Vitola: Toro

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Criollo

Origin: Nicaragua

Age: Fresh

This is a cigar I’ve been eagerly awaiting since I heard it will feature some of Pepin’s Pelo de Oro leaf.  What’s Pelo de Oro?  Meaning “golden hair”, PdO is the grandfather to the modern day Corojo wrapper.  According to Tobacconist University:

it is usually a reference to a potent Cuban cigar varietal which was popular in the early and middle 20th Century. This tobacco could be used for wrapper and filler as well, but is disease prone and can infest entire crops and regions so it is rarely grown today. Pelo de Oro can be considered a ‘campesino’ or ‘guajiro’ tobacco since many agricultural workers grow and smoke it to this day – especially in the central part of Cuba.  It is known for being quite strong and flavorful as well as sweet.

My Father LE 2010

It has been rumored to still be grown on the island (as recent as 2007) though officially banned, but also is grown in Costa Rica for Phillip Wynn of Felipe Gregorio and more recently , Pepin Garcia acquired some to be grown on his farm in Nicaragua.  Due to its susceptibility to mold and other issues, Pepin has vowed that this (and the 2009 Tatuaje Verite) will be the only time this leaf will be used.  To make this cigar even more desirable is that they were rolled by Pepin himself – supposedly for the last time!

The cigar is resented in a very nice lacquered coffin and the band has to be 5 inches long.  It almost covers up the whole cigar.

The wrapper is somewhat wrinkled, but on the whole it feels solid and firm to the touch.

The pre-light draw is nice and easy and it takes the flame well.

Right from the first puff, you can tell it’s a Pepin. That characteristic pepper and (to me) sour quality is there from the start.  Unfortunately for me, this is not something I tend to gravitate towards.  And for the hefty price, I was looking for something a bit more.

But my worries were assuaged as I continued to smoke the cigar.  All of a sudden it opened up and gone was the sour pepper and instead was replaced by lots of leather and coffee.  It starts out gangbusters but evolves into a refined and rewarding smoke.

Through the last half it seemed that each puff tasted unique.  There was loads of coffee, anise, leather, cedar, espresso, and cocoa present at different times and in different quantities.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the last half of the cigar, I was still looking for a new characteristic that would lead me to think, “Hey, that’s the Pelo de Oro talking there”.  I will be interested to see how the Tatuaje Verite 2009 tastes to see if I can draw any similarities there.

Overall it was a good cigar, I didn’t care for the first half as there was nothing unique there and the price tag is pretty steep there, so I have a hard time giving it a real high score.  But don’t let the score obscure the fact that the second half of this cigar was excellent.

Rating: 88 (B+)

Size

Vitola: one bloody sharp Torpedo

Wrapper: a spooky Habano Maduro

Origin: Transylvania via Nicaragua

Age: Centuries, but pulled right outta the coffin!

The most sought out cigar for the Halloween season has risen from it’s coffin and come to terrorize the neighborhood!  The Drac, the second in the Tatuaje Monster Series, is a dangerous looking torpedo with an upside down band at the foot – which when flipped over to read the band, the cigar looks like a fang!

As I mentioned this is another limited cigar, with a few more available than last year’s Frank.  There are 1300 coffin’s available of 13 cigars each.  But these are really hard to find.

As I hold this cigar, I get an ominous feeling that this cigar is going to have a lot of bite!

Its dark Habano wrapper is very nice looking and smooth to the touch, not much tooth on the wrapper.

As I light the cigar, I expect to get a kick of Pepin pepper and spice, but I get a smooth earthiness mixed with leather and tobacco notes.

There is a bit of white pepper in the exhale, but this is definitely smoother than I thought it was going to be.

As I smoke further I begin to get an idea of what this blend is all about.  Like the vampire, it lures you in to its lair, and then “Bam!”  The flavors really begin to pick up.  A little more spiciness, some cayenne mixed with cinnamon, with a nice cocoa aftertaste on the finish.

What is especially strong is the aroma, very peppery and meaty, the burn is almost dead even, and I only need to touch it up once to get to the finally few inches.

The last third comes not out of Transylvania, but Hershey, PA.  Milk and dark chocolate fleet in and out as the intensity of the flavors build to a diabolical crescendo.

I liked this cigar, but compared to the Boris, it still fell short for me.  There was really nothing specific to complain about, just a preference to the Boris over the Drac.  That said, the Drac was still  a very good cigar overall.

Rating: 89 (B+)

Size

Vitola: Churchill

Wrapper: Rosado Ecuadorian Sumatra

Origin: Nicaragua

Age: 2 months

This is a pretty popular cigar right now, it’s also pretty hard to find.  This is the first of the Monster “Out-of-Costume” Series from marketing mastermind Pete Johnson of Tatuaje cigars (Havana Cellars).  The “Out-of-Costume”  (OOC) series concept is to take the last year’s Monster Series cigar, put it in new packaging, sans coffin-shaped box, a name it as the actor who famously played the Monster.  So, since last year’s Monster was The Frank (after Frankenstein’s Monster), the first OOC will be called Boris – after Boris Karloff.  The Boris cigar is slightly shorter than The Frank, and has a different wrapper.  The Frank had a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper; the Boris has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper.  Of course these are super-duper limited; only 1000 boxes of 10 were made.

As an aside, I’d like to point out what my local owner did with the Monster Series this year.  Instead of selling boxes of Boris and Dracs to whom ever showed up first,  he broke them up into little samplers, giving many more people an opportunity to try a cool limited cigar.  Nice job, Hal!

So due to their limited availability, I could have squirreled it away only to peak at it and giggle with glee, but instead I just smoked it.  It is a cigar after all (plus I have a few more).

This was a very dark cigar; I was hard pressed to find any Rosado like shade to it at all.  The wrapper was a little “rustic”, good rich color and tooth, but fairly veiny.  The cigar gave a little in the middle, which found me hoping it wasn’t under filled and/or would tunnel on me.

The Boris took a light easy and delivered ample smoke in the first few puffs.  The burn was nice and slow, so I was able to sit back and enjoy the flavors.

One thing that struck me at first was that there was no Pepin “bite” to the cigar.  Most cigars wunderkind Don Pepin Garcia blends have a distinct bite to them.  It’s almost like that feeling you get in your mouth when you bite into a tart Granny Smith apple.  I’m not a fan at all of this, so it was a pleasant surprise to find it absent.

The first third was full bodied but not overpowering, rich with black coffee, leather, white pepper and a bit of almond on the finish.
Midway though, my fears were realized when the cigar began to tunnel on me.  The middle was clearly under filled, so much that I could almost squeeze the cigar completely together.  But I labored on and it corrected itself after an inch and a half.

The second half of the cigar was exceptional.  After the tunneling was over, the burn corrected itself and the cigar mellowed a bit in oomph but ramped up in flavor.  Tons of bittersweet cocoa, espresso and leather exploded across my palate at every puff.  The aroma was earthy and meaty, and the finish was very long with licorice abound.

I smoked this one to the nub, savoring every puff.  What a great tasting cigar!

So the construction had issues, but the flavor made up for it.  This was a better cigar than The Frank by a mile.  So if you were lucky enough to get a Boris – find a nice cozy chair on Halloween and smoke it!

Rating: 91 (A-)

Vitola: Double Corona

Wrapper: a frighteningly toothy Connecticut Broadleaf

Origin: Nicaragua

Age: just arose from its coffin

The Frank.  You may have heard of it.  The Frank (short for Frankenstein’s monster of course) is 1^st of a hopefully long line of Monster Series cigars released by Pete Johnson of Tatuaje fame for Halloween.  Thirteen evil cigars are stuffed into a blood-splattered coffin and were distributed to only 13 ghoulish retailers randomly selected from a drawing, 666 terrifying boxes total.  Empire Cigars was lucky enough to be one of the thirteen stores selected to carry the Frank.

The Frank is adorned with an eerie green band that separates it from all of the other Tatuaje lines.  The Frank is slightly box-pressed (very Frankenstein-y) and is long and big.  Pete has revealed (at Brothers of the Leaf) that the Frank is actually a Tatuaje Taino with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.

Now about this wrapper: this has to be the toothiest wrapper I have ever felt and seen.  Seriously!  It feels like coarse sandpaper!  I couldn’t wait to try it!

It’s been a while since I tried the Taino size, so as far as comparing the Frank to the Taino; I am working off memory (a poor one at that), so please bear with me.

Right away the Frank shows me it is truly a monster.  I am punched in the face with a strong pepper core.  Also present is an underlying sweetness in the aftertaste, which must be due to the CBL wrapper.

I know this cigar is going to be good quality (as Pete says, “I don’t make sh!t cigars!”) and I am rewarded with a nice long finish that has some interesting characteristics to it.  I’ll get to those in a second.  The ash holds tight and is dark gray and black and holds on for over an inch.  The burn is spot-on even.

It took me a while to characterize that “interesting” flavor I mentioned above and I know this is going to sound pretentious but I can only describe it as marzipan, a combination of cream and nutty (almond) flavors.  It’s unusual, but good.

As I smoke the first third of the cigar, I am slightly surprised that there are no cocoa or coffee flavors yet, which I would expect out of a CBL-wrapped cigar.

What this cigar really shows me is the effect of the wrapper on the overall flavor of the cigar.  It’s really shows how special Pete’s and Pepin’s Corojo ’99 wrapper is (man I hate dangling participles).  The Corojo wrapper really helps even out a lot of the pure strength with its earthy and leathery flavors.  That seems to “hide” (in a complimentary yet subduing way) some of the outright pepper to the blend.  With the CBL wrapper, you have a competition between filler and wrapper.  Some puffs I get more pepper, while others I get more sweetness.

Have you ever tried some of that funky gourmet chocolate, the one with dark chocolate and cayenne peeper, that’s all the rage these days?  Or maybe Mexican chocolate?  This to me is what I’m getting in the second third of the cigar… with a strong helping of coffee.

Halfway in, the cigar has changed again, the spicy pepper has now moved to the backburner, but you know its still there when you blow the smoke through your nose.  Now it’s mostly cocoa powder and coffee with some nuttiness with a little leather that gives it a tannic bite.

A third of the way through this now “gentle giant” is a little smoother and a little more refined.  But there is more than just cocoa; there is a subtle strength, which lets you know this fellah could open up at any minute.

And if on cue, the last quarter of the smoke really picks up with loads rich spice, leather and licorice.

As I smoke this to the nub, I note that the burn is still even just as the last bit of this cigar envelopes me with flavors of rich chocolate, espresso, and licorice.

I really enjoyed this cigar right down to the end.  Pete has provided yet another great cigar (albeit in sadly limited quantities).  My only complaint was that every now and then I got just a little bit of youth to the cigar, which will certainly disappear as the cigar ages.  I want to wait and smoke the rest, one every subsequent Halloween until I’m out!

Rating: 93 (A)

Vitola: Long Panetela

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf

Origin: USA or Nicaragua

Age: Fresh off the truck (0 months)

Some of you may have heard of this cigar.  Those that heven’t, and have been living under a rock, check out this blurb I wrote earlier this week.

This is a very well made cigar, it’s triple cap with a pigtail and easy pre-light draw let me know this cigar was made well (although I will say some others at Empire Cigars that tried it had some construction issues).

With its dark brown rustic looking wrapper and ample ligero visible from the punch hole, it is no surprise this starts off kinda strong and peppery.  This is not the good kind of strong.  The El Triunfador shows some youth, the strength is probably the presence of some ammonia that gives it a slight metallic taste and sourness in the back of the mouth.  This does fade after the first inch and fades away as I smoke it further.

After the cigar gets going, I get a strong tobacco flavor and this lancero has a long finish.  There is some earthiness that lingers, but is overwhelmed by the tobacco flavor.

Midway through this long stick, the El Triunfador really mellows out.  This is slightly surprising but is kinda neat, as this shows some complexity (which better be present in a 7 1/2″ cigar).  There is some nose spice in the exhale, but the tobacco flavor really mellows out and the earthiness comes to the foreground.

This is a fairly strong cigar, but the strength/spice is different than in most Don Pepin/Pete Johnson cigars.  Usually I expect an outright Cayenne pepper spiciness and some bitter notes, but this is something different.  I’ve been trying to think of a way to describe this, but I am having problems.  This strength/spice is similar to what I get from the Tobacos Baez.  Its almost a woody spiciness, like a piece of hickory laced with Tobasco.  For right now I’ll refer to this as the TBF (Tobacos Baez Factor).

A third of the way through, the cigar really picks up again.  I am begining to enjoy this evolving, complex cigar.  The tobacco flavor somes back to the front but brings a friend, a nice bit of anise/licorice. 

Towards the end this cigar is going full-bore, rich with roasted coffee beans and a dusting of cocoa powder.  This is finishing off fantastically!

This cigar may have been rushed to be released,  due to some trademark rules, but I think this will be a really good cigar with some age.  It’s a solid “B”, but in 6 months or so this could be an “A” cigar for sure!

Rating: 89 (B+)

Size:  5 1/2″ x 52

Vitola: Torpedo

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf

Origin: Nicaragua

This cigar is made by to very popular men: Pete Johnson of Tatuaje fame and Don Pepin of half of every new cigar that’s come out in the pst two years. 

The La Riqueza is a departure for these two collaborator.  This is not a typical Tatuaje or Don Pepin cigar.

The dark Broadleaf wrapper is silky to the touch and actually looks a lot less veiny and rough than many other Broadleaf wrapped cigars.

It has a  slightly sweet taste with a  woody earthy aroma and flavor with dashes of cocoa throughout.  It draws very well with ample smoke and a salt and pepper ash.  The  burn is a little uneven.

This is a lot smoother and more refined than the other Tatuaje blends.  Many have compared it to the Padron Anniversaries.  If you are a big fan of Don Pepin and Tatuaje cigars, you may be disappointed if you expect antother cigar that tastes a lot like a Tatuaje.  This is a different cigar.  That’s why tatuaje is not on the label.  You will enjoy this cigar if you don’t think of Tatuaje while you smoke it. 

Rating: 88 (B+)

Size:  6 1/8″ x 52

Vitola:  Torpedo

Wrapper:  Nicaraguan Corojo Rosado Claro

Origin: USA or Nicaragua

These were originally made in the US, but Don Pepin Garcia may have moved production of this cigar to one of his new Nicaraguan factories.  Mr. Garcia is making a crap load of cigars…

I tried this a while ago and I did not like it at all.  I thought it was mild and flavorless; but this one much better.

It has a bit more spice than I remembered.  Re-blended perhaps?

The draw is even but the burn is all over the place.  His Corojos tend to do that.

This has the typical flavor Don Pepin profile, top-of-the-roof-of-your-mouth pepper.  The finish is ripe with wood, leather and tobacco.

This was an OK cigar on the whole, better than my first experience, but still nothing to write home about.  I need Pepin to make something that doesn’t taste like all of his other cigars.

Rating: 84 (B)

Vitola:  Toro

Wrapper:  Nicaraguan Corojo    

Origin: Nicaragua

This is yet another cigar from ultra-hot Don Pepin Garcia.  It was released in late ’06 early ’07 I think.  This was a limited run deal, but I was still able to find a few at Empire Cigars.

This cigar is a bit pricey, so my expectations are a little high.

The cigar is a light brown, a little lighter than i would figure for a Corojo leaf.  It is smooth and silky to the touch and the cigar is mildly firm to the touch.

After lit, I am met with a wave of sourness.  This cigar is very harsh from the start. 

A little further down the cigar I get a little bit of that Don Pepin flavor, but it was short lived.

Very little was good about this stick.  It did not burn even, and it burned real hot in the middle with a smoldering white ash in the middle of the cigar.

All in all this was a very overpriced disappointing cigar

Rating: 61 (D-)

Size:  6″ x 52

Vitola: Toro

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut

Origin: Nicaragua

This cigar is already available at my local, Empire Cigars (formerly Capital City Cigars).  I picked this up last night and couldn’t wait to smoke it.

The Tabacos Baez a new from the busiest man in the world, Don Pepin Garcia.  Named such as this is where DPG began rolling cigars when he was in Cuba.

First off, the band looks like it was designed by a 6^th grader.

The cigar however, has a beautiful reddish brown luster; it’s very oily and not nearly as veiny as other Pepin cigars.

I punched the cigar and it draws perfectly.  It starts out real smooth, tons of smoke, mild wood and hazelnuts with very little that tells you this is a Pepin smoke.  Personally this is a good thing, because it recently seems that all of his cigars taste the same.

An inch down, the cigar really picks up steam, gone is the mildness, as you get punched with a hefty amount of peppery spice.  Coffee shows up on the palate as well as a little bit of cocoa.

Wow!  This cigar just gets better and better!  A couple more inches down this hefty cigar I am greeted by waves of espresso and mocha.  Let me reiterate, this is NOT your typical DPG cigar.

My one complaint was that this cigar did not burn very evenly.  But it did not go out or require any touch ups.

What really impresses me most about this cigar is that it is ready to be smoked.  So many new cigars are so fresh (read ammonia) that you can’t really enjoy them as intended for months.  Empire Cigars just got these in last night!  Mr. Garcia treated this cigar right.  Bravo!

Here’s a bold statement – The Tabacos Baez is my favorite new cigar if the year (so far)!

Rating: 89 (B+)