New Big Payback and CAO Cigars, a Jaime Garcia and a Vegas Cubanas

This week I smoked some cigars I received from General Cigars and Forged, along with a couple cigars I picked up locally that I hadn’t smoked before.  I couple of them were obnoxiously large!  First off was the Room 101 Big Payback 70s Maduro.  I rather enjoyed the Olancho San Augustin (which they are now referring to as Sumatra, I never made that connection!) wrapped version that came out last year, despite its size.  This one has a US Broadleaf wrapper (Connecticut? Massachusetts?  Pennsylvania? My guess is the PA) over a Nicaraguan binder with fillers from the DR and Honduras, and it’s made at their factory in Honduras. I smoked this cigar for about two and a half hours and it burned well and had a pleasing flavor.  It’s pretty much what one would expect, although the excessive ring gauge makes it fairly mild. It has earthy cocoa and some sweetness.  Very nice cigar if you have a long time to do something like chat with friends or watch a game or a movie, as it doesn’t necessarily demand your attention. It has a $9 MSRP so it’s a good value.

I smoked a couple of the new CAO Arcana Thunder Smoke this week.  After the Arcana Firewalker debacle, I was a tad concerned.  This is an interesting blend, it has the Olancho San Augustin wrapper, a San Andrés binder and fillers from Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa and Cameroon.  I watched the final episode of The Grand Tour on Prime yesterday, and it just made sense to smoke a cigar with tobacco from Zimbabwe. I watched this on the recommendation of Nick from The Cigar Pulpit podcast, and a great recommendation it was. I’ve been a big fan of Top Gear, The Grand Tour, and many of the presenters offshoot shows for many years. This cigar, third in the Arcana series, the first was the Mortal Coil, followed by the abysmal Firewalker, then this one.  This was a really enjoyable cigar for me. It’s got a unique Mesquite flavor going on, something rather different and pleasing.  The band is oversized, but that’s about the only bad thing I can say about it!  I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the Mortal Coil, which I liked a great deal. 

I realized that My Father cigars were severely underrepresented on my site, and in my rotation, so I decided to branch out and pick something I haven’t tried before up every now and then.  I grabbed a Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Super Gordo a week or so ago at a local shop.  The Super Gordo is 5¾” x 66, in a torpedo format so the excessive girth isn’t quite so unwieldy.  This does come in a 7″ x 70, which they didn’t have, nor would I have bought.  It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, an Ecuador binder and fillers from the Garcia farms in Nicaragua. Now that I remember, I smoked one of these last May in the Toro size and, although I had a cold, recall enjoying it. These are reasonably priced, hovering around $10 depending on the size. This Super Gordo might have been around $11.  This was an exceptional cigar, I really liked it.  It started out spicy, and the strength built up as it smoked, to a pretty full bodied cigar near the end. It had the sweet coffee/cocoa that I like in a Broadleaf wrapper. This was excellent. I want more.

Finally, I spied the Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas on the shelf, the green band is ey-catching.  This is another line that has been around a while, but has eluded my attention. This is another reasonably priced cigar, I think the Generosos (6″ x 50) was under $9.  Funny, ten years ago buying an $9 cigar to me was like buying a +$15 cigar today, it was very hard for me to justify!  This cigar has a nice looking Habano Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This is one I’ll pass on revisiting, I’m afraid.  It was nice enough, although it had a floral component that didn’t really do it for me.  Maybe it would be better in the morning, although floral isn’t ever really in my wheelhouse. I tolerate it, but it’s not a preference. If you enjoy floral cigar, this is for you!  Next time I’ll pick up some other cigars in the Don Pepin line, I haven’t had any of them in a while.

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

CigarCraig