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I smoked the Corona Size, which is the top in the picture.

Recently, I made a trip to Las Vegas to herf it up with a few friends of mine.  I met up with them, and one of our first stops was Casa Fuente located in Ceasar’s Palace Forum Shops.  Everytime I go in there, I generally pick up a couple of the Casa Fuente house brand cigars in the corona size.  They are very hard to find, and Casa Fuente is supposed to be the only place you can get them.  This time around, however, I changed it up a bit.  I picked up one Casa Fuente Corona, and one God Of Fire Robusto.  This review is of the Casa Fuente, as I figured the readers might like to see it.

Pre-Light: On pre-light, I ran this cigar across my nose, and got a nice fruity scent, similar to raisins or grapes, along with some spice and a little earth undertones.  I cut it with my Palio, and took a pre light draw.  On the draw, I got more earthiness, and a pronounced raisin type flavor.  Very interesting…

1/3: As I started on this cigar, I was getting a very definete sweet taste, with that raisin flavor very prominent.  There was a little bit of spice, but it was prominently that sweet raisin flavor.  Lots of billowing smoke, but the ash was very flaky, and not solid at all.  So far, this cigar is not as impressive as it should be for $18 per stick.

2/3: As I continued, the smoke was still billowing nicely but the burn was leaving something to be desired.  I was getting a lot of spice, with the hints of raisins and other fruity flavors.  It was pretty straightforward, and not all that complex.   The flavors were ok, but not something I would regular spend this kind of money on.  At this point, I don’t know that I’ll be buying anymore of them.  I like it, but I am not in love with it.

3/3: So far, on the last third, nothing is really changing on this cigar.  The smoke is still billowing, and smells great, and I am still getting the same flavors, with a little cedar flavor mixed in now.  Don’t get me wrong, the flavors are nice, but its not a real complex cigar, that I generally expect for the kind of money this one costs.  The burn straightened out, but the wrapper has now cracked, and is wanting to unravel on me just a bit.

Overall Impression: Overall, this is a cigar I think everyone should try at least once, just to say you’ve tried it, but its nothing that floored me.  The flavors are ok, but not overwhelmingly great.  The smoke billows nice, but the ash is really flaky. Try it once, some people love them, but this isn’t one to keep in regular rotation for me.

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I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of General cigars. There’s just something about their cigars that don’t sit right with me. I’ve got a few that I like though and one of them that’s been pretty consistent for me is the Partagas Black line of cigars. I’m a big fan of the Clasico size and just happened to have the 6×50 Maximo, so I thought I’d give it a try.

Appearance: Okay, these things are dark and oily. The only problem I have is that I suspect their painted. Now, I don’t know how, but I just don’t think these things get this dark naturally. I’ve had problems in the past with the color coming off on my fingers while holding them, which luckily, didn’t happen this time. And talk about veins. You’d think this thing just juiced up and came from the gym the way the veins were sticking out. Overall, though, this was still a pretty good looking cigar that had me amped up.

Taste: And then I smoked it. Eh, well, it was tobacco. There was some hint of the regular coffee and cocoa that I usually get with the Black line, but it was diminished. It was also hidden by a bitter aftertaste that stayed throughout the smoke. Most of all, though, it tasted like straight tobacco. Which may or may not be a bad thing depending on your likes.

Aroma: This is where the cigar started me out so great. Talk about chocolatey smells! It was almost like holding a Hershey bar. Definitely a pungent, but not unpleasant, aroma that had me salivating to light it up. The smoke was light and pleasant too.

Construction: I don’t hold much hope for General cigars when it comes to construction. This one was no different. The roll was inconsistent when squeezed and looking at the foot you could see an uneven bunch. The ragged burn and inability to stay lit for long periods of time confirmed my suspicions. Definite thumbs down here.

Overall: Well, it definitely didn’t live up to my expectations, but I can’t say that it was a dud either. I’ll say it’s less than average though. Again, I never hold high hopes for General cigars and except for some never think they’re worth the money. Add in the fact that there are rumors (confirmed by people I know in the industry) that General unnaturally speeds up the aging process of the leaf, and, well… it’s to be expected that their sticks just don’t hold up to my expectations. Take that for what it’s worth…

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Note: I’d just like to take a moment to thank my friend, Doc Stogie, at Stogie Fresh for providing these awesome digital images of cigar bands. If you’ve noticed how great they look, check them out at Doc’s site. He provides them for your use and allows you to download them. Stop by and let him know you were there.

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If you’ve been reading me for awhile, you know that I don’t spend extravagantly on one single cigar. I didn’t on this one either as it was gifted to me in a cigar bomb and had been resting up in my humidor for a good six months. This has been a particularly bleh week so I decided to grab something a little more special out of my humidor for tonight’s smoke.

Appearance: This is always an excellently presented cigar with an exquisite band. They’ve got to justify the cost somehow, right? The cigar itself wasn’t anything special to look at. The wrapper had prominent veins and even had a scar where I would assume the tobacco leaf had been perforated at one point before its use in this cigar.

Taste: Now, this is where I start to go south on these. This isn’t my first one, and I don’t know why I keep expecting these to be better than the last one, but what taste? There’s spice and tobacco and LOTS of it. The strength of this cigar overpowers any kind of possibility for a smooth distinctive taste. As usual.

Aroma: You can smell the strength in this cigar by holding it to your nose. I was surprised by a honey-like note when sniffing the wrapper. The smoke is extremely pungent and is not one I exhale through the nose unless I’m looking to torture myself.

Construction: So far you’re probably thinking this sounds like a review of an average cigar. I wish. Now, I know I didn’t pay for it, but these retail from $20-25 per stick and I have to say for that money, I expect perfection. What I got was way below expectations. This thing was hard to light and keep lit. A ragged burn and loose, flaky ash showed poor, uneven rolling. The draw was a little loose, but I don’t mind that.

Overall: Well, one thing that is consistent is that this cigar always isn’t as good as I hope it will be. I prefer the Litto Gomez Diaz sticks which are half the price and twice the flavor. I know many people like this cigar because of its prestige, but I’m not that kind of person. I like a good $3 stick as much as I like a good $25 stick. This was neither.

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Okay, so I know the J. Fuego has been sitting in our Upcoming Reviews section for awhile and that’s my fault. I wanted the chance to be able to smoke a few before giving my review to make sure that the first two I had weren’t just from a bad batch. That being said, I’ve had the chance and can now get to the review. For this review I selected the 6 1/2×58 Grande size.

Appearance: This is a nice, elegant looking cigar with a dark corojo wrapper. This specimen had prominent veins and was slightly toothy, but the wrap was very clean and seamless. I like the band on this one as it’s simple but classy. The cap was clean and well done. Looking at the foot you could see the bunch looked pretty good.

Taste: Nothing exciting here. I’m usually a fan of the corojo leaf, but this line seems bland compared to some of the other corojo cigars I’ve had. This had a very woody taste to it that was slightly tannic throughout the whole of the cigar. I had to purge it a couple times after I burned it past the half way point when the tannic taste started to turn bitter. The taste was consistent throughout the cigar; the only thing that changed was the strength. It started at a light-medium and increased to a medium-full.

Aroma: Again nothing too spectacular. Some coffee and tobacco. The smoke was light and not too harsh on the nostrils.

Construction: Doing the regular pinch test, this cigar felt pretty consistent. The draw was a little tight at the beginning but loosened to a medium draw once the heat expanded the tobacco a little. The burn was so-so, and I’ve found this to be true for each I’ve smoked. I had a hard time getting this one to light fully at the beginning. It produced an average amount of smoke and the ash held well enough.

Overall: For the $8+ price tag on these, I think I’ll pass. It was a slightly less-than-average stick on its own let alone being overpriced. The flavor was a bit on the bland side, though if you like wood you might like this. I kept trying to come back to these and give them one more chance before I did an official review and each time was disappointed. It has a medium finish that doesn’t stay too long, which in this case, was just fine with me.

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Pre-light: I ran the cigar along my nose as I usually do and found a fairly strong floral and spice smell to it. I don’t usually enjoy floral sweetness, but with the slight hint of spice I was also getting, I thought this might be a pretty good smoke. I sat back and clipped the head with my Palio cutter, and lit the end up, and below is what followed.

1/3: As I started in on this cigar, the first thing I noticed was that the wrapper was very fragile. I don’t know if it was the humidity that my humidor was at or not, but I don’t usually have cracking problems with my other cigars. This one cracked at the foot, but was still smoking decently. I was getting some nice peppery flavors, but the overall taste was somewhat floral and sweet. The draw was a little tighter than I would have liked, but it wasn’t un-tolerable. Lots of sweet smoke coming from this cigar, and at this point its pretty enjoyable.

2/3: This is the point where the problems started. I mentioned the crack in foot of the cigar when I first lit it up. Well, this time, it decided to crack again, at about the 1/2 way point. It was still smoking decent, just not looking decent, so I continued with the cigar even though it had cracked. I was still getting mostly floral and some slight spice flavors, but I started to get distracted by the crack in the wrapper, as I could see it going farther and farther down the cigar.

3/3: I continued to smoke this cigar, but the wrapper was all but falling off at this point. It had cracked badly, and the flavors hadn’t changed much. They were very floral, and the spice flavors died down toward this portion of the cigar. I finally couldn’t deal with the crack in the wrapper anymore, as the whole cigar was wanting to come unraveled, so I put it out.

Overall, the flavors were enjoyable, but with a wrapper that fragile, it was really hard for me to enjoy the cigar to the fullest. Again, I don’t know if it had something to do with the way it was stored, but I wouldn’t think so, since all my other cigars seem to have no problem in my humidor. I think I might have to pick up a few more of these, in a few different sizes, and give them a shot to see if the wrapper issue was just a fluke.

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I had heard good things about this little known cigar that also happens to bear the name of the ever-so-popular Don Pepin, so the other day when they caught my eye at a local B&M I had to pick a couple up. Of course, the torpedo being one of my favorites, I went for the Imperiales which is 6 1/8×52. The blend of criollo and corojo making up the binder and filler, wrapped by a beautiful Nicaraguan corojo leaf really had me curious.

Appearance: Just looking at this cigar got my mouth watering. The reddish-brown wrapper was smooth with few veins and well made. The tip was beautiful. I like the band on this cigar too as it’s not your typical cigar band. It’s classy with a down-to-earth feel to it. This is a good looking cigar.

Taste: Unfortunately, this is where I had to part ways with my initial expectations. Now, the two samples I had are probably not an indicator of this whole line, but these did not impress. First, after lighting, this cigar hit me with a spice bomb. My lips were tingling from the amount of peppery spiciness that inundated my palate before it settled. The first half inch indicated that this cigar was going to take me for a full-bodied ride. After that first half inch, I was let down into a bland mildness that did not suit me. I love criollo and corojo, and in these samples, the distinct flavors of neither showed through. All I got was a dull woodiness that lasted throughout the smoke. After the first half some pepper re-appeared and livened it up a tad, but not enough.

Aroma: Holding this cigar to my nose before lighting really got me excited. A rich, peppery spice over a good tobacco foundation gave me high hopes. The smoke itself was also mild and neither pleasant or unpleasant.

Construction: Feeling this cigar between my fingers showed that this was a solid cigar. After cutting, my pre-light draw was quite tight and it really never loosened. The burn was erratic at best, and it was a chore to produce any decent volume of smoke. Half way through the cigar I was able to get a bit more smoke, but the draw remained tight and the burn was helpless.

Overall: I’m going to revisit this cigar again. I’m apt to think that I got the only bad sticks (which if you knew me would be par for the course as I am the poster child for bad luck), but the pairing of criollo and corojo still has me wondering. As it stands, I can’t give this cigar much credence and for the price tag of around $6.00 have to say there are better sticks to purchase in this range.

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Size: 7×48 Wrapper: Sun Grown Corojo

Appearance: This isn’t a bad looking cigar, but it’s not a great looking cigar. It’s middle-of-the-road. The bright yellow band gives it a flashy look, but otherwise it’s ‘eh’. The wrapper was solid with some thick veins and a few blemishes. The cap was nicely done for a torpedo, though not perfect.

Taste: I have to say this cigar had me swaying back and forth. Let me explain… Upon lighting, I was greeted with a nice leathery flavor with sweet, floral notes. Sounds good, right? It was…but then there’s this tannic aftertaste that starts to settle in the back of your throat. So, when I was puffing away on the cool, sweet smoke, I was all about it; but, then when I wasn’t puffing on it…not so much. Aftertaste aside, this smoke stayed pretty consistent with the flavors with the floral notes eventually changing into a grassy, hay-like flavor. Toward the end, the leather picked up and drowned out the rest of the flavors.

Aroma: I must say that before lighting, I’ve never smelled a wrapper that smelled so much like pure bitter, dark chocolate. Never. It was almost like holding a bar of real chocolate to my nose. After lighting, the smoke had a sweet grassy scent that was very pleasant.

Construction: Okay, feeling this thing, it was solid. I mean like a brick shithouse. I was thinking “plugged” for sure. Clipping it and drawing, I got a good, solid draw to it. It tightened up a bit as the smoke burned, but it never got too tight. I was surprised. The only drawback was that this thing was hard to light. It seemed like one side of the cigar was tighter than the other because I had consistent burn problems on one side of the whole cigar; after I got the one side lit that is.

Overall: I know, I know, so far not a raving review. Well, what do you expect for a cigar that costs less than $2.00!!! Yes, you read it right. Now, this wouldn’t be an everyday smoke for me…but this would definitely be a great working-on-my-Harley cigar, or yard-gar, golfing cigar, etc. You get the point. If you’re just wanting a decent inexpensive stick because you can and your mind’s on something else…this would be a good option.

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So, here are the stats:
Size: 5×50
Origin: Dominican Republic
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Honduran
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut

Looking at the cigar, in true Zino style, it looked very well made. A tight, smooth colorado wrapper with few defects, an even double cap, firm to the touch. I clipped it easily and it drew wonderfully. I was a little excited that this might be the specimen to change my mind. The smell was light and a little sweet.

Holding the torch to the foot, it took to flame easily, or so I thought. I ended up having a little bit of a hard time getting it to light properly with one half of the foot holding out on me, but eventually I got it lit. The first few puffs I had to disregard because of the difficult lighting. Torching the tobacco that way can definitely affect the flavor if it’s over-done. Unfortunately, even when that charred taste left, I wasn’t too impressed with what remained. At the beginning it was more tannic and bitter than anything else, though I could tell that it wanted to taste of leather and slight pepper.

Once it got going about half way through, the smoke just started rolling out of this thing. You want smoke? This one had it. Up to this point the burn was very uneven and the taste bland. Here the taste picked up in strength a bit and had a woodiness to it with the leather and pepper remaining in the background. The burn evened out a tad, but even with fixing it never got to where a cigar with Zino’s name on it should be. The ash was very loose and light grey. Definitely not one to have any kind of ash contest with… The tannic, bitter taste never left either. This cigar never made it past mild in strength and has a medium finish which was longer than I hoped it would be.

Overall, this cigar just kind of confirmed the rest of my experiences with the Zino Classic line. At almost $7, it’s hard to not want something more from this cigar, but I just have the feeling that I’ll never get anything more out of it.

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