Review: San Lotano Habano Toro

 

Its been quite a while since I reviewed a cigar, but such a lot has been going on in my life, and I just did not feel I had time to do any reviews. This does mean I have a number of cigar reviews that I just need to write up, and I am hoping to do this over the next few weeks or so. Here is the first, my review of a San Lotano Toro, I have never had any of these cigars before, but I suspect it will not be my last.

Appearance 9.0/10

As you can see from the picture this is a great looking cigar, its a lovely mid brown colour, it has tight seems, great cap construction, and only a few small veins. The bands are smart, well printed, and give the cigar a very classy look. This is the Toro version so its a 6 x 54 ring, and it just looks and feels perfect in your hand.

Construction & Draw 9.0/10

The construction and draw of this cigar are as good as the appearance. As mentioned the cigar is heavy in the hand, this is not just due to the size but the amount of tobacco packed into the stick. I was worried about the draw, but it was pretty much perfect, cap construction was excellent as well, all in all the construction of this cigar was more than you should expect for a stick at this price. The burn on this cigar was pretty much perfect confirming the excellent construction.

Flavour 8.0/10

This is supposed to be a full strength cigar, normally a full strength cigar this large would hit me a little, but this cigar somehow did not hit me, indeed I would have classed it as mild to full strength, certainly not full.

Pre-light draw was earthy with a hint of sweetness. Once lit it started of mild to medium strength with a small amount of pepper, a strong tobacco flavour and a slight hint of sweetness.

As I got about an inch in I could detect some caramels and the sweetness intensified, there was also a rather nice earthiness to the profile.

By about half way through the cigar the strength had picked up to medium/full and there were hints of vanilla and coffee.

As I got into the last third the pepper I had originally tasted in the beginning came back and gave a nice little zing at the end. The final inch had an almond taste. What was nice about the cigar was that all the flavours stayed a long time on the palate allowing you to identify and enjoy them. Overall the cigar lasted around 2 hours

Value 9.0/10

This cigar retails at around 7.00 USD a stick, which I think for such a well constructed and large cigar represents excellent value for money, especially when you consider the burn time and flavour.

Summary 8.5/10

I could not decide if this was an 8.5 or 9.0 cigar, in the end despite the construction and price I decided on 8.5 but if I was to have another cigar it could go either way. I think for me even though there were flavour transitions there were only a couple and for a stick to be epic I expect a few more noticeable transitions. With this in mind I suspect the Robusto size would be perfect for this cigar, even so, I would absolutely recommend this cigar especially at the price, and this will be a contender for space in my humidor in future. As mentioned this was my first San Lotano cigar, it wont be my last.

Review: PDR Liga Especial – Reserva Superior – Salomon

My friend in the USA sent me this cigar quite a long time ago, over 2 years ago in fact. Its always looked amazing in its coffin, but for some reason I have always left it alone until the correct occasion arrises. Well in the end I just decided to give it a go, and see if smokes as good as it looks, cant wait…

Appearance 9.5/10

Come on just look at the picture, whats not to like, it looks amazing. It comes in a really nice coffin, the cigar looks perfectly rolled, the bands are very crisp and well printed, and just look at the cap and the foot, they are works of art. If it wasn’t for the slightly darker colour at the tip of the cigar I would have given this a 10.

Construction & Draw 9.0/10

Construction on this cigar is as good as it looks, the wrapper is a lovely dark chocolate colour, with a nice amount of tooth, the end caps are great, and its clearly been well rolled. Two things dropped the score, again the darker part of the wrapper near the foot of the cigar looks a little less “special” than the rest of the stick, and the initial draw, until you get past the light coloured tip and into the body of the cigar is tight, and you do have to put a bit of work in!

Flavour 6.0/10

Well this is where things start to go wrong, there is nothing bad, or unpleasant about the flavour of this cigar, I could detect an earthy note and some pepper at the beginning, about an inch in I got a little cocoa and some sweetness, and then that was it. The flavour profile did not really change from there on, the strength moved from medium to strong as I got towards the end of the cigar, but the flavours were static.

In hind sight I was bored whilst smoking this cigar, and I should have stopped around halfway through, but as this cigar looked so good I was expecting that any minute it would take off and impress. In the end this was a meeh cigar, it might work in a smaller size, but it was just dull, and I would not have another one.

Value 7.0/10

I think these were around 15 USD when they came out, from a construction and presentation point of view I would say $15 would be okay, as long as the flavour profile was up to the same standard, and unfortunately this was not the case, so not great value for money.

Summary 6.0/10

Okay the truth is that for me this cigar is all style over substance , or to put it another way its “All fur coat and no knickers”. I was so looking forward to this, as I do like other PDR cigars, but for me this was just not interesting enough, so in the end quite a disappointment…

Review: Four Kicks Robusto Extra

Having enjoyed the Seleccion No.5 so much I was keen to get my hands on some more Four Kicks cigars, when my friend in the USA told me his local store had reductions on the range I asked if he could get me a box. I was after the Robusto as its a favourite size of mine for cigars, but as they had sold out my friend got me the Robusto Extra.

So the question is how close to the flavour of the No.5 is the Robusto Extra….

Appearance 8.0/10

This is a good looking fat and relatively short cigar, the wrapper is a dark brown, and if I am honest looks more rustic than the wrapper on the No.5, its got quite a few veins, and a bit of tooth, so to me it does not look as good. The band is classy, with its well printed gold and white pattern on a deep red background.

Construction & Draw 9.0/10

Okay so just like the No.5 the construction on this cigar is excellent, it has tight seams, and very clean cap construction. There were no soft or hard spots on the cigar, and it was well packed with tobacco

The draw on this cigar was just perfect, with enough resistance so it did not feel like you were sucking on air, but no hint of tightness. The burn line on this cigar was razor sharp, required no touch ups, and the ash held for a good inch before it started to fall.

Flavour 8.5/10

The flavour and flavour transitions of this cigar were pretty much the same as the No.5, which is lucky as that is what attracted me to the brand.

Pre-light draw had a very slight pepper taste to it, once lit there was a good strong tobacco flavour with hints of wood and leather. About an inch in there was a very nice sweet note, and slightly further on I could also detect a slight citrus flavour. About half way through a leather note was added, the pepper increase slightly and just remained on the back of the palate, at this point there were a lot of different flavours which made the cigar highly enjoyable.

Where this cigar deviated form the No.5 is in the last third or so of the cigar, the strength really kicks up a notch. To be honest it took me a little by surprise, and I was glad I had eaten only a short while before having this stick, otherwise I would have been in trouble…

Note to self always eat before the Robusto Extra…

Value 8.0/10

I think at this price the cigar offers pretty good value for money, especially if you like a big kick at the end of your cigars !

Summary 8.5/10

So this was an interesting smoke, and you may notice that I have marked it 0.5 less than the No.5, this is still a great cigar, and I am going to enjoy them a lot, however the appearance is not as good as the No.5, and the kick at the end was a little unexpected.

I think I would prefer the flavour profile at the end to be more like the No.5, but thats just me, and I am sure others will really appreciate the kick, just eat something first, you have been warned!

Get your Four Kicks Robusto Extra Here…

Review: Ventura Cigars: PSyKo SEVEN Robusto

My first cigar review for a while, apologies for that, but I have been doing some stocking up, so I will hopefully have a steady stream of new reviews.

This is the first Ventura cigar I have smoked, its a robusto which one of my favourite sizes, and the look of it certainly grabbed my attention.

Appearance 8.0/10

The cigar is a nice chocolate brown. The cigar has a fair amount of  tooth, and some noticeable veins (see picture), but just check out the band…

You cant miss this cigar, it has a very striking and unusual band/wrapper, however its completely impracticable and needs to be removed prior to smoking, when you remove the large wrapper you will find a more tradition band underneath! All in all a pretty attractive cigar.

Construction & Draw 8.5/10

The cigar had no hard or soft spots, and the wrapper had a really nice oily sheen to it. As you can see from the picture cap construction was excellent, I got a really clean cut from my Palio cutter.

The draw and burn on this cigar were pretty much perfect, the burn line was razor sharp, and at no point did it need any touch ups, indeed I was able to leave this cigar for around 5 minutes (comfort break) and it still did not need any help when I got back to it. If the veins were not so prominent it would have scored a 9.0.

Flavour 8.0/10

The pre-light draw had an earthy musty flavour to it, once lit the earthiness continued and I could pick up a slight hint of spice, some woody notes, and a fairly strong note of leather.

As I progressed through the cigar, I could detect some small flavour transitions, and I picked up a creamy sweetness, which added to the existing flavours.

I was surprised by the strength of this cigar, or rather that it wasn’t as strong as I expected from the name! This is a solid medium strength cigar, and is therefore a pretty easy smoke.

Value 8.0/10

These cigars are around 7 USD each, which I think is a pretty fair price for a the construction and flavour on offer here.

Summary 8.5/10

I could not decide whether to give this cigar 8.0 or 8.5, in the end I felt the higher score was more appropriate as I simply just really enjoyed this stick.

I think I was expecting it to be stronger as it was called Psyko, so it being a medium strength stick surprised me, however I really enjoyed the flavour profile and transitions.

This is one of those cigars thats good to have in the humidor if you just want to settle down with a nice drink, a good cigar and have some quiet time. I would absolutely have more of these in my humidor.

Get your PSyKo SEVEN Robusto here….

Review: Illusion Rothschilds

I have smoked Illusion cigars before, and I have always liked them, but somehow I have never had this cigar. This is surprising as a lot of people really rate them, and as I am a fan of Robusto sized cigars, I cant work out how I have not tried one before.

Still now is the time to rectify that, I recently got one as a gift, and I am pleased to say I am yet another person who rates these cigars.

Appearance 8.5/10

The cigar is a nice chocolate brown, it has some tooth and looks a little rustic in its construction, but the overall effect is nice. The band is simple and effective, and gives an overall classy, if uncomplicated air to the cigar, which is a pretty good way to describe this stick.

Construction & Draw 8.5/10

This cigar was heavier than expected, and when I squeezed it there was a little bounce but I would describe the cigar as firm, so I was a little worried about the draw. As mentioned the wrapper is a chocolate brown and had a slightly oily feel to it, the construction is good if not spectacular, there are quite a few veins and a little tooth. The cap construction was good and I got a nice clean cut from my Palio cutter.

I need not have worried about the draw, it was pretty much perfect, as was the burn line, this is a well made stick.

Flavour 9.0/10

Pre-draw had an earthly and slightly sweet taste to it, once lit the initial flavours were some pepper, the earthy component, and a touch of cocoa. As I progress other flavours were added, I detected some leather, and the cocoa flavour picked up, later on I detected some vanilla, and towards the end of the stick there were some strong roasted nut flavours.

I would say this cigar was medium to medium-strong.

All in all the flavours changed nicely as I smoked the cigar, slowly building in complexity as you got further into the stick, what more can you ask for…

Value 10/10

If you shop around, or buy a cab of 50 cigars, then you can get these for around the 4 USD mark, for this price this is a great Robusto sized cigar, and one of the best value for money sticks I have come across.

Summary 9.0/10

This is a great cigar, and at around 4 USD per stick I think this offers extremely good value for money, its well constructed, its packed with tobacco, had a good burn line, and really nice flavours. Would I have this cigar again, absolutely, would I get a box, absolutely, but as they are cabs of 50 I would probably need to do a box split..

This cigar deserves to be in your humidor.

 

Review: Gurkha Special Ops – SRS Limited Edition

This is the second cigar I have smoked from the selection of Gurkha cigars I managed to get hold of. The last one I quite enjoyed but the issue of the MRRP made its recommendation difficult unless you could get it at a significant discount. This cigar seems to be widely available at a much more reasonable price, so here goes…

Appearance 8.5/10

The cigar is a very dark chocolate brown, almost black, its not a maduro wrapper, but its so dark you could easily think it is. The cigar has a lot of tooth, and quite a few small veins. Just like all other Ghurka’s the band on this cigar is a work of art, if a little ostentatious, it was extremely well printed, and very detailed.

Construction & Draw 9.0/10

The cigar had no hard or soft spots, and the wrapper as mentioned had some tooth and veins, unlike the last Gurkha I smoked the wrapper on this cigar looked great, and there were no problems.

Cap construction was excellent, I got a really clean cut from my Palio cutter, and the draw was excellent. Once this cigar got going it produced a lot of smoke.

Flavour 7.5/10

This cigar kicks off with quite an earthy flavour with a slight hint of cocoa, and a very subtle pepper note. This cigar started off very light, and did not reach a medium strength profile until about half way through, the dark colour of the wrapper had led me to expect this would be a stronger cigar, but this was not the case.

About an inch into the cigar I detected a sweet almost sugared almond flavour that stayed throughout the middle third of the stick. Towards the end of the cigar the strength picked up, but overall the flavour profile was pretty one dimensional and flat.

Value 7.5/10

This Churchill seems to retail at around 6-7 USD, and represents fair value for money, due to its size and construction.

Summary 7.0/10

This is an okay cigar, its not got an exciting flavour profile, but there are a couple of nice notes, its not exceptional value for money either. I would say this is a solid if unexciting cigar, would I have one again, yes, if someone offered me one, would I buy a single, probably not, would I buy a box, No !

I suspect I wont have another of these cigars as it just did not float my boat.

 

Review: Gurkha Titan Double Perfecto

I recently managed to hold of some Ghurka cigars, I have never had these before but I have read about the brand, and decided it would be interesting to try something I had never had before.

I managed to lose the picture I took before I started smoking it, so a half smoked cigar is all I can put in this post.

Appearance 8.5/10

The cigar is a very dark chocolate brown, almost black. The cigar has a fair amount of tooth, and quite a few small veins. The band on this cigar was a work of art, if a little ostentatious, it was extremely well printed, and very detailed.

Construction & Draw 8.0/10

The cigar had no hard or soft spots, and the wrapper as mentioned had some tooth and veins, however the wrapper did look a little fragile, and did indeed developed a small split about half way through, so that drops the score.

Cap construction was excellent, I got a really clean cut from my Palio cutter, and the draw, as you would expect from a cigar this size was excellent. Once this cigar got going it produced a lot of smoke, so not one to have in a room that does not have windows and doors open!

Flavour 7.5/10

The predominant flavour of this cigar is tobacco, I could detect a small hint of caramel, there was a little pepper (but not much), a slight woodiness, and a note of something similar to madeira. The flavour profile was pretty static throughout the cigar, overall I would describe this cigar as smooth and creamy if a little bland.

Value 5.5/10

I found it difficult to get a price for this cigar, it would appear that it was initially around the 20 USD mark, but it is heavily discounted if you shop around. I would say that at 20 USD this cigar is very overpriced, you can get an Anjeo Shark, or Ferel Pigs for less, and they are way better cigars. If you pick them up for around the 6-7 USD mark then the represent good if not excellent value. I have to rate this at the full retail price, and this is why it only gets a 5.5.

Summary 7.0/10

I enjoyed this cigar, it was not as strong as I expected, burn and construction were excellent, and it had some of the flavours I really like. I have had to give it a lowish score as its just overpriced, and I would not pay full retail for this cigar as its just not that good. If you can get them for the heavily discounted price at around 6-7 USD or less, then they are worth a go.

Review: Rocky Patel The Edge Lite Double Corona

I have had a couple of Rocky Patel cigars, but for some reason they have never hit the spot. Having looked at how often and how many cigars Rocky Patel has on the market at any one time, I decided it would be difficult from the UK to sample enough to really keep pace with the brand, so I have not really tried to.

So the question is, did this Rocky Patel cigar hit the spot?

Appearance 8.0/10

The cigar is a very light chocolate brown, there were no problems with the wrapper, cap construction was pretty good. The band was not very exciting, understatement is good, but a simple black and gold band at the foot of the cigar is taking things a little far. Overall though this is a good looking stick.

Construction & Draw 9.0/10

Construction is very good, the wrapper has some veins, but mostly these are small, there was a slightly larger vein near the cap, but this did not cause any issues. The cigar is well packed with tobacco, and the burn line was perfect throughout the length of the stick.

The one stand out feature of this cigar is the burn, or more accurately, how long the cigar will continue to burn without attention.This cigar stays lit for an insane amount of time, I had to sort something in the kitchen came back about 7 mins later, picked up my lighter ready to re-light the cigar, to my surprise no need, as a single puff and it was back to life, this is amazing as most cigars would need re-lighting after this time..

Draw and burn were absolutely perfect.

Flavour 7.0/10

The predominant flavour of this cigar is tobacco, I could detect a small hint of caramel, there was a little pepper (but not much), a slight woodiness, and a note of something similar to madeira. The flavour profile was pretty static throughout the cigar, overall I would describe this cigar as smooth and creamy if a little bland.

Value 7.5/10

At 6.50 USD per stick for a double corona I think its pretty good value for money, its only the flavour for me that stops this cigar scoring more. I know its only a mild to medium cigar, but the lack of any significant changes in the flavour profile drops the score.

Summary 7.5/10

I could not decide if this cigar should score 7.0 or 7.5, in the end due to the construction and burn I gave it the higher score. Perhaps I am just not a big fan of mild to medium cigars, perhaps in a smaller size this would have been more my taste, either way for me this was an average cigar.

In common with a couple of other cigars I have reviewed, this might be an ideal cigar for a real newbie. Its flavour profile and strength is not taxing, will not make them feel nauseous, but is just interesting enough for a newbie to keep their attention, and would allow them to smoke a “sizeable” cigar. The one other thing that I think makes this perfect for a newbie is how long it stays lit, they could leave it for a while and not have the hassle of trying to re-light the cigar.

Not a cigar I would have in my humidor, but if you have some friends who are newbie’s and want a cigar, having a couple of these on hand would be ideal.

Review: La ABEJA Maduro robusto

As readers of this blog will know I am quite a fan of La ABEJA cigars, having given the Corona a rating of 8.5. As you may recall the La ABEJR cigar company was started by the humidor manager from The Party Source, I was pretty convinced that mine was the first UK review of this brand of cigars, and I am relatively confident that this is the first UK review of the new Maduro.

So the question is will the Maduro match or exceed the score of the Corona…..

Appearance 9.0/10

The wrapper is a lovely dark chocolate brown, has a slight oily sheen to it, and is very well constructed with tight seams. The cigar has quite a number of small veins with some tooth. The Cap looks great as you can see from the picture I took of the cigar, one clever touch is that the colours on the bands are reversed so the Maduro is black text on white, as opposed to white text on black.

Construction & Draw 8.5/10

I have to be honest at this point, I have had two of these Maduro’s and the first one I tried had a relatively tight draw for the first inch or so, the second one had an absolutely perfect draw. Bearing in mind all the other La ABEJA cigars I have smoked have had a perfect draw I think this was just a one off, even so I have only dropped the score by 0.5 to reflect the first cigar.

The cigar is well packed with tobacco as with all La ABEJA cigars (which my explain why the draw was tight on one of the Maduro’s), cap construction is excellent and my Palio gave a very clean cut.

The burn line on this cigar was almost perfect and required no corrections or touch ups, I ashed the cigar at around and inch, but I suspect that it would have supported a much longer ash. This cigar produced a large volume of smoke

Flavour 9.0/10

I seriously enjoyed the flavour profile of this cigar, I really like smooth strong cigars with hints of coffee, cocoa, caramel etc, so as you can imagine I do enjoy Maduro’s a lot, and this one had all the flavours that I look for.

The cigar kicked off with a punch of white pepper, this continued for the first few draws, then quickly settled down, the cigar has an earthy flavour with a slight floral hint, the finish on this cigar is quite short to begin with. As I progressed through the first third there was a strong leather note, and any residual pepper backed off into the background, this cigar is very smooth.

In the second third of this cigar as well as the flavours already mentioned, I detected hints of caramel, and an interesting cocoa flavour, the reason I say it was interesting is more than in any other cigar I have smoked it had an actual cocoa powder taste, you could almost imagine the texture of the powder on your tongue.

The final third was as smooth and tasty as the first two thirds, towards the end the pepper picked up a little, but this cigar remained smooth and cool to the finish.

Value 8.5/10

At around 9 dollars per stick, the flavour, construction, and sophistication on offer here seem to match the price well, making this cigar very good value for money. This gets the same value rating as the Corona as although it is around a dollar more expensive, I think its justifies the extra.

Summary 9.0/10

So yet another La ABEJA cigar that really hit the spot, if you cant guess I really enjoyed this cigar, its well constructed, has a great flavour profile. There is not really a lot else to say, I think La ABEJA have a great cigar here, and I will be looking to get some more in my humidor soon..

Review: Cusano 18 Double Connecticut

This was going to be one of my normal reviews of a cigar that I have just smoked. However you will notice that this review is very short, the reason, well lets just say I did not get more than half an inch into this cigar before I could not smoke it any further.

It all looked so promising, the wrapper looks excellent, construction is very good, the cigar has only a few veins, the cap construction was good, I was looking forward to this.

Then I lit the cigar, and things went down hill….

I could taste some flavours, but they were all drowned out by a really nasty chemical taste that remained on your palete long after you had exhaled the smoke. I hoped that this would pass and that I could get down to enjoying this cigar, however the chemical taste did not pass, and I quickly decided that I just could not smoke this cigar.

This was my first “dog rocket” (a friend of mine used the term a few weeks ago, I had not heard it before), I am hoping that I just got a bad stick, but until I can try this cigar again (not sure I will bother as there are so many cigars to choose from), then I cannot recommend them, and I cannot score them. This for me is a cigar to avoid.