Micallef Red, La Aurora Fuerte Sol and Mr. Sinistro Cigars

I’m super late to the party on this first cigar. In the past I’ve only had the Micallef Black and Blue, with the Black being my favorite of the two. I found a Micallef Red toro in the humidor and it piqued my interest. This 6″ x 52 toro has a Mexican San Andrés Habano wrapper, a Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan, Mexican fillers, it’s right up my alley! I really liked this cigar, maybe more than the Micallef Black, but I think the most noteworthy to me was that it was different, there was a cinnamon sensation in the beginning, along with the nice Habano sweetness that I like. I can see myself smoking more of these, and they are attractively priced. I have a lot of work to do sampling the rest of the Micallef color series.

Another cigar I found in the humidor this week that was new to me was the La Aurora Family Creed Series Fuerte Sol. This is the first of four cigars in this series, named for the León family creed, which is “I will always remember that: We are a proud family of rural origin, forged with persistent work under a strong sun. Humble and honest people. People who, along with cultivating the land, cultivate love, happiness and faith. For this I promise: To work for the common good, maintaining integrity, authenticity, frankness, perseverance, honesty and passion for excellence, which distinguishes us as a successful family. A family which values and loves its roots, and which yearns to preserve that legacy that, by the grace of God, we have received from our parents. This intangible inheritance is what we pass on to our children, with passion and conviction. That is our greatest wealth.” The Fuert Sol I smoked was a box pressed Robusto, 5″ x 50, with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. I absolutely loved this cigar. It had a dark dried fruit sort of sweetness, burn and draw were perfect, as they should be for a pricier cigar. The first box of cigars I bought back in 1996 was a box of La Aurora Bristol Especiales and it probably cost around $40 (I still have one left, and I think my daughter, named Aurora, still has the box!). As you can see, the La Aurora brand is sentimental to me. I can’t spend $300+ for a box of cigars, but if money were no object, I’d get more of these. I’m reminded of the Extreme series from a while ago.

The final cigar today was the Mr. Sinistro Robusto from Sinistro Cigars. I’ve talked to these guys a few times, and I know people who make their cigars, and people who have their cigars made by them, but I haven’t smoked a ton of their Sinistro branded stuff. I really should try to find some more of their cigars. I believe all three cigars today came from the Best Cigar Prices Smoke-onos event, by the way. This cigar has an interesting blend. It has an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Pennsylvania Broadleaf binder and fillers from Paraguay and Dominican Republic (olor ligero, piloto cubano ligero, and corojo ligero). I smoked the Robusto size, which is a hefty 5½” x 54. The first note is that the wrapper burned like a Habano 2000 wrapper from the 90s, that is, not very well. It took some coaxing to get it to burn right. That said, the flavor was really nice. It was a heavy espresso shot, just right for a Saturday afternoon. I was slightly distracted, because we just brought home a new rescue dog, and we’re all feeling one another out. He’s a Pomsky, yes that’s Pomeranian and Husky mixed. He was a stud at a puppy mill not far from where the binder in this cigar was grown. He also has some vision impairment, which will be challenging. He’s super cool though, and while I was against getting another dog, my wife and I fell for this one. We always seem to end up with special needs dogs! We’ll call him Cicero. Anyway, Mr. Sinistro was good, I wish the wrapper had burned better. I’ll definitely sample another one.