Drew Estate Dirty Rat Liga Privada 9

I don’t believe in short, grumpy criticisms without a lot to back up the opinion. But this is my blog so I’m going to give a short, grumpy criticism with no photo and not a lot of details to back up my feelings. This is one of the most overpriced ($12 per stick or more) cigars I have tried. They are packed so tight that each one I smoked, which is 7 out of 10 so far, has had a tight draw. The only thing I can say that is a positive about this cigar is that it isnt’ totally horrible and the burn is slow and even. Flavor is like burnt wood with tannins. Skip these if you like Liga Privada or Drew Estate, otherwise you may be turned off from future purchases.

Great Divide Oak Aged Chocolate Yeti Imperial Stout

Great Divide caught my eye with its creative labels that remind me of arts and crafts movement prints of nature settings and parks. When I saw this big bottle of Stout I had to grab one for myself.

The pour is thick like oil and black like soil. A little fizz rises giving the beer a head that looks like dark espresso crema. Smells like espresso, too. Aroma wafts from the cup: bittersweet chocolate, oak, sweetness and earthy spice (GD claims to add a touch of cayenne). Mouthfeel is thick and the finish is long while alcohol and oak linger longest. As an imperial it’s no surprise the alc content is 9.5.

In the end the bitter espresso flavor overwhelmed me. Maybe it’s just the espresso connoiseur in me that knows good espresso is not bitter and harsh. I was thinking coffe when I should have been thinking beer. Maybe it was the 9.5% alcohol. I can’t say I disliked it but it’s not my favorite. I like a good Stout but this one was a bit much in my opinion. Give it a try.

Fuente Hemingway Short Story

Of all the cigars I’ve tried I don’t think there’s a five-pack I smoked through faster than I did these. That’s not just because the Short Story is a 4X48 perfecto that’s gone in about 30 minutes. It’s because this cigar is a tasty one, like the classics, without all that spice and pepper that seems to be the trend today.

The construction on these Cameroon-wrapped Dominicans is superb. The wrapper looks dry and matte with veins aplenty and some toothiness. Lighting the perfecto is a breeze. They remind me more of petit solomons with the thicker end towward the foot.

Flavors are nutty, woody, tobacco with some sweetness and a touch of black pepper. Body builds to a medium from a mild start. There is nothing spicy or overwhelming. It’s a flavorful, aromatic smoke. Due to the size there isn’t much evolution in flavors but flavor is good. I never lost interest or wished for more. These are consistent in burn and flavor. Each cigar burned evenly and tasted the same.

Overall these are excellent cigars…and not cheap. This vitola is the least expensive of the bunch at $6.50 a stick. I can’t compare them to anything else. Well worth the cash. I know I will be buying some larger Hemingways soon.

Blend Lab ZF-544

Another installment of my Blend Lab cigar tastings. I picked 3 different blends that sounded good and ordered a few sticks. This one is wrapped in a dark Costa Rican maduro leaf that looks shiny and flawless. I enjoyed a total of 3 of these 5×44 coronas. This vitola has a Jalapa binder and filler from DR, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The prelight scent is the typical woody, earthy aroma one gets from maduros. The construction appears to be excellent. It lights up quickly and begins to burn evenly. The initial notes are a bit of pepper with oak, unsweetened chocolate and roasted coffee beans.

As I progressed through this cigar I noticed that like the previous Blend Lab cigar I tried this one was fairly straightforward in flavor. There really wasn’t any evolution or change. These are earthy and dank which tells me there’s a healthy dose of Honduran tobacco inside. Body and mouthfeel did increase during the first third, but notes remained the same. On the last third the flavors got bitter.

Some say these are test cigars, others say they are cleverly marketed 2nds. I say this one might be a 5 Vegas ‘A’ corona. Try one and compare and tell me it’s not awfully similar. I may be wrong but these are close. Not a bad cigar for about $5.

Blend Lab YH-542

This is one of many cigars offered through Cigars International in what they call “Blend Lab”. I’ve seen it over and over when browsing their site and decided to buy some that seemed reasonably priced and were not giant 54+ ring gauge sticks. Some say this is a clever way to test house blends, some say it’s a clever way to get rid of 2nds, whatever it is, I will soon find out whether it’s worth a dime or not.

I only purchased one of these. This review is based on that one experience. This one is a 5×42, hence the YH-542. $4.50 per stick. The wrapper is Ecuador grown corojo and the filler and binder are a mix of Nicaraguan and Honduran viso and seco leaf. Details are available on the website. The wrapper is a nice cream and coffee colorado and the cold aroma is of hay and pepper with a tiny touch of sweetness. Construction is excellent, nice wrapper, nice cap, firm feel.

The light brought lots of pepper that reminded me of Pepin cigars. There was some hay notes and tobacco flavor with a touch of sweetness. Cedar came through and increased a bit. The pepper remained throughout. The cedar remained throughout. The touch of sweetness came and went. And…that’s about it. There was no evolution or change and no other flavors I could discern. A very simple peppery corona. The burn was mostly even and needed two tiny touch-ups. Left an inch and a half at the end (got bored) when I set it down.

Worth $4.50? Maybe, if you like simple peppery smokes. Will I buy these again? No, not this YH-542 blend. I have two others I will be trying soon.

Cubao #5

This week I received a 5 pack of Cubao #5 cigars (#5 is a toro size). These wear a dark Ecuador Sumatra wrapper over  tightly packed Nicaraguan leaf. The cigars feel heavy and firm and smell like hay and autumn leaves with pepper.

I thought I could enjoy a couple of these this week and then post a nice review but I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I’ll have to let the rest of these sit in the humidor for a while and mellow out. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

These are very well constructed with an even burn and a nice white, light gray ash that holds on for two inches or more at a time. The cigar starts out with a load of pepper and strong, dark tobacco and wood flavors. Through the nose it’s almost unbearably spicy. The flavors are many and are tasty but the spice is a bit overwhelming. I found this one stronger and spicier than Man o’War, 601 Oscuro, Oliva Serie O, Padron, Padilla Obsidian… the list can go on. The pepper is almost cayenne-like. The coffee, espresso, bittersweet chocolate notes are there, underneath the pepper. After an inch the cigar mellows a bit but not as much as I’d like it to. The earthy, dark flavors come through better, then. I’m hoping after some time these will improve in respect to balance.

I’ve read that these have a great balance and some creamy body with warm notes of bread and things like that but I didn’t detect any on this one. I’m hoping to give these another go in a few weeks. If I have to go based on this one I wouldn’t buy these again, not because they arent good but because they’re just too rough for me. Like many other cigars this may need a good long rest in the humidor and that’s what the remaining four sticks will get. I may pull one out in a couple of weeks and leave the last three for a month or more before trying them again.

Cubao showed me it means business. This is a strong full-bodied cigar and I can’t wait to see what it’s like after a nap in the box. I will revisit these and post my experience then.

Oliva G Maduro belicoso

Oliva, one of my favorite cigar makers, has some of the best maduro leaf. The Serie G is a Broadleaf maduro. The rest is all Nicaraguan. I’m not aware of the origin of the CT leaf they are using but I’d guess it’s true Connecticut rather than Ecuador.

The prelight is slightly sweet with a little hay and bittersweet chocolate. The clip is clean and easy, draw is free and construction seems good. The G series, aside from some large Cameroon vitolas, are box-pressed.

I lit this one up with a Xikar single flame torch. The foot toasted quickly. Dark, earthy flavor comes through right away. There’s a touch of pepper, some cedar and a barnyard note. The flavor builds as the cigar progresses.

Toward the halfway mark the body increases to medium-full with a thick smoke and the ash holds on firm. Ash is chalk white and stays for about three inches. The mossy, soil-rich flavors I have come to expect from this cigar are in full effect at this point. There is a touch of sweetness on the finish. The cedar, pepper and hay notes stick around. Once in a while I pick up some chocolate and espresso notes. The cigar continues on this way until the end.

These Oliva G Maduros are some of the most flavorful smokes for the $5 range and never let me down. I highly recommend them in all sizes. Try the Special G for a 3.8×48 figurado experience. Short and sweet.

Liga Privada T52 parejo

T52

Liga Privada T52 6×52 parejo has a chocolate brown veiny Habaño leaf and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. At $12 per cigar (difficult to find for less, even on Cbid) you’d expect great construction and a firm feel — and that’s what I found. I had high expectations for this one due to price and previous experiences with Liga Privada 9.

The cigar lights up easily with my Xikar torch. Draw is free. Starts out bright (like the slate in a Sauvignon Blanc) and woody with pepper then begins to deepen and get earthy. The brightness could be some sort of light citrus note or a carbonesque burst – whatever it is, it isn’t unpleasant but sort of metallic. Power and a peppery, nicotine strength comes about 1 inch in. There is a touch of Habaño leaf sweetness. Pepper all the way. Wood dominates with an oaky aftertaste. Toward the midway mark there is a flavor like dry cocoa powder.

Toward the end things got bright again for a little while and a tad bitter with a hay note and more cocoa and oak. The brightness faded. Still had a good 3 inches left when the bitterness came. I smoke slowly so it’s not due to excessive heat. At this point it reminds me of Diesel (the cigar, not the fuel).

Compared to LP#9, this one is not as soil-sweet, or mossy. T52 is more woody like a wine barrel or the charred inside of a bourbon cask.

Overall a good cigar but not something I want to pay about $12 for.

Similar cigars for less cash – Oliva Serie ‘O’ Maduro, San Cristobal (from Ashton/Fuente) and Don Pepin Cuban Classic.

G.A.R. George A. Rico (Gran Habano)

GAR

I’ve had several of these GAR robustos this year. I believe they’re called Grand Robustos. It’s a George A. Rico creation from Gran Habano. The wrapper is Ecuador Corojo and an Ecuadorian CT binder with Nicaraguan filler. Construction is nice and the wrapper looks great, a colorado claro color that resembles coffee with some cream added.

This cigar clips and lights up easy and gives some pepper and hay to start. No problems with the cut, no cracks or splits or any surprises. A nice coffee note comes through with a thick creamy note from the CT leaf. The addition of a Connecticut leaf as the binder is something I found interesting and might have guessed had I not known about it before purchasing these. If you’re familair with quality CT leaf cigars you will agree there’s a great creamy attribute to the smoke and a thickness in the mouthfeel.

Beneath it all is a Nicaraguan earthy peppery note. The flavors blend nicely making this a unique smoke. The coffee and bittersweet chocolate aroma/flavors mingle well. This is a smooth smoke of medium body and medium strength, though it’s advertises in some places as full.

The burn was even and slow with a nice free draw. Like I said, construction is good, as it should be for a $7 cigar.

One of my favorites. Definitely will continue to buy more.

Cabaiguan Guapos Jr.

I tried about 5 of these dark Connecticut wrapped sticks before making any notes. This is not the first time I’ve tried these – I did have some larger belicoso sticks last summer (which had a lighter wrapper and more complexity). I like to give each brand and label a fair try before writing anything down.
These appear well constructed and wear a dark CT leaf probably sun grown Ecuador. It might be Nic grown as many Tats are puros. The pigtail is a nice touch. 3 of the 5 I tried cracked upon cutting. The wrapper split from cap to band. Cabaiguan lit up quick and gave initial flavors of cedar, oak and pepper. About an inch into the cigar I picked up some sweetness. After that I picked up some bitterness. That’s about all I can say aside from the fact that each cigar needed regular touch-ups.
Pretty disappointing considering the $7.50 price tag. Like Gurkha I’m finding Tatuaje is one dimmensional and over-hyped. I do enjoy the Miami line sometimes.
Oliva and Joya de Nicaragua make better, less expensive CT wrapped Nicaraguans.