Romeo Y Juileta 1875 Habana Reserve Amores – Cigar Review

Romeo Y Juileta 1875 Habana Reserve Amores – Cigar Review

Time in humidor: 3 days @ 67%

Blend: Nicaraguan wrapper and Binders around a Honduran and Nicaraguan filler

Size 4x33 Box Press

Construction: This tiny rocket was consistently packed whilst feeling slightly spongy, there were very noticeable veins in its pastel caramel coloured wrapper which were exacerbated by the petite size of this cigar. The cigar overall appears slightly rugged especially about the cap, but is quite well made.

Worthy of noting; on my hunt for a smaller cigar I found myself looking at all machine made sticks when looking at this size. This cigar is hand rolled in the Dominican Republic and it comes packaged in boxes of 50 or tins of 10.

Smell: The wrapper smelt heavily of wood with gentle tones of hay with a slight sweetness far in the background; the foot, primarily of hay with gentle hints of wood. 

Cold draw: Flavours on the cold draw consisted heavily of wood with slight hints of bread. Draw resistance was quite firm. 

First Light; Flavours on the first light consisted of wood, earth, and spice with a slightly grassy character. The finish was quite impressive consisting of a strong earthen tannin like tea.

For its size this cigar was billowing smoke, the output was excellent with plumes of thick, dry and flavourful smoke. 

At five minutes in the body of the cigar started to ramp up from medium to medium full. The flavours remained the same with the addition of a spice, which I identified as a very smooth black pepper. The finish grew and became very meaty and robust, much alike the finish of dining on a good morsel of steak.

At twelve minutes in the profile of this cigar shifted upward to a solid full. The flavours remained unchanged but the consistency of the smoke grew slightly oilier and thicker, while the finish developed to become longer and stronger.

After twenty minutes the cigar took on a gentle change with the addition of coffee and an increase in the woody and earthen components. 

As the cigar progressed past the halfway mark it made no significant changes or developments. It managed to smoke right to the end without offering the menacing acridity associated with heat.

The actual smoking time was also a pleasant surprise, coming in at 37 minutes. For such a small cigar it has a lot to offer, especially based on its price.

Throughout the stick the burn was excellent, the smoke production even through a firm draw was excellent. 

Overall I deem this cigar to be a full bodied stick which I would pair with a double shot cappuccino.  Though being the booze fiend that I am… it had best be an Irish. 

I definitely underestimated this cigar based on its size, it performed in line with the big boys, exhibiting a full body without being sharp or feeling cheap. 

If you like Cuban Bolivar cigars I can guarantee you will like this.  The second this cigar warmed up it tasted very similar and smoked alike the Bolivar (with a very dark ash). I would happily smoke and buy these little winners again.

Thanks for reading.

Whisgars.

Anticipation is Intensifying - Perdomo Reserve 20th Anniversary Maduro Epicure.

If you are looking for me this weekend... I'll be smoking
THESE!!!!!

Perdomo Reserve 20th Anniversary Maduro Epicure.
Cigar Aficionados 4th in their top 25 for 2014

-Whisgars

Cusano 59 Rare Cameroon Prefidero - Cigar review

Cusano 59 Rare Cameroon Prefidero  - Cigar review 

Time in Humidor - 5 days @67%

Size: 5 ¾ x 58

Blend: Aged West African Cameroon Wrapper around aged Dominican long fillers and binder.

Construction: This Preferido was tightly wrapped; presenting a thick, toothy and slightly oily Cameroon wrapper.  It displayed reasonably visible seams due to colour variations and also has visible but negligible veins. The pack is surprisingly consistent for a Preferido; being reasonably firm with no soft or hard spots along its length. 

Smell: The wrapper consisted primarily of dry grass with veiled hints of coffee and caramel; on the foot, even drier grass.

Cold draw: After the cut a pleasantly easy draw was available. Flavours on the cold draw consisted of wet hay, slight hints of butter or oil with a sugary sweetness hiding in the background.

First Light: Flavours on the first light consisted of Hay, wood and sweet coffee; they were quite difficult to pick due to the low smoke output offered by initial tiny foot of the Preferido. 

First 3^rd - 13 min

As the girth of the cigar increased the spoke production ramped up significantly to a textbook level. The cigar began producing mellifluous plumes of thick oily smoke. Flavours present in the first third were hay, burnt caramel, butter surrounded by a slight woody toast. Flavours on the retro-hale consisted of sweet licorice, hazelnut and toast. All these flavours culminated together to comprise a medium body.

 Late during the first third there was an intermittent but obvious flavour of hard candy (candy cane) emerging every now and again which I found curious. 

 As the gauge increased the oil in the smoke decreased while allowing significantly more of the caramel to move to the front.

 

Smoking slow seemed to strengthen the more favorable characteristics of this smoke, allowing the sweet candy, caramel and wood to remain at the front while keeping the toast small at the back. Faster smoking brought out further tastings of toast which in turn overwhelmed the other flavours.

The burn was pretty good taking into consideration it had minimal time resting after flying 15,000km; experiencing changing temperatures and humidity levels.

Second 3^rd – 24 min

Smoking in the mass of the cigar saw no significant change in flavour from the end of the first third. The cigar was producing gloriously thick plumes of semi oily and moist smoke. Flavour profile remained primarily sweet with hints wood.

As the third progressed the cigar slightly increased in body to solid medium. With the increase came a change in character; the whole stick developed a roasty, meatier demeanor.   And what was curious was that it did so without actually changing the flavour profile directly.

The ash was very solid and holding well, I was ashing at about 25mm to save my new pants.

Third 3^rd  - 51 min

Moving into the final 3^rd the heat started to become evident, without being significant. The flavours showed no significant transitions or additions. The burn was near textbook and the ash was still holding strong at over 25mm.

Nearing the end of the Third 3^rd, our nemesis, heat came on hard and fast, which enlightened me that it was time to put the stick down at 1 hour 10 minutes. 

Overall this cigar was excellent; well made with a good burn and a very attractive flavour profile when smoked slowly. The need to smoke slowly might have something to do with the fact I’m in north Queensland and at the time of smoking it was hotter than the surface of the sun (well maybe not but it sure felt that way) being 37 degrees @ 100% humidity.

I would happily buy another box of these, and I intend on doing so… these sticks are going to a re-design and are already on the market with a blue label. I am unaware if the re-badging is coupled with a new blend; I sincerely hope not.  

My recommendation? If you can find a box, buy one!

Suggested pairing with this medium bodied sweet stick would have to be a creamy Grant Burge Viognier or a wetter Semillon.

Thanks for reading!

Casa Magna – Oscuro belicoso Cigar review

Casa Magna – Oscuro belicoso Cigar Review

Time in Humidor 3 months @ 66%   

         

Size: 6.5 x 52 Belicoso

Blend: A dark Honduran Oscuro wrapper over a Cuban-seed Honduran binder enveloping a mixture of Cuban-seed Nicaraguan and Honduran long-fillers.

Construction & Appearance: The dark brown near black wrapper is rustic to say the least; thick, dry and toothy to feel and wrought with veins and small holes. General battle scars make this stick look like it was brought up on the wrong side of the tracks. The pack is consistent along the length with no soft or hard spots and when feeling this stick it is quite lumpy.  There seems to be even more big veins included in the binder wanting to break through the fortunately thick wrapper.

Smell: Wrapper, on the nose there was significant tones of manure with sweet chocolate, coffee, tobacco and hay. On the foot, hay and slight manure.

Cold Draw: Flavours on the cold draw consisted of primarily of hay hints of sweet coffee. Resistance of the draw after a small cut was what I would consider perfect, taking into consideration the draw issues presented by torpedoes/ belicosos.

First Light: Flavours on the first light consisted of cooking chocolate, singed/ bitter tobacco with slight inklings of espresso. Smoke production is good with clouds of thin semi dry white smoke.

Aroma: In my opinion this cigar was emitting a quite unique aroma; consisting of dark brown toast & ground Arabica coffee.

First 3^rd: 25 min

Flavours in the first third remained similar to the first light whilst gently evolving for the better. The cooking chocolate smoothed out a little and moved closer to sweeter milk chocolate, the bitter tobacco dialed down to a smoother standard tobacco taste. The espresso in the background slowly increased its presence.

Smoke production remained unchanged but developed a meatier texture and moisture.

Overall the body of the stick was quite light, sitting in the light to medium area which I found surprising.

The burn on this stick was quite good, usually exhibiting a near straight line, producing a very soft salt and pepper ash which held for about 12mm before falling off.

Second 3^rd: 55 min

The profile of the second third was nearly a mirror of the first, the only change was the addition of a slight sweetness to the whole profile of the cigar. The burn remained good overall, going wild when moving through some wrapper defects and correcting when past them. 

Third 3^rd - 1hr 15 min

Moving into the third 3^rd the draw started to clog and was evident a new cut had to be made. As I graciously and carefully made the new cut I managed to drop the cutter into the ashtray and destroy most of the whole ash making for some picturesque final photos……

Flavours in the third 3^rd started to change rapidly, initially there was a rapid buildup of bitterness, essentially the same as what was experienced previously on the first light. The bitterness soon transitioned into the onset of heat which was yet to detract from the cigar. The existing flavours were present and unchanged at a medium to light body.

The burn went wild at times and managed to correct itself to more than acceptable levels as the third progressed.

Moving through the third 3^rd the heat managed to stay at quite a low level for the best part, allowing appreciation of the whole stick.

Approaching the end the heat quietly ramped up and I elected to retire the stick before the heat managed to overwhelm the timid flavours offered by this cigar.

In conclusion I found this stick surprising in that it managed to remain very light and easy to smoke. Its consistent light flavour profile comprised primarily of chocolate and coffee made it very enjoyable without being overly impacting. 

It’s not the most exciting of cigars to smoke due to its consistency from start to finish; by no stretch does that make it a bad one. This is a good cigar to have with friends and focus on the act of smoking and socialising rather than the constant analysis of the smoke itself.

I would happily smoke and buy another box of these again, a good everyday smoke!

Suggested pairing for this cigar is Tia Maria or Kahlua on the rocks or some form of ice cold schnapps; anything sweet. 

Thanks for reading

Whisgars