Size: 5 1/2″ x 44

Vitola: Corona

Wrapper: Cameroon

Origin: Dominican Republic

From the Vault: I’m not even sure how long ago theses came out.  This line was released in 2005 and discontinued shortly thereafter.  If memory serves me correctly, this was a cigar made for the Peterson Pipe Company which was distributed by Asthon and was made by General cigar.  Whew!

This has been in my humidor for a while, I had actually forgot it wa sin there. 

The cigar has a nice light brown wrapper with few visible veins.   It has an even draw with a punch, with lots of smoke from every draw. 

As far as taste goes, there is strong metallic note on the finish.   The flavor is woody with some leather.  Halfway through the leather intesnsifies and there is less metal on the finish.

It’s a shame this was discontinued as it has one of favorite cigar band designs.  Unfortunatley this is just an ok cigar; not great enough to keep it from going the way of the dodo.

Rating: 85 (B)

Vitola: Robusto

Wrapper:  Connecticut Shade

Origin: Dominican Republic

Derek from Empire Cigars has been giving me a hard time about giving one of his favorite cigars, the Ashton Classic, another chance.  I had told him and others that I always preferred AVOs to Ashtons because I felt that the Ashtons were always bland and one-dimensional, while the AVOs are mild, but flavorful.  So I finally grabbed a robusto and gave it another shot.

The pale robusto had an even draw with a punch cut.  The cigar is firmly packed but gives off a decent volume of smoke. 

The taste is in fact uniform and one-dimensional with flavors of balsa wood and grass.  There is a slight creaminess which is nice.  The burn is nice and even all of the way through; the finish is long and slightly metallic with some bitterness to it.

All in all this is what I remembered of this line.  But when I mentioned this to Derek he said that I should have tried the corona or the new panatela.  Oh well, I gave it a shot. 

Rating: 84 (B)

Size:  6″ x 56

Vitola: Toro

Wrapper:  Ecuadorian Sun Grown

Origin: Dominican Republic

I picked this up at Capital City Cigars when Ashton first debuted this new size in the VSG line and the first one I had was pretty unexciting.  So the other I put away for a while.  Here’s my review:

I punched the cigar and the pre-light draw was nice and easy.  The burn was a little crooked at first, but evened out soon after.  The cigar tasted like it had aged nicely, very smooth with Dutch cocoa and leather notes. 

The cigar was not that spicy, it was milder than its smaller cousins, but this I think is a function of the extra-large ring gauge. 

As I smoke this, I think back a few years and remember how this was one of the strongest lines out there at the time.  This is now just a nice medium to full bodied cigar. 

The age has really helped the cigar, not overly complex just good flavors like mild black coffee and licorice with a subtle sweet core.  I enjoyed this cigar a lot!

Rating: 89 (B+)

Size:  5″ x 50

Vitola:  Robusto

Wrapper: Nicaraguan

Origin: Nicaragua

The Benchmade cigar is a new from Ashton by Don Pepin Garcia (what isn’t he making?) that is created to set the benchmark for inexpensive cigars.  That crown has been held by Oliva (the Flor de Oliva bundles) for quite some time.  We’ll see.

The pigtail head is loosely tied so that when you punch it or clip it, it kinda begins to unravel on you.  It has a nice easy draw as I expect out of a mixed filler (some short filler and long filler) cigar, but often times as a result of underfilling the cigar, see evidence below.

The flavors are straightforward Pepin, medium-bodied and strength with a little bit of pepper and earth with a hint of cocoa.  The ash is flaky, decent smoke volume, but the cigar does begin to heat up halfway through.  And of course being a mixed filler, there is no complexity. 

I guess I can’t really expect much from a mixed filler and this does nothing for me to reward it the new king of the cheapo stogie, that still belongs to Oliva. 

Rating: 80 (B-)