Tag Archives: oscuro

by Craig Vanderslice | August 11, 2024 · 9:59 am

Some New Hoyo de Monterrey, Bolivar and Alec Bradley Cigars

I have long been a fan of the Hoyo de Monterrey brand, going back to the ’90s. I smoked the maduro (and double maduro) Rothschilds, and when I wanted to splurge, I picked up an Excalibur No. 1 (for about $5!). I even wrote an article back in 2012 comparing the Punch and Hoyo brands (Punch vs. Hoyo-de-Monterrey, A Debate Finally Settled). I always get a little excited when General Cigars comes out with a new Hoyo. This time around they have the Oscuro and Rojo. I sense a theme at the company, after the release of the CAO Fasa Sol and Noche, releasing two cigars with different wrappers. I, as I usually do, tried out the Oscuro first. The Hoyo de Monterrey Oscuro has a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers, and comes from the HATSA factory in Danli, Honduras. The wrapper is dark, I had high hopes. I smoked a couple of these and found that the initial flavors were weird, bordering on yucky. Creosote, came to mind, like how burning a railroad tie might taste, very pungent. The company has tasting notes of cherry cola, white and cayenne pepper, molasses and rye bread. I’d have to really reach to get maybe the molasses. It moved to tolerable after a while, but never really tripped my trigger. Construction was good! I’ll let some age for a while.

Moving on the the Hoyo de Monterrey Rojo, which has a Honduran Jamastran wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. Both of these were in the Toro size, 6″ x 52, which made me happy (although I might have prefered the Oscuro in the Rothschild, as it would have been done quicker). I really liked this cigar! As was the case with the CAO Fasa, I liked the “natural” more than the maduro! This cigar has what I refer to as “bright” flavors, a citrus tang, and just good tobacco. This was a really nice cigar and I look forward to smoking more. These are both priced from $5.99 to $8.49, darned reasonable these days.

Next up was what I believe to be the first Alec Bradley cigar produced under new ownership, the Alec Bradley Safe Keepings. This is the first in a line that is from the Alec Bradley bled book, a Nicaraguan puro made at the Oliva factory. It uses Jalapa, Condega and Esteli Criollo 98 tobaccos, and prices run from $10.49 to $15.19. I had the robusto, which is 5″ x 52. I find that I like robustos on a Saturday afternoon after the chores/projects are done, possibly before an afternoon nap. No nap yesterday, but it’s been known to happen. Considering Criollo usually isn’t my bag, nor are flavors I consider woody, this was a really nice cigar. It has a woody sweetness, medium bodied, and really quite elegant. The band is kind of cool, it leaves room for alterations for future releases. I can see the starry, crescent moon background being changed to a sunny blue sky for another release. I was surprised how much I liked this.

Finally, I smoked the newest addition to the Bolivar line, the Bolivar Cofraida Oscuro. Like the Hoyo Oscuro, this has a Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers, but has a dark Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. It comes in three sizes, Robusto, Toro and Gigante, I had the 5″ x 54 Robusto. I believe this line started as a JR Cigars exclusive, much like the Hoyo Excalibur line, that was before JR was acquired by Altadis. I really like this cigar, it’s up my alley. It has rich, dark chocolate with some spice. Remember when they came out with the Bolivar with the big red band? I really liked that cigar, although I prefer the classic Simon Bolivar bands. That one was a Foundry line, this one is in the Forged line. This is also a reasonable priced cigar, I’ll be on the lookout for the toro. Remember when the Cuban Bolivar was a really strong cigar?

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, bolivar, cigar, cigars, Cofraida, hoyo de monterrey, oscuro, Rojo, Safe Keepings

by CigarCraig | May 13, 2018 · 9:26 am

Debonaire Habano, EP Carrillo Elite Oscuro and Macanudo Inspirado Red Cigars

Spring, nice weather and unemployment lead to long walks with good cigars. Besides the constant searching of job postings, and brainstorming on my future path, it’s come to my attention that I’ll be launching a podcast soon, so I’m trying to figure out the logistics of that venture. More to come on that and obviously it will be announced here. Fortunately I have a stockpile of cigars to smoke, but one that recently arrived in the mail from my friends at Drew Estate was a Debonaire Habano Belicoso. I’m a fan of the Debonaire line, Phil Zanghi, the owner of the brand and chief cigar alchemist, is a cool guy with a ton of energy. Phil founded Indian Tabak cigars, partnered with, and later sold to, Rocky Patel. I’ve bought some of the Debonaire cigars in the past, and enjoyed them quite a bit, for me they are pricey but worth it. The Habano was the first line they released in 2012, and it has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Dominican binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. This belicoso was one of the original sizes released in 2012, and the example I smoked burned perfectly and really had a great taste. These fall into the “savory” category, and this may be one of the few lines where I like the “natural” wrapper over the maduro. The Maduros are great (as are the Connecticut Shade “Daybreak” line), but this Habano wrapper really makes for a great cigar. the Belicoso and Toro both measure 6″ x 54 according to the Debonaire Cigars website, either is a good choice, I’d think.

About two months ago I went to an event at Goose’s lounge in Limerick, PA (which is named after Limerick, Ireland, not after the often off-color poetic style) with EP Carrillo‘s José Blanco. It was a guided tasting, which José is known for, and was great. I picked up some EPC cigars while there, some Dusk and some of the Elite Series Seleccion Oscuro in the Small Churchill size. I smoked the Oscuro Friday and was really, really happy with it. This line has a Mexico San Andrés Oscuro wrapper, binder from Ecuador and Nicaraguan fillers and is a sweet, earthy feast of the senses. I don’t think this was overly complex, and I don’t generally sense a great deal of changes in cigars, but the flavors that it had were very appealing to me and it was just fine that they didn’t change much. I hated putting this one down. I swear I bought more than one, I’ll have to do some humidor rummaging…by the way, I also smoked a Dusk from the Classic Series this week that was spectacular. That Broadleaf wrapper is tasty!

I was wow’d by the Macanudo Inspirado Red in the box pressed robusto size initially, and wanted to sample the other sizes in the line. I picked up some Toros and Gigantes (loved the Gigante but leave yourself 2+ hours…), and finally got around to smoking the Toro. I had been told that the Robusto was the best in the bunch, and I think I’m inclined to agree, but the Toro was also quite good. It’s a 6″ x 50 in a round format, not pressed, and shares the high priming Ecuador Habano wrapper, Jalapa binder and fillers from Honduras (Jamastran), Nicaragua (Esteli, Ometepe) as the other sizes. These are full-bodied on the Macanudo scale, but high medium in the grand scheme of things, I think. I enjoy the crap out of the Inspirado Red, in this case I think the Toro is my least favorite size, which is like me saying a Maduro is my second favorite wrapper in a line! I love Toros, they are almost always my favorite vitola in a line, but this time I go with the robusto. Maybe it’s the box pressing? I’d love to try a box pressed toro!

That’s all for today, I’ve got to get working on that podcast thing. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Debonaire, drew estate, Elite, EP Carillo, general cigars, Habano, Inspirado, oscuro, Red

by CigarCraig | September 17, 2011 · 8:18 am

A Couple Of El Primer Mundo Cigars

Since I’m headed out to the Delaware CIgar Festival, I figured I’d get my usual Sunday post out a little early so I can devote plenty of time to covering the festival. Â Over the last two evenings I smoked the pair of samples that Sean Williams of El Primer Mundo Cigars gave me at the IPCPR show, an Â El Primer Mundo Liga Miami, and an El Primer Mundo Rosado Oscuro.

The Liga Miami accompanied me on my evening walk on Thursday. Â It a beautiful cigar. Â The Ecuador Sun Grown wrapper was without flaw, although roughly 50% of it was covered by the bands (It was a robusto). Â The burn and draw were very nice for the first Â three quarters of the cigar, not surprising given the entubado method of construction. Â To me, the flavor was pretty good. Â We all know I have a fairly limited range when it comes to tasting cigars, however I do know enough to recognize a good cigar when I smoke one, and this was a good cigar.

I admit that I had been looking forward to trying the Rosado Oscuro for some time. Â I had heard about it quite a bit, and the description intrigued me. The cigar I had was a beautiful box pressed robusto, with a dark and veiny wrapper, just like I like! Â This was another well made cigar that burned darned near perfect until about a half inch when I finally had to put it down. Â Think I liked it? Â It was pretty darn enjoyable. While it didn’t have the flavors I was expecting from it, it was a well balanced cigar.Â I love a square pressed cigar if for no other reason than you can set them down and they don’t roll away on you.

These were both really nice cigars, and Sean Williams is a really nice guy. He took a few minutes at the IPCPR show to chat with me (Willy Herrera was hanging out in his booth at the time, also a nice guy!) and I recorded this video. As with all of my videos, make sure to turn your volume down after watching so as not to blow your speakers when the “You’ve Got Mail” sound plays!. Â Here’s the video:

Once again, I’ve been using the Ergonomic 4.5″ Cigar & Pipe Butane Torch Lighter from Butane Lighters Wholesale to light all of my cigars. Â I finally had the need to refill this lighter after a week or two of use, and it gave me a scare. Â I purged it, as usual, and refilled it, and the sucker wouldn’t light at all. Â After some fiddling, I finally was able to get the adjusting screw to turn past the highest point it would go to prior, and now it has what I consider a reasonably powerful torch flame. I was, honestly, ready to send this back to Aaron, and I still think that a lighter should perform the way it’s supposed to out of the box. Â I have had to fiddle with lighters before, especially after the second fill, however I’ve never (save for several Blazers) really had an expensive lighter. Â I still like a nice, cheap lighter to throw around and use daily!

That’s it for now, have to get ready for the Delaware Cigar Festival. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Accessories, Events, IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, El Primer Mundo, IPCPR, liga, Lighter, miami, oscuro, rosado, Sean Williams, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | April 24, 2011 · 8:34 pm

Weekend Cigars: Rodrigo and Cigar Safari Blend, and Stogie Boys Contest Winners!

I was going to concoct a story about finding a dried up cigar last Friday, and putting it in the humidor and seeing if I could resurrect it, but that seemed too time consuming and maybe a little blasphemous, a long way to go for an ironic holiday joke. Anyway, I managed a couple of new cigars this week, I wanted to share the experience.

A few weeks ago I got into a conversation with a fellow Pennsylvanian, George Rodriguez of Rodrigo Cigars.Â I couldn’t talk him out of sending me samples for review, and a package showed up early last week.Â I am torn between wanting to allow new arrivals to rest for a while in the humidor and giving timely feedback on the cigars.Â I was faced with a beautiful Saturday afternoon and time for a robusto, so I grabbed the smallest of the bunch and fired it up.Â I received and Robusto, a Toro and a Belicoso as well as a Lancero, which isn’t listed in their literature.Â The cigars are made in Tamboril, Dominican Republic with Dominican filler and binder and a Ecuador Habano wrapper.Â The cigar burned reasonably well with a perfect draw.Â The flavor didn’t really wow me on this one, it was pleasant enough, certainly not offensive in anyway, but nothing that made me take notice.Â I’ll give the other three a little more time in the humidor, maybe it was just the Robusto that wasn’t for me. I can’t help but think I rushed smoking this one.Â I’m looking forward to smoking the Lancero especially.Â Thank you George for giving me the opportunity to try your cigars, I appreciate your generosity.Â Look for Rodrigo Cigars and give them a try.

We had a family gathering on Easter Sunday and I decided it was time to try out one of the cigars that I blended while in Nicaragua on the Drew Estate Cigar Safari.Â As I mentioned in my post “Cigar Safari Trip Report: Days 3 and 4“, Corey and I selected our blends on paper, without the benefit of actually touching and smelling the tobacco.Â I went with a Mexican Oscuro wrapper, mostly because they didn’t offer Connecticut broadleaf andÂ I really like the Mexican wrapper on the Chateau Real Maduro.Â While I never cared for Indonesian tobacco, I used it for the binder, basically because the description said it was sweet and aromatic.Â I used Seco leaves from both Esteli and Dominican Republic, only a half a leaf of Esteli ligero and filled it out with Brazilian Mata Fina.Â I chose the same vitola as the Liga Privada Unicos Dirty Rat, because I love that size, 5” x 44.Â The cigars ended up being absolutely gorgeous with an oily dark wrapper.Â I really loved the cigar!Â It had a very full flavor, a lot of sweetness and coffee and cocoa, but was smooth as silk without aÂ hint of nicotine. I smoked it down to a finger burning half an inch. If I had been able to find a toothpick at my in-laws house I would have finished it.Â These were rolled by the torcedors that make the Liga Privadas, so it was no surprise that the construction was flawless and it burned razor straight all the way down.Â It burned for nearly an hour and forty minutes!

I promised to select some contest winners today, and I’m going to pick three!Â As has become my custom, I’ve pasted the names of all of those who left comments into a spreadsheet and used Random.org‘s random number generator to make the selections.Â WouldÂ Wayne Nye, MoBarbq and jimbobber please e-mail me your contact information so I can send you your Stogie Boys Stogie Register, courtesy of StogieBoys.com!Â Thanks to Paul at Stogie Boys and to everyone forÂ participating.Â See the bottom of this post for the 10% discount code generously offered for my readers!