Cigar Review: The Kingfish Lauren Torpedo--A Panamanian Puro!

So, back in mid-2009 I had made contact with a new cigar company out of Panama named Kingfish Cigars who had wanted to get the word out about their cigars. Kingfish Cigars is hoping to help build an industry reputation in Panama for puro cigars. I received a total of five cigar betas from Kingfish Cigars owner Ray Whitlow III to sample and review. At the time I had received the cigars, they had only been aged one year. Of the five cigars I had received, one was too damaged to smoke, but the other four cigars had survived just fine. I smoked these incrementally to see how aging these longer in my humidor would affect them. I smoked the last of the four cigars last night and that final one had aged nearly four years and I am pleased to find has a name now: The Kingfish Lauren, named in honor of the owners eldest daughter. I'm going to review how fantastic this new cigar is going to be, especially once released!

These torpedo cigars are a good healthy size coming in around a 7X54. The construction on these cigars is well done. The natural Panamanian wrapper is wrapped tight with no soft spots and feels firm across the whole cigar. After cutting, I test the draw before lighting and find that this cigar has damn near the most perfect draw of any cigar that I've had, which was consistent with all the other Kingfish Cigars prior, it was light but not airy and drawing a puff was effortless after lighting! The feature that struck me the most about the construction and quality of the cigar came with the ash. This cigars ash was a solid white that was almost unparallelled in all cigars I've smoked yet and it hung on like a professional climber on a rock wall! The ash only dropped twice while smoking and one of those times, I wouldn't even blame it on the cigar, as, I was in a busy location.



Again, since Panama is not known for quality puro cigars--most involve Cuban seed fillers--I wasn't too sure what to expect for flavor from this cigar. But during my pre-light draw test, I was greeting with spiced woody flavors and the wrapper left a pleasant spiced feeling on my lips. Upon lighting I get a distinct black pepper-cedar flavor that flashes spicy at the beginning and mellows out after a few puffs. The first third of this cigar is the spiced cedar with just a hint of almost a creamy flavor under it all. By the time I get to the second third of the cigar, the cream has disappeared and the cedar really stood up on its own with the black pepper accenting it quite nicely and maybe just the hint of a grassy flavor. The final third of this cigar is where the cedar receded and the grassier flavor became a little more pronounced but what really stood out was the spice!



Overall, this cigar surprised me a great deal. Especially since I have smoked all of the others before maturing as much as this final one had. The construction and flavor were amazing and the only real note I'd have negative is that toward the end of the last third the flavor had a hint of a sour flavor. However, these puppies aren't going to be released until January of 2013 which by that time will be almost 5 years of aging which should remove any remaining sourness. This cigar would go fantastically with an Islay scotch with a lot of salty peat like I did last night while playing cards!

Cigar Review: AVO 86th Anniversary La Trompeta

So last week I asked you, my readers, what cigars you had wanted to see reviewed and the one that was voted upon the most was the AVO 86th Anniversary La Trompeta! AVO released this cigar for its 86th birthday and this cigar is also a tip of the hat to Avo Uvezian's skill at being an acclaimed musician. We've seen an abundance of cleverly designed cigars lately and the La Trompeta is no exception. This cigar has three cigar leaf cutouts to represent the keys of a trumpet. But, how does this cigar smoke?



This cigar was 6 1/2X56 with an Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper, a Dominican Piloto binder and the long filler is comprised of Dominican and Peruvian leaf, and cost me close to $18. The construction felt tight and left me concerned that this cigar was going to have a tough draw; however, after cutting the cigar, I tested the draw and found it was a little firmer than I would have preferred, but not enough to distract from smoking. The wrapper of the cigar looked near immaculate and had almost no veining. The dense ash was almost white with small flecks of black and would cling for almost two inches each time before dropping.

Having had a bad day, I decided to take this cigar out to my front porch with my dog Odin and just enjoy it by myself with a Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout. Similar to the Illusione MJ12, immediately upon lighting I knew this would be a good, flavorful, cigar. I'm greeted with the bouquet of scents you would find in a greenhouse as the predominate flavor, a kind of mixture of flowers and grasses. Under this is a leathery pepper that subtly plays with the grass. About halfway through the draw opened up and with that came an almost woody flavor that flowed with a bit of the floral bouquet. However, toward the end, the grassy flavor of the greenhouse became more hay-like of the barn and I became less interested in its flavor.

This cigar, on a peaceful, warm, Colorado evening, was not too bad, but perhaps the choice of beer with this was not the best as they sometimes struggled with one another after swigs from the bottle. I also felt that the price tag for this cigar was a bit much for me, granted, I bought this off a private seller because the only place in town that carried them had sold out. This cigar took me close to three hours to smoke to the nub which, when just wanting to shut the world out and focus on the smoke swirling in the breeze, it did it's job pretty damn well.

Cigar Review: Illusione MJ12

Yesterday I had the pleasure of smoking a fantastic cigar with a good friend whom I haven't seen in some time. We met up at our local tobacconists, Edwards Pipe and Tobacco, to engage in a good conversation, a fantastic drink, and an amazing cigar: the Illusione MJ12. I had already picked my cigar, Illusione MJ12 in the Toro size, Jordan, showing up a little later, selected the Illusione MJ12 Robusto.



Taking advantage of the time before Jordan shows up I inspect my cigar. The first thing I notice is that the cigar is wrapped in a paper foil which makes this cigar stand out on the shelves. However, this wrapper also has an intriguing effect of making the cigar larger than what it appeared in the wrapper. What looked relatively decent in size turned out to be fairly larger coming in at 6X54 sized cigar and cost of the MJ12 was around $12 retail. However, once this cigar was out of its packaging, the wrapper of the cigar itself struck me. It was a dark reddish maduro, not to the level of oscuro, but flirting with it. It was not too oily but the wrapper leaf had two larger streaks of vein on opposite sides from one another. It was packed firm, but the draw was fantastic and there were no soft spots to speak of. Through smoking it created a light grey ash that clung for about two inches before dropping. Only real construction complaint is that both Jordan and I's cigar needed frequent touch ups to correct uneven burns and toward the end it struggled a bit to stay lit.

Jordan and I both really loved the flavor of this cigar though. Upon first lighting this cigar it proved it was going to be a great smoke. Immediately we were greeted by a chocolaty, almost, tea like flavor with a hint of leather. Coming to about the second third of the cigar came an almost sweet nutty flavor over the leather as the chocolate mellowed some. By the end the flavor continued being nutty with a hint of what I can only describe as peppered coffee.

This cigar went perfectly with our 12 Year Old Highland Park Scotch that we indulged in at the lunge while catching up, talking about his film career and other business endeavors. This cigar smoked long enough to enjoy Edwards smoking lounge for at least two and a half hours. So if you're looking for a great cigar and are alright with it being a little high maintenance that will last you long enough on the golf course or over business drinks, take a look at the Illusione MJ12!

Cigar Review: La Flor Dominicanas Double Ligero Oscuro

A cigar that has been tempting me now for far too long has been the La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Oscuro. I've had this cigar before, but it has been a long time since I've gotten to enjoy one. So yesterday, I grabbed one on my way home and enjoyed it with a nice glass of Pyrat dark rum.

Couple notes about La Flor Dominicana, they maintain the rights to all their tobacco used in their cigar blends so the product you receive in the end is an absolute top-notch cigar. This allows LFD to create dark, robust, complex, and strong flavors and the LFD Double Ligero, which has served LFD well in customer receivership, is no exception!

The LFD Double Ligero uses a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, with Dominican binder and long filler. The wrapper on this cigar is impeccable, it's dark and oily, shows almost no vein, and its rich marbled look in the leaf just makes this cigar stand out! Quick note, LFD uses a pigtail cap on here, which if you are unfamiliar, will unravel about an inch and a half or so which is normal. This cigar burned very even and the ash will cling for about an inch and a half or so. The ash that this cigar produces is also grey with layers of mottled black.

Pre-light, the cigar has an earthy aroma that is shared by the foot of the cigar. The draw is effortless without being too airy and lights evenly and easily. Immediately off the light this cigar gives me a flash of subtle spice that mellows after a few puffs. What comes later is a mild creamy sweetness which is a bit hard to nail one hundred percent, but if I had to say, I would describe it as a peaches & cream like flavor, a creamy sweetness with a hint of fruit. The predominant flavor of the cigar, however, is a nice wood flavor, not quite, but close to peat-like. Midway through the cigar, the sweet fruity flavors morphs into a leathery flavor over the almost peat-like wood with maybe the SLIGHTEST hint of spice. Approaching the final third of this cigar, the leather is replaced by a dark cocoa-espresso flavor, very rich, very robust, and a bit bitter over the mellowing wood flavor.

This cigars smoke was amazing and the way the woody flavor acted like a thread taking you through this series of complex flavors made for a very enjoyable cigar. I would say, just as the taste is powerful and robust, so too is the cigar itself. I would recommend treating this cigar as an after meal cigar, or if you don't intend to stand up for a while, say, while fishing. This cigar, because of it's peaches & cream, almost peat-like and leathery, and cocoa and espresso qualities, would match fantastically with a dark rum, an Islay scotch with a slight floral bouquet, or a cup of coffee with some dark chocolate. Hopefully you enjoy this cigar nearly as much as I did!

Cigar Preview: The Football Cigar!

Cigar fans, today, just in time for Cigar Sunday, I have the pleasure of revealing to you a new cigar that is trying to get itself some legs: The Football Cigar. The Football Cigar comes into two types, the lighter version entitled the "First Down," and the darker version entitled the "Touchdown."

The Football Cigar comes in their own box or in a three pack box. The "First Down" cigar has a Connecticut Shade Grown and Arapiraca wrapper (used as the laces on the lighter version), the binder of the cigar is Dominican de Olor, and this cigars filler is a blend of four long filler tobaccos from the Dominican de Olor and Piloto Cubano from the Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic. According to Football Cigar creator, Gunner Heilmann, says that the "First Down" is a mild-bodied cigar "with character."

The maduro version of the Football Cigar is called the "Touchdown." This cigar is a full-bodied smoke that is constructed from a series of tobaccos. The wrapper is Brazilian Arapirica and U.S. Connecticut Shade Grown (used for the laces on the maduro, the binder is Dominican de Olor, and again a blend of four tobaccos from the Dominican de Olor and Piloto Cubano from the Cibao Valley including Nicaraguan Esteli.

Now, the concept of a football-based cigar is not completely unique. Arturo Fuente's Opus X footballs were originally rolled as a present to Dan Marino in 2003. According to Socialcigar.com, "Carlito Fuente gave Dan Marino a box of 13 Opus X Footballs at a charity event. The box was then auctioned off for a reputed $13,000." After this only about 30 of these cigars have been made, including the 13 originally made for Dam Marino.

I have been in communication with creator Gunner Heilmann to receive a sample for review within a month or so. Stay tuned to see how these cigars stack up for those fun occasions like Superbowl Sunday!

Cigar Tip: Fixing an Uneven Burn

We've all been there. Happily enjoying your cigar, either your too wrapped up in conversation or just the cigar had an uneven element that caused a wonky burn, but every now and then, you get the uneven burn. And it sucks. So, how to fix your cigars burn when it does run a fowl? There are a few tricks you can do to salvage your cigar smoking experience. First, get the best possible light from the beginning as possible. This will help to ensure that your cigar smokes perfect nearly every time!

But say you got the perfect light and it still burning a little off, to correct, first rotate the cigar so that the slower burning portion is toward the bottom. As fire requires oxygen to burn, the lower portion will receive more oxygen and help it burn more. This is also a good reason to rotate your cigar as you smoke it.

Should this not fix the problem, applying just the littlest bit of moister to the faster burning side to slow the rate of burn. However, you don't want to apply too much as you don't want a soggy cigar. Just a light application of saliva should do the trick.

If this too should fail you, the last option is always pulling out the lighter or matches again and gently burning the wrapper of the slow side of the cigar until black. This will most likely cause the ash of the cigar to drop so give it a moment before smoking from the cigar again.

Hopefully these few tips will help you with those embarrassing moments of the wonky cigar burn. Happy smoking!

Cigar Review: Sardell Originals American Eagle Robusto

Fellow cigar enthusiasts, never before have I smoked a cigar whose purpose I have never endorsed more: The American Eagle by Sardell Originals! A clever design that is the original camouflaged cigar--followed by Davidoff's Recon--created entirely by hand in the Dominican Republic by cigar maker Hendrik Kelner, Jr. Portion of the sales for American Eagle cigars goes to the Semper Fi Fund (semperfifund.org) which provides financial relief for injured or critically ill veterans of our Armed Forces.

Now, at first, this cigar may strike you as something of a novelty cigar and I can assure you, I thought something very similar. The reason being is because that clever design is that the cigar wrapper appears in Woodland camouflage. This was done by taking an Ecuadorian Connecticut Natural wrapper and taking hand-cut, hand-placed pieces of Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro and CA Candela over the Natural wrapper to create the camouflaged effect.

The rest of the cigar is crafted using a Dominican binder and Dominican long-filler. Along with the superbly striking wrapper, the cigar itself is constructed quite well providing an appropriate firmness with no discernible malformations. After using my Cigar Spike to create the perfect punch, I light my cigar and once it's sufficiently going, notice that the draw is damn near close to perfect, not too hard, not too airy. As I puff away, I notice that the ash has a pretty consistent bright white ash with only a little bit of mottling; however, the ash will only cling for about an inch or so and then drops.

Truth be told, flavor-wise, I was not expecting too much out of this cigar, but it was for a good cause so I figured "what the hell!" I was, however, pleasantly surprised. The aroma of the cigar's smoke gave off something of a cedar scent with a hint of chocolate. When it came to this unique wrapper, I wanted to know if it changed the flavor as it reached different parts of the wrapper. Throughout most of the cigar, it had a spiced cedar flavor with a subtle creamy finish. I did notice on occasion as the cigar burned nearer one of the Candela wrapper portions, it became a slight bit spicier, but only ever-so-slightly. The overall flavor profile of the cigar is not complex and varies only subtly as it burns. It is not too overpowering and remained consistent throughout the whole cigar.

Overall, I enjoyed this cigar quite a bit. It was the perfect balance of a medium, light woody, and creamy flavor with a very unique wrapper design that made this cigar fun. I could easily see myself smoking this cigar while taking time off from patrols or latrine duty. To all my friends still stationed overseas and to all our proud and brave service members fighting abroad: thank you for all of your service and doing what many cannot. Come home safe!

Cigar Review: Altadis Warlock Corona

Hey everybody! Cigar Czar here to talk to you today about the Altadis Warlock Corona. This cigar was given to me by my very close friend and roommate Jacob, a specialist in the U.S. Army, before his deployment. So in standard tradition at our household, Jacob, his wife and I enjoyed ourselves an evening of fun, and scotch, we found ourselves outside smoking. I found this to be the perfect opportunity to smoke my Warlock.

The Warlock cigar is a Nicaraguan with an Ecuadorean Cubano wrapper, a Nicaraguan wrapper, and filler from Dominican Republic-Nicaragua made by Altadis USA. It is a full-bodied cigar made by Omar Ortiz in Nicaragua.

So before lighting this cigar, I notice that it has a dark, chocolaty, appearance and the wrapper has a little bit of vein visible and smoothly wrapped. The cigar has just the right amount of firmness, it was not packed too loose or too tight, and after being cut allowed the cigar a perfect amount of draw. After lighting the cigar, the ash became a solid white color with just a slight mottled fleck to it. The ash was only able to cling for about an inch and a half or so before falling off each time it reached that length. The construction of the cigar overall was great.

The cigar smoke itself was chocolaty with a hint of chicory. The aroma of the smoke
had what can only be described as leather with some of the chicory wafting in through it. Toward the end of the cigar, the flavor had changed to include more chicory that was spiced. Throughout the whole cigar there also seemed to be a hard to describe flavor that can only be described as a creamy-like vanilla.

So overall, this cigar was a fantastic smoke, well worth the wait. This cigar is a smoke well worth the average purchase cost of $6.25 per cigar, or the average box price of $111.

Selecting the Right Cigar

So for those who have never smoked a cigar before but are curious in figuring out the right cigar for you, there are a few things we can focus on to help you find the right cigar for you. A novice cigar smoker is faced with a great deal of questions regarding color of the cigar, brand of cigar, shape of the cigar, origin or origins of the leaf in the cigar, cost of cigar, the flavor, and ultimately, how will this enhance the overall enjoyment of the cigar? However, one need not fret. Cigars come in different shapes and range in flavor and strength to cater to the taste of different people who love the pleasure of a cigar. So rest assured there is a cigar out there for you. Here are some of the tips which can help you to pick the right cigar for you:

First, I recommend one of two methods to further explore your taste in cigars. The first option is if you have internet available. Utilizing one of the many online stores such as Thompson & Co. (thompsoncigar.com)is a great tool for novice cigar smokers! These companies are great for experimenting beginners because they have the ability to bundle great sampling packages together at prices that are nearly a steal! Bundles such as five random well known cigars, or company specific bundles like the Padron Aniversario Serie bundles, or fun ones like Rocky Patel v. the World bundles. These cigar bundles are priced anywhere between $20 and $50 typically which is well below what you would spend individually for such quality cigars. This allows you the ability to smoke a variety of cigars at a reasonable cost. The other alternative is go into a local, respectable, tobacconist and discuss with them what kind of flavors and strengths there are and what kind of tastes you might have. They may ask you what kinds of things you do while smoking your cigar, what you eat and drink while smoking your cigar, and what type of cigar you might prefer. Plus, these gentlemen are fantastic sources for teaching you how to handle, properly light, and smoke your cigar along with other elements of 'cigar etiquette.'

Some things to take into account when selecting your cigar is whether or not you want hand-made cigars or machine-rolled cigars. I prefer the former as greater flavor and subtly are derived from these cigars. Also greater "ingredients" go into hand-made cigars versus machine-rolled. An individual cigar roller will hand pick whole leaves and roll them into your stunning cigar; whereas, most machine-rolled cigars are made using short filler--fragments of tobacco leaves after processing--which tends to burn quicker and harsher with less flavor.

Another thing to consider when selecting your cigar is the size and shape of the cigar. When considering size, there are a few things you should think about; is time going to be a factor, what feels comfortable both in your hand and in your mouth, and what kind of activities you'll be doing while smoking? A term you may come across when looking at cigars is ring gaugeWhat is ring gauge? It is the thickness of the cigar around. It is based on 64ths of an inch, so, if you have a cigar which has a ring gauge of 50, it is 50/64ths of an inch. Length also plays a factor as the longer the cigar, obviously, the longer it burns.

The color of the cigar is also important while picking a good cigar. The color ranges from what is called claro to oscuro (or double maduro). Generally, claro is the light brown cigar and oscuro is almost black. A lighter colored cigar, such as Rocky Petal's Connecticut Vintage, will be lighter and spicier in flavor and have a more clean, less veiny wrapper. The darker the cigar, such as CAO's MX2, the more full bodied and sweeter it will be and the wrapper will be some what veiny with subtle lumps. The darker cigar is also considered more mature than its lighter cigar counter-part. There is also candela which is not really in the spectrum of brown but is still important to know. Candela cigars, suchas Camacho's candela, are cigars who have a greenish looking wrapper where the leaf for the wrapper was less ripe and remained greenish in color after the cigar was made, these also tend to have quite the spicy bite to them.

Keeping these few things in mind, a novice cigar smoker can now have the confidence to ask the right questions to help them determine which cigar they may enjoy. And remember,as with most things in life, this will be a journey, which is almost as fun as the destination itself. Happy smoking from the Cigar Czar!