A few weeks back I bought a five pack of Protocol Churchills from Discount Cigar Warehouse. From what I know, this was exclusive to them and Churchills aren’t available in all the blends regularly. I happen to be a 
big fan of the Churchill size, although these are only 6½” x 48, not quite the 7″ x 47 that is truly a Churchill. Call it what you will, it’s still a great size in my book. I’m pretty happy with anything from 5½” to 7″ and 46 to 60 ring. I’m pretty happy with a lot of cigars to be honest. Anyway, of the five blends in the sampler, I hadn’t smoked two of them, the aforementioned Cyber Crimes Unit, and the Official Misconduct. The Official Misconduct has been around since 2018, not sure how I haven’t smoked it yet, but I really quite enjoyed it. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made in the La Zona factory. Two of my favorite cigar brands make (or made, as in the case of the latter) cigars in this factory, La Sirena and Cornelius and Anthony. I enjoy many of the Espinosa cigars too, I just don’t seem to smoke as many of them as I should, I guess. Arandoza is another defunct brand that I really liked that was made there. Anyway, this cigar made me happy. It was a nice, spicy Habano that hit the spot for me. I toy with the notion of ordering another five pack, these “Churchills” were very good.
I made a stop on the way home from work the other day and picked up a couple new-to-me cigars that looked interesting. First of which was the Diesel Atonement, a TAA exclusive. This is a fairly priced cigar at $10 (in PA), has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s made in the AJ Fernandez factory, as I believe all Diesel cigars to be. It’s a 6″ x 52 which made it an easy sell for me. It’s a nice looking cigar, smooth and dark with some oiliness to the wrapper. It was loaded with pepper from the light. It reminded me a lot of the Puro Esteli, which I found to be fairly strong. I have a pair of those set aside, now that I think about it, one I took the cedar sleeve off, one I left it on, with the intention of seeing how the cedar sleeve affects the flavor after aging, a project for warmer weather. The Atonement remained strong, the pepper remained throughout, although it deadened my palate after a while. I’ve smoked my share of Diesel Cigars, and this was a pretty good one. I have a hankering for a Whiskey Row Sherry Cask now, which is probably my favorite Diesel.
The other cigar I picked up was the Hoyo de Monterrey El Torcedor. I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of this one, apparently released in 2019. I searched my archive of press releases and came up with nuthin. This is a rustic 6½” x 49 Figurado, very much like the Cuban Partagas Presidente (the vitola de galera on that one is Taco, by the way). It seems like I smoked another cigar in a similar shape, but I’ll be darned if I can remember what it was. I dig the size and shape. It lit easily, the foot has a small surface area, not a formed “nipple” like a Hemingway. it burned perfectly and had a pleasing flavor. It had some sweet spice and wood. I bought the last one the shop had in this size, I may stop for a couple of the larger size one day. It’s a wonder I hadn’t heard about this one before. I still need to try the Illusione/Excalibur cigar, anyone know where I can buy a couple? I just looked, and Fox Cigars sells singles, but they are no cheap date!
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
