Nestor Reserve Maduro

“Learn thou the worth of a dollar and how to keep it from damning thee.” –Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr.

The other day I received in the mail sad tidings from the gentleman who claims to manage my meager stock portfolio. Like most people struggling to save for retirement (a very distant shore) I try to take the long view. But as I watch my modest investments dwindle further into the mire, my thoughts turn from luxury limited edition cigars to the humble bundle smoke, a suitable companion for a season of economic decline.

Unlike the federal government, I am not entirely comfortable with a budget extending far beyond my means, and since I am as yet unable to print money myself, I must instead seek solace in cheap Honduran stogies. Luckily there are a few out there, and there is a man named Nestor Plasencia.

Nestor over the years has produced a number of quality budget smokes — Maria Mancini, Mayorga, American Stogies, among others, and while none of these are exactly stellar cigars, they’re solid blue collar fare. And as I watch the foreign tourists pour in to feast on the weak dollar, I’m feeling bluer all the time.

So I thought I was exercising fiscal responsibility when I low-balled a “Mega Sampler” of these Nestor Reserves on Cigarbid. I’d tried the toro size previously and thought well of it, so when I came away a winner with a bid of 19 dollars I thought I hit the big time. 20 cigars for 19 dollars. Can’t beat it, right?

In the past I’ve really enjoyed the Connecticut version of this cigar — a mild and smooth smoking robusto that is unfortunately no longer available. The Maduro version is still kicking though, and comes in the standard sizes: corona, double corona, robusto, toro, and torpedo. The wrapper is Honduran, while the filler is a Honduran/Nicaraguan blend. The really interesting ingredient here is a Cameroon binder.

Curiously, the first thing I noticed upon slicing open my “Mega Sampler” bundle was that one of the double coronas was round, and the rest of them were square pressed. In fact, all the cigars were square pressed except for that one odd double corona. I figured that must be The One, the Neon of the cigar matrix. So I cut it, torched the end and prepared myself for a leisurely smoke.

Double Corona

But it was not to be. It wasn’t plugged, exactly, but it was extremely tight. I cut a bit more off the head to no avail. Diagnostically palpating the cigar to find a plug, I found that the plug seemed to start at the head and end somewhere close to the foot. Exploratory surgery was my only option. I cut it in half and gave the remainder a hearty pull. Nothing. Flat line. Most definitely not The One.

On to the next contestant, a square pressed double corona. No draw problems this time, but even before lighting it I was greeted with a bitter and unpleasant taste from the wrapper leaf. For the next ten minutes I couldn’t stop spitting and the taste seemed to worsen. The smoke wasn’t bad — woody, with some earthiness and a semi-sweet maduro aroma, but the flavor from the wrapper on my tongue was unbearable. And so round two sent me staggering to the corner with two unsmokeable cigars lying pathetically in the ashtray.

But I couldn’t give up now. After all, Cigars International calls this cigar “chocolate thunder.” Cigar Insider gave it an astounding 93! My double corona experience must have been a fluke. On to the robusto size.

Robusto

The prelight impression this cigar makes is a good indication of how it smokes: mild and grassy. What lies hidden — until flame is set to leaf — is how smelly it is.

The first third is mild, smooth and focuses on sweet hay. After an inch a vegetal flavor makes an entrance, and the finish is mildly metallic. The Cameroon adds an earthy accent in the second third, blending nicely with the sweet aroma of the maduro. The robusto becomes increasingly earthy into the final stretch, a little flinty but still quite mild.

This cigar most emphatically failed the wife test. She coughed and waved her arms and put on quite a show for me and the dogs. But she’s right — this is a very smelly cigar, but in a sweetish maduro kind of way.

Toro

The toro is not quite as grassy, and not quite as mild as the robusto. It’s a little woodier, but it retains that flinty, metallic aftertaste. The maduro-cameroon tango is a little more animated in this size: it’s sweet and smooth, but tangier than the robusto. It tastes more like the double corona, but lacks the construction problems I had with those.

Torpedo

The torpedo smokes very much like the toro. It might be a tad smoother, but it seems so similar to me that any difference could easily be chalked up to what I was drinking or what I had for dinner on a given night.

Conclusion

What all the Nestor Reserve Maduro cigars have in common is this: they’re all relatively mild, smooth smoking cigars with a stinky disposition. They tend to burn erratically, but with one exception they all drew well and had decent construction. One annoying thing about them is that the wrapper bleeds and leaves brown stains on one’s lips and fingers. Along with the consistently oscuro coloration of the wrapper, this is a good indication that the leaf has been “cooked,” or artificially treated (perhaps even dyed) to speed up the fermentation process and achieve a uniform hue. I can’t say with total certainty that is what we have here, but it certainly seems like a possibility.

So, in the final analysis, are the Nestor Reserves worth two bucks a pop? It’s not easy to find a decent cigar for under two dollars, but with some effort it is possible. I don’t think this is Nestor’s best effort, and while there are some admirable qualities here (the cameroon binder is an intriguing touch) I think there are probably better bargains out there. It’s a passable yard gar, but even at less than a dollar a stick at auction I will probably seek out other pastures. I’m trying to be frugal, not masochistic.

-cigarfan

JFR - “Just For Retailers” Corona Gorda

I was trolling for goodies in a local cigar shop the other day and happened to notice an unfinished crate crammed inconspicuously into the corner under some big-ticket Ashtons. The box was filled with toro sized cigars. I didn’t see a brand advertised, and they didn’t have bands. What they did have was alluringly oily wrappers, beautifully rounded heads, and triple caps finished with tight neat pig tails. And the feet were flagged. Sitting nicely in the box they looked like a bunch of shoeless orphans getting ready to go to church.

When I asked after their pedigree, the counter guy said “They’re called JFRs. Four something a stick. You can hardly buy a cigar for four bucks.” This was not exactly a glowing endorsement, but they looked sweet, and yeah, the guy is right. Four bucks is not much for a handmade cigar these days.

JFR stands for “Just For Retailers,” and they mean it. Don’t look for them online. They’re made by Tabacalera Tropical, and originally they were blended by none other than Jose “Don Pepin” Garcia. Or so the story goes.

Pedro Martin successfully escaped the Castro regime in the early 60’s and subsequently spent almost two decades in the American tobacco industry before he entered the cigar market with Tropical Tobacco in 1978. Martin has produced cigars at various times in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Central America, and has had his hand in the making of brands as diverse as Avo and Ashton (at Tabadom) and the current stable of Tropical blends like Lempira and Indianhead.

“Don Pepin” Garcia’s first employer after his exodus from Cuba in 2001 was Eduardo Fernandez’ Aganorsa in Esteli, Nicaragua — the same Aganorsa which in 2002 acquired Martin’s Tropical, which at that point became Tabacalera Tropical. It seems most likely that if Garcia blended the original JFR, it was during this time. And the fact that Fernandez is still Garcia’s primary tobacco supplier lends the JFR blend an even darker shadow of Pepin ancestry. But no birth certificate.

Tropical doesn’t acknowledge these cigars on their website, and an email for information was unsuccessful as well, so I remain unsure of the JFR’s constitution and provenance. The word on the street is that these are made in Honduras with a Nicaraguan corojo/criollo blend. After smoking a few of these, that sounds quite plausible. There are reportedly four sizes: robusto, toro, supertoro (corona gorda) and torpedo.

The wrappers on these cigars are really attractive — a nice sheen of oil enhances a slightly toothy surface throughout. The few I’ve smoked so far have been competently constructed, though one had a significant soft spot and uneven roll. Despite this it drew well and burned without a hitch.

The JFR introduces itself with a spicy but smooth flavor; it’s not as peppery as a Pepin, but it has that Nicaraguan bite. The base flavor is leathery with spicy accents. Over the course of the cigar this flavor creeps along and builds while the smoke texture gathers weight and grows from medium to full in body. The aroma of this cigar is somewhat sweet and combines really well with the leathery foundation.

About halfway through this smoke I sensed the strength beginning to sneak up on me and I noticed a little harshness on the throat. The spices get darker at this point, more peppery, more Pepiney. There are some coffee flavors at this point, and maybe a little hazelnut on the nose. By the last third the smoke is very rich, quite strong and the harshness begins to mount. I normally put the butt to bed at this point.

More than a Pepin blend, this one reminds me of Illusione. Either that or a St. Luis Rey Regios. It’s not as complex or as refined as the Illusione (I’m thinking of the 88 and it’s bolder than the Regios, but there seem to me some similarities. If you told me these were Illusione “rejects” I might just believe you.

Rejects or not, they’re decent smokes for $4 or less. The counter guy undersold these, but they appear to sell themselves just fine.

-cigarfan

Bock y Ca Edicion de Oro Robusto

 

Gustav Bock is best known as the first cigar maker to put bands on his Havanas, starting sometime around 1854. At that time most cigars were sold from large bags of loose sticks and couldn’t be identified once separated from the mothership. One story says that Bock invented the cigar band to keep inferior cigars from being sold as his own. Another, more unlikely, tale is that they were designed to prevent staining the fingers of high society ladies (or gents given to the practice of wearing white gloves.) 

But Herr Bock was a master businessman who had a gift for marketing. When he found that he could not break into the American market without brand recognition, even when he was offering his cigars nearly at cost, he developed an ingenious plan. Legend has it that he shipped small lots of cigars to “various undiscoverable places” in the U.S. addressed to George Washington. The undervalued parcels never reached their fictitious destinations and were picked up by customs agents, sold at auction, and thereby entered the American market. The cigars were recognized for their quality, identified by their bands, and eventually gained a loyal following.  

Today we have these bits of cigar lore by which to remember Gustav Bock, but during his lifetime he became a recognized captain of industry. In the latter part of his career, around the turn of the century, Bock’s holdings were consolidated to form Henry Clay, Bock and Co, and later he gained control of the Havana Commercial Company as well. At that time he controlled almost all of the cigar production in Cuba. Later on this company would be acquired by the American Tobacco Company, and eventually all these dealings would end up at the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court as an antitrust issue. Bock was more about big business than cigar bands, but today that is what remains. That, and a brand name.

One of Bock’s better known brands was called “Aguila de Oro” or Golden Eagle, and while the Bock brand name has passed through many hands in the past century, the eagle remains. There appears to be a Dominican made version of this cigar currently available in Europe. Altadis may be marketing one version to the U.S. and a different one to the EU, as it appears to be doing with the VegaFina brand as well.

In any case, the blend on the shelves here in the U.S. is of Nicaraguan origin, with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and Nicaraguan Habano binder and filler. The line was created (or re-introduced) by Altadis “to compliment our lines of inexpensive premium brands like Gispert and Vega Fina.”

The general appearance of the Bock robusto does nothing to betray the marketing of this cigar as an “inexpensive” brand. It’s rough and the cap is cut unevenly. It looks like it was thrown together in a rush. The prelight wrapper scent is of fresh hay and a prelight pull tastes bright and grassy. The draw is firm but serviceable.

But this cigar shouldn’t be judged by prelight appearances alone; it performs a whole lot better than it looks. It starts up with a pleasant toasty sweet tobacco flavor. Nothing unusual, just straight up smooth and creamy smoke. It’s mild to medium in body with a nice texture and very little bite. It sets up a solid white ash that compares favorably with any premium Nicaraguan cigar I’ve smoked in the past year.

This robusto builds in flavor toward the mid-point, getting a little woodier and by the last third brings a moderate dose of spice and most surprisingly, cocoa. I can’t think of another cigar in this price range that shows up with cocoa in any amount… but this one has it, at least in the mid to final stages. It’s not as thoroughgoing as the premium Pepin blends, but for a fraction of the price I have to say I’m impressed.

And the price is low. Seriously low. A box of Bock y Ca robustos runs around 30 USD. And yes, it’s a box, not a bundle. At this price you can hardly go wrong, unless you’re expecting a full bodied superpremium, which it isn’t. It’s a quality blue-collar medium bodied smoke, for a solid blue collar price. Try a couple. Your wallet will thank you and your palate won’t complain.

For other reviews of good cheap smokes, check out Walt’s Bargain Cigar Breakdown at the Stogie Review. 

-cigarfan 

Tatuaje Series P2

Tatuaje Series P cigars are economy selections from Jose Pepin Garcia’s Tabacalera Cubana in Esteli, Nicaragua. These are “cuban sandwich” cigars made with the same filler blend as Pete Johnson’s Tatuaje Havana VI, presumably with scrap tobacco from the same. These are Nicaraguan puros and are marketed as having 40% long filler and 60% medium filler. The wrapper is Nicaraguan Habano.

Construction is always an issue when it comes to sandwich or mixed filler cigars, and the Series P is not immune. Most of the cigars I’ve sampled in this series have been fine, but a few have had burn problems and a couple have split their wrappers in catastrophic fashion. From the price alone it seems a bit of a gamble — about 4 USD per stick local retail. Not your typical Pepin price mark, but it’s a reasonable wager for this cigar.

The size I chose for this review was the robusto P2. (These are also available in churchill, toro, and corona grande vitolas.) The wrapper is not a looker exactly, so you’ll want to judge this one for its personality rather than its superficial deficiency. The wrapper scent here is straight ahead cedar with a little bit of sweet grass on the prelight pull.

The P2 starts up with no nonsense medium bodied tobacco flavors and maintains that course pretty much to the end. The real attraction here is the sweet spicy aroma from the wrapper. It has a very carmelized kind of smell, almost like roasted marshmellows. After a couple inches some pepper arrives at the party, but for the most part it serves as a mild condiment over that simple sweet woody flavor. There isn’t much transition here, as Jerry noticed in his Stogie Review of this cigar. I have to agree with him that a big development isn’t really necessary here.

Like the Havana VI, this is a relatively mild blend for Tatuaje and Pepin. At times the smoke seems a little bit thin, but it’s flavorful and the wrapper imparts a delicate sweetness that is not easily found among cigars in this price range.

It’s really not fair to compare this cigar to the standard line Tats, so I won’t. Just remember that this is a bargain-oriented cigar made with the leavings from the big boys. The result is a ghostly palimpsest of the original work, but when the original is a Tatuaje, that may be just enough to seal the deal. For 4 bucks, anyway.

VegaFina Robusto

Over the years there have been several different cigars marketed under the name Vega Fina, mainly because the companies owning the brand name have merged or been acquired or simply changed hands: the brand name appears to have first been owned by Havatampa, an old manufacturer around since the early 1900’s. When Tabalera S.A. de España bought Havatampa in 1997, Vega Fina passed to them and was produced by Benji Menendez in Honduras with an Indonesian wrapper. Two years later, Tabacalera S.A. merged with the French tobacco giant SEITA to form Altadis, S.A. Soon after this, production moved to the Dominican Republic and Vega Fina was produced primarily for the Spanish and Western European market as an affordable Dominican premium (but also as a mass market machine mini cigar very popular in Spain.)

Vega Fina continues to be Spain’s most popular Dominican cigar, so Altadis decided to introduce it to the much larger American market early this year. Today they’re made in La Romana’s Tabacalera de Garcia under the supervision of José Séijas.

The VF robusto is graced by a creamy claro-colored Ecuadorian grown Connecticut Shade wrapper that looks good enough to eat. Beneath this, however, is a binder which causes me a little concern: Indonesian TBN. (I have to remind myself that the wrapper on the Dominican Romeo y Julieta 1875 is also TBN, and it’s not bad stuff.) The VF employs filler from Columbia, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras.

I tend to think of Indonesian TBN as the carpetbagger of cigar tobacco — it seems to turn up only when the “real thing” is no longer available. When Consolidated couldn’t get quality Cameroon in the late 80’s, they turned to TBN. When wrapper leaf of any quality was scarce during the “boom” years, TBN was there. And this is at least partly why it has a such a sullied reputation — it’s often been the alternative, not the prime choice. And unfortunately the alternative, especially during the boom years, was actually bottom-of-barrel tobacco billed as TBN when it may have been something else entirely. So what we were taking in general as “Indonesian” was actually the worst tobacco the region had to offer.

TBN stands for tobaco bawah naungan, which means “tobacco under sheet,” or shade-grown tobacco. Top quality TBN is a cross between native besuki tobacco and Connecticut Shade. It’s a nice looking leaf, so in addition to its blending qualities it can also serve well as a wrapper. Strangely it is also prized for its lack of aroma. I can’t think why this would be appreciated in a wrapper, but used as a binder here perhaps it makes more sense.

The VegaFina robusto is a suave looking cigar. The wrapper is smooth and supple with very few veins. The construction is very good from the start, with a cool even draw and a nearly straight-edge burn. There’s just a hint of pepper at first light. This quickly disappears and is replaced by a very mild bodied smoke with a creamy texture. Up until the half-way point the flavor is mildly woody with some herbal tea accents. The aroma is exceptional — it blends well with the flavor of the cigar and adds a spicy floral component. (Incidentally, there are none of the metallic overtones that I’ve noticed with Indonesian leaf in the past.)

The flavor picks up at the mid-point, not a lot, but enough to be noticed. Another dash of pepper is added to the mix and the finish goes from non-existent to moderately short at this point. The last third stays the course, and finally a discreet bitterness announces that the finish line has been crossed.

Overall the VegaFina robusto is an excellent mild blend: a fine mid-day smoke, great after breakfast. The price is right on these babies as well: I picked up a few for under 3 USD on the reservation, and it looks like boxes can be had for under 75 online. Factoring price into the equation, I think this is my new mild one. (Especially since it’s getting hard to find Nestor Reserve Connecticuts these days…)

–cigarfan

Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 - Robusto Grande

Cigar Stats
Brand Owner: Tobaccos Puros de Nicaragua, S.A.
Model/Vitola: Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 - Robusto Grande (box-pressed)
Size: 5.50 x 52
Wrapper: Nicaragua Habano Criollo
Binder: Nicaragua Habana
Filler: Nicaragua Habana

Other sizes available

• Consul 4.50 x 52 (robusto)
• Machito 4.75 x 42 (petit corona)
• Gran Consul 4.75 x 60 (torpedo)
• Belicoso 6.00 x 54 (torpedo)
• Magnum 6.00 x 60 (toro)
• Perfecto 6.25 x 58
• Churchill 6.875 x 48
• Lancero 7.50 x 38 (long panatela)

Tobacco farm at Esteli, Nicaragua

Joya de Nicaragua (The Jewel of Nicaragua) was created in Nicaragua’s first cigar factory, which opened in 1964 in the city of Esteli. In the glory days of the 1970s, the brand was arguably the finest in the world, smoked in the White House and prized for its rich flavor. After war decimated Nicaragua and the original factory burned to the ground, Joya de Nicaragua struggled to regain its former glory. Prior to 2000, the brand had taken on a mild, easygoing flavor. Responding to the trend toward full-flavored cigars and looking at its own heritage as a producer of powerful smokes, the brand’s makers created a version called Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970. This was one of the first “high octane” powerful cigars to hit the market back in the early 2000’s. It was one of the hits of the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade show in 2002. Made by Manuel Quesada, this cigar features an extremely powerful, heavy, thick smoke highlighted by a rich, oily, almost wet-looking Maduro wrapper. This is the type of cigar that the old Cubans use to make for themselves after quitting time in the Cuban factories.

  Bottom line up front …..
“All Muscle, all the time,” is the slogan for the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 and this cigar certainly flexes its muscles. Antaño is the cigar directly responsible for reviving the struggling Joya line, and after smokng one there is no wonder as to why. It has received high ratings, a 91 in Cigar Insider and 92 in Cigar Afficianado, and was in the top 5 of Robb Report’s 2003 annual Best of the Best. Antaño, a Nicaraguan puro, is a powerhouse full of flavor; leathery and slightly earthy, this cigar is rich and spicy. The draw is excellent and the thick, dark wrapper burns well. A true treat for those who enjoy a complex and very full-bodied smoke at a very reasonable price.

Pre-light
A couple large veins on this dark rusty brown colored wrap but no ill effect on the burn. The head is finished with a rounded cap. No tooth is evident over the smooth oily wrap. Construction is solid with no soft spots to the light squeeze. It is well balanced in the hand and the pre-light draw is firm. Although this cigar is advertised as box-pressed, it is barely evident by looking at it. A very subtle aroma of earth and aged tobacco from the wrap. The band is good looking and took a little effort to remove but without effect on the cigar. I used my Xikar cutter for a clean clip.

The Smoking Experience
The foot toasted and lit but with some effort. The wrap is very thick and it took a couple torch blasts to get everything going but, once lit, no burn issues at all. Draw was firm but not too firm and eased just a little over the length of the cigar. Burn line got a little bumpy but always self-corrected. The ash was dark gray with small black striations and held on well to about two inches each time. This cigar puts out allot of smoke and stayed nice and cool all the way to the nub. The smoke seemed to increase in volume past the half way point.

Full bodied and full flavored this cigar leaves nothing to the imagination. Flavors hit the palate like a freight train. Starts with a surge of dark earth and pepper which quickly gives way to a core of sweet earthy flavors with subtle notes of cocoa and espresso. The nose has quite a “twang” to it. The last half ushers in more pepper and spice but not overpowering.

Definitely a strong full-bodied smoke but well balanced. I did not experience any harshness. Not the cigar for morning coffee IMO and should follow something to eat. I had both cigars for this review with McClannan 25 single malt scotch which really complimented the cigar. I’m thinking a nice cold Guiness Stout would work too.

My take …..
Being a fan of stronger cigars, I really enjoyed the Joya De Nicaragua Antaño 1970. I bet these are just fantastic with a year or more to age. I’m curious about the Gran Reserva as well. That’s on my list of cigars to try.

MSRP comes in at $5.00 per stick. I received mine in a trade so I’m not sure exactly what they cost originally but my local B&M has them for $6.25 a stick. Online they run $3.50 per stick if you buy a box (20) and $3.70 if you get a 5ver. Very good price point for a such a flavorful well-made cigar.

Like it … Yes
Buy it again … Absolutely, maybe stock some boxes
Recommend it … Yes, to those who like potent cigars

What others are saying about the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 …..

25 March 2006
Cigarfan of Keepers of the Flame
Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 Robusto Grande

28 August 2006
Patrick A of The Stogie Guys
Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Consul

30 May 2007
Dickie Dingleheimer
Review of Joya de Nicaragua Antano Cigars
Rated 4.60/5

As of 10 August 2007
Top 25 Cigar Ratings (26 reviews)
Joya de Nicaragua Antano 1970 Robusto Grande
Average Rating 8.35 out of 10

Publications

18 May 2007 - Cigar Aficionado
An Interview with Alejandro Martinez Cuenca, Owner of Joya de Nicaragua

---

… lucky7

“It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep,
and never to refrain when awake.” (Mark Twain)

FP Habano 98

I smoke a lot of bundle and “bargain” cigars this time of year because I don’t have the luxury of a man cave, an air-conditioned garage, or a wife who doesn’t give a damn. She does, so I don’t smoke inside the house. And around the time I emerge from the domicile to sneak an evening cigar the thermometer is just dipping below 100 degrees, so it’s either something short, or something cheap that I can toss after half an hour. Either that or I go back into the house looking like Fred Biletnikoff after the Super Bowl. (Sorry to get old school on you youngsters out there, but if you’re old enough to smoke you’re old enough to watch ESPN Classic.)

That is not to suggest that the FP Habano 98 is a second class citizen. It is in fact a bundle cigar made by La Tradicion Cubana for Fuller’s Pullers in Madison, Wisconsin, and it’s available for about two bucks a stick. The torpedoes are 6 1/2 inches long and the barrel of the cigar is a 52 ring gauge. The wrapper is a Nicaraguan Habano 98, which I think is a criollo leaf, and the filler is a Nicaraguan and Dominican blend.

This is a decent looking torpedo with a moderately dry wrapper and a somewhat odd looking head. It’s well constructed, and when the tip is clipped it draws perfectly, but the head is sort of lumpy and crooked, like the crown of a crumpled wizard’s hat.

But it burns straight and tastes pretty good, which in the bargain category makes it a winner from the start. It’s a mild cigar which builds at the mid-point to a medium body. The wrapper imparts a pleasant aroma of cedar and spice which hints at what the LTC robusto offers, but the FP H98 doesn’t have the same depth or complexity. (Nor would I expect it to.) The flavor is straightforward mild tobacco with a woody character up to the half-way point where it takes on a tinge of soot. At the two-thirds point the flavor gets muddier and it’s pretty much downhill from there. Like most bundle cigars I find this one is best smoked to the 50 yard line. Beyond that point and you’re on your own.

This is a pretty good cigar for a couple bucks. If you’re in the market for a high quality mild econo smoke it’s worth a look. If there’s another cigar with a wrapper this good selling for under two bucks it would definitely pique my interest.

Nestor Reserve Connecticut Robusto

Several years ago Nestor Plasencia was quoted as saying, “Anyone who tells you they know everything there is to know about tobacco is either a liar or a fool.” This is worth remembering, coming as it does from one of the premier tobacco men on the planet. Plasencia has been working tobacco throughout Central America for years now, and has made cigars for companies as diverse as CAO, Indian Tabac, Alec Bradley, and many more, including his own brand names.

The Nestor Reserve label is probably better known for its maduro entry, which I haven’t reviewed yet but I can tell you right now that the couple of maduro torpedos I’ve sampled were fantastic, especially when the price is factored into the equation. (Another thing, but you’re not allowed to tell anyone: Plasencia makes really good econo smokes. Shhhh…)

The Connecticut Reserve is supposedly the same blend as the Nestor Reserve Maduro, with the obvious difference of a CT shade wrapper instead of the maduro. Unsurprisingly though, the information released by the big name online outlets is not convincing. The Maduro is advertised as having Honduran and Nicaraguan filler, with a Cameroon binder. Sounds tasty… IS tasty. The Connecticut, on the other hand, is presented as “a complex mixture of Costa Rican, Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos.” How do you get the same filler blend when one includes Cameroon, and the other Costa Rican leaf? Yet another mystery to ponder as the ash grows long…

I tend to hold mild cigars to a high standard when it comes to construction and aroma and give them more leniency when it comes to flavor. This standard worked out well for the Nestor Connecticut.

First off, I was impressed with the physical appearance of this cigar. The wrapper is smooth and almost veinless, and the cap is applied very well; in fact, one of them was neatly triple capped with a Cuban style flat head. That was interesting, especially for a cigar that cost me a little over a buck.

The flavor is mild, as expected, and by the end approaches a medium body without quite getting there. The smoke has a smooth creamy texture with a papery or balsa-like finish. Nothing to get excited about there, but the aroma is quite nice. A delicate mild spice rises from the smoldering ash and insinuates itself in the sinuses without no irritation. There’s something kind of oaky to it, but mingled with a dash of cinnamon. Maybe it’s a smell only a cigar smoker could love, but I am a cigar smoker and I love it.

There wasn’t too much of a development, and it doesn’t get too many points for complexity, but it’s a nice solid stick that burns well, smells great, and is really easy on the wallet. It may not be the best cigar I’ve smoked in the past couple months, but it’s definitely the best cigar under three or four dollars.

There’s absolutely no reason not to try this cigar, unless you hate mild cigars, Connecticut shade wrappers, or saving lots of money.

Bering Corona Royale

There was a time when an American cigar smoker didn’t experiment with new brands and blends. He chose a brand that he liked and he pretty much stuck with that for as long as he chose to smoke cigars. This was a time when the cigar factories of Ybor City flourished and produced thousands of “clear havana” cigars made with tobacco imported from Cuba. The “premium” market of that day was for authentic Havana rolled cigars, but the average American working stiff was quite content with “two for a nickel” King Edward cigars or the like.

Today, most cigar enthusiasts cast a wary eye on King Edward and his drugstore brethren, but it’s worth remembering that Swisher International, the maker of King Edward, La Primadora, and of course Swisher Sweets, is the world’s second largest cigar company by revenue (trailing only Altadis.)

A Swisher executive once said, “There are two kinds of cigars in the world: those that sell and those that don’t.” While that explains Swisher’s business philosophy (and perhaps the secret to their success) it doesn’t explain why they entered the premium cigar market with Bering, a long filler hand-rolled that sells for around 2 dollars. A blue-collar two-dollar cigar.

Bering cigars were at first a long-filler machine-made cigar manufactured by Corral, Wodiska y Ca., starting in 1905. Their Ybor City factory no longer produces cigars (in fact this historic building has been converted to an office complex) but the Bering brand lives on, having been purchased by Swisher in 1985. Swisher eventually moved Bering production to Honduras and made it a 100% handmade cigar, a turning point for Swisher and the Bering line.

The Bering Corona Royale is a tubo, as pictured above. On the other side of the tube it reads “Very Mild Exquisite Cigar.” This is a long corona at 6 inches with a 41 ring gauge and comes equipped with a Connecticut seed wrapper shade grown in Honduras, a binder from Honduras, and filler from Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

This particular specimen has been lounging in my cheapodor for about four months, which I think is probably longer than necessary. I fired it up in the garage and roasted some coffee just to give the cigar some competition in the aroma arena. It starts up with a nice even burn and a straightforward tobacco flavor. I wouldn’t say it was either exquisite or excessively mild at this point, but it certainly wasn’t objectionable.

The aroma is probably the nicest thing about this cigar — a mildly sweet, slightly woody fragrance that blended very well with the Sumatra smoking in the I-Roast. The flavor is simple, everyday cigar tobacco. By the midway point the flavor intensifies somewhat and becomes a little tart. It’s still fairly mild in body, but stronger in flavor.

As it continues the flavor takes on a little cardboard, and then takes a shortcut to bitter paper bag. I wasn’t sure if this was an accurate description, so I cut up some Trader Joe’s paper bags and had a chew… I’m a professional, kids. Do not try this at home.

A cigar that reduces me to chewing on grocery sacks might not have much to recommend itself, but to be honest the cigar was actually better than the bags. Faint praise, I know. If you’re into that astringent flavor that Mexican and some Indonesian cigars have, this one might float your boat. Mine sank.

Bottom Line: This isn’t a half bad yard gar, but I can think of half a dozen yard gars for around the same price that I’d rather smoke.

Don Kiki Limited Reserve Brown Label “Botella”

The starting point for some cigars, the detail you notice first, is the wrapper. For others it’s the construction. For the Don Kiki Brown Label, the first thing you notice is the price. This is a bargain cigar: at 36.99 for a box of 25, or about 1.50 each, this is a decent smoke.

According to the Cuban Crafters website, the leaves for this cigar are aged for three years, and after the cigars are rolled they are aged for an additional three years. The wrapper is a fairly dry colorado maduro, Nicaraguan sun-grown criollo. The binder is Nicaraguan corojo (which gives the Brown Label some strength) and the filler is also Nicaraguan.

Kiki Berger developed the original blend, this one, in 2003. The following year he released two other less powerful lines, the Green (medium body) and the Red (mild to medium.)

The “Botella” is true to its name and is shaped like a bottle, the kind you might expect a genie to pop out of. It’s short at only 4 and half inches long, and flares to a 48 ring gauge at its thickest point. The foot of this perfecto is finished with a cap-like construction, a narrow piece of leaf wrapped around the foot. I thought this might present some construction problems — it looks like it might easily unravel, but it never did.

The head narrows to about a 32 ring gauge, but it still feels fairly well balanced. This cigar is pressed, so even with its unusual shape it’s still sort of boxy. It’s also a bit spongy with an occasional soft spot. It lights easily with a good draw and burns slowly with a nice volume of smoke.

The main flavor is straight forward tobacco, a little bit earthy, but mostly tobacco. Almost like Virginia pipe tobacco or untreated cigarette tobacco, but stronger. On top of this is a distinctive flavor of chocolate or cocoa. It’s a fairly heavy smoke and at times can be harsh. There’s another flavor in there that is somewhat cloying, a bit waxy, and not exactly my cup of tea. I can’t identify it precisely, but I’ve tasted it before… One of these days I will be able to identify and name all the tastes and aromas of a cigar and where they come from. Alas, that day is not today.

I found I had to touch this one up at least once during the smoke, and none of them burned straight. Not down the side, not problematically, but not straight either.

Overall, I think this is not the best cigar from the Cuban Crafters stable. It burns a little lopsided, it’s a little inconsistent, and it’s a little harsh. But when you take the price into consideration, it’s a full flavored stick that you can toss after twenty minutes with no regrets.

In keeping with my original Pass/Fail system for Bargain Cigars : PASS.