GTO Cigars, Pendrey Guillen Cigars and a Green Hornet

I had the opportunity this week to smoke some new-to-me cigars courtesy of Kevin of CigarProp.com. Kevin and I have been friends for several years and have been known to exchange cigars from time to time. It can bee a challenge to find cigars I haven’t tried, or at least some people think so, really there are a lot I haven’t had the chance to smoke. Kevin manage to find a bunch that I hadn’t tried. One of them was the GTO Mandinga, a 6″ x 60 from the Dominican Republic. I’ve heard about GTO Cigars, Oscar Rodriquez is an emergency room physician and owns the brand, which is distributed in the southeast of the US. I don’t see these in this neck of the woods. The Mandinga has a Domincan Maduro wrapper, Dominican binder and triple ligero fillers of un-defined origin (presumably also Dominican). This is definitely a cigar I’d happily smoke again. It had the flavors and perfect burn and draw characteristics that I like in a cigar. It wasn’t overly strong for being listed as triple ligero, it had the espresso flavors I like with some sweetness. It was perfect for the cold winter night. I had heard about this line on the Smooth Draws radio show, smoking it did bring to mind the late Gary Laden, who passed away last year. I had spent time with Gary at the 2017 IPCPR show and have fond memories.

Another line that I hadn’t heard of which Kevin sent a sampler was the Pendrey Guillen Cigars line from Honduras. Of the five cigars in the sampler, I smoked two this week. I reached out to Carlos Pendrey, who shared some of the details of the line with me. They have four lines, the COMANDO(camos), COMBAT(dark), Serpentinas(barbel poles) and CANDELA (green), in Robusto 5″ x 50, Toro 6″ x 52, and GORDO: 60×7 or 60×6. The Comando was the fist one I smoked, which has a Maduro/Connecticut Base wrapper, with fillers from Jalapa, Indonesia and La Entrada. This line has a Camo wrapper treatment, with strips of candela ,maduro and Connecticut leaf applied. I’ve smoked cigars like this before and one would think that, like a barber-pole wrap, the flavors would meld together, but there actually is some interplay of flavors from the various wrapper appliqués throughout the smoking of the cigar. This was a nice, medium smoke with a nice flavor, with variations to keep it interesting. There was mostly maduro sweetness, with the occasional grassiness of the Connecticut and crisp chlorophyll refreshing flavor of the candela here and there. I liked it.

The next one I tried was the Combat, a dark maduro cigar. I should mention that both samples were the 6″ x 52 toro vitola, which is my preferred size. This is listed as a Double Ligero, with components from Jalapa, Indonesia, La Entrada and Esteli. This cigar looked great, it had a very oily sheen on the dark wrapper. It had the rich flavors I had hoped for, more bitterness than sweetness, which is OK, I like black coffee, and every maduro doesn’t have to be sweet. The wrapper didn’t burn as well as I’d have liked, and when I removed the band it had what I can only describe as a reverse tan line, the wrapper was darker where the band had been, when I hadn’t thought was possible. Looking at the brand’s Facebook page (they don’t seen to have a website yet), they offer their cigars in hand carved boxes as well as standard boxes, as well as samplers, and the pricing that Carlos shared with me seemed to be quite fair. They seem to ship directly from Honduras, and may be distributing in the US. I still have a few more to sample, I think I’ll save the Candela and Connecticut offerings for warmer weather as I worry that they won’t hold up to the cold.

Finally, I had picked up a couple Black Works Studios Killer Bee Green Hornets a couple of weeks ago since I’ve been behind in sampling the Black Works line. The shops near me have started carrying them so figured I’d grab a couple here and there to try to catch up. The Killer Bee Green Hornet is a 5″ x 48 Robusto with an Ecuador Maduro wrapper accented with a candela covered foot and several little candela stripes on the head. The binder and Filler are Nicaraguan and it’s made at Fabrica Oveja Negra in Esteli. On cigars with a covered foot I forgo the toasting ritual, not wanting to waste the extra flavor the maker intended you to get from the wrapper material there on the foot. In this case, it’s a contrast of candela on a maduro cigar, an interesting counterpoint of the herbal, grassy flavor with the rich, sweetness of the maduro. This was an enjoyable cigar, although the draw seemed to increase in resistance along the duration of the smoke, which was odd. I might have given it a second cut, but I was too lazy to try that. I enjoyed the flavor and will continue experimenting with the brand as I have found enjoyment in everything I’ve smoked from that factory.