Azul | CigarCraig's Blog

Last week I talked about the Dominican and Costa Rican Lampert cigars, this week I smoked their Nicaraguan selections. All three of these are made at the AgroIndustrial Nicaraguense de Tabacos S.A. in Condega, Nicaragua, which is owned by the Ortiz family of Omar and Indiana Ortiz fame. We have been hearing about Indiana Ortiz for a few years, She did some work with the Psycho Seven folks when they were around, and was then doing some things with Mombacho. Fingers crossed for Lampert Cigars! I was presented with the three cigars in the range, the Azul and Rojo in Robusto and the Morado in Toro. Now, one would think I’d smoke the Morado first, its a toro and it’s Maduro, but I bucked convention and went with the Edición Azul first. It was Thursday evening, I was getting started later than usual, and a 5″ x 50 rubusto fit the time best. Picking the right size cigar for the time at hand is an important skill to develop, I’m always available for consultation. Best advice is not to be in a position to need a smoke! Anyway, the Azul is not blue at all, it has an Ecuador wrapper (no further information, but it’s probably a Habano), Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Peru. I do love a little Peruvian tobacco in the filler! This had a sweet cane flavor throughout, with that little twinge of peruvian spice. It was a thoroughly enjoyable cigar all the way through, and I’d love to sample the toro, and even their short robusto at 3¾” x 52 is very intriguing. So far, so good with the Lampert Nicaraguans!

Friday night was maduro toro time, so the Lampert Edición Morado. I joked that Morado was a misspelling of Maduro, of course it’s Spanish for Purple, This one was 6″ x 52, has a Mexican wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s listed as full strength, I found it to be medium personally, but I’m old and jaded. This was a good maduro cigar, it had some dark coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and maybe some dried black cherry notes, fairly typical of the genré. I enjoyed it immensely and, once again, am intrigued by that short robusto size. As much as I like Toros, Churchills, even Gordos from time to time, sometimes a short smoke is warranted! Maybe it’s a second smoke, maybe you aren’t sure if you are going to be interrupted, who knows? I know a guy who knows a guy, there has to be a shop that sells singles or 5ers.

Finally, yesterday afternoon (late morning, really), between running some errands, I decided to tackle the Edición Rojo. This one also lists the wrapper as Ecuador, but I’m going to say it’s a Connecticut Shade varietal. I’ve come to realize that the names of the cigars match up to the bands color, not the wrapper, so this doesn’t have a rosado wrapper, it’s on the dirty blond side, much like an Ecuador Connecticut would be. This was the 5″ x 50 Robusto size, and, while I really liked this cigar, I don’t know if the smaller size interests me as much. I found that this cigar had a lot in common with the Azul, that sugar cane sweetness, which I really like. instead of the spice the Azul had, it had a more nutty undertone, perhaps smoother and milder. I liked it, it was quite good. One think I found that the three cigars had in common was that they all smoked really well. I don’t know that I ‘ve smoke many cigars from this factory, but I look forward to seeing more. Thanks to Andrew for getting me the samples, and to Kap for making the introduction.

Last night I decided to smoke something new to me, but several years old, that I’ll probably never have a chance to smoke again. I was watching hockey, and watching the Flyers play the Penguins always gives me anxiety. I guess it’s because I really hate the Penguins and I hate it even more if the Flyers lose to the Penguins. So I went with a cigar that came from my Secret Santa (time is running out to sign up, BTW!) last year, Mitch, an Alec Bradley Fine and Rare HOF / 506. This was the 2019 Fine and Rare release if my research is correct, and was a tribute to David Rubin, Alan Rubin’s father. The Fine and Rare line typically uses ten types of tobacco. The nuts and bolts of this one are a Honduran Trojes wrapper, and undisclosed binder, and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. By the way, I used the term “nuts and bolts” because Alan Rubin’s father was in the fastener business, and it seems appropriate. This was a really spectacular cigar. There were a range of baking spice type of flavors, it was really quit a treat. It burned well, lasted well into the third period (it’s 6¼” x 54 with a box press), and was good to the last drop. The Flyers won in a shootout, which gives me anxiety against any team, when it’s the Penguins I don’t breath until it ends! I don’t have another Fine and Rare to smoke Monday night when the two team play again, but I think I’ll be meeting up with an out of town visitor at a local shop anyway, so I’ll find something else.