Cigar Preview: The Mi Amor Reserva by La Aroma de Cuba!

Why does it always seem there is more love to go around, well, La Aroma de Cuba is keen to illustrate this with their release of the Mi Amor Reserva. Quick blurb coming from the IPCPR is the release of this beauty which will feature a Mexican Oscuro wrapper rather than the San Andres Maduro on the regular Mi Amor. According to the releases going out to retailers, the Mi Amor Reserva will come in four box-pressed sizes, however, those sizes have not yet been revealed. Keep an eye out for a review as you know how much I loved the regular Mi Amor so I will certainly be getting my hands on one or two of these puppies!

Cigar Preview: The Rocky Petal Private Cellar

Straight from the IPCPR comes a new unveiling of one Rocky Patel's newest additions: the Private Cellar. The Private Cellar is a personal favorite creation for Rocky Patel who has been aging the leaf and working on the blend for several years. Patel touts that this cigar will bring you, the smoker, from toasted foot to smoky nub, a robust palate of rich sweet flavors which then transition to full notes of a sweetened spice, cocoa, coffee, and a subtle earthy flavor.

The Private Cellar cigar is constructed from a Nicaraguan binder, a blend of Nicaraguan filler tobaccos from the most prestigious region of Nicaragua, and it will all be wrapped in a decadent Connecticut Broadleaf hand rolled in Tavicusa Factory in Nicaragua. The overall strength of the cigar is told to be between a medium and full bodied cigar, sure to make this an exquisite addition to the Rocky Patel line!

The Rocky Patel Private Cellar cigar will be available in three vitolas: a 5X50 Robusto, a 6 1/2X52 Toro, and a 6 1/8 Torpedo which will come in boxes of twenty ranging in price between $8.50-$8.85 MSRP. Stick Around as you know the Cigar Czar will definitely get his hands on one of these for review!

Cigar Review: Why You'll Fall In Love With The Mi Amor By La Aroma DeCuba

How do I love you, let me count the ways, and the Mi Amor from La Aroma De Cuba will have you counting! This divine little cigar treats you like a good lover should! Easy on the eyes in its near ebony perfection, it starts gentle and then gets a little rough.

This beauty features a Mexican wrapper, not known for fantastic leaf, which is an unusual selection for such an important portion of the cigar. Rumor around the blogosphere is that this increase in Mexican tobacco popularity is isolated to the San Andreas tobacco. However, Ashton and Pepin remain hush on the topic revealing only that it is a Mexican Cuban seed Maduro.

Things you should concern yourself with:

• Mexican Cuban seed Maduro wrapper
• Nicaraguan binder
• Nicaraguan filler
• 5X50 Robusto
• Gentle box press design

Looking at this cigar before cutting and lighting is enough to bring awe to the smoker. The Cuban seed Mexican Maduro leaf is a gorgeous chocolatey exterior, with one of La Aroma de Cuba's ever detailed and exquisite labels, that wraps this cigars overall package. Its just a little bit soft which indicates to me it's healthy and should be a good draw which is confirmed after cutting and doing a pre-light draw. Before lighting I also get the flavor of cocoa coming from the cigar.

Once lit, I was greeted with a full on cocoa flavor with a cedar undertone. The smoke gained complexity later by adding the most subtle hints of earth and leather. However, for me, the best part comes from the beginning of the second third. As repeated in the multiple sticks I have had the Mi Amore, once you hit the second third the strength of the cigar increases exponentially! With this also come caramel and bit of spice clinging onto the chocolate flavor's coat-tails! Finally coming to the final third, the chocolate is still present but begins to take a backseat to the wood and the now present gentle pepper. It isn't until the cigar has burned long enough to get into finger toasting range that it gives your tongue that bite.

All throughout this smoke it produced a very nice, slightly layered light grey ash that could cling for close to two inches before dropping. The cigar also burned impressively straight which is a good feat for a box pressed cigar. With a good price ranging around the $6.50-$7.00 mark, a well dressed exterior, and a complex flavor, the Mi Amor by La Aroma de Cuba will have you feeling a little flutter in your heart too!

Cigar Event: Edwards Pipe and Cigar Hosts Ashton Event!

So, Wednesday July 19^th was Edwards Pipe and Cigar Ashton event to celebrate the San Cristobal line of cigars offered by Ashton! To promote this, they had buy three of the special event cigars, get one, if you bought five of the special event cigars, you got two free, and if you had participated in the Ashton Cigar and Beer Pairing dinner, they threw in an extra free cigar regardless of which deal you took!

However, great deals were not all that were there. People who attended were welcomed with a three piece jazz band, the Tom Barbour Trio, raffles, scotches and rums, and games. Amid the numerous people there that you could talk to, there was also a representative from Ashton Cigars there named Mike Watman. He was an unassuming man that looked very comfortable with whatever he was doing at the time and very knowledgeable about a vast array of cigar related topics. Favorite conversation with Mike was regarding our love of the La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor—also by Ashton—and our appreciation for its flavorful subtleties and the punch that comes from the second third of the cigar!

Patrons were also graced with a bean bag tossing tournament that was bracketed and the winner received some great give-away San Cristobal cigars! The Cigar Czar was, of course, included in the tournament losing only until the last game before the finals. However, there wasn’t a game where it was a close nail-biter! Most games seemed to be going heavily in favor of one team, only to have the opposing team catch up and eventually win the game. It made for very dramatic moments, including the second to last game where the Cigar Czar and his partner Rob, were out, but then we made a striking come back to move on! Mike, the Ashton rep, was also knocked out earlier on in the tournament, however, the Finals came down to Armando, the owner of Edwards (convenient) and Team Viagra, Jerry and Al, regulars of the Bada Bing Lounge in Edwards. What had been a hell of a run getting to the Finals, had been a disappointing fizzle for Team Viagra, who eventually lost decidedly to Armando and his wringer.

Once the tournament was done, the last thing to do was the raffle, which had several prizes for folks attending. The majority of those who first won received cigar bundles of Ashton and San Cristobal labels. There was also a very nice San Cristobal ashtray given away with multiple cigars and other tremendous gifts!

All-in-all, the Edwards Pipe and Cigar Ashton Cigar Event was a big success with lots of people going home freshly supplied with San Cristobal cigars and other prizes! I had a lot of fun with this event and look forward to attending and blogging more about Edwards Pipe and Cigar events! The next one the Cigar Czar will be attending is the Cigar and Scotch pairing dinner at TI in Fort Collins! Until then, keep on smokin’!

Cigar Review: Curivari Reserva Limitada, Salty Peanuts It Is Not.

Thanks to the encouragement of the Edwards staff, I have recently become focused on Curivari’s line of cigars, in part because of their open enjoyment of these cigars, but also because of an odd criticism as well. Whether it was a genuine reaction or a comment made in spite, Pete Johnson’s tweet about the Curivari Reserva Limitada tasting like “salty peanuts” while smoking, intrigued the crap out of me, especially since I was getting great reviews from Randy and Armando of Edwards Pipe and Cigar! So, I gave one a chance last night to see if I would get the ballpark experience from this cigar.

I figured a great time to try this Nicaraguan puro cigar from Esteli was right after work; my brain was still fired up from doing a million things at once, but was really primed for some great downtime. Wasting no time when I get home, I attack my humidor--and my fridge for a Shocktop Wheat--and step right outside to my smoking chair! The weather was on the cusp of getting really bad, which is when I tend to enjoy it the most, and threatened to kill the pleasure of my cigar. Thankfully, it held off long enough for me to enjoy this puppy, and enjoy it I did.

So after cutting this pristine looking medium brown Colorado wrapped cigar, I test the draw pre-light and find it airy and inviting, but not annoyingly so. I get the scent of something that does remind me a bit of peanut butter: Hmmm… There is, however, another scent coming through that is very woody, but only subtly so. I toast the foot, bring it to my lips and I am pleasantly surprised by a brief rush of spice, not overwhelming, but most certainly there. It quickly subsides, and it takes me a minute to realize that, Randy wasn’t bs’ing me, it tasted like plain popcorn. Not buttered or salted, kettle or caramelized, just… popcorn. Truth be told, it was actually really unique and refreshing! There were also some woody undertones that I could detect periodically keeping the cigar from becoming too redundant. But overall, this cigar was relatively non-complex, light, and enjoyable and not the salty peanuts that Johnson had claimed, in my esteemed estimate. The only thing I would strongly recommend is to not enjoy this cigar with a Shocktop Wheat. For such a surprisingly light flavor, this cigar demands a darker ale or porter. It turned the flavor of the Shocktop Wheat almost soapy and was not too much fun to drink. Swing by tomorrow when I discuss another of the Curivari line, the Café! And why you WANT a cup of coffee with it!