Reviews by Brock

Being in the CI retail stores for many years now, I noticed that I get a lot of requests for specific styles of cigars & one of the most popular requests in general is for “Good, BIG, mellow, cheap cigars that are reasonably priced.”  Some of these guys don’t want to pay much more than a Buck-a-Stick for anything 8” or bigger, but then again they’re probably not smoking for the taste & pleasure that so many fine, lesser expensive cigars can bring.  So I’m focusing on one of the best cigars to fit that bill (while still being priced at a helluva value) that I’ve seen come along in a long time – Mark Twain cigars.

Rich B, of Bethlehem, PA was one of the very first customers that walked through our doors over 10 years ago and he is still coming in to this day.  A true-grit type of guy. He’s a decorated WWII veteran, father of many, & grandfather to even more (there's a small town in Florida comprised solely of his progeny).  He’s been everywhere & done everything & he’s not easily impressed.  But I digress.  He has always been very specific about what he wanted from when I first met him, and that’s still exactly what he’s looking for in the 10+ years that I’ve know him.  Great, BIG, MELLOW cigars that are around $3.00 each.  I’ve delighted him with so many treasures over the years (and some clunkers too) but all-in-all I have become his go-to guy when he comes in and wants to try something new.  On his last visit in we were just then getting the Mark Twains into the store for the very fist time so as I opened up a box of the Churchill size No. 1.  Now 7”x50 surely is one of the larger vitolas of cigars on the market, “But wait,” I said, “There’s more.  And you’re going to LOVE these cigars!”  With Rich B. somewhat intrigued, but still more annoyed that I hadn’t yet filled his half-dozen lighters that he brought in for me. He said, “That’s great, if they’re under 3 bucks each I’ll take a box.”  I didn’t even mess around with opening a box of the No. 2 (a 7.5 x 52 behemoth) but skipped directly to the box of No. 3’s (a whopping 8” x 54 tree-trunk of a cigar.)  I saw his face light up when I pulled one out and handed it to him.  When I told him it was the same price for any size he just about hugged me (well, I think I caught a faint smile anyway) & since that day he’s been back once a week for a box of his new favorite cigar.  Mark Twain No. 3.

Now, as you may or may not know smoother cigars aren’t usually my thing.  But this one I had to try, and I figured “Go Big or Go Home.”  So I sparked up one of the 8” x 54 No. 3’s yesterday morning.  It had just snowed a few inches the night before & I wasn’t going to be too busy that morning with the icy roads & school closing so I started my day out with a 2+ hour commitment of a cigar.  It was nice and firm in my hand with a smooth-as-silk Connecticut wrapper & it lit up quickly & evenly for such a large cigar.  The draw was perfect & I got creamy puff after creamy puff of thick, billowing smoke.  As I sat at my computer working and helping out the customers that came in I laid it down very infrequently & at about halfway through I discovered that I was really enjoying this cigar.  It was as creamy & smooth, with a lot of good flavor throughout & it hadn’t changed a bit since I lit it over an hour before.  I paid more attention to the 2^nd half of the cigar, and although the flavor increased & it became a bit oaky it still retained that rich creaminess and I enjoyed each & ever puff from that beauty.  I finished the Mark Twain No. 3 after about another hour or so & I was so delighted that I had the opportunity to enjoy this very well made, Good, BIG, mellow, cheap cigar & if this is what you look for in a cigar then put this one on your next order.  You won’t be disappointed!

After spending more than a decade in the cigar industry I’ve seen tons of cigar brands (and “Cigar Super-Stars” come & go. Don Juan, Don Smith, Don This & Don That…the list just never seemed to end. Now, long after the dust has settled from the Cigar Boom of the 90’s we’re well past the end of the Don’s & only the strong are left standing. Survival of the fittest. The way I think the world is meant to be, it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there....but I digress.

One of the fellas who's never been voted off of the island is Rocky Patel. And because The Edge is Rocky’s #1 selling cigar, I thought I’d take a look at it’s less-expensive clone. As I clip the head I’m very impressed with the oily dark Corojo wrapper on this “Counterfeit.” Not a soft-spot from head to foot, and it’s got a little resistance in the pre-light draw that opens up beautifully upon lighting producing thick, creamy white billows of smoke throughout my side of the store. Spice & leather is the primary taste that I’m picking up in the beginning & I like it. I like it a lot.   I’ve always been a huge fan of Rocky’s Edge & Edge Counterfeit maduros, but today I’m taking a closer look at their Corojo cousins. Edge was introduced right here at CI’s Downtown Bethlehem Store in September 2004 and I instantly became a fan of these full-flavored un-banded, non-celloed cigars in big boxes of 100. The current day Edge cigars have cello & a pretty band on their feet, but true-to-their-roots, Edge Counterfeits still come naked & sans cello. And speaking of the Edge Counterfeit, I’m at about the one-third mark now & the spice has given way to make for a very complex, full-flavored creamy taste & I can almost literally chew on the smoke from this cigar. So far - SO GOOD!

The Edge Counterfeit is actually no counterfeit at all. Edge’s “from-the-factory” look of raw cedar aging boxes of 100 filled with tough-looking, naked & unbanded cigars was copied by a handful of cigar makers. Not a single one of them I can even think of right now, but there were a bunch of look-alikes (but none came close to the taste of Rocky’s.) Fed up with all the Edge look-alikes these other companies were spinning Rocky decided that if anyone was going to make a counterfeit Edge cigar – it was him. So he took off to Nicaragua with the same exact recipe that makes an Edge an Edge & put cigar-roller, hall-of-famer A.J. Fernandez to work to make the same exact cigar that was being made in Honduras. After all, if anyone knows what an Edge is made out of it’s certainly Rocky himself. Using the same wrapper, binder & filler tobaccos, Rocky, along with A.J. Fernandez created their own version of the Edge & since each cigar factory implements slightly different methods of drying, aging & fermenting their tobaccos, there are ever-so-slight differences between the Original Edge & the Edge Counterfeit. I can’t really put into words the differences, but one thing I know is that the Edge is quite a bit more expensive with absolutely no difference in quality, construction, or anything other than a bit of flavor difference than the Edge Counterfeit – And I still can’t even figure out how to put that ever-so-slight difference into words. 

I’m just now finishing up this 6” x 52 cigar which has become much more flavorful with intense leather, nuts & the spice has kicked in again at the last third of the cigar. I can honestly say that I’d be in trouble if my life depended on making the distinction between an Edge and an Edge Counterfeit.