When I was in Miami last month I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman named René Cardona, who happens to rep Tre J Cigars. His position within the cigar industry had nothing to do with my meeting with him, he is part of a group of folks I’m acquainted with through a Facebook group which is made of some folks I know personally, some long time readers as well as friends I haven’t met yet. I was honored to meet René while I was there, and he ended up sending me a sampler of the Tre J range, which I smoked through the Vicarias line this week. I still have to get to the Invictus, I just ran out of time. I’ll get to it in the next couple days.
I started out with the Vicarias White Connecticut Double Churchill. I know, I usually am compelled to start with the maduro, but it was early on a Monday that I had off, and we took a walk to the store and back so I had plenty of time to enjoy a cigar, so I grabbed the largest one of the bunch and it happened to be the Connecticut. Not a mistake at all, as this Conny had loads of flavor. It was sweet and creamy, and had a beautiful burn. We walked a mile or so to the local Target, Macha and I sat outside while my wife shopped, and then we walked home and it was a treat the whole time. I did allow it to go out about a half a mile from home (at about the two inch mark) so I could sit and finish it on the porch, as I’m fond of doing, and it continued to smoke well beyond the band without turning bitter. The size was 7″ x 52, and the blend was Ecuador Connecticut wrapper with Dominican binder and fillers. I found this to be quite a tasty cigar!
Of course, I couldn’t stay away form the maduro for long, so next up was the Black Label Maduro. This is called a Robusto, and is 5½”x 50 with a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Dominican Olor wrapper and Dominican and Honduran fillers. This cigar had a unique flavor that I really liked, and I’ve tasted before, but couldn’t quite place. It skirts the borders of sweet and savory, this flavor reminds me of a hard candy, the kind you ‘d find in grandma’s candy dish, but I don’t quite know what it is. It’s delicious though, and smokes like a dream. I dig it big time. I can’t wait to try the even darker Red Label.
Tuesday I smoked the Red Label Cubra. This comes in one size, the 6″ x 54 Toro, and had a Brazilian Cubra wrapper, which is fermented to a very dark and oily maduro. The binder is a Nicaraguan Jalapa and the fillers are Dominican Piloto Cubano, Pennsylvanian Broadleaf and Ligero from Jalapa. Under normal circumstances I would have picked this up first, no doubt, but I showed some restraint, and selected cigars according to the time I had available. This cigar was totally different from the Black Label, yet so loaded with dark, rich flavors of espresso and cocoa. It, along with the others, had perfect construction, and smoked very well and provided two hours of satisfaction. So far the Vicarias line is three for three.
Last up was the Vicarias Blue Label Corojo. This was also a Toro, listed at 6″ x 54, although it felt smaller than the Red Label for some reason. I didn’t measure it, as I lit it up fairly late, but I would have thought it was closer to 50 ring gauge. This one had an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Dominican Olor binder and fillers from the DR, Honduras and Columbia. There’s a reason cigar makers make a range of cigars in their lines, not everyone is going to like every type of wrapper, every size, shape, or blend. I have a fairly broad spectrum of likes (or low standards, however you want to spin it), but the Blue Label Corojo was my least favorite in the bunch. There wasn’t a darned thing wrong with the cigar, it started a bit harsh (the foot measured a little dry with the Cigarmedics Humidimeter, more on that in another post, which might have contributed to that), and the flavors just weren’t what I prefer. Perhaps the Columbian tobacco doesn’t do it for me, not sure. That’s not to say it isn’t a great cigar fr someone else, just that out of the four, I’m preferring the other three over this one. As always, your mileage may vary.
That’s all for today, I need to get ready for a challenging couple of days of work. Thanks so much to René for sharing these great cigars with me, I need to put some of the Black Labels in my humidor, the unique flavor of those is intriguing! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
