Appearance: This is a great looking cigar.  Again, the band is elegant and I love the gold foil which just adds a touch of class in my opinion.  The color was deep and rich.  The wrapper had some tooth to it and some minor veins.  The cap was excellently done.  This is a fantastic looking cigar.

Taste: This thing hits hard out the gate.  Full flavor pounces on your taste buds and uses them as a speed bag.  Leather, pepper, and wood mingle not-so-lightly on your palate letting you know that this cigar is here and doesn’t need to be handled gently.  It’s definitely not what I’d call a complex cigar, but it is definitely a flavorful cigar.  The three aforementioned flavors jumping in and out but staying within your awareness the whole time definitely keep it interesting.

Aroma: The smell is rich on this; I mean a literal bouquet that will tingle your sense of smell.  A heavy pleasant tobacco smell with wood, butter, and, I swear, some toasted marshmallow wafted into my schnoz.  Smelling this before I lit it definitely gave me good hopes for this cigar.

Construction: If there’s something I’ve come to understand, Nestor Miranda and pals know how to roll a quality cigar.  This thing burned straight, drew well, stayed lit, and pulled smoke like a locomotive smokestack!  I don’t know that I need to go into more detail.  This is a very well made cigar.

Overall Impression: This cigar delivered.  Period.  It doesn’t have the finesse of its slimmer, longer, older sibling, but it has great flavor, is fantastically constructed, and lasts a wonderfully long time.  I paired this with some Auchentoshan Classic Single Malt Scotch and they went wonderfully together.  If you haven’t already caught the gist, this is a full-bodied cigar as well.  Be prepared if you’re not a full-bodied smoker, but otherwise I say get a box of these and enjoy!

Cigar Rating:

Related posts:

1. Cigar Review: La Escepción 2009 Batet

Some days I just absolutely look forward to doing reviews.  This is one of those days.  I was happy when Tex Cigars sent me their cigars to review and saw the Padrón 5000 Natural in there amongst the others.  At 5.5×56, this is a stout cigar and is classified as a robusto.  Made in Esteli, Nicaragua, binder, filler, and wrapper are all made of sun-grown habano leaf that is aged 2 1/2 years.

Appearance: The Padrón series cigars won’t win any awards with their cigar band or plain look.  But don’t let that plain appearance fool you.  The dark brown wrapper has a slight tooth and some mildly prominent veins.  The cap is relatively well done, but not perfect.

Taste: This is where Padrón makes half of its mark.  The Padrón 5000 is not overbearing in its strength, but instead gives you a smooth mixture of spice, wood, and leather.  The pepper comes out in the beginning, but settles into a nice rich cedar flavor.  The wood is pretty consistent with leather coming in and out dancing on the taste buds.  And the best part is that it’s all creamy.  That just adds to a cigar if you ask me.

Aroma: Nothing special here but good-smelling tobacco.

Construction: This is where Padrón makes up the other half of its reputation.  If you haven’t experienced Padrón cigars, you should because there aren’t many examples of consistency and quality in the cigar realm that can match theirs.  The draw was great.  The burn was impeccable.  What else is there to say?

Overall Impression: I don’t smoke Padróns as often as I use to.  They were a daily smoke for me, and I’ve gotten away from that with all of the reviews I do and all of the new cigars coming out that need to be tried.  This was a very pleasant trip down memory lane that reminded me that I need to visit Padróns more often in the future.  If you’re looking for a well-made, great-tasting cigar, you don’t need to look much farther than this.  And the fact that Padrón is still very, very cheap as far as cigars go, well, that’s just icing on the great cigar cake.

Cigar Rating:

Related posts:

1. Cigar Review: Nestor Miranda Dominicano Robusto Grande

I know I’ve been slacking the past couple weeks with reviews, so I was determined to get another review in this week.  Today’s review is courtesy of Cigars Direct who indulged me by providing some Tatuajes for me to review.  I felt that I didn’t have enough reviews of them up, so I’m working to correct that.

Appearance: I love the simplicity of this cigar.  An unpronounced yet stylish band that almost blends in with the wrapper is sleek and let’s you know that the cigar should speak for itself.  The wrapper is perfect.  Very few veins, but smooth and slight.  The overlap isn’t easy to detect.  The triple cap is perfectly done.  The foot shows a nice bunch and is very even.

Taste: This isn’t an overly complex cigar, but it’s a satisfyingly tasteful cigar.  At the beginning you get more spice than anything, but that settles to the background and a rich earthy leather comes to please your palate.  It stays this way throughout the cigar.  It’s medium-bodied, but full-flavored.  A medium finish will let you know that you smoked a great cigar.

Aroma: At first sniff, I got a little pepper and some cinnamon from the foot.  The wrapper itself was a mild tobacco.  The smoke is standard cigar smoke.  Warning: don’t inhale too much through your nose or it’ll burn.

Construction: What’s to say?  It’s rolled by the DPG factory.  The draw was perfect.  I prefer my draw to be looser than tighter, but, to me, the perfect draw is easy with just enough resistance to force you to breathe in fully.  The samples I had were consistent in this.  The burn was great.  The cap didn’t come off with the cut.  Fabulous construction.

Overall Impression: Tatuaje cigars are known for their great quality and flavor.  This cigar lived up to that reputation.  With Don Pepin doing the blend and his factory handling the rolling, he made this the winner that pushed Tatuaje cigars into the mainstream.  My only beef with these is their price.  At around $9, it’s a little steep in my opinion.  I know Pete Johnson prides himself on being a boutique brand, meaning lower production numbers, and that means lower supply.  I get it, but I’d still like to see it a bit cheaper…maybe at the $7 range.  That’d give it the extra half-star bump to the perfect rating.  As it stands, though, it’s just shy of perfect.

Cigar Rating:

Related posts:

1. Cigar Review: Nestor Miranda Dominicano Robusto Grande

This is a full Nicaraguan cigar (wrapper, binder and filler from Nicaragua) though it’s rolled in the DR.  It’s touted as the NEW special selection, as there was a previous release of other sizes.  This blend was a collaboration between Nestor and the now-famous Don Pepin and is said to be a medium-full spicy cigar.

Appearance: This is a 7.5×40 cigar.  Many other sites are claiming it as a 38rg, but according to the box it’s a 40rg.  I’ll go with what the box says.  This is a sexy looking cigar.  Its band is simple, but elegant with a copper metalic ring on the top and bottom of the band.  Nestor’s signature is there for you to see too.  The wrapper has a nice sheen to it.  There are some definite veins on this cigar, but no tooth.  Again, this is a sexy looking cigar.

Taste: The first thing that hit me on this was its sweetness.  I could have sworn it was sugar-tipped.  Initial flavors were a toasty leather, but that sweetness was strong underneath.  Very nice.  About half way through, the sweetness calmed a bit, but the same leather was apparent.  Some earth introduced itself, giving you a nice foundation to replace the sweetness.  As you got towards the end, the earthy tones became more pronounced.  There was an amazing amount of smoke with each draw making the tasting experience completely enjoyable.

Aroma: Holding this to my nose, I got slight hints of toasted bread and butter.  The smoke was mild and earthy.  I definitely wouldn’t mind being stuck in a room full of this smoke.

Construction: This felt a little spongy at first squeeze, so I was a little concerned, but it lit quickly and evenly.  It burned very well, but not perfectly.  You’ll find many smaller ring gauges have a tight draw because they’re difficult to roll, but this had a perfect draw.  The ash was a bit loose, so I wouldn’t let it grow beyond 3/4 of an inch or so, but it held well enough.  I wouldn’t try a longest ash competition with this.

Overall Impression: Well, we’re out the gate with a strong competitor.  Hot damn, but this is a fine smoke.  I don’t often get excited about a cigar, as I smoke a lot and it takes a lot to impress me.  This one definitely impressed me and will easily become a staple in my humidor.  It’s a good solid medium body, but I didn’t get the spice that others claim it has.  If you haven’t tried this, you are definitely missing out.  Its taste is the standout feature of this cigar, and it would have received a perfect rating had it burned slightly better.  Get your hands on these before I buy them all for myself.

Cigar Rating:

Note: I looked back on my ratings already for the year, and I’ve noticed that I’ve handed out a number of 4 1/2 star ratings already.  This isn’t normally my style as I’m pretty harsh on my reviews, but then I noticed that all of them except for one had one thing in common, and the answer became clear.  Can you figure out what it is?

No related posts.

Here’s part 3 of the 4-part Los Blancos Premiere Selection series.  I’ve already reviewed the criollo and the maduro.  Not being much of a Connecticut fan, I’m saving that for last.  Anyway, David Blanco of Los Blancos Cigars was nice enough to reach out to me to get his cigars reviewed and so far I’ve liked them.  Enough of the chit-chat, let’s get to it.

Appearance: Again, all of these are double-banded and they look sharp.  This has the red band.  What I’m loving about this cigar, though, is its wrapper.  A deep golden brown, there’s a shine to this wrapper that I love to see.  It’s very well wrapped and has small veins.  The cigar is perfectly round in its parejo shape.  A double cap tops this.

Taste: Initially I was hit with a sweet yet tangy cedar overlying the slightest touch of pepper.  Yum.  The tang went away leaving the woodiness and the pepper lightened up.  This settled into a mildly medium stick fairly quickly.  After it hit the half-way point, the sweetness went away, the leather kicked in throwing the cedar to the background and it kicked the strength up to a definitely medium body cigar.  There was a slight creaminess, too, but not one that made you chew the aftertaste.

Aroma: Pre-light, there’s not much of an aroma.  Just some sweet tobacco-ness with a very light hint of cocoa.  The smoke itself was kinda nutty, you know as in smelling like cashews a bit.  That was a first for me.  It’s light too, so not too offensive when in the presence of others.

Construction: Again, this thing is round and solid.  From the outside, this is just a great roll.  The cap was well done.  The foot showed an even bunch.  Unfortunately, though, on both sticks they canoed early.  They never got so bad they needed a touch-up, but you could see where the roll was a little weak after the first ash dropped.  The burn eventually fixed itself about a third of the way through and stayed nice and even from then on.  This had a solid, tight white ash that had to be taken off, it wouldn’t fall by itself.

Overall Impression: So far, this is the best of the line.  Like I said, I haven’t had the Connecticut yet, but it’s gonna have to go a long way to beat this one.  The only reason it didn’t get a perfect score is because of the first little hiccup with the canoe.  Great flavors, perfect strength, interesting in its changes, just a great cigar.  It’s got a medium finish that doesn’t stick with you too long, but it’s not short, so you can savor the great flavors for just a little longer.

Cigar Rating:

No related posts.

Alrighty! I’ve been looking forward to smoking this for awhile and it’s time to get it done!! I’ve had this in the humidor for far too long and being that it’s a beautiful day to sit on my porch and light one up… well, I’m lighting up. The La Riqueza is another Don Pepin blend that’s rolled by his factory for Pete Johnson of Tatuaje. Measuring in at 6 1/2×42, the binder and filler are Nicaraguan tobaccos while the wrapper is a “naturally dark USA Connecticut Broadleaf.” Let’s get it on!!

Appearance: You can tell that it’s a Connecticut broadleaf by its roll.  It doesn’t take many wraps to get this, the biggest of the line, fully wrapped in its leaf.  There’s no tooth and slight veins.  The wrap is well done and the ever-present triple cap is smooth and flawless too.  The band is indistinct but is almost a throwback to bands of old.

Taste: This cigar is not shy.  The flavors come rolling in on the first drag and coat your palate well.  A strong leather comes first and a spice that immediately heads to the back of your throat to rest for a bit.  After the first inch and a half, it mellows out a tad and some woodiness comes forward, sending the spice and leather to the background.  About another inch into it, the leather comes back up.  It keeps changing back and forth making for a nice, interesting cigar that will hold your taste buds for a good while.  Towards the end it will turn a little bitter if you don’t ease up on it, but this is just a great tasting cigar.

Aroma: Holding this to my nose, I didn’t get much of a scent from it.  I was able to detect what seemed like a mild cinnamon when I smelled the foot before lighting.  The smoke itself has a light sweet woody scent that’s very pleasing.

Construction: Being a 42rg, it’s not surprising that the draw is a little tight.  For the flavor you get with smaller ring gauges, though, it’s worth it.  It burns well and burns slowly.  You’ll want to make sure that you don’t puff away too quickly on this, even if you want to get as much flavor out of it as you can.  Thick plumes of smoke with every draw delighted me.  The ash was flaky and I wouldn’t let it get beyond a half-inch lest I chose to wear it, but it’s a minor detraction.

Overall Impression: First, I like smaller ring gauges.  I think they’re more flavorful than their larger counterparts.  This cigar doesn’t disappoint in the flavor arena.  A medium-bodied smoke once it settles, this is still a full-flavor cigar that should be a staple in anyone’s humidor.  At $9 a stick, it’s on the higher side, but if I’m going to spend that much on one stick, this would be one I’d reach for.  Of all the sticks I’ve had from Tatuaje, this has been my favorite.

Scott had reviewed the La Riqueza No. 3 before and it scored just as high.  There’s something to be said about La Riqueza, and I figure it should all be good.

Cigar Rating:

No related posts.

Okay, we’re only 3 weeks into the new year and it’s about time I get a review up.  And since today’s a historical day, why not today.  Well, after the holiday blast I just happened to have a Cubao No. 7 Corona left that I wanted to smoke.  I love the corona size cigar as it’s a perfect amount of smoking time and the coronas of most brands seemed to be packed with flavor.  Let’s see how this holds up…

Appearance: This is a great looking cigar.  The band is nothing special.  It’s simple yet bold, but it proclaims Espinosa and Ortega with a bold CUBAO.  No mistaking what this cigar is.  The wrapper was a very rich toothy brown.  Their was a sheen from some oils and it was very well wrapped.  The triple cap helps let you know it was made by Don Pepin as all are EO cigars.

Taste: Okay, this thing hits you in the gut from the get go.  It says, “I’m here to get your attention!”  A spice ladened with cedar blitzed my palate, and not unpleasantly so.  This was a wake-up call not to underestimate this cigar.  It eventually mellowed into a medium-full smoke with a straight leather flavor underlined by the spice and cedar.  And it was creamy!  The kind that makes you chew it a bit while you enjoy it.  And though, it’s a fuller bodied cigar, it’s also a full flavor cigar. Yum!

Aroma: Nothing special about its smell.  Hold it to your nose and you smell good tobacco.  Sniff the smoke in the air, and, yep, more tobacco.  However, it’s the pleasant smell of a good cigar, not the stinky smell your wife associates with cigars.

Construction: What’s there to say?  It’s made by Pepin.  It draws well, burns well, firm ash, didn’t unravel.  This is what I expect of premium cigars.

Overall Experience: You know those cigars you just hate to put down?  The ones where you try as hard as you can to take one more draw from?  That was this cigar for me.  I was disappointed when I had to put it down with about an inch to go because it was still giving me great flavor.  Now, as stated before, I consider Eddie from EO my friend, but I always hold myself sure that I’m giving each cigar a fair shake, and it truly helps that I love most everything that Eddie and his partner Eric come out with.  It’s much easier to talk when I can rave about his cigars instead of having to say that I won’t smoke it anymore.  If you haven’t tried the EO Cubao, the No. 7 Corona is a great place to start.

Cigar Rating:

No related posts.

So a while back, I was talking to Marc Aub, owner of Palio Cutters about some things, and somehow he mentioned he would be sending me a couple of the new cigars that the guys from Palio have come out with, the Esencia Cigar.  I smoked one of them before doing a review, and I really enjoyed it, so I decided the best procedure was to smoke the other one asap and review it for the loyal readers of Cigar Command, so here we go!

Pre-Light:  As I looked at this cigar, I couldn’t help but notice how near perfect this thing was.  The cigar was wrapped perfectly, with no veins, and had a nice brown color to it with a very oily sheen.  As I ran the cigar across my nose, I got hints of pepper, with some floral and cedar smells.  I clipped the cigar with my ever trusty Palio, which I found to be appropriate, given the makers of the cigar .  As I took a pre-light draw, I got strong notes of pepper followed by cedar, with that floral taste in the background.

1/3:  As I started on this cigar, I was eager to see what it was all about.  I had read nothing but great things about it, so I was a bit hyped up on it.  As I lit up, the first few puffs were strong coffee and wood notes, with hints of pepper and floral flavors.  All very good flavors that I was enjoying immensly.  The burn was a little wavy, but I am going to attribute that to the fact that I am smoking in a windy environment this morning.  The smoke was smooth, pleasant, and very abundant.  So far, this smoke is living up to what I expected.

2/3:  As I continued with this cigar, I was getting more leather flavors, with the coffee and a little bit of chocolate.  The burn that was wavy is now correcting itself, and the smoke is still very abundant.  The draw is perfect, and I am loving the flavors in this cigar.  The finish is short, which I like.  So far, I am very impressed.

3/3:  In finishing up this cigar, I was still getting the leather and coffee flavors with some nice hints of floral tastes.  At this point, I am wishing that this cigar wasn’t almost over.  I was really enjoying this cigar, and I wish I had another.

Overall Impression:  Overall, this was a great tasting cigar, with a fantastic draw and a fairly even burn.  The flavors were something I always enjoy in my cigars.  If you are someone that loves the coffee and leather flavors in your cigars, then I suggest you give this one a try!  The guys at Palio hit the nail on the head with this cigar!

Cigar Rating:

No related posts.

So the big talk of the town and all the cigar boards lately has been the new blend by Pete Johnson of Tatuaje, the La Riqueza.  I managed to get my hand on a 5 pack sampler from one of my favorite retailers, so I thought I would review it for you guys, so here you go!

Pre-Light: As I ran this cigar along my nose, as I always do, I got lots of the typical Tatuaje smells, lots of spice, some nuts and earthy flavors.  As I cut it with my trusty Palio, and took a pre-light draw.  I got the very nice typical Tatuaje spice, with lots of leather, and nuts.  I could tell I was going to enjoy this smoke!

1/3: As I toasted up this cigar and took a few puffs on it, I knew this was a cigar that I was going to really enjoy.  As I was smoking, it took all my strength to puff slowly, as I just wanted to suck it down.  As most of you know, I am a huge Tatuaje fan, and this cigar was no exception.  I got a lot of leather, nuts and peppery spice, with some earthy aftertones on the finish.  The burn was just about perfect, and the smoke was billowing perfectly.  I was in heaven with this cigar so far!

2/3: As I continued this cigar the spice kicked up a notch and the earthy flavors were also pronounced.  The nuts and leather sort of faded into the background.  At this point, the cigar is still burning perfectly, and the smoke was very abundant.  I was really enjoying this cigar.  Still in heaven, and this is on its way to becoming one of my favorites!

3/3: As I finished up this cigar, I was wishing that it was twice as long so I could enjoy it longer.  At the end of this cigar, the leather and earthy flavors came back and the spice faded just a bit.  It was still burning as straight as an arrow, and the smoke was perfect.  I am LOVING this cigar, and I hated to finally put it out.

Overall Impression: Overall, I would venture to say that this could possibly become one of my new favorite cigars, I am just not sure I could afford to buy these a box at a time   I really loved this cigar, and it was just about perfect to me.  I smoked it until my lips burned, and I still wanted more.  I know there are some of you out there thinking this cigar is a lot of hype, but I can tell you that Pete Johnson really hit one out of the ball park with this smoke.  This cigar WOULD be the first one of mine to get a full 5 stars, but it will only get 4.5, simply because the price point on this cigar is not perfect.  It’s a bit expensive for any cigar, but well worth it.  I suggest EVERYONE try this cigar… Not once, but MULTIPLE times.  I love them so much that I had to spread the wealth and I am sending a couple to Ricky to enjoy.  Hopefully he will chime in here and let me know what he thinks!

Cigar Rating:

No related posts.

The Tatuaje Black label is proposed to be the personal cigar blend of Pete Johnson, that he has rolled just for him to smoke.  Recently, he released 1000 ceramic jars of 19 cigars each to most of his vendors, with each vendor getting only one or two jars.

Well folks, I got lucky enough to get my grubby little paws on a 3 pack of the illusive Tatuaje black labels.  First thing I thought of when I got my hands on these, I decided I would smoke a couple of them to offer up a review for my friends here on Cigar Command, so here we go!

Pre-light:  As usual I ran this cigar across my nose, and got lots of spice and leather scents.  The cigar itself has a shaggy, uncut foot on the end, and a small pointy tip on the head.  The way this cigar was rolled was obviously masterful.  I cut this cigar with my trusy Palio and took a pre light draw.  As I drew on the cigar, I got the leathery and wood flavors that every Tatuaje I have smoked generally carries.  The difference with this Tatuaje Black was the hint of sweetness I got on the tounge at the end.

1/3:  As I lit up  the first thing I noticed was that the shaggy foot lit up easily, and the first few puffs produced that great Tatuaje spice and wood flavors that most of them have that I have smoked.  The draw was just about perfect, and the burn was pretty straight considering the shaggy foot.  Lots of abundant smoke protruded from this cigar, and as I continued on it, the leather flavors went into the background, with the spiciness making itself more prominent.  I was really enjoying this cigar, just as I have enjoyed every Tatuaje I have had.

2/3:  As I continued through the cigar, it was steadily gaining spice, and the wood and leather flavors were fading into the background.  I find that this happens with a lot of Tatuaje’s that I have smoked.  Thus far, the burn was almost perfect and the smoke was abundant.  The cigar is still buring nice and cool, and is tasting great!  At this point, I am really glad I spent the money on this 3 pack, and I am wishing I could find an entire jar full for my enjoyment.

3/3:  As I finished up this cigar, the  leather and wood flavors made themselves more known and the spice faded into the background.  The cigar is still burning almost perfect, and the ash is a little flaky, but not so bad that it annoys me and gets all over me   The smoke is still abundant, and the flavors are great!

Overall Impression:  Overall, this cigar was OUTSTANDING.  I can understand why people want to get thier hands on these so badly.  I really think that Pete Johnson hit a home run on this one, and I can see why he smokes these as his regular smoke.  I really enjoyed it, and I am now on the hunt to find a ceramic jar full of them.  This is quite possibly my favorite Tatujaje of them all, and I am a HUGE Tatuaje fan!

Cigar rating: 

No related posts.