Best Cigars of 2009

As a new decade pounds on the front door I’m presented with my annual quandary: to sort through the pilones and find the ten best cigars of 2009. Early in the year I devised a new cigar rating system, the intended purpose of which was to assist me with this annual roundup. But I encountered two problems as I was ranking the ratings for 2009: there were a lot of tie scores, and there were some scores that, after further review, I might now want to revise.

Which is to say that this year’s list of “best cigars” is just as arbitrary as last year’s… and the years before that. All of these cigars have been reviewed on Keepers of the Flame in 2009, which means that the hundreds of cigars that I didn’t review are not eligible for inclusion here. As much as I’d like to, I can’t smoke everything.

If you are a regular reader here you know the type of cigars I favor: rich, aromatic, medium-bodied smokes, and this list reflects that preference. If you are new to cigars, some of these may be a little too heavy for you. If you’re a veteran who loves full-bodied sluggers, these sticks may seem a bit too light. Caveat lector.

10. Cabaiguan Maduro 46

9. Particulares Robusto

8. Padilla Signature 1932

7. Montecristo Reserva Negra Robusto

6. Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story

5. La Tradicion Cubana Deluxe 15th Anniversary

4. Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Double Robusto

3. La Gloria Cubana Reserva Figurados Maduro Flecha

2. Illusione Epernay Le Grande

1. Padron 1964 Anniversary Exclusivo Maduro

This isn’t the first time a Padron Anniversary edition has crowned a Top Ten list, and it will most likely not be the last. There are some great new blends out there, but few can live up to the flavor, balance, and construction of the 1964 Anni. The only question that lingers is… maduro or natural?

While 2009 wasn’t the best of years for the American cigar industry — there was the SCHIP tax, the persistent finger-wagging of local and state nannies, and now the minatory gaze of the FDA — it actually was a decent year for new cigar blends, some of which I look forward to reviewing in the next year. (Yes, I am a bit slow, but with a respectable quarter-million page views last year it looks like some people are still reading.)

Thanks for a great 2009, everyone, and have a wonderful 2010! Happy New Year!

~cigarfan

San Cristobal Seleccion del Sol by Ashton

When José “Don Pepín” García first started making cigars for Ashton in 2007 a few of us speculated that his commercial success would change him. I guess we’re used to seeing our small-town heroes ruined by large-scale success. And as some of Pepin’s smaller clients were shed for blue chip partners like Ashton, we anticipated that the unique flavor and superb construction of cigars like Padilla’s 1932 would become a distant memory.

Instead it appears that Pepin and family are using their well-earned capital to invest in infrastructure, and the quality of their cigars has not diminished a bit. Equally inspiring is the fact that some of Pepin’s former clients, like Padilla, are forging new paths and doing very well on their own as well.

Pepin now produces five blends under three different brands for Ashton –  San Cristobal,  La Aroma de Cuba, and Benchmade (an economy mixed-filler cigar.)  The original La Aroma de Cuba has been phased out and was replaced this year by Pepin’s new blend, which is in addition to the Edicion Especial line which was introduced in 2008. The San Cristobal Selección del Sol is new for 2009 and adds another member to the San Cristobal family.

The Garcias have long aspired to sow what they reap, and as a natural development of their previous success they are now cultivating tobacco on their Estrella farm in Esteli. The San Cristobal Seleccion del Sol features one of the first fruits of this new endeavor: the sun-grown wrapper that graces this cigar.

Like the first San Cristobal, the Seleccion del Sol is a Nicaraguan puro, but it is in fact an entirely new blend.  Only three sizes are currently in production:

• Robusto – 5 x 52
• Belicoso – 5.5 x 52
• Toro – 6 x 52

Construction Notes

The Estrella Farms wrapper on the Seleccion del Sol is not much to look at — it’s dry and drab, and much lighter in appearance than the standard San Cristobal. The foot band slips off easily, which is very much appreciated. The roll is excellent, as expected, and the cap is wound to a blunt tip. The draw is fine.

I rarely find anything negative to note about the construction of any Pepin-made smokes, but I had issues with the burn on these. The foot of the cigar did not want to light evenly (even with a torch) and thence forward the burn was uneven, required correction several times, and went out a couple times when I wasn’t paying close attention. What we have here, ladies and gentleman, is a cigar with a crappy burn. And the ash is flaky to boot.

Overall construction: only fair.

Tasting Notes

The Selección del Sol exhibits a lot of the flair associated with sun-grown wrappers, and while it compares favorably in this regard to Ashton’s VSG and Rocky Patel’s Sun Grown cigars, it doesn’t quite live up to those standard bearers.

The first third is dry but sweet with a tingle on the tongue. The aroma is of sweet wood, which blends nicely with the minty note on the palate. There is a hint of a bite and just a dash of pepper, which seems unusually understated for a DPG blend. The smoke is smooth though, and the nicotine is moderate.

The middle section continues in the same vein, doling out lots of woody smoke with a sweet, fresh finish. There is some spice on the palate, but the woody flavors and the sun-grown zing take center stage. The resting smoke is very pleasant, even for the non-smokers in the vicinity who for once are not glaring at me.

The final stage is earthier on the palate, with continued sweet wood on the nose. The sensation on the tongue is interesting — almost like the effect of carbonation, and the overall effect is spirituous. Like champagne, if a champagne could taste like humus and sweet wood. The last half-inch into the band area gets a little harsh on the throat, but other than that this is a smooth tasting smoke.

Conclusion

This is a really unusual cigar from DPG. The burn is sub-standard by comparison with his other lines, and while the flavors are certainly interesting, they’re not what the typical Pepin fan is after. There is little here of the cocoa and black peppery bang that his cigars are best known for. This doesn’t make it a bad cigar by any means, but in my opinion it’s not really what he does best.

I think that if it were made by anyone else I would have rated the Selección del Sol more highly, but I expect more from The Great One. Maybe it isn’t fair, but when the man hits home runs every game, to get a double and a base hit are a little disappointing.

Final Score: 84

La Tradicion Cubana Deluxe 15th Anniversary

La Tradicion Cubana has been in business for fifteen years, and to celebrate this they have released their 15th Anniversary Deluxe edition. Their last anniversary edition, the tenth, was excellent — they were some of the best cigars in my collection before they mysteriously went up in smoke a couple years ago.

LTC remains one of my favorite boutique cigar companies because they produce a quality premium cigar at a really reasonable price. Anyone who has been reading the cigar press and smoking the latest and greatest knows that an exorbitant price does not always mean high quality — sometimes it just means more hype. Fifteen-dollar limited edition cigars are great for the industry, and fun for those who can afford them, but it’s nice that LTC is looking out for the rest of us.

I was expecting the 15th Anniversary blend to be similar to the 10th, a blend from several countries with an Ecuadorian wrapper, but it’s a different story this time. The 15th Anniversary Deluxe is a Dominican puro. Wrapper, binder, filler — all from the Dominican Republic, where LTC cigars are made in Santiago.

La Tradicion Cubana is known for producing cigars with large ring gauges, including one of the largest commercially available cigars produced anywhere, the 12 x 192 LTC “Big One.” The new Deluxe line is no where close to to that, thank God, but all three sizes are still big in the barrel:

• Robusto: 5 x 56
• Churchill: 6 x 52
• Torpedo: 5 3/4 x 54

They might have come up with a better frontmark for the churchill (which is more like a fat toro) but as Juliet once asked, “what’s in a name?” At least they didn’t call it Montague.

Construction Notes

The wrapper on this 15th Anniversary is gorgeous. This looks like a sun grown wrapper — it’s dark and a little bit rough, and the color is not perfectly consistent, but it has clearly been fermented and processed very carefully. It’s oily enough right out of the cello, but as soon as the cigar is lit and the wrapper warms up, the oils just ooze out. Beautiful. The roll is firm with an easy draw. The large ring gauge and skillful blending result in a slow, cool burn. The robusto and the torpedo smoke for a good hour or more, and the toro (em… the churchill, I mean) went into 90 minute territory.

The only construction issue I had with these was a somewhat erratic burn. They didn’t need correction, but the jagged burn line was a touch irksome. More and more it seems that the better the wrapper leaf is, the more eccentric the burn. It must be the prima donna factor.

Overall construction very good.

Tasting Notes

The sustaining note for this blend is coffee, but it’s a note that goes through some interesting modulations. The first third is marked by coffee (of course) and mildly sweet milk chocolate. Beneath this I detected something like roasted nuts. The smoke is medium bodied in texture and very smooth. There is a slightly acidic touch on the tongue and the finish is mild, but dry.

The base flavor of coffee and roasted nuts takes on a sweeter edge in the second stage, as caramel comes to the fore and some spicier notes drop on the palate. The finish lengthens a little, bit by bit, but the smoke is still smooth and the aftertaste clean.

In the last third the flavors become more concentrated and the coffee-caramel combination starts to taste like a coffee liqueur. There’s also a flavor that mystified me — I couldn’t identify it until I had smoked three or four of these cigars in various shapes, but it finally came to me as I finished off a churchill the other night — I might be crazy, but I think it’s coconut.

Toward the band the flavor turns a little charred, as expected, and the nicotine sneaks up. La Tradicion Cubana isn’t known for powerhouse smokes, but they are certainly capable of producing them. Smoke these past the band and you might get a pretty good buzz, depending on your tolerance. This was surprising because they start out so mild and debonair.

Conclusion

I’m not sure if i like these better than the 10th Anniversary — it’s such a different blend — but without question the Deluxe 15th is worthy of carrying the Anniversary flag for LTC. If I could have my wish there would be an offering with a smaller ring gauge, but the blend has obviously been very well thought out in these larger sizes.

These are slated for release this month, and as I mentioned before, one of the remarkable things about this cigar is its price: boxes of 24 range from 100 USD for the robusto, $110 for the churchill, and $115 for the torpedo. The quality is unbeatable at that price if you like this style of cigar: medium-bodied, smooth, and delicious. Great with coffee. Bring the thermos.

Thanks to LTC for giving me a sneak preview of this fantastic smoke!

Final Score: 91

La Tradicion Cubana cigars can be difficult to find in neighborhood cigar shops. The 15th Anniversary is now available from these internet retailers:

The Cuban Shop

Fuller’s Pullers

Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu No. 9

This boy is no longer a boy. He’s a brave. He is little in body, but his heart is big. His name shall be “Little Big Man.”

–Calder Willingham

So let’s get this straight. The Tatuaje Havana VI series is a toned down version of Tatuaje, but the Verocu is the “Havana VI on steroids.” Not a big man, but not a small man either. A little big man.

Whatever it is, the Verocu is a little hard to find these days except in the stubby form of the No. 9. The first Verocu blends were regional releases — the 6 1/4 x 52 parejo dubbed No. 1 and sold west of the Mississippi, and the 5 1/2 x 54 No. 2 for those east of the river. Those releases are sold out, but the No. 9 is still available as an exclusive from Holt’s. I picked these up about six months when they were running a special, and I’m glad I did.

But I wasn’t so glad when I first got them. There aren’t too many cigars made by Don Pepin’s outfit that I haven’t been pleased with, but the Verocu No. 9 left a lot to be desired right off the truck. They were quite harsh, unbalanced, and burned terribly. Not what I expected from a Tat at all.

So I did what all hapless victims of the badly behaved box do: I attributed its faults to youth and put it away for a few months. And here I am, a few months later, with another good Nicaraguan puro to crow about.

The Verocu No. 9 is a short rothschild — at 4 1/2 inches long the cigar is almost eclipsed by its double bands, but its 49 ring gauge provides enough girth to keep it from petite corona status.

Construction Notes

The first impression this cigar makes is that it is well made, but rustic. The wrapper has a dry leathery appearance with a lot of variation in shade — from a dark brown, maduro-like color, to a ruddy colorado. The roll is solid and the head is finished with a traditional triple-cap. It’s not a gorgeous cigar, but it has redeeming qualities to be found elsewhere.

The draw is excellent, but these bad boys still burn a little off kilter. They behave much better than the fresh ones I smoked last summer, but they haven’t been completely reformed.

Overall good construction, but it has a stubborn wrapper leaf.

Tasting Notes

The Verocu No. 9 opens with flavors that I usually associate with maduro wrappers — anise and chocolate. Of course it wouldn’t be a Tat without a little black pepper to liven things up, and the No. 9 does not disappoint in this regard. It’s not overpowering, but it spikes the palate in a friendly way. The underlying flavor seems to be leather, and this continues for the duration of the cigar.

The bold corojo heart of the No. 9 beats a little stronger in the mid section, adding some caramel-tinged sweetness to the aroma. It helps to slow down a little with this one to minimize the sharpness of the aftertaste. The resting smoke seems a little sweeter this way as well.

The last stage continues to serve up a base flavor of leather with delicious caramel tones, along with a more assertive spice on the tongue.

Conclusion

Tatuaje’s Verocu No. 9 is a cigar to be savored. It cannot be rushed or all kinds of things go wrong — the burn goes haywire, the flavors get muddied, and the aftertaste becomes burnt tasting. Taken slowly, the flavors are instead quite distinct and enjoyable and the burn is decent (but not great.) They do have a decent kick, but by Tatuaje standards these are still medium-bodied.

This cigar doesn’t really taste like the standard Havana VI (which I think I like a bit better) or any other Tatuaje exactly. It’s a blend unto its own, with its own merits and downfalls.  I think any lover of Tatuaje or Pepin Garcia’s blends will find the Verocu No. 9 an enjoyable experience, though it might not rate among the best of them all.

The Verocu No. 9 is a Holt’s exclusive. Boxes of 20 retail for around 130 USD, though that price occasionally drops. I snagged a box for $100 last summer, and I’m not disappointed. The intervening months have done them a world of good, and if they continue on their current trajectory, these could turn out to be bigger little men than they already are right now.

Final Score: 85 (but climbing)

Illusione Epernay

Wine and cigars.  I like them both, but not usually together because the robust flavors of black tobacco almost always conflict with the more delicate qualities of wine. It could be that I’m pairing wines of insufficient strength with full-bodied stogies, but the result in my case has been invariably the same: a wine that tastes like ash.

Dion Giolito wants to convince us that this is not always the case. His Illusione Epernay series, which was blended specifically to complement the flavors of champagne, has its origins in the 15th anniversary cigar commissioned by the European Cigar Cult Journal (ECCJ).  That blend has now been expanded to four sizes and has been christened Epernay.

Since the original blend was created for European cigar aficionados, it makes sense that the Epernay series is blended for what Giolito calls the “European palate.” I’m not precisely sure what that means, but assuming  European cigar enthusiasts are smoking mostly Cuban cigars it would make sense that this is going to be a lighter, more aromatic and elegant cigar than the average Nicaraguan.

The Epernay series is like other Illusione cigars, a corojo-criollo blend of tobaccos from Nicaragua, also made in the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras. The wrapper is a sun-grown corojo leaf described as “Cafe Rosado.”

Four sizes are available (and it looks like there are still some ECCJs floating around as well) :

• ECCJ 15th – 5 5/8 x 46
• Le Petite – 4 1/2 x 44
• Le Ferme – 5 1/4 x 48
• Le Elegance – 5 3/4 x 40
• Le Grande – 6 x 46

Construction Notes

When I finished tallying my scoring sheet for this cigar I found that the Epernay Le Grande achieved nearly perfect marks for construction. This is pretty rare, but this is a rare smoke. The wrapper on this cigar is not flawless, but the mostly fine veins that track through the dark golden leaf aren’t distracting in the least. The cap is wound with nearly seamless precision into a rounded head. The roll is solid and the draw is perfect. It burns slowly and evenly, leaving a solid but slightly streaky gray ash.

Overall superb construction.

Tasting Notes

Since we had opened a bottle of champagne for the Thanksgiving Day festivities, I took the opportunity to smoke the Epernay along with a glass.  I was prepared to be disappointed, making sure that an alternative beverage was readily at hand.

The Epernay Le Grande opens with a mildly acidic zing familiar to those who smoke Nicaraguan corojo-criollo blends. After half a dozen puffs I hesitatingly tipped the glass to my lips and fully expected the wine to taste tainted. But it did not — the zing of the tobacco actually blends with the carbonization and the tannins in the wine! The flavors of the champagne weren’t affected at all, at least not yet.  In the first third the smoke itself is buttery smooth with some cedar and something like toast. The flavor is mild enough to pair well with the champagne, but the smoke texture is closer to medium-bodied.

Some tartness enters in the middle section, but it is nicely balanced by the woody sweetness on the nose –  the smoke leaves an oaky impression, a little tannic with a touch of honey. (I have to wonder how much of this is attributable to the champagne.) The finish is pleasant but has a salty tang.

The final third tastes more like a traditional Illusione blend — the familiar flavors of cocoa bean with a smattering of black pepper. At this point the smoke seems to interfere with the champagne, but the bottle had already been drained by my thirsty guests anyway. I was more than content to finish this cigar with coffee after bidding the oenophiles good night.

Conclusion

The Epernay Le Grande is an even-tempered, medium body cigar with a lot of class and a good deal of refinement. It also had nearly perfect construction — probably the best of any cigar I’ve smoked this year, scoring 49 out of 50 points. The cigar it reminded me of the most was Tatuaje’s Cabaiguan — perhaps because the Epernay stands in the same relation to Illusione’s original line that Cabaiguan stands to Tatuaje — it’s a mellower, more subtle, but equally complex cigar.

And it does in fact complement champagne; I’ll be interested to see if it can pair up with other types of wine as well. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Illusione’s Epernay line is only available cabs of 50, but individual sticks retail for around 8 to 9 USD per stick. A little pricey, but definitely worth the experience.

Final Score: 93

Frank Llaneza 1961 Cuban Corona

Frank Llaneza is a lion of the cigar industry who has been described by the Wall Street Journal as “the last grand old man of the cigar business as it was carried over from Cuba.”

He is best known as the former president of Villazon & Co., which was started by his father and his partners in Tampa in 1920. Young Frank was conscripted into the cigar industry, starting out with janitorial duties in his father’s factory, a job that he would have gladly forsaken to spend more time in school instead. But this was the during the Depression, and his choices were limited. As part of his education in the business he soon left for Cuba, where he learned how to select wrapper leaf under the legendary Angel Oliva, Sr., a man who would become first his mentor and later his collaborator.

Llaneza was on the ground in Cuba “when Fidel Castro came down from the mountains into Havana.”  He saw changes on the horizon, but initially he didn’t see the extent of them. The Castro regime gained strength and finally fomented a revolution, leading eventually to the confiscation of the entire Cuban tobacco industry. Fortunately, Llaneza, along with Angel Oliva, had wisely already begun their first experiments with Cuban-seed tobacco in Central America.

Llaneza took over the reins of Villazon in 1953 and continued the company’s tradition of making clear Havana cigars. That changed over the following decade as his continued success with growing excellent cuban-seed tobaccos in Honduras provided Villazon the opportunity to fill the full-bodied cigar niche left open by the embargo.

Two of those of those cigars would become mainstays on the American cigar scene for the next fifty-plus years: Punch and Hoyo de Monterrey.

In 1996 General Cigar purchased Villazon and with it those famous brands. Theo Folz, recently retired from Altadis USA, saw this as a missed opportunity for his company:

“We’ve always been a net buyer of businesses,” says Folz. He regrets missing one, Villazon & Co., and its renowned cigarmaker, Frank Llaneza. The maker of Punch and Hoyo de Monterrey was acquired by General Cigar in 1997. “The one acquisition that I should have made, that slipped through my fingers, was Villazon. Because not only would you get a great business, but you would get one of the greatest cigarmakers in my lifetime.”  Cigar Aficionado, 3/09/2004

Ironically, Llaneza recently retired from General Cigar and is now blending cigars — for Altadis USA.  The Siglo Limited Reserve was his first, and the Frank Llaneza 1961 is his most recent creation.

The 1961 is made in Nicaragua and features a Criollo 98 wrapper from Ecuador. The binder is Nicaraguan, and the filler is a Nicaraguan-Dominican blend.  Cigar Insider picked the Cuban Corona size as the pick of the litter, rating it 92 and bestowing upon it “Humidor Selection” status.

Six sizes are available:

• Corona Grande – 6 1/2 x 44
• Cuban Corona – 5 5/8 x 46
• Double Corona – 6 3/4 x 48
• Double Magnum – 6 1/2 x 54
• Magnum – 4 3/4 x 54
• Pyramid – 6 1/4 x 54

Construction Notes

The 1961 Cuban Corona is an unassuming stick with its simple band and dark leathery wrapper. This outer leaf is actually maduro in color; with its leathery appearance and slight sheen of oil, it could pass for a maduro cigar. The head of the cigar is well made and one of my specimens exhibited a quadruple cap. The roll is solid, though one cigar had a very minor dent in one side. The draw is just right and the ash is firm, but it does flake just a little. The burn is very slow. I expected to get 45 minutes to an hour from this stick but it smoldered for almost twice that long.

Overall excellent construction.

Tasting Notes

The Cuban Corona is an assertive cigar that announces itself with a leathery bite. There are a lot of flavors here, but they seem to be blended together so well that it’s hard to distinguish between them. In the first third I was a little overwhelmed by the leather and spice, but I was still able to detect a sweet edge to the smoke. The lengthy finish is impressive.

I learned quickly not to retrohale this cigar at all. Unless you enjoy the sting of rich peppery tobacco and the sneezes and sniffles that accompany it, you won’t either. But simply puffing on this cigar releases clouds of rich woody spice. There’s some salt here too, which had my palate begging for a Islay malt companion. I was happy to oblige with a glass of Lagavulin.

The Cuban Corona comes out of the corner swinging and never lets up for a breather. The last round is not much different than the first, but by this point my palate has taken so many blows that it’s a little bit numb. Pepper, leather, and some cinnamon spice are the main contenders, with the ghost of grilled meat hovering over it all.

Conclusion

This cigar carries all the characteristics of the Honduran style, despite the fact that it has no Honduran leaf. It reminds me of a Camacho more than any other cigar, minus Camacho’s signature Corojo overtones. But this should come as no surprise, since Frank Llaneza has been making this style of cigar for most of his life. The 1961 blend is much bolder, I think, than any Punch or Hoyo I have tasted, but it shares the same leathery, meaty quality of those cigars.

I hesitate to use the verboten term “strong,” but there is certainly an edge to this smoke. The nicotine content is not overpowering, but retrohaling left my mucosal passages crying for Mama. I love the flavors of this cigar, but I am really hoping that some aging will sand down the edges a bit. If that happens, this cigar will truly be worthy of being called a “humidor selection.”

The 1961 is a limited release (see the Stogie Guys review for details) and is retailing for around 7 USD per stick.

Final Score: 87

Cabaiguan Maduro

I have to wonder if a maduro variation is really necessary for every successful cigar blend. Obviously this is the conventional thing to do, and manufacturers feel no need for discipline when it comes to creating new extensions for reputable brand names, but I still wonder if it doesn’t water down the label a little.

On the other hand, when your forte is making powerful, bold tasting cigars, maybe you do what you can to extend the softer side of your range. Which is what Pete Johnson has done with Cabaiguan Maduro. Cabaiguan is Johnson’s milder alternative to his bold and powerful Tatuaje line. The original Cabaiguan was rolled in Miami with an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper and made its debut in 2005. It was followed a couple years later by the Guapo, a slightly larger vitola with a sun grown Ecuadorian wrapper, which was slated to be a limited edition rolled in what was then Pepin Garcia’s new factory in Nicaragua.  Both are excellent cigars –  the Corona Extra is in my opinion one of the very best Connecticut Shade cigars available anywhere.

And now we have a maduro edition to tantalize our tastebuds as well. It should be noted that this wrapper is maduro in color only — it is in fact a natural sun-grown Connecticut broadleaf.  The rest of the blend is the same as the standard Cabaiguan, which is of course Nicaraguan.

Like the Guapo series, the Maduro Cabaiguan is available in only a few sizes. Two, to be precise:

• Rx (Robusto Extra) – 5 1/4 x 50
• 46 (Corona Extra) -  5 5/8 x 46

Construction Notes

Both the Rx and the 46 are well made cigars with a dark, toothy wrapper. The wrapper is typical of sun grown leaf — it’s rough and weathered with a few chips here and there. Both varieties are rolled perfectly — these are products of Pepin Garcia’s factory, and perfection (or something close to it) is what we’ve come to expect from “My Father“.

Both sizes burn very well, though the robusto was not plumb-line even; it corrected itself over time and needed no assistance from me. The 46 was spot-on all the way. The ash is a solid light gray with a yellowish cast.

Overall excellent construction.

Tasting Notes

These are both smooth smoking cigars, but the 46 is slightly more assertive. In the first third I found the Rx easy going, with bittersweet chocolate, cedar, and a touch of anise. The 46 featured more tannin and pepper, with cocoa rather than chocolate.

The robusto picks up a little more tannin in the middle section, while the corona’s peppery edge softens. Both sizes seem to level out at this point, and agree on cocoa with an interesting malty note.

The Rx finishes up with a touch of woody bitterness on the palate that balances well with the sweet chocolate on the nose.  The 46 goes in an interesting direction at this point, increasing the spice and throwing some floral notes into the mix, something almost like lilac. I was reminded a little bit of La Riqueza at this point — it’s a little unusual to find this flavor in one of Pepin’s blends, but I think it’s there in La Riqueza as well.

Conclusion

The Cabaiguan Maduro is a worthy addition to the line. The sun grown broadleaf brings a lot of balance and a little more complexity to a medium-bodied blend that is exceptional to begin with. The wrapper adds some sweet notes of chocolate and cocoa that work well with the tannins on the palate. Over time the tannins might weaken a bit, resulting in a slightly sweeter cigar, but the blend is still very good right now, as long as you don’t mind a little of that fresh green woody taste on the tongue.

I thought the 46 was a little more expressive than the Rx, but both are excellent cigars. The MSRP is a bit steep, around 8 or 9 USD per stick, but that’s not too surprising given the overall quality on display here.

Final Scores

Rx: 89

46: 90

Bargain Arganese Rundown

I don’t have too much experience with Arganese cigars. I don’t see them in the shops I patronize and I’ve never been curious enough to take a chance on a box online. But when I saw a five-pack sampler of  discontinued blends on sale for less than ten bucks, I bit.

I’m not sure why these are being discontinued, but it’s a great opportunity to pick up some decent smokes for cheap. The last I heard, Arganese was catching flak for some kind of multi-level marketing scheme,  but what I know this company best for are the gloriously cheesy ads that accompanied their entry into the market. The douchebag at a casino table with two made-up blondes draped over his shoulders, or the obese guy on a golf course with the mini-skirted coed caddies… utterly hilarious.

So it’s safe to say that I am not in their marketing demographic.  Which is unfortunate in a way, because these are actually not bad cigars. I only picked up one sampler of these so I can’t in good faith give them a complete review, but I thought I’d offer some short notes this week for the bargain hunters out there.

The Maduro doesn’t stray too far from what you’d expect in a Dominican Maduro. The Brazilian wrapper is very toothy, in fact rough to the touch, and the draw is a little tight but it burns well with a straight and solid ash. The flavors are typical, but good: chocolate and nuts, with negligible finish or aftertaste. There is a touch of spice in the last third, but it won’t satisfy the power smoker  – it’s really pretty smooth and mild for the most part. Light to medium in body.  Quite pleasant as an everyday light maduro cigar.

The Double Wrap is an impressively built cigar — I think I counted 4 or 5 wraps at the head of this thing. Unfortunately it was unsmokeable. I fought with it for the first inch or so, but the draw was just too tight and what flavors I could get were sharp and metallic. I had to pitch this one and move on to the next.

The CL3  is 100% “first-generation” Cuban-seed Corojo, and it was probably the most interesting smoke in the sampler. It starts up with a peppery bite and a nice caramel accent. The smoke seems a little thin, but the aroma is quite unusual — the only descriptor I could come up with was “gamey.” It burns slowly and is extremely well-behaved for a blend with so much ligero. The only issue I had was the thin smoke body, which is way over-matched by the power of the cigar. This stick has too much nicotine for me, but I did enjoy its distinctive aroma.

The Nicaraguan smokes like a maduro, but it has more kick to it than the Maduro blend. This is also a nice looking stick, and while the draw is a bit tight at first it opens up after a half-inch or so. Moderately spiced with black pepper and accompanied by some caramel sweetness on the nose, it’s nicely balanced. Chocolate flavors appear in the second half and it gets a bit rough on the throat. It’s not terribly complex, but there’s enough here to keep my interest for the duration of the cigar. A good medium-full bodied smoke.

I’d recommend the Connecticut to anyone who appreciates fine shade wrappers. It’s another handsome cigar, and even though the draw was again a little tight it was otherwise well constructed. In most ways it’s typical of Ecuadorian Connecticut — creamy with floral notes, but at one point I thought I could detect apple notes. That was unexpected. In the home stretch it’s mostly nuts and creamy shade-grown goodness. Another really decent smoke.

The Maduro, Nicaraguan, and Connecticut cigars are available in different weights — mild, medium, and full. I honestly don’t know which these were, but I would have to guess they were either medium or full. The Connecticut in particular was quite chewy for this style of cigar.

Conclusion

I wasn’t blown away by any of these cigars, but I wasn’t disappointed either. (It wouldn’t be fair to direct the full force of my derision on the Double Wrap after one bad stick. This time it will merely receive an indifferent shrug.)  For two to three dollars per stick I could see picking up a box or two — probably the Nicaraguan or maybe the Maduro.

These are great value cigars, at least while they’re still around. I had discounted Arganese cigars as a trendy upstart, but I’m happy to report that there is more behind these blends than just a cheesy ad campaign. After smoking all of five cigars from this outfit I’ll be interested to see what’s next on the horizon for them.

Alec Bradley Select Cabinet Reserve (SCR)

The Trojes region of Honduras came to attention last year when Alec Bradley released the long-awaited Tempus cigar. Alan Rubin has gone back to Trojes again for the Select Cabinet Reserve, but this time for a more balanced and less powerful blend.

The SCR cigar is made in the same factory as the Tempus — Raices Cubanas in Honduras — and that is a very good thing. And of course the tobaccos themselves are very similar, relying heavily on leaf from Trojes but also employing an Indonesian binder and some filler from Nicaragua.

Now, keeping in mind that this area is still in the rich area of Central America that includes both the Jalapa Valley of Nicaragua and the Jamastran of Honduras, the Nicaragua-Honduras distinction might be a little academic. Trojes is equidistant from both Esteli, the capital of Nicaraguan cigar production, and Danli, it’s Honduran equivalent. (More importantly, I wonder if people from Trojes call themselves “Trojens.” Try yelling that when USC comes to play.)

An odd thing about the SCR is its use of two binders: the expected one from Trojes, but also a leaf called “Indonesia Embetunada.” Embetunar means “to polish” or according to my somewhat wonky Diccionario, “to cover with gum-resin or bitumen.” Betún is a common word for shoe polish. What on earth are they doing to this binder?

I haven’t been able to uncover an explanation, but in the cigar world betún is a sweet fermented concoction created from the immersion of tobacco stems and scraps in water or rum or god-knows-what-else to create a sticky black casing. This is then used to treat tobacco leaves for cigars. Sometimes this is a way to artificially darken or flavor maduro wrappers, but in this case it appears to serve a different purpose. Maybe it’s the secret ingredient?

The SCR was released earlier this year in five sizes:

• Churchill – 7 x 48
• Robusto – 5 x 50
• Corona – 5 1/2 x 42
• Gran Robusto – 5 1/2 x 60
• Torpedo – 6 1/8 x 52

I smoked the corona and the robusto for this review and was surprised to find that these taste like radically different cigars.

Construction Notes

The huge band on this cigar, accompanied by its smaller foot band, might lead one to believe that this cigar has something to hide. And while it’s true that the dusky colorado maduro wrapper is a bit rough and veiny, it’s not so unattractive that it must be veiled from sight. Sometimes the foot band would slip off easily; other times I had to peel it, and as usual this meant chipping the wrapper at the foot. That is why I hate foot bands.

The roll tended to be inconsistent, but in all cases fair enough with no draw problems. The SCR is topped with a nice triple-cap, which seems to be standard procedure at Raices Cubanas. They’re not the museum quality specimens that roll off Don Pepin’s tables, but they’re attractive nevertheless. Most of these burned a little off-kilter but never needed correction.

Overall very good construction.

Tasting Notes

Frequently a single blend will exhibit distinctive characteristics depending on the size of the cigar, but in this case the difference was extreme. Smaller ring gauges tend to highlight the wrapper, which is usually the most flavorful part of the cigar, and this proved to the corona’s advantage here.

The corona starts up with a spicy sharp flavor that slowly gives rise to smoked meat with a paprika sting on the nose. There is a serious sneeze factor. Eventually the meaty notes mellow a little and turn to leather. The robusto by contrast is much mellower, focusing on wood and leather with none of the zing of the corona.

The mid-section of the corona continues to showcase sweet spicy pepper notes that really rock the sinuses. On the lower end of the scale there is leather and a touch of cinnamon. The spices kick in for the robusto at this point, but are subdued when compared to the corona. Some of the cinnamon shows up in the robusto, but it is dominated by soft woody flavors with a maple syrup-like top note.

The last third of the corona is biting with a long peppery finish and a noticeable nicotine kick. The robusto gets a little more serious, picking up some of the pepper and sneeziness of the corona, but stays pretty mellow for the most part.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed both of these cigars, but to me they seemed almost unrelated to each other. The SCR corona smokes a lot like the Tempus — it’s an expressive and fiery little guy with a lot of spice. The robusto, on the other hand, is more reticent. A little wood, a little leather, and its job is done. The corona shows up with a shot of tequila. The robusto brings a microbrew.

Both are great smokes. I just can’t believe how different they are. I probably liked the robusto a little more because it lives up to the SCR billing: a smoother and more balanced Tempus. And while the corona is a fine smoke as well, you could just as well pick up a Tempus Genesis if this is what you’re after.

I picked up the coronas for around 5 USD per stick. The robustos might run a dollar higher. In either case it’s money well spent.

Final Scores:

Corona: 88

Robusto: 89

Padron 1964 Anniversary Exclusivo Maduro

Padron’s 1964 Anniversary cigars are so classic at this point that it’s hard to believe the blend is only fifteen years old. The 1964 was created to celebrate the Padron company’s 30th Anniversary in 1994. It was also, as George Padron added in a CA interview,  ”something special as we went to nationwide distribution.”

There are currently ten sizes in production, all available in either a sun-grown natural wrapper or maduro. The maduro version seems to be the most popular, but I have to say I like the natural just as well, if not better.

Padron is proud of its seed-to-smoke, vertically integrated operation, so the Anniversary blend is like all the rest of their cigars: an undisputed Nicaraguan puro.  Jorge Padron, the patriarch of the family, explains that the cigars are square pressed,

“because they reminded me of the squared cigars in Cuba that I used to smoke. It is the only thing I have actually copied from a good Cuban cigar.”

The cigars I smoked for the review were from 2006. The tobaccos in this blend are aged for four years to start with, so a few more years shouldn’t make that much of a difference. This is a deliciously smooth smoke straight from the factory, but three years in the humidor might have mellowed it even more.

Construction Notes

The Exclusivo is the robusto size in the 1964 Anniversary line –  a simple 5 1/2 x 50 parejo with an obvious square press. The wrapper is a little dry but consistent in color. As is typical with Padron cigars, it’s a little hard to tell the difference between the sun-grown natural and the maduro wrapper.  (In the top photo the maduro is on the left, the natural on the right.) They’re both pretty dark, and a little rough – some of these have really prominent veins, discreetly situated so they run laterally down the cigar. But that’s sun-grown leaf for you. What you lose in aesthetics you gain in flavor.

The cap is sub-par for a super-premium cigar, but at least it’s more attractive than what you’ll find on the Padron standard series. Aesthetically the cigar suffers a little, but the rest of the construction is almost perfect — a firm roll, an easy draw, and an even burn — which is worth noting because this is a square pressed smoke. Even the ash is firm and hassle-free.

Tasting Notes

This is a smooth, medium-bodied, very flavorful cigar. It starts up with cedar and coffee with cream. After an inch it becomes more complex, adding some sweetness and a silky aftertaste. The aroma is mild but nicely spiced, reminding me in a way of incense. At one point it occurred to me that smoking this cigar is almost like being in church.

The mid-section is a little heavier and exhibits that typically Nicaraguan acidic flavor on the sides of the tongue and back of the mouth. Cocoa notes are up front with some mild spice that keeps pace with a sweet woodsy aroma. The smoke texture is medium-bodied and stays very smooth.

The Exclusivo finishes up with a classically maduro finale — coffee and chocolate with a beautifully creamy texture. This cigar lacks the third stage bitterness that makes an appearance towards the band of most ordinary cigars – only at the very end is there some bittersweetness and a little char.

Conclusion

The Padron ‘64 doesn’t get reviewed too often, probably because it’s so well known and because there is a general consensus that it’s a damn fine smoke. It’s a cigar you’d rather enjoy than analyze. It’s not as bold as many other Nicaraguan puros, but it’s perfectly balanced: smooth and creamy, yet nicely spiced. It burns without a second thought. And it’s simply one of my favorite cigars. If you’ve never smoked the Padron ‘64 before, you really need to treat yourself sometime.

Average retail is around 11 USD for the Exclusivo.

Final Score: 94

Other Reviews of Note

In the Humidor takes a look at the Exclusivo Maduro

Cigar In Hand grapples with an aged Exclusivo, also Maduro

Nice Tight Ash reviews the Superior Maduro

moki checks out the Natural Exclusivo for Cigar Weekly