Staff Reviews

I picked up a 5-pack of the Double Chateau, an attractive over-sized toro wrapped in a cedar sleeve. I am a stickler for cedar sleeves. Anyway, it smells pretty good. The pleasant, slightly sweet aroma hints at a flavorful, balanced cigar. So far so good. And so I move on. It lights up like a champ and instantly burns even. The flavor off the start is nice. I am picking up some toasty, woody notes lent by the cedar sleeve and a little bit of pepper. Not much though. The ash burns white and firm, and the cigar emits an abundance of white smoke. Great construction. Unfortunately, the flavor just couldn’t keep up. The cigar became rather dull, losing most of the luster I noticed from the first 5 minutes. This not only disappoints me, it scares me, since the Double Chateau is 6¾” long and still has over 5” to go. As expected, based on my past experiences with this cigar, the flavor does not return. After the initial burst (read tease), the cigar becomes quite uneventful. I just puff air until I’ve decided on something else to satisfy my palate. I’ve noticed this with almost every Fuente I smoke, which is too bad, because they’re made incredibly well. They look great, smell great, and have a pretty band. But, it takes a helluva lot more to sell me than a pretty band with a famous name on it, especially at Fuente-like prices. Today’s test results are the same as before. I still don’t see what all the fuss is about with Fuente cigars. For those of you that swear by this brand, pick up a La Aurora, CAO Black or Pueblo Dominicano. Heck, come to our retail store, I’ll give you one of mine. Bring a friend. You’ll thank me later.

By now I think you’ve come to realize that I don’t usually care for lighter bodied cigars. To add to this, I rarely light up a mellow bodied cigar on a regular basis. There are some exceptions, like K. Hansotia’s Symphony, AVO XO, 5 Vegas Gold and the new Perdomo Reserve Champagne. It’s safe to say that it’ll take a damn fine cigar to rank among my favorites...I mean come on, those are some incredible smokes!

Recently I was asked to provide a write-up for the Fonseca Vintage, a shiny Ecuadorian-wrapped Dominican handmade from Manolo Quesada. In case you don’t know, Mr. Quesada is a genius at his craft. He’s the talent behind Romeo y Julieta’s original Dominican blend, and the mastermind behind Fonseca, Cu*Avana and Licenciados. This vintage edition is an extension of Quesada’s highly acclaimed Fonseca line that combines a fine blend of Dominican long-leaf tobaccos that undergo a 5-year aging process with a sultry wrapper leaf that’s buttery smooth. The aroma is plentiful – hints of light cedar, slightly sweet. Naturally, I expect it to be mellow. And mellow it is, but boy does it open up my palate. Right from the get-go, the Vintage hits me with a creaminess that’s so rich, it’s hard to believe it’s a Dominican. There are no bells and whistles to the flavor. No nuts, no spice, no leather. Despite the slightest hint of cedar, the straightforward flavor is the best natural tobacco taste that I have experienced to date. Normally I would find this flavor to be incredibly bland, but because of the rich, creamy way it’s delivered I can hardly put the cigar down. Fortunately, its easy going nature allows me to take in a savory puff every 15-20 seconds. Right down to the nub, the Fonseca Vintage delivers with an ultra-smooth, relaxing smoke that would pair perfectly with a glass of red wine or port. Heck, the flavor even matched my double espresso. Considering Manolo Quesada’s track record, I shouldn’t be surprised by this handmade. Either way, I’d like to thank him for adding another notch to my small belt of tame cigars.

Yup, it's been a full month since my last pick and I can't possibly describe the details of the past 30 days. Here's the short of it: on Nov. 25 I became a Dad for the first time and on Nov. 25 my amount of sleep went from little to none. I have more respect than ever for the other Dads out there. I've heard you guys complaining for years now and I just figured you guys were soft, but now I know. I'm not sure why, but it causes me to reminisce a bit more about times of old - the good times, the memories. And those memories always seem to take me back to my favorite brand of all time - 5 Vegas. Yup, you read that right, my favorite brand!

5 Vegas, or "cinco vegas" as you spanish-speaking folks will quickly correct me, has been around for what seems like a cigar lifetime. Yup, circa 1992. That's about when my cigar life began, so it seems like forever to me. I ponied up 8 bucks at my little corner cigar shop in Summit, New Jersey in 1996 for my first. I had been smoking for about 2 years, and it was about this time that I began moving from mellower Dominicans to venture into the vast wide world of Nicaraguans. Oooh! We all heard about those scary Nicaraguans that knocked the laces out of your shoes, and I just started scratching the surface.

Rolled in Nicaragua, I soon learned that 5 Vegas was different. But, it was one of those brands that was hyped so much that you had to try it. There were advertisements, bulletin boards, writeups in Cigar Aficionado and a 90 rating for the Torpedo, banners and reviews on every internet bulletin board, and even cigar dinners featuring this cigar. Unfortunately, those 8 bucks were the best spent 8 bucks I ever spent on cigars. I say "unfortunately" b/c my wallet emptied every time I had an opportunity to buy a few. It was the best friggin' cigar I'd ever smoked. Since I didn't know a whole helluva lot about cigars, I really didn't know what just happened. In hindsight, I now know - this was the epiphany that happens to the best of us in our elite little group. I found my favorite, my go-to cigar, that one cigar that I can turn to time and time again and get that "oh, it's good to be home" feeling. Like riding that banana-seat Schwinn with your friends, or driving Mom's paneled Buick station wagon by yourself for the first time after passing your driver's test, or cozying up in that recliner with a cold brew and your crusty toes twinkling happily in the air while watching the Dallas Cowboys rout the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's a great feeling and many of you have had it. I found mine on that memorable day in 1996.

And to this day, every major event I've ever had is not complete until I smoke that 5 Vegas. My wedding, landing this job, the birth of my child - man, I'm getting a little teary now, what is wrong with me?

Just the other day, our inventory manager Carmen came by my office with some Costa Rican unbanded samples to try. I politely declined as I held up the 5 Vegas I reserved for my ride home that night. Why is it so special? Well, let's talk about that. My favorite size is the Torpedo, it seems a little more robust and complex, but that's me and I'm pretty intimate with my 5 Vegas. It's fairly simple looking, but the blend is nothing short of genius. Tobaccos from 5 different plantations (or vegas, get it?) are used for the blend. It's a mix of Nicaraguan and Dominican long leaves with a Sumatra wrapper. This cigar is blended one at a time with incredible precision and care that you'll find very little variation from cigar to cigar, even with the complexity of the blend.

Light one up and you'll immediately recognize an easy but firm draw. The wrapper is slightly veiny, but the cigar is stiff and evenly filled with no loose spots anywhere. It will light up with ease and you'll quickly be encassed with a volumous smoke that has an outdoorsy smell of cedar. The flavor is medium-bodied, smooth, and non-intrusive with a soft hint of peanuts. Yet, there is a nice bold body that holds your attention and seems to rattle my middle tongue just enough. It's not an overly complex flavor, but always seems to hit my sweet spot. It relaxes me much like I imagine a tree-hugger meditating in an empty room with nothing but 15 vanilla-flavored candles burning around the room. This cigar is constructed so solidly that you'll get 2 inches and longer before the chalky white ash falls off. And please don't knock it off prematurely, at least not when you're around me. Start to finish, the flavor holds solid and barely changes, right down to the last inch.

Pound for pound, in my opinion, this is the best cigar out there right now! At just under $3 per stick, it's a far cry from the $8 I paid years ago. And, if anything, the quality has improved. Go get one, and let me know if it becomes your day-in day-out favorite.

Sometimes I'm just a naive newbie cigar smoker. I get excited about the simplest, stupidest, things. But don't tell me I'm wrong 'cause I don't want to hear it. I'll give you an example. Perusing down at our retail store a few weeks ago, I heard some customers talking about the Carlos Torano 1916 Cameroon - oohing and aahing like school kids. "Toothy, leather Cameroon wrapper." "Tons of body." "Spicy, but sweet cocoa after taste." "Sneak-up-on-ya strength, but balanced." "Unbalanced burn to start, but ooohhh, a sparkly white even ash takes over." "Ya know, I think the Aficionado gave this cigar like a 200 rating or something." "If I had to pick 2 cigars on my deathbed, this would be one of them." Alrighty, that might be overboard. But just after they walked out, I had to walk over to the open boxes on display and see what they were talking about. The first thought that came to mind - "cool, this one has cedar wrapped around it, golly, I have to try one." Not kidding. I'm a sucker for cedar-wrapping. Wrap cedar around anything and I'll smoke it - it must make it better right? But seriously, there is something about the cedar that really does it for me - it's kinda like letting wine age in oak barrels. I love wine, and I'm a sucker for oak-aged wine, just something about it that seems to make it better. The smell of oak and I'm jones'n for wine. The smell of cedar and I'm jones'n for a fat puro. (A little hint for all you marketing majors out there.)

OK, but is it good yawl ask? You bet. This cigar has received all sorts of praise - a top 50 in 2004, a 90-rating from "the Aficionado", a clamor for this cigar that puts it constantly out-of-stock, and a price-tag of $3-$4 per stick that makes it an affordably good cigar. Those fellas at the retail shop hit the nail on the head and I could just say "ditto" to their comments, but I'll add a few brief notes. The Toranos simply don't know how to make bad cigars. The Tribute, the Exodus lines, the Signature, many of the Gurkha cigars, the list goes on and on. But, the icing on the cake is that these folks are some of the humblest, sincerest, and most dedicated makers on the planet. At every event they've been at, including our CigarFest back in May, they passed out what seemed to be an endless supply of cigars and treated every attendee like they were the only person at the event. Class, quality, and devotion to their product. So, if you haven't heard about Torano before reading this blurb, you've been in a closet, but I promise it's going to be hard to miss them well into the future.

Tightly packed with a firm draw, the cigar starts off with a fiery bang to your palate erupting with a spicy flavor at the front part of your tongue. I've rambled before about how I love tons and tons of smoke and this one produces. The puro mellows but a deep flavor profile lends an appetizing character that rumbles in the belly. The finish is full and doesn't dissipate quickly, so I recommend this cigar in the latter part of the day, preferably after dinner. A nutty, cedary aroma fills the room and lingers, yes, I am a cigar smoker, enter if you dare.

I'm about to nub this one out now, and my fingers are burning, so I could pick up another and babble on for another 20 minutes, but I'll spare you and recommend that if you try cigars for nothing other than the fact that they have a cool cedar wrapping around it, like me, pick up a Torano 1916.

As you can imagine there were quite a few cigars released at last year’s show however there was definitely one that stood out from the crowd and it continues to turn heads today. The Carlos Torano 1916 Cameroon is a captivating cigar from the moment you light it up until the final draw which always seems to leave me with one thought, “Damn, I finished it already?!?” I couldn’t wait until these cigars hit our dock last year and as soon as they did I picked up two boxes. Since then my humidor has not seen a single day without at least one 1916.

As is typical with many cigars produced by Torano, the construction is impeccable without a soft spot to speak of. The cigar is firm and dense without being overfilled and yields a perfect draw every time. Upon lighting this cigar you are immediately greeted with an earthy burst of flavor quickly followed by a subtle but distinct cedary note which is attributable to the cedar sleeve that is applied to each cigar in an effort to enhance the aging process. The ash, light-gray in color, is solid with some light flaking which occurs throughout the duration of the burn. The flavor tends to remain consistent to the halfway point when a noticeable change in complexity kicks in taking the cigar to an entirely new level until that fateful moment when you decide to put it down.

The Bottom Line: The Torano 1916’s are proof that you really can get great quality and flavor without having to take out a second mortgage on your home. Good construction and a well-balanced blend of tobacco make the 1916 a solid choice for that perfect way to cap off every day.