Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos | Cigar Review

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Costa Rican Sumatran
Filler: Costa Rican, Dominican
Size: 5.875 x 52 “Magnificos”
Body: Medium
Price: $7.20 MSRP

Today we take a look at the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos.
A reader sent me a package from an online cigar store, anonymously, with a 5 pack of these cigars as well as a 5 pack of Smoking Jacket Cigars. I got them five weeks ago.

BACKGROUND:
First, this cigar blend was released in June, 2015.
The cigar band is quite complex and a magnifying glass is needed for these old eyes.

The parent company is Pure Aroma Cigars. It is owned by Isaias Santana Diaz and the Ferrer next to the Santana on the band is Diaz’s partner. The company is based in Miami. The company recently signed a distribution deal with Espinosa Cigars.
This blend is considered a value blend for D’Crossier Cigars. They have several other blends: Golden Blend, L’Forte, Imperium Class, Presidential Collection, Premium Blend, and Diplomacy Series. All much more expensive than the Selection No.12 series.

Diaz, a homegrown Cuban, named the line after his grandfather, Francisco D’Crossier. Yes, it is a French name. D’Crossier crossed the Atlantic to start making wine in Cuba.
The company set up shop in 2006. And the reference to San Jose is not Northern California, but rather, the Costa Rican city.

DESCRIPTION:
This is a fairly nice looking stick with tight seams and few veins. A perfect flat triple cap. An oily, medium brown wrapper (with a Colorado tint) that is silky smooth. Sticks are solid with the right amount of give. I don’t think I will get a good photo of the cigar band until it is removed later in the review.

SIZES AND PRICING:
Coloniales: 5.125 x 44 $6.00 MSRP
Corona Gorda: 5.5 x 46 $6.20 MSRP
Hermosos No. 2: 5.875 x 48 $6.40 MSRP
Magnificos: 5.875 x 52 $7.20 MSRP
Campana: 6 x 54 $7.20 MSRP
Geniales: 6.5 x 54 $7.40 MSRP

There is a Selection 512 Lancero but uses a different blend and goes for $13.00. It is a limited production stick. Everything else is regular production.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I can smell lovely dark baking cocoa, spice, dried cherries, summer fruit, leather, and some sweetness.
From the clipped cap and foot, I can smell a very intense cocoa, leather, strong cinnamon-like spiciness, and cedar.
The cold draw presents flavors of chocolate, sweetness, leather, and spice.

FIRST THIRD:
The draw is good.
A big wallop of spice attacks my palate like a lioness on a gazelle. Really. Powerful stuff.
It starts off at a strong medium body.

Let us see what we can see: Spice, cocoa, sweetness, cedar, fruitiness, creaminess, yeasty, lots of malt, nuts, some graham cracker, and very, very earthy tobacco notes.
Here are the malts: Chocolate Malt, Special B Malt, Peated Malt, and Mild Ale Malt. (See Malt Chart).

The Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos is a nice cigar but really nothing special I couldn’t find in any other good $5-$6 cigar.

D’Crossier puts out a lot of blends. If you visit their web site, you will discover this. And the blend I am smoking is not their crown jewel. There are 8 blends shown on their site…which strangely is called the D’Crossier Store but it doesn’t allow you to buy cigars. And it shows no pricing. Just a list of retailers. I don’t get it.
There is the Golden Blend Series $13.00 (Aged 10 Years), L’Forte, Imperium Class Vintage $13.00, Presidential Collection $8.00, Premium Blend, and Diplomacy Series.
So the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 line appears to be their regular rotation cigar. For us commoners.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 25 minutes.
The strength settles in to a nice medium body.
No construction issues.

Here they are: Chocolate, creaminess, spice, malt, nuttiness, coffee, cedar, raisin, apples, cinnamon, yeasty bread, and graham cracker. With that very nice earthy tobacco. So, it appears that the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos is spreading its wings.

I’m not taking the usual amount of photos today. I have tremors in my hands and can’t hold the camera still so I apologize for my amateurish attempts. And I’m very confused this morning and can’t keep a thought in my head. I hope the after review story makes up for this.

It’s a very nice cigar. I noticed that Mike’s Cigars carries about 5 of the 8 blends. Tell Mike that the Katman sent you if you are so inclined.

HALFWAY POINT:
Smoke time is 45 minutes.
Strength reaches medium/full.

The Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos is very smooth. Nice balance. Long finish.
For this being D’Crossier’s value cigar, it is pretty good. The others are out of my wallet range.

Cigar Federation carries them as well and is probably a much better deal than Mike’s Cigars. They also carry 5 of the blends. But I notice that the L’Forte starts at $18.15 a stick. Ouch! The rest are in the $10 range except for this morning’s review cigar. It starts at $6.00.

Yeah, it’s pretty good because of the large flavor profile. But there are no transitions. It is pretty much the same from stem to stern…except for a couple minor changes.
Construction remains good. No touch ups of the char line required.

At The Cigar Federation Store starts at $6.00 minus your 10% membership coupon code, (Fedhead614), the stick is only $5.40. That’s a deal.
The strongest flavors are: Chocolate, creaminess, malt, cedar, spice, coffee, and cinnamon.
The rest have moved to the background.

I’ve got some new tests scheduled for mid-November. Now if I had a sore throat, the doc would see me right away. But I only have dementia so I can wait. LOL.

As I said earlier, I believe I’ve had these cigars for around 6 weeks. I smoked the rest in the second-third week. They were good but twice that time has made a vast improvement on the taste. I wish there were more transitions. I guess they save that for the $10 sticks.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is one hour 5 minutes.
The very smooth nature of the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos continues and it backs down to medium body.
And here is what I’ve been waiting for: Complexity, transitions, better balance, and longer finish.
So maybe 6 weeks isn’t enough. As this was my last stick, I won’t know for sure.

If the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos had started out like this, it would have gotten a much higher rating.
Still, finally kicking in is better than not kicking in at all.

All the flavors return in force. The malts and the graham cracker really hit it off.

I suppose that you, dear regular readers, saw my post for the Ezra Zion Blending Sessions cigars? I smoked two of them and they were every bit as good as the released blends. Aged to a tee. I wrote to Kyle Hoover and he is a very nice, grounded guy. I hope that they are still around in the next few days. I am going to do something behind Charlotte’s back. When I get my fee for advertising from Stogie Boys, I will buy a 20 pack for $80 from the Ezra Zion web site store.
So nobody buy any. I want some left for me.

Flavors are running rampant. Wonderful transitions. Bold and big flavor profile.
I read a couple other reviews and I’m guessing that they didn’t let them rest as long as I have. Just spitballin’.

Why? Because my experience with the end to the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos is totally different. They report a much lessening of flavors while I report a huge growth.

I believe I’m out of what I consider “new” cigars for review. I have a bunch of cigars that have been around for quite a while and since I’ve not reviewed them, that’s what I will do. The reason, besides not having the up to date cigars, is to fill out my review portfolio. You never know when CI or Cigar.com have specials on cigars that have been around since Jesus was a toddler go up for sale. And smokers go a huntin’ for reviews.

The best way to describe the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos is that it is a smooth and relaxing cigar.

Strength hits medium/full again. But still smooth as my tushy. I don’t seem to have enough testosterone in me. Hence, most of the hair on my body is gone. When I was young, I was a hairy SOB. But when I did my research, I found that if you take testosterone meds, they can make your head hair to dissipate. That’s what I need. Less hair on my head. So no thank you. So if you want to see how hairless my ass is, send me a message with your address and I will send you photos.

I just got another unwanted sales call. What is the point of registering your phone number with the Do Not Call Registry if you still get some cold call every day or so? I usually yell at them to take my name off their list.

I’m really digging the Flor de D’Crossier Selection No. 512 Magnificos. It reminds me of some of the My Father blends.
For $5.40 at Cigar Federation, I can recommend this cigar. I do suggest you allow it a couple months before lighting it up though.

RATING: 88

PRICE POINT:
For the quality, the cost is right on point. It all depends on how long you humidor age it.
It is certainly better than any Torano I’ve smoked. The Kings of the $6 cigar.

SUMMATION:
I was disappointed in the first two thirds. It was OK. Nice flavors but no complexity. And no transitions.
The last third made up for that. I would label this an Old School blend needing as much humidor time as you can muster. That act may just take the wonderful experience of the last third and start it from the beginning.

And now for something completely different:
I haven’t published this for a long time. Originally posted in October, 2012.

A Bizarre Night w/Andy Kaufman (Latka of “TAXI”) True Story

Yes. Bizarre is the only way to describe it.
I was smack dab in the middle of my professional musical career. I had attained some peer cred and therefore got to do and see things.
I had come off of playing bass with the English band Curved Air. Claim to fame: “The Police” drummer Stewart Copeland was my band mate.

I came back to Long Beach, CA and opened a recording studio, production company and management company. Claim to fame: I took a project to the charts…a novelty single called “Whatever Happened to Eddie?” starring Butch (Eddie Munster) Patrick. We took the theme from “The Munsters” and added our own lyrics and re-recorded the music for the times….1983.

I also was playing in a band (The Attitude) making the local charts with our kick ass version of Elvis’ “Hound Dog.” Little Richard played piano on the cut. You can watch it on YouTube by clicking HERE. Remember this was pre-MTV.

Life was good. These were also the years made famous by the Beverly Hills Diet of Cocaine and Champagne. And I had dough. You can take it from there.
I had a hanger-on friend named Marshall. Marshall was a bona fide, big time, radio disc jockey. We hung.
In December of 1981, he got VIP tickets to the release of “Hanukkah Rocks” by Gefilte Joe & The Fish on RHINO Records.

The release was at the famous Improv in Hollywood. Marshall asked me to go with him because he knew I’d have coke….rather than take his girlfriend because he would have to go out and buy coke. Mooching was better.

That’s where I met him. Andy Kaufman. Latka of the sit com “TAXI.” As the hours burned, there were 5 of us left in the club sitting at the same booth. Me. Marshall. Andy. Some guy and his girlfriend.
We sat at a large half circle booth with Andy in the middle. The “other” guy asked Andy about the wrestling thing he was doing.

Andy, for some reason, decided his next campaign in the world of improvisational art, would be the world of wrestling. It quickly went from wrestling men to wrestling women. The men were kicking his ass because he made fun of the “sport.”

So he would challenge any woman in the audience. Sometimes, he won. Sometimes, he didn’t. It became a nationwide joke.
We all sat there in the booth, hugging our Hanukkah gifts. Including a record called “Hanukkah Rocks” shaped like a Star of David, in blue, with 2 songs on each side. It was a very cool trophy (I hung it in my recording studio office until someone stole it.)

Andy began to weave the history of wrestling to us. Unless you knew him, you really didn’t know what his voice sounded like. Obviously, it wasn’t that of Foreign Man or Latka. And it didn’t sound like Elvis. He had sort of a milque toast voice, a little high, but quiet, when he spoke. You had to lean in.

We listened and contributed and had a very normal conversation with one of the craziest entertainers in the world. Then Marshall asked Andy if he would wrestle the girl sitting with us. He agreed without thought. Same with the chick.

There was a small dance floor, about 10 feet square, in the middle of the club. Marshall stayed in the booth. The girl’s boyfriend moved to a chair at the corner of the dance floor. I moved to the opposite corner….and then we waited……and waited…while Andy seemed to be meditating with eyes closed.

Then in a rush of energy, he jumped to the top of the booth table and leaped off it like a crazed man. We all yelled, thinking he would fall, but he landed like a cat on the dance floor.

The X rated epithets started coming from his mouth as he hunkered into a wrestling hunch and circled the girl. He was a foul mouthed S.O.B. Yet he was the complete opposite at the table.

The chick made her move and threw Andy to the floor. It stunned him. He got up screaming at the girl, “You fucking bitch! You Cunt!” And so on. They got into a stranglehold on each other with neither giving in. Neither falling to their knees.

Then something vicious…..Andy did a sweep with his leg, knocking the pins out from under the girl. Really nasty, because she hit the floor HARD! He then leaped into the air and dropped right on top of her to pin her. She was screaming for help. I looked over to her boyfriend and he was laughing.

In only moments, Andy counted, “1-2-3” and jumped off of her. He walked the perimeter of the dance floor with both hands in the air showing domination and accomplishment. His head was bobbing up and down, enjoying the win.

The girl could not get up. She was hurt. Andy played too rough. We all shook our heads and Marshall asked Andy why did he have to play so rough? Andy ignored him.

We gathered our things at the table. Andy asked us all up to his place, not far from the club, to hang out the rest of the night. We all declined. We were disgusted.

Never thought in my wildest imagination, I’d ever have a story like this.
Andrew Geoffrey Kaufmann
January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984