IPCPR Cigars: Quesada, Foundation and Cordoba & Morales

I dug into the IPCPR samples humidor in the latter half of the week and gave some new cigars a try. The first out of the three was the Quesada Oktoberfest 2016 in the Nicaraguan Triple Bock Haus size, I comfortable 6″ x 56. I’ve smoked some older versions of this in the Uber size, the massive 6″ x 65 and enjoyed them, and this one was quite enjoyable as well.  I am aware that Oktoberfest isn’t until September, and I’m aware that not being a drinker the whole premise of pairing it with beer is lost on me. The Oktoberfest line has cigars that are made in both a Dominican and Nicaraguan blend, differentiated by the secondary date band, the Nicaraguan having the red band, with the DR line having a blue one. The best I can find about the blend is that it’s a Nicaraguan Puro, made by Placencia in Esteli, no other details were available. I like the cigar, it has a nice, bold flavor that was satisfying, but I was a bit distracted by the draw. Humid evenings will do this to some cigars sometimes, so I can’t assign blame to the cigar, and I just checked the IPCPR samples humidor and it’s being Boveda controlled at 68%, Maybe I’ll try to bring that down a little, although the next few cigars I smoked from the same humidor (spoiler alert!) smoked spectacularly. Good smoke though, please let me know how it works with beer!

Saturday afternoon I enjoyed a new cigar from Nick Melillo’s Foundation Cigar Co., the Tabernacle.  This is Nick’s Connecticut Broadleaf blend, and there have been those who compare is head to head with the Mi Querida from Steve Saka. Sure, Nick and Steve blended the Liga Privada No.9 for Steve’s palate, so there is definitely going to be some parallel, but let’s let these two great cigars stand on their own and not compare them to each other or the Liga No 9. The Tabernacle is produced at AJ Fenandez in Esteli, yet another great cigar from that factory. It has a Broadleaf wrapper over a San Andrés binder, with fillers from Esteli and Jalapa, I love the cigar already! The cigar had a perfect burn and draw, so there was no missing the great rich flavors of the broadleaf and Mexican, a nice sweet and earthy flavor. I say this often, but this is a cigar I’ll want to have in my humidors. I look forward to trying Nick’s other new blends, the Charter Oak, and maybe even the Upseters, although I’m always a little shaky when it comes to infused cigars. The Tabernacle is a winner.

Last night I went searching for a cigar for my evening walk, and I settled on the Cordoba & Morales Platino Double Corona, a big cigar at 7 ½”ish by 54 by my measuring (because there’s np mention of the Platino line on the website!). This cigar had a “bun” style pigtail cap and a covered foot, so I snipped off the cap and went right into lighting this so I got the full effect of the blast of flavor from the wrapper. I couldn’t find much out about this line, but I believe it to be a Sumatra wrapper. The first thing that came to mind when I lit this was that is had a savory, grilled beef kind of flavor, it was really quite different and appealing. This was another cigar that burned perfectly, with only a slight touch-up near the end, I don’t think that’s too uncommon with cigars this size. Oddly, this was the first Cordoba & Morales cigar I have smoked, and I look forward to smoking more of them. The Platino is an awesome smoke.  Here is a re-run of the video interview I did from the IPCPR show in case you missed it the first time around.

That’s all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig