I’ve had a handful of these enormous La Unica No. 100 cigars in the humidor for a few months and have only had a few occasions to smoke them come up. This is an 8½” x 52 double corona made at Tabacalera Fuente for J.C. Newman. Back in the ’90s La Unica was the first premium cigar that was sold in a bundle, it’s since been moved to boxes, more befitting the quality of the cigars. I generally lean toward heavier cigars, but this Connecticut shade wrapped cigar is really quite good. It’s smooth and creamy, and actually burns a little bit faster than one might think, sadly, I clocked in around two and a quarter hours with it, which worked fine for my schedule. It was creamy and nutty, and I enjoyed it. These are also available in a Connecticut Broadleaf, which are also very good, and something I want to revisit, it’s been years!
I was surprised with a package of samples from STG this week and felt compelled to smoke one of the Partagas Valle Verde Toros right out of the box. Of course, this can be a risky proposition, but that’s what the Cigarmedics Humidimeter is for! This Partagas is a bit of an odd duck, it has a green band, a San Andrés wrapper, some San Andrés in the filler along with Nicaraguan, and a Cameroon binder. It’s also made in the HATSA factory, which is in Honduras, which seems to be another oddity for a Partagas, which is normally made in the DR. I’ve long been a fan of the Partagas line, they have been second only to Fuente in their mastery of Cameroon, and their Broadleaf Partagas Black ain’t bad either. This Valle Verde was really quite good in my estimation. It hit all my preferred flavor receptors. I got the earthy black coffee from the Mexican, the sweet nuts from the Cameroon and some sweet spice from the Esteli Ligero. I’ll be shocked and amazed of this isn’t my favorite out of the batch of samples, I hope I’m not disappointed! More on those in future posts. I would urge sampling the Partagas Valle Verde if you enjoy the same kinds of cigars I enjoy!
Remember last week (I think, maybe the week before) when I said that I really like Black Label Trading Company‘s cigars, but I find that they all kind of hit me the same? I clearly haven’t smoked enough of them, because I smoked the new Black Works Studio Poison Dart Corona Gorda yesterday and it was clearly on another level. Now, I get that the Studio does some different stuff than the regular line. The Poison Dart just came out at the July trade show, and Famous Smoke Shop had them when I was there recently so I grabbed one. This is a 5½” x 46 corona gorda with a pointy cap, a Brazilian Matafina wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This cigar had a rich, mouth-coating kinda thing going on, almost licoricy, or maybe meaty, or some weird combo of the two. It was delicious and was good for ninety minutes or so of afternoon enjoyment. Lots of cocoa, coffee and spice, not unlike a lot of the BLTC cigars, but more intense. I liked it a lot.
That’s about it for today. I am smoking a Buffalo Ten Connecticut while writing, a perfectly acceptable cigar with coffee, actually quite good. I keep saying I don’t lean toward shade cigars, but I really quite enjoy them when I smoke them. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
