The wrapper is a dark coffee bean color.
Like all the blends from Blanco, the cigar band is beautiful. Lots of detail.

Seams are tight. Lumpy and Bumpy. A perfectly applied triple cap. And lots of veins.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Lonsdale Refinado: 6.5 x 44 $7.00 MSRP
Robusto Digno: 5.5 x 50 $8.50 MSRP
Toro Coloso: 6 x 54 $9.00 MSRP
Opulento: 6 x 60 $10.00 MSRP

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I can smell fruity sweetness, spice, earthy notes, and cream.
From the clipped cap and foot, I smell chocolate, spice, coffee, cream, sweetness, and very earthy notes.
The cold draw presents flavors of chocolate, earthy tobacco, spice, and sweetness.

FIRST THIRD:
There is a nice creamy chocolate flavor that starts us off. The draw is impeccable.
This is a very smoky cigar in that smoke just billows from the foot like a house afire.

Then quickly after the introduction of chocolate comes creaminess, hazelnut, very strong red pepper, and malt (I need to smoke a bit more before I identify the malts), coffee, and the flavors keep piling on faster than I can deduce what they are…But I will.

Ever since I had that dementia lined epiphany about how to light a cigar, I’ve not had a bad char line or run since. Except for a couple cigars that were merely rolled poorly.

Either I don’t remember or I never heard of anyone lighting the wrapper and not the foot. Merely using a single torch flame around the circumference about 1/16” wide and then evenly distribute that width until it is 3/16” wide. This allows the foot to burn inward instead of outward due to the normal way we light cigars.

Since then, I’ve not had a single run or uneven burn line. And if you do see the start of a run with that little V burn, lay it down and allow the cigar to cool down a bit. Problem solved.

OK. On with the Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco.

The malts are defining themselves now: Aromatic Malt, Biscuit Malt, Cara Munich, Chocolate Malt, and Coffee Malt. (See Malt Chart). I wrote hundreds of reviews in which I couldn’t identify the “It” factor that made the flavor profiles so good. It took me being nuts in the head to identify that I was tasting variations of malt. This was the “It” factor.
Strength is medium body.

The Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is a slow roll. Taking its time. Imparting simple, but nuanced and subtle, flavors.
The chocolate, cream, and coffee are very potent and bold now. The spiciness moved to the halfway part of the list. Hope it returns.

The flavor profile reminds me of a rich chocolate dessert that you find in upscale restaurants for $16.
Complexity begins to form. The balance is good, but not yet outstanding. The finish is long.

Here they are: Chocolate, coffee, malts, cedar, caramel, roasted nuts, creaminess, and sweetness. I taste a couple types of dried fruit: raisins and something elusive. I’ll get it.

The Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is an extremely satisfying cigar blend. Jose Blanco keeps pumping out great blends. This man is a true journeyman in his trade. I cannot think of a single blend I don’t love.

Sweet Spot 1.0. The Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is singing an opera to me now. What a great, great blend!
Blanco has kept it simple and not made it a kitchen sink flavored blend. But what he does with the 7 or 8 flavors is amazing.

One of the reasons cigars taste so much better in the morning during a review is that it is the first cigar of the day with a clean palate. The second reason is that I allow a couple minutes between puffs. The absolutely correct way to smoke a cigar. Smoking it too fast will make it bitter or create too much tar that you will taste in the last third. So now, during the day, I take my time with my cigars and they taste so much better.
I don’t rethrohale any longer. It wreaks havoc with my nasal passages.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
Lawdy, Miss Clawdy. This is one helluva flavor bomb. Creaminess has moved up the list right behind the chocolate component.
Complexity is just going nuts. The balance is spot on. And it has a super long, chewy finish.
A true dessert cigar. Without the infusion of fake flavors.

I decided to get rid of my Halfway Point part of the review. Too much of a pain in the rear end.
Strength makes its move to medium/full. But still very smooth and delectable.

I check my September 25, 2014 review of the Señorial by José Blanco and the differences are very apparent. But there is a string of similarities running through both blends. You can read that review if you are interested.

The Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco would love to live in my humidor all the time. This is another wonderful blend whose price is quite affordable; especially coming out of the 2015 IPCPR trade show. Blanco could have charged an arm and a leg but the main is a mensch. I’ve tasted some of the new expensive blends that came out of the trade show and I can’t think of a single $15 cigar that is better than the Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco.

The char line remains dead nuts perfect without a single touch up needed.
The construction is excellent and clearly the rollers knew what they were doing. The Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is going to receive a high rating. Remember, ratings are subjective. A 90 to me may be an 80 to you. I just like doing it now. No reason. Probably the nutsy coo coo brain shit going on in my head now.

Which reminds me. Today is the day. I have a 2pm appointment with my neurologist who will tell me how bad my dementia or Alzheimer’s is. I got the heebie jeebies something awful.

Spiciness returns to the fold and makes it way up the list of flavors. Now in first place. It is a combo of both black and red pepper. Nice.
The cigar is so smooth that the strength is hardly noticed.

A small crack forms between the bottom of the cigar band and the foot. I normally dry box my cigars for 48 hours before a review. I like them a bit dry. Nothing worse than a soft cigar as you enter the last half.

It’s time to remove the band so now I can turn it when I take photos. The cigar’s construction has acted like a champ so no reason to highlight a minor imperfection.

Very little change in the flavor profile.

LAST THIRD:
The last third makes a quantum leap. Bold, strong flavors. Rich and nuanced and constantly transitioning like a disco ball.
Miguel sent me a 5 pack and this is the first one I’ve smoked. So two great things came from this. First, the Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is a great cigar without need for extensive humidor time. And second, I have four cigars left!

Here they are: Spice, creaminess, chocolate, malts, coffee, roasted nuts, caramel, sweetness, dried fruit, and a very rich earthy tobacco element.

With 1-1/2” to go, I’ve logged in an hour and 15 minutes smoke time.
Because the Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is so smooth, it is a great cigar for newbies and experienced palates alike. It is still medium/full but no sign of nicotine.

The char line remains perfect.
I’ve truly enjoyed this cigar. Nothing puts a smile on my face than being surprised during a review at just how good the blend is.

The Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco finishes beautifully. Uber flavor profile. Not a hint of harshness or heat.
I’m sure that the Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is in a B & M near you. So far, Cigar Federation is the best place to buy these cigars due to their 10% discount. And in a search on Google, I couldn’t find a single online store that carries them yet.

Clearly, I highly recommend the Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco.
Great cigar!

RATING: 94

PRICE POINT:
$7.00-$10.00 for four sizes is ridiculously cheap for this quality. Worth every shekel.
The two sizes that I would choose would keep me in the $7.00 (Lonsdale Refinado 6.5 x 44) and $8.50 (Robusto Digno) range. Buy them at Cigar Federation and you get a 10% discount.
I just reviewed the Freya by Emma Viktorsson from Las Cumbres Tobacco. Emma is Blanco’s wife. Two great reviews in a row for two great cigars.
The Señorial Maduro Natural by José Blanco is well worth your time and money.

SUMMATION:
I’ve fawned over this cigar like a new baby.
A big flavor bomb of a cigar. Lots of transitions. Very complex.
The leaves used in this cigar are a perfect combination.
The nice thing about Cigar Federation is that they charge the same price for a single as the box price. If I had the dough, I’d love to buy a box.

And now for something completely different:
1975

I was never that bright in the world of street sense. We were touring in the far south-west country of England. We were in the sea side community of Torquay…just east of Plymouth. Torquay is in the county of Devon which is one of the most beautiful places in the U.K. Mick, our guitarist, had lots of friends there who he invited to the concert and to hang out with.

I always forgot that I was considered a rock star in the U.K. I have lots of silly stories to back that up. I felt that I was the same So Cal kid who just happened to be playing bass in a band. The fact that we played in front of huge crowds was the only difference in my head.
The original band leaders took their fame seriously. It was boorish to me which eventually led to my downfall within the band.

All of Mick’s friends were good people. And one in particular, a very pretty girl named Cynthia, took a liking to me. I had no radar and Mick had to tell me. We spent 3 days in Torquay and Plymouth doing two shows over two days.
On the second day, Cynthia and I began to hang. She was a lot of fun; smart, funny, witty, and really good looking. We began holding hands as we walked the sea side and boardwalks. And did a little smooching. I was truly enjoying myself. Being a rock star had its privileges and perks.

For our first concert. Mick got all of his friends front row tickets. And Cynthia got caught up in the rock star show with all the lights and the big sound system and my dynamic personality on stage. LOL.

The lights were bright enough that we could always see the first few rows unless they were really far back.

We did a 2-1/2 hour show, including encores. For some reason, the audience always expected us to do 3-5 encores a night…which just floored me. The band had a history that I was not part of. And the band coming out of hibernation from 2 years of sleep really got the huge fan base going. And I should mention that these were the original players except for me. Another story.

(Me on the far left playing my beloved Gibson EBO bass)

The huge klieg lights made me sweat like a monkey or a clam. Not sure which. So by the time we hit the dressing room, I was drenched. My leather pants clung to my skin making it very uncomfortable. Taking off suede leather pants while you are soaked was like the Spanish Inquisition. I usually raced to the bathroom to change into my civvies but I wanted to impress Cynthia.

I sat in a big chair while she stroked my forehead with a damp wash cloth. It felt great. She felt great.
I took Mick aside and told him it looked like I was getting laid that night. But I knew nothing about her. What if she had an STD? Oh God! Condoms were not in style back then.

He told me the way you tell is light a cigarette and get some tar and nicotine on your thumb and forefinger. Then you insert them into her vagina and if she jumps because it stings, well…you know there is something wrong. The only problem was that I had never smoked a cigarette in my life.

And the whole time she and I hung out, she smoked cigarettes and I declined them every time she offered one. How would I do this and not look stupid.

After partying in the dressing room for a couple of hours, we left for the hotel. It was a given that Cynthia was coming to my room with me.
I was nervous as hell.

We got undressed and I asked for a cigarette. She looked stunned. “I thought you don’t smoke fags, darling.” Fags are what they called cigarettes. Don’t ask me why. Had nothing to do with homosexuals which they called Puftas.

I choked and gagged on the cigarette trying to look cool while she looked at me like I was from outer space. I kept rubbing my fingers on the cigarette filter until I saw a brown substance on my fingers. Time to go to work.

We made out for a while. Very tender. All the time, I was trying to keep those fingers from touching her which made the whole thing comical.

Finally. I did the deed and she never made the expected “Ouch” sound.
I was relieved. So we spent the night making love. It was a great night and I remember seeing the sun come up with her and me sitting on the patio of the hotel room in our bathrobes provided by the hotel. My fro looked like a squished sea urchin. She laughed at me every time she looked at me. I laughed too. A fro was very high maintenance. I hated it but it made me look very rock n roll.

Years later, of course, I came to find that Mick’s technical test for STD was all hogwash. Like I said, I wasn’t very street smart. But she was a good girl and there was never any chance of me catching anything.

Thank goodness. My girlfriend, back in London, would have killed me.

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.5 x 50 “Robusto-Box Pressed”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $9.90 MSRP

Today we take a look at the new Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro.
I want to thank Yadi Gonzalez Vargas, of Flor de Gonzalez, for the samples.

BACKGROUND:
Release date August 2015
Factory: AgroIndustrial Nicaraguense de Tabacos S.A.
The 20th Anniversario blend pays homage to FDG’s original blend: Gold Series. The Gold Series was the first cigars produced by the owner and founder, Arnaldo Gonzalez.
This is a limited production run and only 1500 boxes of each size & wrapper were produced.
2014 was good to FDG with the release of 90 Miles R.A. Nicaraguan lancero and the new release of their “Spectral.”
The company had a big year in 2014 with the release of Spectral and the 90 Miles R.A. Nicaragua Lancero,

DESCRIPTION:
A very rustic looking stick. It has soft box press. Seams are tight. Lots of veins. A nice triple cap. With an oily, dark chocolate colored wrapper. It has a soft box press.
It has a double cigar band. The regular Gold Series band with a secondary band that says “20th Anniversary.” The gold on gold lettering makes it very hard to see. So if I can’t catch it in my photos, you will just have to trust me.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Robusto 5.5 x 50 $9.60 MSRP $9.90
Toro 6.5 x 54 $10.40 MSRP
Torpedo 6.5 x 52 $11.00 MSRP
The Ecuadorian Connecticut is 30¢ less per stick.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I can smell dried fruit, sweetness, spice, and a touch of cinnamon.
From the clipped cap and foot, I can smell very strong spiciness and strong notes of dried fruit. There is also a lovely sweetness with floral notes apparent.
The cold draw presents flavors of coffee, raisins, sweetness, spice, chocolate, and malt

FIRST THIRD:
I took a photo of how I now light my cigars from the wrapper inwards. Instead of torching the base of the foot, I torch about an eighth of an inch around the wrapper over and over until it’s even. Then it allows the burn to move inward instead of outward. This has worked effectively on every cigar I’ve smoked; in terms of never having another run or little V burn that can run for it and destroy the burn of the cigar.

The draw is tight. Cigar awl time. I must force the awl completely through the cigar in order to clear some plugs but now it the draw is beautiful.
Smoke billows around my puny head.

The first flavors are spice, chocolate, coffee, sweetness, dried fruit, earthy tobacco notes, and malts.
Strength is medium body.

I’m ready for the malts: Chocolate Malt, Coffee Malt, and Crystal/Caramel Malt. (See Malt Chart).
So far, this is a very enjoyable cigar. I was given the samples almost two months ago.
Raisin is looming large now.

Creaminess makes a big surge and drags along with it cocoa and coffee. A touch of caramel appears now.

The char line has needed several touch ups. Yadi sent me a sampler box they sell with, I believe, 6 cigars. Each one different so I didn’t have the chance to smoke one prior to the review. Since implementing my new method of lighting a cigar, I’ve come to the conclusion that either a cigar is rolled correctly or it’s not. I’ve been lucky with this new method because it does two things…it guarantees a perfect burn (Unless the cigar was not rolled by focused rollers), and the flavor profile hits a home run immediately…something that rarely happened with the old method.

I’ve been unable to keep the char line perfect with the Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro.
I’ve decided to put the cigar down and let it cool off a bit. This usually stops an aggressive out of whack burn line. I’m being pretty harsh on the Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversary Maduro because it needs lots of touch ups. But it is what it is.

That’s why that sometimes it is good to have several cigars for review. How else does one know if the char line issue is common to the blend or just an aberration?

Back to the Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro flavors.
We have hit Sweet Spot 1.0. Fortunately, the touch ups have been minor. If you have to make big corrections to the foot, you are torching too much wrapper and it totally changes the profile of the cigar’s flavors. And not for the better.
OK. I’ve allowed the Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversary Maduro to cool and the char line is spot on. Other than that, the construction has been top shelf.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 20 minutes.
Strength is now a strong medium/full body.
The lineup of flavors has changed somewhat: Spice, creaminess, coffee, raisins, malts, cocoa, caramel, vanilla bean, and very earthy notes of tobacco.

I’ve found only one cigar store that carries this blend and all are less than the MSRP: Famous Smoke. The FDG web site doesn’t sell their own wares. But other online stores do carry the rest of the FDG line. Too many to count. I assume they will soon carry this cigar; but as it is a limited run, maybe not. The boutique brand online stores might be their destination. But at this time, neither SBC or CF carry the brand.

I’ve been forced to make a large correction to the foot of the cigar. This will heavily reflect in my final rating.

HALFWAY POINT:
Flavors are no longer bold. They have been muted. No complexity. Nice balance. But a short finish.
At the moment, the Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro tastes more like a $3 bundle cigar than a limited run high premium. The 90 Miles line was better.

I still have the following three blends to review: FDG 20th Anniversario Natural, Spectral, and the 90 Miles R.A. Nicaragua Limited Edition Lancero.

The Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro goes out.

I have to be honest here…I’m disappointed in this blend. I gave it a couple of months humidor time so there is no excuse about it being green. So I will bypass the Natural and move directly to the 90 Miles R.A. Nicaragua Limited Edition Lancero.

I’ve lost some of the flavors: Caramel, raisins, coffee, and the cocoa has diminished. I’m left with Creaminess, spice, malt, vanilla bean and earthy tobacco notes.
The spice has really surged. My tongue and lips burn.

BTW- I met with my neurologist yesterday and got the results of all those grueling tests. I’m not quite comfortable discussing those results yet. Soon. I’m quite upset.
I will post the results on my Go Fund Me web site sometime today.

Strength hits full body.

The Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro is now a spice bomb. Too much of a good thing as it blots out some of the good flavors.
The lack of complexity is vexing. This should be FDG’s flagship blend with the celebration of its 20th anniversary. Instead, it has let me down.

LAST THIRD:
The Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro finds its redemption.
Flavors return in force. The spiciness has calmed down. But the foot still needs constant minor touch ups.

Here they are: Creaminess, spice, coffee, cocoa, malts, raisins, caramel, nuttiness, vanilla, and floral notes.
Very nice.

If the Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro had maintained this flavor strength throughout, it would have been rated higher.
The cigar finds its complexity at last. Nice balance with a long finish.

The last third is quite nice but not enough to make me forget the first two third’s problems.
The flavors become muted once again. Complexity is gone.

Holy cow. One moment, the flavors are wonderful and full of complexity and the next moment the flavor profile is nada.
I’m sorry, Yadi, I just cannot recommend this cigar. I hope this cigar was a fluke but as I only had one to review, I will never know. And I’m not going to spend $10 per stick to find out.
The cigar finishes harsh, hot, and bitter. Sigh.
Time to put it down.

RATING: 80

PRICE POINT:
One has to expect a higher price point on a limited run and a special blend.
But $10.00 is too much for what I’ve experienced. I believe that it fits more in the $6.00 range. This cigar is no different than all the Torano blends.

Maybe two months was not enough time. Maybe this is an old school blend needing 6 months of humidor time. Will never know. There are 195 blends that are better, and cheaper, in “The Katman’s Best 195 Boutique Brands/Blends in the $6-$9.50+ Range.”

SUMMATION:
I was very patient with this cigar. I gave it two months rest. And I expected to be blown away. Just the opposite occurred.
Constant burn issues. The cigar went out on me twice. And the roller coaster ride of flavors.
I don’t get it.
This is, in no way, meets the standards of a $10 stick.
All I can say about the Flor de Gonzalez 20th Anniversario Maduro is that it didn’t get the necessary focus and attention to the blending process.

Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Size: 5 x 42 “Marevas – Petit Corona”
Body: Medium
Price: $11.00

Today we take a look at the Cuban Cohiba Siglo II.
A big thanks to Bruce Cholka for gifting me this cigar.

BACKGROUND:
Factory: El Laguito
This cigar was introduced in November 1992 and introduced to the international market in 1994, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus to the New World.
Made from Vuelta Abajo tobacco.
All of Cohiba’s cigars are known to go through an exclusive third fermentation that gives it its unique taste.
That’s all I got folks.

DESCRIPTION:
For some reason, the rollers on these Cohiba blends didn’t take a lot of time rolling them. They are very lumpy and bumpy. Big tree trunk veins with lots of small veins. But a perfectly applied flat triple cap. The cigar is an oily, amber/light brown color that is very smooth to the touch.
All of these cigars are a bit soft to the touch. Not really a solid cigar but not a spongy one either. Somewhere in between.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell the strong floral notes and barnyard that this cigar is famous for.
From the clipped cap and the foot, I can smell chocolate, grass, and vanilla. All flavors that this cigar is known for.
The cold draw presents flavors of grass, chocolate, vanilla, sweetness, and ginger.

FIRST HALF:
I use my new lighting technique and am rewarded with a perfect burn line and big, immediate flavors of cocoa, vanilla, grass, ginger, wood, and honey.
Big plumes of smoke arise from this little cigar.

And then in a flash, the cigar burn line goes wild on me so I do a minor correction and put it down to cool. I have to admit that I’ve had this kind of trouble before with Cubans. Real Cubans. Not the fakes.
I let the cigar rest for 5 minutes and the near canoe has rectified itself without help from me. That cooling down method is something I should have thought of years ago. Your Uncle Katman ain’t that bright.

Strength is mild/medium.

Some spice shows up in the form of black pepper. Creaminess appears for the first time. Very nice cigar. I now see why it is so many smokers’ favorite.

Most Cubans are overrated. Bad crops. Lousy weather. Emigrants to Central America or the U.S. have depleted the very best of Cuban’s journeyman. But they are still very good at a lot of brands/blends. This is one. RASS is another. I have to be honest here. I have been screwed more than my share buying fake Cubans so I rarely get them and basically only review one when it is a gift.

El Laguito Factory did not put its best rollers on this cigar. I continue to have minor imperfections in the burn.
Caramel is up next. Very sweet. But then either honey or honeysuckle really hammers home. There is also a very sweet buttery element.
The ash is very delicate and doesn’t last more than half an inch.

Strength is medium body.

Here they are: Chocolate, vanilla, grass, spice, honey, wood, ginger, creaminess, floral notes, and caramel.
Clearly, this is not a jam packed cigar. It feels like it is smoking too quickly. Or it is my mind playing tricks. This is such a wonderful blend that time whizzes by.

I apologize for the photos. I’ve got some tremors this morning and I can’t hold the camera still. I have a tripod but it is an inexpensive one and won’t allow me to get the angle I need for my shots.

This is a special little cigar. The Cuban Cohiba Siglo II packs a lot of punch in a small package.
Flavors are big and bold. And the blend has been complex since the first inch kicked in.
There is a very nice balance and a long finish.
Clearly, this ain’t no fake Cuban.

I want to thank Joey at Summit Cigars for the nice care package I received yesterday. Hi Joey. Thanks brother.
And the same happened from Ana Cuenca. She loaded the care package til it couldn’t breathe. And both sent very nice, compassionate notes.

Back to the Cuban Cohiba Siglo II. Sweet Spot 1.9.
This blend is a killer. I would love to smoke it in one of the bigger sizes. This one goes by so fast I can barely keep up.

SECOND HALF:
Smoke time is 35 minutes.
Cigar band comes off but way too much glue and I nearly destroy it.

The Cuban Cohiba Siglo II is blasting away at bold and rich flavors: Chocolate, creaminess, spice, coffee, vanilla, caramel, honey, grass, wood, ginger, and lovely floral notes.
This is the complete package.

I love the RASS but the Cuban Cohiba Siglo II is giving it a run for its money.
What a treat.

As you can tell by now, I’m having trouble searching for words. My vocabulary has taken a big hit.
I don’t know what else I can say about this cigar I haven’t already said.

Transitions. A constant spinning disco ball and light show with laser pin point action.

I’m smoking the Cuban Cohiba Siglo II very slowly to make it last. This is, by far, one of the best blends I’ve smoked in ages.
The char line issues disappeared in the first half. Dead nuts perfect now. Without any help from me.
Strength jumped to medium/full. No nicotine yet.
I think I’m tripping.

A certain online cigar store had a post in which a well-known cigar personality wrote about how reviewers go overboard with their descriptions. He basically wrote a humorous article but went too far. He reduced the amount of flavors you find in a blend to only 7 elements.

Now, we all know there can be much more than that.
There were lots of comments. About half of them took issue with his theory. I added my own comment. And shortly after, all the comments were removed. LOL. I mentioned that the Ezra Zion All My Ex’s was a highly exotic cigar with a huge flavor profile. And how I got an email from owner Kyle Hoover telling me I was spot on with the flavors. I posted his email to the review later. In fact, my review was so full of descriptive flavors that none of the other reviewers took a whack at it. I believe I am the only reviewer of this cigar. Maybe a couple other smaller reviewers took it on.

The Cuban Cohiba Siglo II is the perfect blend of flavors, nuance, subtleties, boldness, balance, finish, and character for my palate.
A box of these wouldn’t last long in my humidor.

The Cuban Cohiba Siglo II finishes beautifully. No harshness. No heat. No bitterness.
Clearly, I highly recommend this cigar. But then you already knew that as I am probably the last smoker on the planet to have smoked this cigar for the first time.

RATING: 95

PRICE POINT:
Prices vary quite a bit but the $11.00 range was the most common.
Worth every nickel.
I am in Bruce Cholka’s debt.

SUMMATION:
What’s to say? For me, a perfect blend. The only thing keeping me from rating it higher is the burn issues at the start.

And now for something different:
I don’t have Alzheimer’s disease.
I’ve been diagnosed with one of two different types of dementia. Both rare and untreatable.

The first is Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.
The second is Niemann-Pick Disease. There are Types A, B, and C.

Both diseases are sometimes confused with the other during diagnosis so further tests are needed. In fact, both are very hard to diagnose. Period.

The second type of dementia I may have has been shown in high numbers of Ashkenazi Jews. I am an Ashkenazi Jew.
I will need further tests to distinguish between the two.

Based on my doctors, and research, there is no clear treatment for either. Anti-depressants seem to be about as much as they can offer.

I have no idea what life expectancy is on either. They really don’t know due to the difficulty in diagnosing the disease; and when it really starts. It could be life-long and only show up later in life.

I could live another 30 years or I could drop dead next year. I vote for 30 years.

Regardless, my doctor visit on Thursday was a real kick to the stomach which resulted in a near sleepless night. I was a mess the next day. I spent months going through a lot of testing. And not knowing was almost as bad as knowing.

One always thinks something like this happens to other people. Other than the results of my skydiving accident and diabetes, I’ve never had a serious illness. The only surgeries I’ve had in my life were taking my tonsils out at age 4 and implanting an electric stimulator in my back a year ago to help with the pain. That’s it.

So I feel I’ve been blessed. If you are a regular reader, you know I’ve led an extraordinary life. So lucky.

I feel that my body of work is somehow a part of the legacy I leave my wife and daughter. My only family. I’m glad I strayed from the pack and inserted myself into my reviews. It has caused a lot of detractors that don’t take me seriously. But then there are the very smart readers who understand what I’m doing. I’m not a cookie cutter writer of reviews.
Unfortunately, the blog server that hosted my first web site has wiped out my reviews. I had thousands of them. From 2009-2012.

Reviewing makes me happy. Like you, cigars are my passion. Writing in the morning is the highlight of my day.
But the wonderful comments you’ve made and emails you have sent me have cheered me up immensely.
And to those special people who have helped me with donations will always be close to my heart.

And the many, many readers that have kept me in cigars while we struggle to pay our bills are in my will.

I love you all. Even those I’ve nearly come to blows with over the years. None of that B.S. is important, or relevant, in the bigger scheme of things and I apologize for pissing people off. It’s just life.