I spent some time this week smoking cigars that I got on my two trips to Florida this month. Three of them came from the outstanding Cigar Circus opening party, and one I picked up at Smoke Inn. Some I liked better than others, but they were all pretty good. I’ve been really 
trying to limit my consumption of sucky cigars. Anyway, I started with the Alec Bradley Post Embargo Blend Code B15. I remember picking up some Post Embargos nine years ago, might still have one somewhere, and them not really being up my alley. I misidentified this as Blend Code 815, upon closer inspection it’s a B. I thought it took them 815 tries to get to this, I would have given up well before 500. They have a large “Post Embargo” band covering the high priming Trojes Honduran wrapper, with a Honduran binder and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua. This stares with a little hint of Mesquite wood, and it struggled with some minor tunneling. The second half redeemed itself, with some nice, medium milk chocolate and nuts. Not a bad smoke, interesting flavors. I think this came out since the STG purchase of the brand.
A cigar I picked up when I visited the Smoke Inn shop in West Palm a few weeks back was the El Mago Miami Disco. I have been hearing a lot about the brand, great story behind it, and the packaging is pretty spectacular. The Disco reached out to me, maybe it’s one of the brand’s newest offerings, or that the tube was quite nice. I like that the cigars are in cellophane and the tube skips the cedar sheet, that’s an expensive and unnecessary feature and adds nothing for me. This is a 6″ x 60 cigar with a dark Habano Oscuro wrapper, Criollo binder and Nicaraguan fillers. These are made at the MGE Cigars Factory in Esteli, one which I haven’t heard of previously. Upon lighting this I instantly regretted only buying one, and for a moment considered shelling out for a box, even though this is near the upper limit of my price comfort zone. The cigar started with a delicious Cayenne dark chocolate kind of thing, it really got my attention. This was my star of the week, it was a delicious cigar to the end. The Cayenne dropped off and it was pure dark chocolate til the end. Yummy cigar, and I need to try some of the other cigars in the line. I think Wooden Indian might have some, I owe them a visit anyway!
The Bentley Green toro was my Saturday afternoon watching hockey cigar. This was in the cigars from Cigar Circus, while Jon Carney, who owns the US distribution of the brand, was there with Hooten Young cigars. The Bentley line is owned by the Schusters, who are big cigar distributors in Germany, and made at Joya de Nicaragua. I like a lot of the cigas made at JdN. The 6″ x 52 toro has an Ecuador Rosado wrapper, and fillers from the Jalapa Valley in Nicaragua. Flavorwise, his one gave me the feeling of dry cocoa powder, in a medium bodied package. It was a good cigar, maybe not my favorite if the week, but that bar was set high. I’d give it another go. I was a little surprised that the green was provided instead of the White, I thought the White might have a broader appeal, although I haven’t tried it yet.
Finally, one more cigar that was in the Circus pack was the Plasencia Reserva 1898 robusto. This is a cigar I had never seen before, although it looks like its a line that they have had for a very long time, and may have been for the international market. Is it a reprise? Would they put a discontinued cigar in a retailers swag bag? I’m confused. From what I can put together, this 4¾” x 54 robusto is a Nicaraguan Puro, maybe. Some sources list a Honduran binder. I’m really confused. I see this available at both domestic and international retailers, but it’s not on the Plasencia website. Nothing surprises me with cigar makers websites, El Mago has a search function and “Disco” had no results, yet it’s on the page. I digress. This cigar was pretty darned good
! It was dark and ri
ch, and quite strong I think. I noted espresso and cocoa, but a savory as opposed to sweet sensation. I had a sneezing fit in the final third, not sure what that was all about! From what I can gather this is a sub $10 cigar, and was very good.
That’s about all I have for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
