Beer Review Dude

Today, I’m back to present another list in our lineup of The Weekly Cigar “Top” Lists of 2009. This time, I’ll be giving you my list of Top 5 Special Occasion or Expensive Cigars of 2009. To qualify as a special occasion or expensive cigar, the cigar has to be exceedingly rare or cost over $15.00 MSRP. I don’t smoke many of these cigars, but there are occasions when I want to fire up a particularly special cigar. Anyway, on with the list.

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This week, we have a guest review from our friend Ryan Collman, or @ryancollman on Twitter. He’s reviewing the Old Henry Maduro, a inexpensive maduro made by Don Pepin Garcia for Holt’s Cigar Company.

Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Strength: Medium/Full
Wrapper: USA/Connecticut
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.5 x 44
Draw: Medium, a little bit tighter than I like.

This smoke in beyond enjoyable (especially for the price!). The first puff on this thing was a classic maduro flavor. It had nice chocolate undertones with a subtle sweetness. The following puffs instantly revealed to me that this was truly a Pepin blended smoke. Bam! That awesome Pepin spice started to permeate my palette and nostrils. After about a half an inch, the smoke began to wind down a little bit into a classic medium bodied maduro. At about the halfway mark, the smoke began to become more interesting with a lovely sweet cream flavor with an intermingling of spice and vanilla. If you have ever had the Sweet Cream ice cream from Cold Stone, imagine that same sort of sweet creaminess sticking to your palette accompanied by a wonderful spice and rich tobacco flavor. Sound awesome? It is. These flavors continued through the remainder of the cigar, to the last inch or so.

This smoke is definitely a winner in my book. It is a Holts.com exclusive and is produced by Don Pepin Garcia in Estelli, Nicaragua. Lately, I have been noting that a lot of the cheaper maduros rely too heavily on tobacco from the Jalapa region, but the filler for this seemed to have about 40% Jalapa, 40% Estelli and a dash of Condega, resulting in a spicy yet sweet and complex cigar. If you like anything from Pepin or a classic medium-to-full maduro, this smoke will be right up your alley.

Hey guys,

I decided to start a new weekly segment called the Question of the Week. In these posts, I will pose a question to you, the reader. Feel free to respond in the comments section, where you can also reply to other comments with our “threaded comments” feature. Anyway, on to the Question of the Week.

What is your favorite vitola (or size and shape) and why?

My favorite size used to be a robusto, but recently I’ve been favoring coronas and lanceros. I feel as though you get more of the wrapper’s flavor when smoking these sizes because of the smaller ratio of wrapper to filler/binder. One thing that is important when smoking a corona or lancero is to smoke slowly, because these vitolas do have a tendency to overheat if you smoke them too quickly.

Today, we have another guest review from our friend Charles Quarto. This time, he reviews a Cuban cigar, the Bolivar Corona Extra. Enjoy!

Bolivar Corona Extra
Size: 5 1/2″ x 44 rg
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Strength: Medium

I purchased this cigar in a sampler from my friend Greg, who is always ranting about how great Bolivars are, so I asked him if I could buy a fiver from him and see what they are all about. I don’t remember what year Greg said this one was from, but it does appear to have a little age on it, so I’m guessing maybe 2001 or 02.

Pre-Light

This cigar was hugged by a light, golden brown wrapper that featured slight oils and a couple water spots. The head was finished with a triple seam cap, and complimented by a perfectly bunched foot that smelled of sweet tobacco. When squeezed along its length, there was a slight springy feel, with no hard or soft spots. The weight felt a bit light in the hand, but that could easily be attributed to the diminutive size.

Burn & Draw

On punching the cap, I found a perfect draw that left a sweetness on the lips, and tasted slightly grassy. The burn started off a bit odd with a few runs, but after about an inch in and a few corrections, it settled in and burned perfectly the rest of the smoke. The ash was the typical Cuban black with a bit of bright white speckles in it, and held on strong until let go every three quarters of an inch. This cigar put out a ton of smoke that was aromatic and sweet, I kept wanting to take small whiffs of it. Delicious!

Flavor Profile

Flavors were pretty solid throughout the smoke, with not much change throughout the duration. I picked up rich tobacco, coffee bean, leather and caramel. The finish had a good pepper spice to it, and lasted long on the palate. Normally I like my smokes to have a good evolution throughout, but this one was a solid performer and exactly what I needed.

Overall Impression

As stated above, normally I prefer my smokes to evolve throughout the length of it, and to be a little more complex than this. However, paired with a cup of coffee this cigar was spot on and delicious! A great short morning smoke, I could see myself buying a box of these. Thank you Greg for the sampler, I can see why you like these so much.