Reinado Grand Empire Reserve, Nomad S-307 and Custom Tobacco’s Briarmont Cigar

After beginning the week with three less than satisfying cigars, I decided Thursday called for a high probability, sure thing smoke. I’d had my eye on a Reinado Grand Empire Reserve Petite Lancero that Reinado emperor Antonio Lam had given me at the IPCPR show. This size is limited, only about 10, 000 of these were made and my example lacked the GER secondary band. I have had exceptional experiences with the Reinado brand, and count Antonio among my better friends in the cigar industry. I thought the Grand Empire Reserve was stellar in this size. It was rich and decadent and well balanced. However, I personally prefer the larger ring gauges in this cigar. I find the larger rings to be even more stellar! That’s just me. I suppose it’s better that I don’t fall in love with such a limited cigar and prefer sizes that are more available. Try the Petite Lancero if you get a chance, heck, try them all.

A few weeks ago I received Fred Rewey’s new Nomad S-307 cigars to sample, and smoked the toro size right away. I later noticed that instead of what I thought were four toros, there were a pair of torpedos mixed in. So Friday evening I took one of he torps for a spin. This cigar has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is made by AJ Fernandez in his factory in Esteli. Much like the toro, this is a nice smoke, perfectly constructed and tasty. You might think cigars from the same factory would start to taste the same after a while, but not the case. The thing that the S-307 has in common with most of the other cigars made there is that its really good. There’s some subtle flavors that surprise you here and there and it’s a satisfying experience all the way around. Kudos.

Saturday afternoon I took the dog for a bit of a hike on a nearby trail. Several weeks ago I received a sample of the Briarmont Classic from Custom Tobacco. I met with Adam from Custom Tobacco st the show last July, and they are doing custom banded cigars. They are working with the folks at Briarmont Cigars, designing and affixing custom bands on the cigars. Obviously this is pretty cool, provided the cigar is good. They sent me a 6″x54 Connecticut Shade wrapped cigar with a band bearing my logo, which definitely appealed to my vanity. So the question is, does the cigar merit being emblazoned with my visage? Let’s look at a couple thing first. What is pretty well known to be my favored wrapper style? Maduro, right? What size cigars do I gravitate to in the chillier months? Smaller sizes, right? I really liked this cigar! It’s a cigar that I’d hand out with my name on the band without reservation. It was smooth as silk and had a very nice flavor, even though I smoked it on a cool afternoon. It was a nice, mild to medium sweet tobacco flavor. I’d be very interested in smoking the Briarmont Maduro, and even think the barber pole might be interesting. They offer a cool service. We all fantasize about having cigars with our own bands on them for certain occasions, and these guys are offering just that, and the cigars seem to be of excellent quality, which is always a concern.

Well, I need to work on the upcoming 12 Days of Spectacular Giveaways, only a few weeks away. Are you ready? It looks like there’s going to be some great cigars in copious quantities being given away! Sign up for e-mail alerts, follow me on Twitter, or friend me on Facebook so you don’t miss anything!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig